THE Rock and Surf Super Pro League (Rasspl) held their national and international events in the Port Alfred area over the long weekend of April 27-30.
The National Tournament saw 141 anglers taking part in the following teams: Western Province Bronzies, West Coast Blue Rays, Southern Cape Great Whites, Eastern Province Raggies, Kowie Crackers and Border Blacktips.
Day 1 was fished from Fish River to Kleinemonde, Day 2 from Kleinemonde to Port Alfred, and Day 3 from Kasouga – both east and west.
In the team division, the Kowie Crackers did very well to take first place with 8 751 points. Second place went to WP Bronzies with 7 897 points and third place to WC Blue Rays with 4 154 points.
“In the individual division we are very proud of our own Wade Labuschagne for taking first place overall!” said David Drennan of the Kowie Crackers.
Local anglers that made the Rasspl national team are: Seniors Division – Wade Labuschagne, Andrew Coetzee, Greg Timm, Warren Potts and David Drennan (for the seventh consecutive year); Masters Division – Deon Marais; Ladies Division – Jakolette Thiart.
The above anglers will be representing South Africa at the next Rasspl International to be held in Angola in June next year, where South Africa will be fishing against England, Namibia and possibly Scotland. It was announced that next year’s national will be held in Port Elizabeth.
Rhodes University had their research team at the Rasspl event collecting data and live specimens for ongoing catch-and-release angling research.
The Rhodes research team is called the Southern African Fisheries and Ecology Research (Safer) Lab. Team member Brett Pringle said the Rasspl competition gave the Safer Lab a fantastic opportunity to observe angler catch-and-release behaviour, as well as fish physiological data associated with marine shore-based catch-and-release angling.
“A big thank you to Rasspl and all the competitors who so willingly cooperated with our research efforts,” Pringle said.
“Our ongoing collaboration with the Rasspl angling group is a perfect example of how research and angling groups can work together towards a common goal.”
The Kowie Crackers franchise won the Best Fish Handling Franchise trophy, and member Andrew Coetzee won third place for the angler with the best fish handling, for his stripped catshark of 100cm which only had a 15 second air exposure time. Second place went to a Warrick Peterson of WP Bronzies for his blacktail of 30cm with a 14 second air exposure, and first to Adeeb Galant of WP Bronzies for his spotted gullyshark with a total air exposure of 13 seconds.
The International Tournament was being fished simultaneously with the national event and saw South Africa facing off against England and Namibia.
Drennan was the only angler from the Kowie Crackers franchise to represent South Africa in the international. He placed 4th overall.
International team results:
Seniors
1st South Africa
2nd Namibia
3rd England
Masters
1st South Africa
2nd England
2nd Namibia
Ladies
1st South Africa
2nd Namibia
3nd England
Juniors
1st Namibia
2nd South Africa
3rd England
With a combination of both events, 166 anglers took part, and 1 810 fish were caught and released, consisting of 37 species.
