Tiger Fish wins boat at Zambezi Classic

By: SHEEFENI NIKODEMUS

JJ Smith reeled in a monstrous tiger fish which won him a top of the range boat, as the International Zambezi Classic came to a pulsating end on Saturday.

Smith, of the Musketeers Angling Club, won the main prize, a T-Craft Gator with 90hp Yamaha engine and fittings plus a trailer, sponsored by West Coast Marine, with a record breaking tiger Fish weighing a new International Zambezi Classic record of 8,13 kilograms.
Roelf Botha also set a new Thin Face Tilapia record of 2,605 kg, bettering the previous record by over 300 grams. Hennie le Roux claimed a new Barble record with a 16,525 kg catch, and Johann Oppermann made history by capturing a gigantic 0,425kg squeaker.
Platinum sponsor, T-Craft, donated a T-Craft 350 boat to the Ministry of Fisheries’ Research Department, a first and timely initiative.
This should go a long way towards its marine reservation and research project, after the discovery of new species by Nwanyi Angling Club’s, Julani Wahl, during Trials on Lake Liambezi.
Wahl also won the Junior Department of the Zambezi Classic, with Horst Koortzen second, and Pieter Andreas coming in third.
The women’s division winner was Monica Rhoda, and Rina Steenkamp the runner-up, with Christy Bennet from Zambia taking third.
The overall division was ruled by men this year, with Basie Struwig in first place, Douglas Wegener less than a point behind him, and Carel van der Merwe a further point behind Douglas in an exciting contest.
In the Teams devision, FireFly (Basie Struwig, Elaine and Strijs Coertzen) came first, with Team Trentyre Angola (Douglas Wegener and Carel van der Merwe) second as Aliboats ( Rod Bateman, Kevin Sharp & Van Louverdis)finished third.
The First and second place differed with only 1,2 points, just under the hundred points mark, showing again the closeness of this race.
Seventy-two angling teams – including seven from South Africa, 12 from Botswana, two from Zambia and Zimbabwe – competed for three days on the Upper Zambezi River at Kalimbeza Rest Camp and Island View lodge.

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