TRIAL BY FIRE

Successful event for Proteas in Egypt

By Justin Paynter

THE Orascom Development International Fishing Tournament held in Egypt in mid February was not on the original SADSAA 2023 tournaments calendar,but our National Tournaments Officer,Nick Nel,has been working around the clock to find international tournaments for our anglers to fish in.

The invite came out,CVs were sent through to our provincial body for signing,and then off they went to SADSAA for the selection process to be done. With fingers and toes crossed,angler’s whose names were in the mix waited in anticipation to see “Chris Schorn”,the SADSAA’s President’s name,appear on their phonescreen.There was no way of knowing which way it would go.

It was probably the most emotional call I’ve received as an angler — being told that I would be representing my country and that I had reached the pinnacle of my fishing career.All the blood, sweat,tears,heartache,disappointment and humbling moments had led to this — reaching my dream and finally being able to put on that green blazer.

And yes,just like that — one,two, Egypt happened.It was a whirlwind of an organising experience.Anglers usually have three to six months to organise their trip,have a capping ceremony, order their clothing,and get together to have team meetings to ensure they were taking the correct tackle.Well,we had just under a month to do it all.

Our team consisted of Frank De Oliveira (Capt.),Abed Khan,Douglas Dustan and me.We pulled together,we were allocated tasks,and we got the job done.What made it even more interesting was that we were all new caps,so we weren’t entirely sure of certain processes,but our administration staff and tournaments officer at SADSAA were unbelievable and held our hands throughout the whole process.

Our capping ceremony was hosted at Point Water Sports Club,home to Durban Ski Boat Club,and the wellattended evening was one to be remembered by all.As SADSAA’s PR Officer,I am invited to most of the capping ceremonies,and it was amazing to see how many Protea anglers came to wish this team all the best in Egypt.

With the capping ceremony done,it was time to pack.If you have never travelled overseas to go fishing,let me tell you,it’s an experience all on its own.Rod tubes must be a certain length,you are only allowed so much luggage so you have to purchase extra bags,fishing reels are packed in hand luggage to save space (don’t forget to take the spool off because they won’t let you on the plane with the line on). Remember to pack the spools!

Next you lay everything out in the lounge to decide what stays and what goes.That was an interesting couple of nights,because we were heading to a multi-faceted competition! We were trolling (57lb line),popping (80lb braid),jigging (65lb braid) and then were also allowed to deep drop (bottomfish) for swordfish.I will make mention of it later in the article.

And yes,we still had to pack our clothes!

Armed with two suitcases weighing just under 23kg each,three pieces of PVC pipe strapped together to make one item of luggage,and a backpack filled with reels,we were ready to go.

Getting out of my dad’s car at King Shaka International Airport and having him tell me that he was proud of me, and that I should enjoy the experience and make sure we came home with a medal,was a tear-jerking experience.

Doug,Abed and I finally made it through airport one of six,landing in OR Tambo to meet up with Frank.Once we’d checked our bags through to Hurghada,reality finally set in.It was happening!

When we eventually arrived in Hurghada,we were greeted like celebrities.The Red Sea Anglers,as they call themselves,really looked after us and their hospitality was outstanding.

Finally we reached El Gouna which is a very affluent,privately owned town.It is known as Egypt’s Maldives — playground of the rich and famous. We stayed at the Ali Pasha Hotel which where the owner of El Gouna lives.We had amazing rooms and again,were treated like royalty.

It was out of season,so the town was quiet and not many tourists or locals were there.Multimillion-dollar vessels lined the docks,and you could just imagine the vibe in this town in season.

The weather was around 18- to 20 degrees each day — not what we were expecting,nor what we had packed for. The locals told us that we were unfortunately experiencing a horrendous weather pattern,with strong winds, which was very uncommon for this time of year.

The bad weather hampered our preparations in terms of practice days, and we went into the tournament without having the opportunity to have a practice day or two.

Interestingly,the skippers don’t have a say in whether or not they go to sea,that is determined solely by the harbor authorities.Detailed flight plans must be submitted and return times must be adhered to or you would be fined.The weather just seemed to get worse and worse,and there was a moment where we contemplated whether we were even going to get the opportunity to fish this tournament.

On Wednesday night,the organisers gave us the green light — we were going fishing in the morning.It was a three-day competition,running from 8pm on Thursday till noon on Saturday, and we were allowed to fish the entire time.This made for an exciting time to say the least,as it was the first event of its kind.We lived aboard the boat and fished around the clock,trying different methods to catch the fish.

Expectations were high that we could catch a monster swordfish in the evening,so we had gone out and spent around R4000 on swordfish gear,including leader,16/18 hooks,lights,and squid jigs.They’d told us “no lights,no fish”,so,we bought extra just in case.

We also bought squid jigs to jig for giant squid of up to 5kg that we would use for bait for the swordfish.We tried hard for these fish,fishing all night every night,and caught nothing.Not one boat caught a swordfish.

On board our vessel,we had a captain,two deck hands and a chef who looked after us incredibly well and assisted where they could.The boat had five cabins,a saloon that could probably seat 20 people,and an open helm station.The captain used a horn to communicate with the deckhands.

We discovered that the vessel’s electronics were very primitive with no charts or contour lines,just a few waypoints.

Popping and jigging didn’t go well, because in the poor weather conditions,the boat was unable to hold the desired position or mark,and we couldn’t get the desired action out of our jigs or poppers.Our most effective form of fishing came from trolling lures.

Strangely,our skipper believed that you must never slow the boat when fighting a fish,and our skipjack ended up skipping on the water’s surface. What we also found interesting,was that every time we found a good mark, we would get a fish or two and then he would move on!

We fished hard,and at one stage we had used 80 different lures to try and entice a bite.In the end we managed to catch four bonnies,one skipjack,one dorado,one coral trout and a Red Sea hound fish which is a pending world record for Frank.

Back at the docks,when we saw what the other teams had caught,we thought we might be in with a chance. The scoring worked that you got ten points per species,plus you got the weight for each fish but were only allowed to catch five of any particular species.

The weighing of the fish started,and as we did the calculations in our heads, we knew we were in with a shout. When the results were read out,we managed a very respectful third placed out of 14 teams — a great achievement for an all-new capped Protea team with no practice days.

A big thank you to SADSAA,our provincial bodies,families,friends and fellow anglers for supporting us in our fishing journey.To come home with a medal was the cherry on top of a dream come true.