Big Fish at the Biggest Kleinbaai Bottomfish Interprovincial Yet
Massive red stumps, romans and silvers, more provincial fishing teams taking part than ever before and all the excitement at this year’s Kleinbaai Bottomfish Interprovincials
Beautiful fishing, monster red fish and a record number of entrants were the highlights of the 7th annual Kleinbaai Bottomfish Interprovincial competition hosted by Overberg Boat Club at Kleinbaai in Gansbaai 8–11 August 2018.
While fish variation was slightly limited – only about 5 or 6 of the earmarked species made an appearance – the bottom fish that were caught were big, very big.
THE BIGGER THE FISH …
Now, Kleinbaai already has a bit of a reputation for producing decent-sized fish, as far as bottom fish goes. And this year was no different.
Straight off the bat on day one Eastern Province (EP) Ladies’ Vanessa Gerber (who did extremely well in the competition, more on that later) brought in a geelbek weighing in 3.3kg and a red stump looking good at 4.87kg (equaled on day two by Western Province’s (WP) Piet Wessels).
But it was (ultimate tournament winning team) EP Black’s Ian Peinke who would stun as far as red stump are concerned when he brought in this monstrous 5.66kg on day three.
That’s not to say that any of the other red stump were small. Just look at this whopper brought in by WP’s Adele Palmer.
More highlights were the biggest silver at 2.3kg brought in by Southern Cape (SC) Junior’s Mieke Myburgh and two 3.18kg romans by EP Red’s Christopher Gerber and EP Ladies’ Jen Nelson.
RECORD NUMBER OF ENTRANTS
A big highlight was the incredible increase in the number of entries for the Kleinbaai Bottomfish Interprovincial 2018.
“We’ve hosted the tournament for 7 years now,” says Overberg Boat Club member Riaan Van Staden, “and on average you’ll get about 5–7 teams competing. This year, we saw a record number of 11 teams taking part. And that was just a big highlight for all of us. Especially seeing the junior teams partaking and performing really well.”
And he’s right, there were three junior teams: EP Juniors, WP Juniors and SC Juniors, which was just really special. And another special mention to the EP Ladies team who did exceptionally well in the competition. Speaking of results …
THE RESULTS ARE IN
The overall winners of the competition were Eastern Province who had a total of four teams representing in the competition. Here are the results:
1. GOLD: EP Black
With a total score of 554.41, a hearty congrats to the boys of EP Black: Ben de Bruyn, Ian Peinke and Brian Gerber.
2. SILVER: EP Ladies
What an incredible thing it was to see this all-ladies team take the silver. And a special mention to all three of you who contributed that final score of 495.74. That’s three years finishing in the top three for Sheena Rothner Gerber, who took gold in 2016, silver in 2017 and now silver again in 2018.
Also a stellar tournament by Jen Nelson who’s consistent performance was a pleasure to watch. And then, of course, a mention of Vanessa Gerber who also posted the highest total weight in catches overall in the tournament. You girls rock!
MORE RESULTS
3. WP Blue
4. EP Red
5. WP White
6. EP Juniors
7. WP Juniors
8. SC Juniors
9. Kwa-Zulu Natal
10. Barbarians
11. SC Seniors
Congratulations to everyone!
A SPECIAL THANKS TO OVERBERG BOAT CLUB
Of all the feedback we’ve received on the Kleinbaai Bottomfish Interprovincials 2018, overwhelmingly everyone has said what a pleasure it was to be hosted by Overberg Boat Club.
Thanks for having us and see you all again next year.
Next up in the bottom-fishing calendar: check out the 2018 KZN Bottomfish Interzonals in Warnadoone and the 2018 All Coastals BottomFish Interprovincial tournament in Knysna.
See all the upcoming competitions in September 2018.
SEE THE COMPETITIONS COMING IN OCTOBER 2018
You can also enter and win the grand prize of a brand-new 4.5-metre boat plus Suzuki engine at the 2018 ECM Ford Bottom Species Challenge in PE in November.
SEE ALL FISHING COMPETITIONS FOR THE YEAR
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