Record set at fishing league
Legendary Hermanus fisherman Eugene le Roux won the 2018 Walker Bay Ski Boat fishing league, against stiff competition. His catch of roman on the last monthly outing in December saw him through.
Club Chairman Walter Mapham who came second, congratulated Eugene and said: “Eugene is one of a few remaining Hermanus residents who has made a living from the sea. It is a privilege to have competed with and learnt from a fisherman of Eugene’s calibre.”
Eugene is a founding member of the ski boat club and has been a professional fisherman all his life. He started his career in the late 1940s rowing out to sea with his fisherman father from the Old Harbour. Mapham reported that 6 boats and 18 anglers, of whom Eugene, at the age of 77, was the second oldest, took part in the December competition.
In a promising development that turns back the clock, red steenbras seems to be making a comeback after having been overexploited in earlier years. Club anglers reported that several previously rare red steenbras were caught and released.
However, an 8,7 kg specimen was kept and sets a new club record. Herman Botha’s beautiful 82 cm fish won him the prize for the biggest fish on the day. The club generally supports the principle of catch and release where fish are measured, photographed and released, with weights calculated from measurements.
BELOW: Walter Mapham (right), chair of the Walker Bay Ski Boat Club, with Eugene le Roux who won the 2018 Walker Bay Ski Boat fishing league. Mapham was the runner-up in the competition.
RIGHT: Herman Botha with his record-breaking red steenbras that weighed in at 8,7 kg.
The ski boat club holds a competition on the second Saturday of every month. The club is based in the New Harbour and welcomes those with an interest in fishing, the environment or the fishing history of Hermanus.
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