COMPETITIVE ANGLING
Jan du Plessis, Divan Burger and Karla Rautmann with the catches that took their U19 SADSAA team to first place in the 2022 Bottomfish Nationals. Among their haul was Divan’s 38.5kg red steenbras, a potential All Africa record.
A COPPERSADSAA FORJuniorsTHEmakingRECORD BOOKS their mark By Francois Beukes
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HE annual South African Deep Sea Angling Association (SADSAA) Senior Bottomfish Nationals traditionally does its rounds along the coast of South Africa stretching from Western Province to KwaZulu-Natal with the various affiliated provinces taking turns hosting this prestigious competition. The 2022 competition was hosted by Border Deep Sea Angling Association (BDSAA) and fished out of East London Ski Boat Club.As usual, a SADSAA junior
under-19 team was selected to compete against the seniors. This year’s tournament saw 17 teams from various provinces participating, with men’s and women’s teams competing on level terms. East London is synonymous with the abundance of various bottomfish species and is renowned as the home of the red steenbras aka copper. This year teams once again put their tackle to the test in an attempt to land these giants on 10kg monofilament line class, as chosen by BDSAA. During the competition SADSAA
junior angler Divan Burger from Western Province managed to hook and land one of these giants and was asked to give his version of this remarkable feat and the whole experience. It’s truly a remarkable story from humble young man with a great future ahead of him. By Divan Burger ROM 26 April to 1 May I fished the Senior Bottomfish Nationals in East London with Jan du Plessis (our team captain) and Karla Rautmann for the U19 SADSAA
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