SA Carp Masters 2017

After an exciting 2016 World Carp Masters tournament in France,  which saw South Africa finished overall 2nd and 4th place and also winning the biggest fish, it was anticipated that the 2017 South African Carp Masters would have a bigger following than previous years. This was certainly the case when the initial 20 planned pegs sold out within 2 days after registrations opened. Because of the huge demand it was decided to make more pegs available for a bigger more competitive tournament in 2017.

This year the event took place at Roodekoppies Dam which is situated about 35km outside the farming town of Brits in the North West province. This dam is well known among conventional carp and bass anglers and holds massive numbers of carp, catfish and bass. The pegs were layed out over 3 parts for the dam – the southern crocodile river mouth, the western and most northern bank close to the dam wall owned by Water Affairs. This was also the venue for the opening ceremony and exhibition which took place on saterday 4 March.

As Anglers arrived they were greeted by Music, Stalls, friendly faces and of course a massive sense of excitement. Long time friends and fellow anglers hung out under the trees as registrations took place inside the market area.  The longest cast competition was one of the many highlights with many anglers showing  off their casting skills. The ceremonial precedings started with talks by the guests of honour Commander Steve Bond the Director of the World Carp Masters all the way from France and local carp angling hero Gilbert Foxcroft. SA Carp Masters directors Kobus Lottering and Charles Horlick also gave some encouraging advice to the guys. The Peg draws was next on the agenda where teams had to draw their swim which would be their home for the next 5 days of competition. Then it was time for dinner where Eddie and his team certainly exceeded expectations with a beautiful made up venue and the delicious food that was served.

The next morning at 9am the shot was fired to mark the start of the tournament. Not knowing what to expect the anglers started their feature finding and baiting campaigns. It was not long before the first bite alarms started screaming. The first fish was caught by Western Cape angler Edwin Theron on peg 30 in Zone D which broke the 7kg qualifying weight mark. Edwin Theron and his father Edwin Snr were the first on the leaderboard and they kept the fish coming on day 1 which put them in a good lead. As Day 2 started it was still the Carp Gigz team on Peg 30 leading with Karpioene team of Pieter and Riaan next to them on peg 29 short on their heels. The fish were now coming out thick and fast on every zone, but many of the fish were under qualifying weight. Zone D which sat on the southern side in the Crocodile river mouth was seeing more qualifying fish being landed. As night fell on day 2 it was still anyones tournament to win.

As morning broke on day 3 everything had changed on the leaderboard. The DB Baits team of Ruan Erasmus, Antony Nell and Jonathan Rademeyer on peg 20 in Zone C had come up from behind during the night and landed 8 weighing fish which elevated them to the top spot. Their baiting plan had finally started to pay off and they were working hard to keep the fish in their area. Another team that was looking good was their neighbours on peg 21 Danny Pretorius and rookie Alfred Ledwaba. They were lying in 4th place after catching a 9.51kg carp which was the biggest fish at that stage. Both those pegs in Zone C were working extremely hard to keep the good size fish in the area after a night without any sleep. A massive crocodile also showed his face in Zone D right in front of the cameras which added to the extreme african fishing conditions that anglers were having to deal with.

Going into day 4 the order on the leaderboard had changed once again as the Zone D pegs fell  behind after another good night in Zone C. Ruan and his team were starting to run away from the rest of the pack after bagging a number of 9 and 8kg fish throughout the 3rd night. Danny and Alfred also jumped a few places and were lying in second place right behind Team DB on peg 20. In Zone D it was Hennie Visser and Johan Barkhuizen from another team DB who had a strike of luck when they landed the Biggest fish of the tournament of 9.7kg.

Fatique was starting to show as the final day arrived. Anglers were all catching large numbers of carp but very few made it past the 7kg qualifying mark. It really took good planning and strategy by team DB on peg 20 which secured them so many good size fish. Danny and Alfred were still lying right behind them in second place and were working hard to try and catch up to them.  Meanwhile in Zone D the team of Basil Ferreira and Stef de Bruto on peg 33 were climbing into the bigger fish from their rocky swim on the edge. They were quickly jumping positions and climbing the leaderboard at a rapid pace. As the final night fell many pegs were still hard at work to try and catch that one big fish over 10kg which would secure the biggest fish prize.

As morning broke on the 10th of March no one would be able to catch up to Team DB on peg 20 who caught a total of 28 weighing fish with a weight of 215kg of which their biggest was a 9.53kg common. Ruan, Anthony and Jonathan had worked extremely hard and their strategy had paid off. The prizegiving ceremony was once again held at Water Affairs. Third place went to Team Cyprinidae – Stef de Bruto, Basil and Nicolette Ferreira with a total weight of 113kg. In second place was Team Carp Gigz – Danny Pretorius and Alfred Ledwaba with a total weight of 138.9kg and in first place our new SA Champions were non other than Team DB – Ruan, Anthony and Jonathan with their total weight of 215kg. Biggest fish went to Hennie Visser also from Team DB with a fish of 9.7kg.

This incredible event would not be so successful if it was not for the great effort by the SACM team, Eddie and his Team from Roodekoppies Water Affairs, Isabel from Pink Ladies who did the decor and catering, all the resort owners around Roodekoppies dam and of course the great support we received from the anglers and general angling community. All the sponsors also played an enormous role in making this tournament the best local qualifier on the World Specimen Carp Fishing Circuit.

A big thank you to Steve Bond, Gilbert Foxcroft, Louwtjie Louwjies, Carp Gigz, Karpioene, Specimen SA, Conoflex, Bossard, Tera Tech Baits, Psycho Baits, DB Baits, Fuzion Baits, Carp Trix SA and all the other local sponsors. Follow the action as Team SA heads to France in August 2017 on the SA Carp Masters facebook page and website www.sacarpmasters.com