FIPS-M Big Game World Games Come to Sodwana
All the top anglers in the world come to South Africa for a parade in JHB and then four days of intense big game fishing at the FIPS-M World Angling Games 2019 in Sodwana
South Africa will host the Fédération Internationale de la Pêche Sportive–Mer (FIPS-M)’s 2019 World Angling Games Big Game Fishing tournament in Sodwana Bay. It starts with a flag ceremony and marches by top anglers from every country in Sandton, JHB, on 9 February 2019. Then everyone flies to King Shaka airport in Durban on 10 February and go onto Sodwana for four days of top-flight international fishing.
Species fished will be marlin, sailfish and game fish, especially tuna at the 2019 FIPS-M World Angling Games in Sodwana.
For info, get in touch with SADSAA at 083 284 5969, or email chris.schorn@davwen.co.za.
This competition is part of a bigger international fishing world championships events. In February, South Africa hosts the world’s best anglers in all categories for the 2019 Sport Fishing World Games.
Plus: Discover all the fishing competitions in February.
To give you an idea what to expect, check out what happened when SA competed in the FIPS-M Big Game World Championships in France last year:
AT LAST YEAR’S FIPS-M WORLD CHAMPS
Team SA had a tough start to the competition (due to bad weather). The Proteas were Nishaad Ibrahim (2nd cap), Marius Coetzee (1st cap, captain), Daniel Hughes (3rd cap), Chris Pike (1st cap) and interpreter Patrick Christodoulou, and they represented South Africa at the 27th annual FIPS-M Big Game World Championships in Frontignan, France, 29 September–6 October 2018.
South Africa finished in 13th place overall, and the team weren’t too happy. Team Captain Marius Coetzee sighted some questionable rules in the FIPS-M rulebook. “You can’t move your boat after you’ve picked your spot for the day,” he said, “you have to fish in that same spot all day, which puts you at the mercy of your skipper, and there’s a language barrier to covercome there.”
QUESTIONABLE COMP RULES
“And then, some of the boats are classed differently because they have a tiny step when you head to the bow. If you’re unlucky enough to draw one of these boats by random chance, then you can’t fight fish all the way around the boat. The rule is you can step up that tiny little step when fighting a fish, or you’ll be disqualified.
“So, when fighting a fish, you have to untie your anchor and turn the boat. then fight the fish and get back to your anchor line as quickly as possible. It’s ludicrous.
“Plus their points system favours those who catch fish every day of the comp. It doesn’t matter if you’ve caught bigger fish or more fish on average. For example: We caught something like 10 fish and we finished in 13th place. And the Italian team caught only 4 fish, but they finished in 3rd place. Doesn’t make a lot of sense.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WORLD CHAMPS IN FRANCE
After whetting their appetites with a few beautiful tuna in the range of 90kg on two practice days shade of the competition – See here:
SA team to France getting their toes wet on their practice day with this nice bluefin tuna of 90kg well done guys.
Posted by South African Deep Sea Angling Association on Thursday, 27 September 2018
… the competition was put on hold for three days due to bad weather conditions (go figure). So it was a lot of waiting for some time.
South African team ready to go for the first days fishing after 3 days bad weather. Good luck for the day.
Posted by South African Deep Sea Angling Association on Wednesday, 3 October 2018
FLAG PARADES AND PROTEA JACKETS
At least there were formalities and festivities to keep the Protea boys (and all the other anglers from around the world) busy for the three days it took for the weather to clear up. There were a big flag parade and procession and, of course, the beautiful French town of Frontignan to explore (more below).
The south African team in France during their Flag ceremony. Show your support by commenting or Like the post
Posted by South African Deep Sea Angling Association on Sunday, 30 September 2018
WATCH: THE PROTEAS IN THE STREETS OF FRONTIGNAN
Posted by Jeff Daniels on Monday, 1 October 2018
WATCH: FIRST CATCH AND RELEASE FOOTAGE
Finally, on day four, the weather cleared and it was time to get out there and get fishing. And the SA team didn’t do badly at all. Releasing a total of seven fish, six of them qualifying for the comp.
SA team with the release of one of the 3 fish so far for the day. Nice blue fin Tuna. This is a measure and release tournament. Fish not allowed to leave the water. Keep them coming team
Posted by South African Deep Sea Angling Association on Thursday, 4 October 2018
Doesn’t sound like much, but with the first few days a blowout, that actually puts our Protea boys in the running for the final day on Friday 5 October. Let’s hope we see them perform well come the prize ceremony on the Saturday 6 October.
Read about the competition below …
ABOUT THE FIPS-M WORLD CHAMPS
They’ll have their work cut out for them though. Some of the best anglers in the world are going to be here. And the competition has a few quirks of its own.
STRICTLY NO-KILL BIG GAME FISHING
The competition takes place on the Gulf of Lion, a rich ecosystem that’s been awarded the European Blue Flag for over 20 years. Conservation is a big thing in this part of the world. And the anglers will be going after prized tuna and swordfish. So the competition will be strictly catch and release.
The Proteas, like all teams, will have to document their catches via photo and video and then release. And to ensure authenticity, the angler must wear a unique wristband (new wristbands will be supplied every day) which must be visible on the footage. Max lines of 37.5kg are allowed and the team is allocated 40kg of sardines as bait per day.
HOSTED BY FRANCE’S FINEST
The FIPS-M Big Game World Championships takes place from the marina at the coastal town of Frontignan La Peyrade – known as a community that’s very passionate about their fishing. And the local club hosting the event is Pêche Sportive Frontignanaise.
Good luck to our Proteas and remember that you can keep up to date with the latest news and info from the FIPS-M Big Game World Championships in Frontignan via the SADSAA Facebook page.
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MORE FISHING COMPETITIONS
See all the SA big fishing competitions here
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