The Largest Angling/Fishing site in Africa
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GALLERY
Limpopo Junior Nationals Report
Arends Nes – Vaal River (Below the Barrage)
20 – 23 September 2007
It’s all been over for a week already and still they are talking about it. It seems these young guys and girls had a fabulous time at the Wildfly Junior nationals. We couldn’t believe the results from their efforts. Even though our teams didn’t get placed at the top they put in they're all and did the Limpopo Fly Fishing Union and the RPA proud.
It all started when we got an invitation to send a junior team to the SARFFA Junior Nationals and we had to find some juniors to go. We quickly decided to put together a fly fishing clinic and gather some youngsters together from the RPA and others so we could get a team together. After this event we only had 3 very interested youngsters and where a little despondent. Then along came Mrs. Annette du Plessis and asked us to do an Academy at the school she teaches at which involved teaching school children the basics of fly-fishing. Tim and Terry Babich where involved in setting up and running this Academy and I was asked to manage and run the LFFU team. At this school we found some very keen and positively motivated youngsters. A few of them jumped at the opportunity offered to them to fish competitively. And the LFFU (Limpopo Junior teams where born).
We set up our first practice session at Arends Nes and they all came out to find that we never caught a single fish between us. These poor guys came off the water looking very depressed and unexcited and I’m sure a few of them where questioning this whole idea. Even after the bad first day out they pitched again for another practice the following weekend. Almost the same result but we did end up catching a couple of fish from here on in but nothing like when the season is in full swing. After several more weekends of bad weather and even worse fishing these youngsters took this inexperience to the Nationals and put up a good fight.
We had a fly tying evening to get flies tied up for some of our juniors who didn’t have this ability and some of our Seniors got together again and tied over 700 flies in total for these junior to have the right flies. Thanks to all those who gave up their time to be there and help out and all those who took material home and completed the task. The juniors really appreciated your efforts.
Our aim was 1 junior team for these nationals and we ended up having enough juniors to fill 2 teams. Many of the extra juniors put in a great effort but couldn’t make the teams due to personal issues. But we had our teams and where off to the nationals.
They got a rude awakening after the first session on Friday 21. “These other guys can fish” was one of the comments I heard. Well this is the Nationals and only the best from most of the provinces where there. They settled down after lunch and a bit of a chat and set off for the second session and caught a couple of fish. After the first day we where lying in position 4 and 5 and where pleasantly surprised that some of our guys actually won their beats. The team results honestly didn’t reflect the effort these juniors put into their Nationals.
Anyway after dinner and a short movie about the Junior World Champs our juniors had new spirit and where busy getting themselves set for another day of fishing ahead. Again we won some of the beats and our results didn’t change much after day 2 but the guys where enjoying themselves and setting some new goals for themselves for the final day. The last session didn’t change our positions in the team standings but during the course of the Nationals individual placing where changed quite drastically.
Some of our youngsters got them selves in the top 10 and 2 did really well and got invited to the president's team selection trials. There is still a lot of hard work lying ahead for them and all the help they can get would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks to the RPA for the generous sponsorship to the junior teams, from all of us, as this really helped to lighten the financial burden on our juniors. A club sponsorship of this kind is very rare and we do honestly appreciate this. Thanks Again to Sue and Trevor Babich and Russell Komslosy for their kind gesture and making this possible for our Youngsters.
Thanks to all involved in helping getting our junior team ready for their nationals, all the hard work eventually paid off. Many of our Senior anglers gave up a lot of their own time in helping organize and transport these juniors to various venues and helping with equipment and teaching our junior to fish. These efforts have been rewarded by the results. Most of our Juniors taken to the nationals had not fly fished the Vaal before and a lot of training and practice went into getting them used to wading and fishing for yellows on fly.
My thanks for their efforts to Andre du Plessis and Terry Babich for standing by me and being there to help whenever I had a question or ran into a problem no matter how small. Thanks to all the guys who had given up their time on Saturday when you could rather have been home mowing the lawn or fixing something at home for unselfishly being by our side and helping out with these juniors. Then thanks to the parents for putting up with the early mornings and late evenings weekend after weekend. These juniors couldn’t have done what they did if it wasn’t for all of you making it possible. Finally thanks to my wife (whom almost had the divorce papers ready) for putting up with me not being home to mow the lawn and fix things around the house for understanding that the juniors needed us to be there for them.
Well done guys you did extremely well but next year we will be back to show them how to do it. Good luck and see you all on the water soon.
