Last year we changed from ‘Open Day’ to ‘Club Day’ as we have no need to publicise our activities to non-members.  We are not looking at recruiting more members and it seems as though the enthusiasts seem to find us. 

This year we mixed up the format a bit. It was held at Natimby and about 50 members attended. We invited Matt Rich, Barry Ubsdale and MJ Bezuidenhout (all three national competitive anglers) to participate in a ‘Fish-off’ for half an hour with restrictions in terms of 5 flies and one line.  Matt was smashed off a number of times by the Natimby Specials and had to watch in frustration how Barry netted fish while he was replacing flies and retying leaders. The guys then came out and described their tactics, explained their decisions and answered questions. They were allowed to make adjustments and set off for a further 20 minutes.  After that round, our anglers were invited to take to the water and they were assisted and guided for a further hour or so of fishing. This was followed by complimentary Prego rolls (thanks Ian, Kerry and Jo for the preparation), the awarding of the Club trophy, drawing of the raffle for the accommodation and fishing at White Water Farm (won by Phil Gibson) and a plethora of lucky draw prizes sponsored by Xplorer and our amazing local wineries.

While all that was happening, we were privileged to have Leslie Thiaart, who is an IFFF Casting instructor, set up a casting course and help numerous anglers with their casting. Thanks Leslie, it was a really important contribution which we really appreciated.

The Club Champion prize was awarded to Brad Baadjies for his very impressive haul of  fish during the past year.  Although invited, Brad opted not to join the ‘Fish Off’ but promptly showed us why he remains the Club Champion by quickly bringing 5 or more fish to net within an hour from the jetty.