UKFC FISHING
F E S T I VA L
(May 3rd – 4th)
Congratulations to Lowrance SA Brand
Ambassador, Brett Bartho, for winning the
2019 UKFC Fishing Festival, with a 27.52kg
Couta and hooking the R50 000 cash prize!
He caught this beauty in tough conditions
on Day 1 and he was the overnight leader
of this kayak competition.
slide
This continues Brett’s winning streak of
the summer: He and Gordon Bannister
recently won the doubles division of the
Racetech Jetski competition in Ponta Do
Ouro and in March he won the Umhlanga
Skiboat Festival with a Yellowfin Tuna of
29.14kgs!
His excitement was quite tangible as he explained how the fight of the weekend
went down. “The early morning launch was quite smooth but by 9.30 a 15-knot
wind had come up and it really became very unpleasant. I was fishing off Zinkwazi
- with Roscoe Rautenbach who is also a Lowrance SA Brand Ambassador – using
my Elite 4 Chirp unit. I had not had much joy and the swells were getting bigger
- so I finally decided to give it one last go, using a dead Bonnie as bait. Not long
after, I had actually turned around to paddle back to Roscoe to see whether we
should call it a day, when the Couta struck!
“Straight away I knew this was a big one due to its speed and resistance and the
fight was on! After 20-minutes, the fun had only just begun! I had the fish within
reach, and I knew I had to gaff it properly, as it was so strong and there was only
one hook in it. In the process, it nearly pulled me right over! I couldn’t get a good
grip on the gills, so I managed to grab it by the tail and hung on for dear life.
Eventually I managed to drag it onto the ski and into the hatch (gaff and all) and
my elation at knowing it was safe, had me shouting with joy!”
Meanwhile Roscoe barely noticed all this action, as he was busy fighting his own
shark at the time!