Charl du Plessis
click next to view the pictures
The Largest Angling/Fishing site in Africa
RPA PICTURE
GALLERY
Limpopo Junior Nationals Report
Arends Nes – Vaal River (Below the Barrage)
20 – 23 September 2007
It’s all been over for a week already and still they are talking about it. It seems these young guys and girls had a fabulous time at the Wildfly Junior nationals. We couldn’t believe the results from their efforts. Even though our teams didn’t get placed at the top they put in they're all and did the Limpopo Fly Fishing Union and the RPA proud.
It all started when we got an invitation to send a junior team to the SARFFA Junior Nationals and we had to find some juniors to go. We quickly decided to put together a fly fishing clinic and gather some youngsters together from the RPA and others so we could get a team together. After this event we only had 3 very interested youngsters and where a little despondent. Then along came Mrs. Annette du Plessis and asked us to do an Academy at the school she teaches at which involved teaching school children the basics of fly-fishing. Tim and Terry Babich where involved in setting up and running this Academy and I was asked to manage and run the LFFU team. At this school we found some very keen and positively motivated youngsters. A few of them jumped at the opportunity offered to them to fish competitively. And the LFFU (Limpopo Junior teams where born).
We set up our first practice session at Arends Nes and they all came out to find that we never caught a single fish between us. These poor guys came off the water looking very depressed and unexcited and I’m sure a few of them where questioning this whole idea. Even after the bad first day out they pitched again for another practice the following weekend. Almost the same result but we did end up catching a couple of fish from here on in but nothing like when the season is in full swing. After several more weekends of bad weather and even worse fishing these youngsters took this inexperience to the Nationals and put up a good fight.
We had a fly tying evening to get flies tied up for some of our juniors who didn’t have this ability and some of our Seniors got together again and tied over 700 flies in total for these junior to have the right flies. Thanks to all those who gave up their time to be there and help out and all those who took material home and completed the task. The juniors really appreciated your efforts.
Our aim was 1 junior team for these nationals and we ended up having enough juniors to fill 2 teams. Many of the extra juniors put in a great effort but couldn’t make the teams due to personal issues. But we had our teams and where off to the nationals.
They got a rude awakening after the first session on Friday 21. “These other guys can fish” was one of the comments I heard. Well this is the Nationals and only the best from most of the provinces where there. They settled down after lunch and a bit of a chat and set off for the second session and caught a couple of fish. After the first day we where lying in position 4 and 5 and where pleasantly surprised that some of our guys actually won their beats. The team results honestly didn’t reflect the effort these juniors put into their Nationals.
Anyway after dinner and a short movie about the Junior World Champs our juniors had new spirit and where busy getting themselves set for another day of fishing ahead. Again we won some of the beats and our results didn’t change much after day 2 but the guys where enjoying themselves and setting some new goals for themselves for the final day. The last session didn’t change our positions in the team standings but during the course of the Nationals individual placing where changed quite drastically.
Some of our youngsters got them selves in the top 10 and 2 did really well and got invited to the president's team selection trials. There is still a lot of hard work lying ahead for them and all the help they can get would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks to the RPA for the generous sponsorship to the junior teams, from all of us, as this really helped to lighten the financial burden on our juniors. A club sponsorship of this kind is very rare and we do honestly appreciate this. Thanks Again to Sue and Trevor Babich and Russell Komslosy for their kind gesture and making this possible for our Youngsters.
Thanks to all involved in helping getting our junior team ready for their nationals, all the hard work eventually paid off. Many of our Senior anglers gave up a lot of their own time in helping organize and transport these juniors to various venues and helping with equipment and teaching our junior to fish. These efforts have been rewarded by the results. Most of our Juniors taken to the nationals had not fly fished the Vaal before and a lot of training and practice went into getting them used to wading and fishing for yellows on fly.
My thanks for their efforts to Andre du Plessis and Terry Babich for standing by me and being there to help whenever I had a question or ran into a problem no matter how small. Thanks to all the guys who had given up their time on Saturday when you could rather have been home mowing the lawn or fixing something at home for unselfishly being by our side and helping out with these juniors. Then thanks to the parents for putting up with the early mornings and late evenings weekend after weekend. These juniors couldn’t have done what they did if it wasn’t for all of you making it possible. Finally thanks to my wife (whom almost had the divorce papers ready) for putting up with me not being home to mow the lawn and fix things around the house for understanding that the juniors needed us to be there for them.
Well done guys you did extremely well but next year we will be back to show them how to do it. Good luck and see you all on the water soon.
Charl du Plessis
click next to view the pictures
