Lots of the European anglers take their shirts off to enjoy the sun (even
after warnings), not realising how strong it really is and after 24 hours, they
simply can’t carry on. In this competition we were surprised when two ex-
pats, (Australia and New Zealand) got heatstroke!”
As this was a non-stop contest, the anglers would sleep in shifts to make
sure they caught the maximum number of fish. An overall total of 5850
fish weighing 16.8 tonnes were caught – an excellent result, considering
lightning stopped fishing for about seven hours on Sunday night.
Paul said they cant take chances with the lightning, especially as the rods
are made of carbon fibre and the anglers stand in water. Sadly, an angler
was killed by lightning while fishing at Bloemhof Dam just a few months
ago.
In the end South Africa emerged the Championship winners with golds in
both the team and pairs results and a silver in pairs – take a look:
Team:
1st South Africa
2nd France
3rd Romania
1759.65kg
1100.41kg
1007.30kg
Pairs:
1st SA - GP Nel and Johan de Klerk - 755.45kg
2nd SA - Dean and Christopher Pelser (father/son team) – 713.83kg
3rd Aus - Jacobus Niehaus and Marcell van Heerden - 508.58kg
Paul added that there was a fantastic spirit among the anglers throughout
the competition.
The prizegiving took place on Wednesday Feb 13th on a farm near Hoopstad.
Everyone enjoyed the Zulu dancers and traditional South African meal.
The first-ever World Cup for Women Carp Fishing takes place on 28 May
- 1 June 2019, at Villeneuve de la Raho’s Lake in France. Paul’s wife (and
peg-mate) Cecile Venter is very keen to get more women involved in this
exciting sport – so going forward, South Africa can also enter a team.
Call her if you’re interested: 073 418 9703