The Wise Owl Catches the Fish

The 35th Yamaha Billfish 15000

Article by Blyde Pretorius

Photos by Kiki Corner Photography, Framing & Video Productions

NOVEMBER 2021 saw another week of incredible marlin fishing at the Billfish 15000 with anglers fighting for top position until the final day. Better than this you won’t get! Record breaking daily releases made this tournament one to remember.

Dorado Ski Boat Club once again pulled it off by putting together an amazing tournament. It’s always a challenge to arrange the Billfish 15000 when the committee is based kilometres away from its venue of Sodwana Bay. Wanting to try new things and never knowing if it will work out, and at the same time praying for good weather and no serious incidents, the organisers collect many grey hairs in the months leading up to the event. But, as always, everything worked out perfectly.

In proper Billfish 15000 tradition, on the Saturday night before the tournament started, the committee hosted a social evening with the generous sponsors of the Billfish 15000 to thank all those involved. On the Sunday, all the boat teams and four jetski anglers registered for the tournament. Excited to get on the water the next day, many teams hit their beds early to be fresh for day one of the tournament.

The weather was perfect for day one of the 2021 Billfish 15000 on Monday, 8 November 2021. When one arrives at the beach in the early morning hours, still in total darkness, and then sees the sun rise over the mighty ocean, it is totally breathtaking.

Thanks to great team work and the help of our world renowned beach control duo, Mariette Hendriksz and Lizelle Els, all the boats got safely out to sea. It didn’t take long for the action to start, and at 07h19 the first marlin of the tournament was released!

Many boats stayed on the water until the last possible second, mainly in the hopes of winning the daily prize of R10000, sponsored by Close-Up Mining, for the last marlin released of the day. At the end of day one, Pulsator, winners of the 2020 Billfish 15000 tournament was again in the lead, having releasing two black marlin for the day.

Although a disappointing blow-out was called for day two, the fun did not stop. Anglers were still entertained on the beach with a little team competition — Tug of Warn — arranged by Andrew Cornelius from WARN, one of the Billfish 15000’s sponsors for over 30 years. Angling teams competed against each other to see who was strongest. This was great fun and the winners received a prize hamper at the daily prize giving and happy hour with beverages that were proudly sponsored by Halewood Artisanal Spirits — Buffelsfontein Brandy.

As everyone knows, it’s the team spirit that makes the Billfish so very special. Each night “Padda van die dag” prizes were awarded to the angler who made a total mess of something during the day.

Winners of the 2021 Billfish 15 000, Team Snowy Owl.

As there’d been no fishing on day two, all the daily skins prizes doubled up for the next day.

Anglers went all out on day three and a total of 17 releases were recorded for the day. With a number of teams releasing more than one marlin on their boat, the competition was getting very interesting.

In the end Naughty Cat took top honours for the day after releasing two blue marlin. Aphrodite moved into first place overall, with their tally standing on three releases for the week. Naughty Cat was second, Fly Away third, and Pulsator fourth, with only a point separating the top teams.

Day four dawned, and what a day it would be! At final count,30 marlin were released that Thursday, including the Billfish 15000’s first billfish on a jetski.What a great moment for Team Yamaha on the jetskis. Andre Malan, aka The Silver Fox, had a double hookup on two sailfish on his jetski. It was total havoc, and he was told that, due to SADSAA rules, only one of the sailfish counted.

The atmosphere became even more charged when it was discovered that Snowy Owl had released three marlin for the day! That made them the winners for the day, and also moved them into top position overall. The points were incredibly close,and with only one day left,any small change could turn the leaderboard on its head.

On day five the weather committee predicted there would only be a few hours of fishing for the day,so teams that were in the running for first place were properly hyped up.The wind started to pick up in mid morning,and by 12h00 the weather committee decided to call lines up for the tournament.In that short morning of fishing another 24 marlin were released!

In the end, first place went to Snowy Owl, chartered by Probe Corporation — one of the main sponsors of the Billfish 15000, who had released five marlin for the week. One blue, three stripeys and one black marlin gave them a total of 1470 points.In addition to all the other prizes they won during the week, they took home two 150hp Yamaha, 4-stroke motors worth around R450 000.

Well done, Snowy Owl with Skipper Riaan Odendaal and Rick Rovelli from Probe Corporation and his team!

Pulsator took second spot with 1115 points and won a Lowrance HDS12 Live, P79Airmar transducer and an East Coast Platinum chart, all worth around R86 000. Aphrodite which spent most of the week in the top spot, ended in third place with 905 points.

What a week! We recorded a total of 171 strikes, 96 hook-ups and 82 releases — 20 striped marlin,13 black marlin,39 blue marlin, five sailfish and five shortbill spearfish.

We can only thank our Heavenly Father for another great week and for keeping us safe. Our sincere thanks to every person who helped with sponsors, prizes, arrangements and support. Thank you Dorado SBC committee and club members, for helping to make the Billfish 15000 the best of the best.

To our sponsors,thank you for all your generous contributions.Without your support this tournament would not be the same.

To each and every angler,we want to say thank you for making the Billfish 15000 stand out above the rest with all the team spirit and camaraderie. Remember that we must do all we can to conserve this abundant angling heritage for our children and theirs to come.We look forward to seeing you all again at the 36th Billfish 15000 which will be held at Sodwana from 13 to 18 November 2022.