Nomads Captain’s Report
From: Mitchell Moore <mitchell@mandmconstruction.co.za>
Date: Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 8:10 AM
Subject: Captains report back for the Rose bowl 2014 at Sodwana.
The opening ceremony went off relatively well, although a bit of time was wasted trying to decipher some of the more ambiguous rules prior to the kick off. It is always great to see the other provincial anglers, people who have become our friends. The Rose Bowl atmosphere was positive and friendly. Thanks must be given to Guinjata and Bret in particular for organizing the competition at the new venue on very short notice.
On the way down the team and other teams had a brace of incidents involving pedestrians and extreme caution must be exercised while driving towards Pongola and the more rural roads. It appears to have got worse then before with domestic stock, inebriated pedestrians and small children crossing the road. However the team arrived safely, so all was well.
Day one was very tough fishing but still Nomads ended up as the top club for the day. A good start. Gaffer Dog brought a sailfish to the table, but unfortunately it was disqualified due to the leader lines not being within the IGFA dictated length parameters. Wade Martin fishing on Gaffer Dog was devastated, but a lot of positive was derived from the incident. Firstly it gave us a depth, direction, lure type and a speed adjustment to be utilize for the balance of the competition with regard to targeting Sailfish. It also highlighted the need for the club to tackle our development with greater enthusiasm. To Wade, sorry man, but well fished to have got the sailfish and for maintaining a positive outlook. I will be the first to break champagne against the bow of your first future boat which I believe will be named 1;3;1.
On day two very few fish where brought to the scales and Nomads slipped to 2nd position. I also become obvious that the light tackle boats, targeting game fish had a better game plan as highlighted at the weigh in and with the overall fishing being so slow. Up to this point the 36 boats partaking had zero success at releasing a bill. Some Nomads boats adjusted their focus from Marlin to Sailfish and game fish. We still had Free Spool and My Dream doing the hard yards in the deep water to find that elusive Marlin for the club.
Day 3 started with a big surf and an unfortunate incident, where a Guinjata boat capsized in the surf. Nobody was injured and the resultant shock made many skippers opt out of launching for the day. As far as I was concerned it was the wiser and more level headed that chose this option. The entire days fishing was slow and then in half an hour we had 4 boats in the fleet hooked up onto billfish. Gaffer Dog, with Anton Getz the angler, brought another sailfish to the table, thanks Ballie, RamKat hooked up but lost a Sailfish and Ocean Commotion landed a Marlin. Father Time hooked into a 20kg Marlin while drifting for a Cuta and landed the fish and secured the competition for TSC. Good fishing and it looks like the ghost of Henry is still on the boat.
Day 4 was a 50:50 day with strong winds in the morning and a forecast that indicated the winds would increase at around 9H00 hours to 25knots gusting 35 knots, most opted to go drink a beer and a few skippers launched and fished for a few hours before the wind chased them off the ocean. Notably the Nomads boat Bulldog under Kevin took to the seas and produced some fish which included species and brought good points to the table.
Day 5 was also bad weather, bad fishing and bad seas, Enigma got knocked over by a freak wave at the 600m depth mark. The wave hit the boat so hard it cracked both engine cowlings and bent the starboard outrigger. Very close call.
In the end TSC were the winners, Makaria also beat us and Nomads ended up a lowly third position. Well it is time to say thank you to the team for all their efforts, scratch our heads, lick our wounds and compile a better plan to approach the next Rose Bowl with. The Southern Guateng guys are a great bunch and it is always a pleasure fishing with them.
