Bass Digest/July, 2014
Our mutual friend Mohammed “Shahid” Ebrahim must surely be looking down on us from wherever he is, shouting “Hey guys!! Wait till you see the bass ponds up here, WOW!!”
I can just picture it; bent rod in hand, a huge smile, and getting ready to land a lunker in the next few seconds.
I met Shahid at the same place Aadil Cajee always did - Solly’s Anglers Corner in Booysens. I was actually meeting one of his fishing buddies there for something. We were introduced quickly, and being a relative newbie to bass fishing I had no idea who he was in the bassing world. Little did I know then what an impact he would have on my life, and those around him.
We kept meeting by accident. Sometimes at the dams during prefishing, sometimes at tackle shops, or at a boat show. We also competed against him at the Kick Boat Bass Challenge competitions, where he used to fish with his brother Abdul quite often. Boy, were they a mean team together!!
We slowly started to get to know each other, to the point where we went on a tiger fishing trip together, to eventually working with him on the Bass Digest magazine.
I remember a competition at Klerkskraal Dam a few years back, where he came in to weigh two good fish within an hour of the start. As a joke I asked “What are you using?” He said “Frogs, in the shallows”. Of course, I had to wonder how true this was. Anyway… Dave and I just happened to bump into the Ebrahim’s later that morning, and true to his word, he was throwing frogs in the shallows! I was surprised, as usually nobody divulges what they use (or where) on competition day. He went on to annihilate the field that day, and also notch up the competition’s biggest bag of all time. What a memorable win!
Shahid was a most talented bass fisherman, but most of all, he was a gentle soul. He always looked for the positives in life. There was not a day that I know of while we were around him, where he wasn’t smiling for some reason. Even when we were going through tough times, he would put in a positive word, and get us to smile and give us something to think about.
Then in a blink of an eye he was gone.
It was a confusing time. Millions (I mean literally millions) of questions race through your mind, with none offering any valid (let alone comforting) answers. Confusion was at an all-time high. Speculation was rife. What to believe? What NOT to believe? Is this actually happening? Please Lord, let him just walk out from between the reeds or something. This CAN’T be happening… Not to him! Not to ANYONE!
It was a crazy time, but one that we had to come to terms with, whether we liked it or not. The shock of the tragedy didn’t quite hit me until around 5pm that afternoon.
It must be awesome to see a rainbow from above