The Suzuki GBBAC Offshore Classic 2014 was held out of Gordons Bay Boat Angling Club from 21 to 25 April 2014. South Sea Suzuki, the official Suzuki Marine dealer in Strand, has been the major sponsor of this prestigious event on the South African fishing calendar for years. In 2012 a 3.9m Suzumar with a Suzuki DF5 was given away and in 2013 it was a Suzuki voucher and products to the value of R 40000. This year South Sea Suzuki decided to up the stakes and offered one of our in- house built boats, the Ski-Craft CAT 15 fitted with twin Suzuki DF40ATL outboards. To justify such a high valued prize, it was decided to set the bar at a yellowfin tuna (or any other gamefish) of 90kg. i.e. the angler who caught the biggest fish over 90kg would walk away with a prize of R 250 000.
In the days leading up to the tournament it became clear that the weather forecast was looking great, the anglers had been getting plenty of yellowfin and the stage was set for a great competition.
Day one, Monday, saw twenty odd boats head out to the tuna grounds. The weather was great and the fish plentiful, but the big ones had mysteriously disappeared. The biggest fish of the day was a yellowfin of 80kg and a longfin of 28kg. Both caught by South Sea Suzuki, the Suzuki dealerships entry into the competition. Practically everyone weighed fish, but the average size of the yellowfin were around 40 to 50kg. Not big enough.
Day two and day three offered more of the same and whilst the weather was great, the fishing was not. There were more than enough fish, but nothing big enough to win the boat.
Day four dawned and everyone headed out with high hopes. At about 2pm, it was radioed that someone had caught a really big fish. Judging by the reports and comments, it was a real brute and it seemed someone had won the boat. That evening at scales, we all waited in anticipation for the huge fish. It pulled the scale to 77kg and that was it. The competition was over, the boat would not go anywhere and the South Sea Suzuki team were the winners of both the biggest yellowfin and the biggest longfin. Jayson Jooste caught both the fish. Top boat honours went to well known deep sea angler Patrick Christodoulou on Magoofter.
Overall it was a great competition, but a little deflated by the fact no one caught a big enough fish to qualify for the boat. The weeks after the competition produced numerous fish deep into the 90’s and a couple of over 100kg as well. Murphy’s law? We’ll see what comes up next year!