Bigger and better Bonanza booked for 2018

WHILE the wild weather put paid to any meaningful fishing contest, the 400 anglers who entered the 2017 Richards Bay Ski Boat Club Bonanza took it all in their stride.

Realising it was out of the hands of the hard-working committee, the deep sea crews accepted with good grace the gale that blew them out the water from Friday to Sunday, while the hardy Bay boaters tackled the elements as best they could , trying to land something for the scales.

‘To my knowledge, it’s the first time in 39 years it has happened that we did not have a single day to go out to sea,’ RBSBC Commodore Jan Kapp said at the prize giving on Sunday night.

By consensus, the deep sea species prizes were awarded by means of a ‘lucky draw’, while there were at least some sand fish that were weighed by Bay boat anglers.

First place went to Trevor Goddard with a sand fish weighing 2.1kg (60% of the 3.5kg bench mark); Kitty Bosman took second spot with a sand fish of 1.8kg (51.43%); and young Divan Dippenaar third with one of 1.5kg (42.86%).

Kapp promised that next year’s 40th birthday event would be a huge one.

‘We have not awarded the deep sea boat prize this year, kindly sponsored by Richards Bay Yamaha, so next year we will have two deep sea boats and one Bay boat as the top prizes.

‘In addition, those who entered this year will get a special discount in 2018.

‘The event will be televised and will be a great tourist attraction.’

This year’s competition saw 101 deep sea and 14 Bay boat entries; that number is expected to more than double next year.

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