TACTICS
By Justin Paynter
A
The author with a solid croc caught off Durban.
S April draws closer, reports of the so called “crocodile ’cuda” start to be thrown around more and more. Social media is a hive of activity with anglers waiting to see what was caught on a daily basis and trying to figure out where the fish pictured were caught. April also heralds the running of the annual Durban Ski-Boat Club Festival where the biggest ’cuda (king mackerel) takes the main prize. This year that prize is a SeaCat 520 with 2 x 60hp Yamaha 4-stroke engines. The organiser, Hilton Kidger, thinks it’s an easy task to catch the winning fish — load your boat with some rods and tackle and go fish for two days! If only it was that simple. When you’re fishing a festival of such magnitude, there are numerous factors to take into consideration before even entering, so I’d like to help you with that prep. First, have you checked with your better half that you are able to fish over the long weekend? This is probably the most challenging part of your preparations. In some cases it can be a costly exercise. I always refer to April as divorce month because there are so many big festivals, then there’s the Gamefish Nationals which is normally a five-day competition and, well, every other day that is fishable. April is also the month when everybody is aiming to get a ’cuda over 30kg, so time on the water is critical. Once you have wined and dined your wife and got her blessing (however grudging), your next question is: Who am I going to fish with? Fishing a festival is a business arrangement because money is involved.To start with it’s not cheap to fish a festival, and then when you do win something, who gets what? How are you going to split the prize? Does the boat get a share? No matter how strong a friendship is, you and your fishing partners need to make a written agreement on how you split your prizes before you enter. This way, you won’t have to have an awkward conversation while standing on your crew member’s new boat that he/she has SKI-BOAT March/April 2022 • 47
