The Sunday Mail
A STEADY increase in weight of fish caught in the past editions of the annual Kariba Invitation Tiger Fish Tournament (KITFT) is keeping anglers optimistic of eventually landing the ultimate prize.
This year’s edition of the country’s biggest fishing tournament was held from October 10 to 12 at the traditional venue, Charara Campsite in Kariba.
However, not a single angler caught a fish weighing the required 10kg or above to claim the top prize, a brand new Isuzu KB250 Fleetside bakkie.
For the latest edition, Andre Barnard of Fisherman’s Friend cursed himself when he narrowly missed the grand prize by a mere five grammes.
Barnard’s catch, the biggest of the tournament, weighed 9,95kg.
This has been the case in the last four editions of the tournament. However, a closer look at statistics from KITFT suggests that the luckless trend might not last for long.
Barnard’s catch was a 0,19kg improvement from last year’s biggest catch by Trevor Merrier, which stood at 9,76kg.
This year, the second best catch was 0,2kg heavier than 2017’s second biggest catch of 9,2kg.
Certainly, these are massive improvements from the figures recorded in 2016 when the two biggest catches of the tournament weighed 6,09kg and 4,39kg respectively.
Pat Driscoll of team Charter Africom was the last to win himself the grand prize of a Chevrolet Utility in 2014 after catching a tiger fish weighing 12,035kg.
Prior to this, Ian Wheeler, who caught a 10, 42kg tiger fish, had driven away in the KITFT top prize.
Following his narrow miss, Barnard spoke to The Sunday Mail Society.
“I think this is my 12th appearance at KITFT in 30 years. I started fishing at a very young age on our farm dams in Cashel in the Eastern Highlands where I grew up. I was a bit devastated not winning the Isuzu pick-up by a mere 5 grammes but the rules are out there for everybody. We nominated the wrong weigh bay so we wouldn’t have qualified anyway, which was a lesson to everybody on our team.
“Fishermans’ Friend finished 5th overall so obviously we will be back next year. A big thank you to Andy Edmondson, our sponsor and my partner Rick Ward, he got a 6,6 kg and I got a 7,6 kg on Wednesday during the tournament. This tournament has been around for so long and over the years, the committees have thrashed out new and old rules so I think the format should stay as it is.
“I was involved as a Marshall at this year’s Test of the Best where we did ‘Catch and Release’, a brilliant idea but a logistical nightmare as you need a Marshall on every boat, every day. I just don’t feel the volunteers are out there.
“l will be back next year,” he said, adding that his team’s pink canoe is powered by a Seagull Motor.
“Every year, I’m also involved in the Tiger Safari fundraising tournament in Chirundu.”
Meanwhile, KITFT director Rod Bennet believes brighter days are beckoning for the tournament.
“At the moment, we have 79 teams compared to 57 last year and that’s an indication that we are heading in the right direction. The economic climate has been very good over the past couple of months and that has been encouraging. However, the lake levels were the main attraction this year. The lake is about three metres up from last year and that easily attracts more anglers,” said Bennet.
“The challenges we were experiencing with the Zimbabwe National Parks (Zimparks) seem to have been rectified to a large degree, they have certainly come to the party and we are now having an open dialogue, which is positive for us.”
The KITFT director also highlighted that their good working relationship with the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority has helped attract teams from across borders.
“Ten South African teams and one from Tanzania were part of this year’s edition,” revealed Bennet.
