S.I.O.B.C. – Mauritius 2014
South Indian Ocean Billfish Competition
In the middle of January my fishing buddy Klaus and I received an invitation to the “South Indian Ocean Billfish Competition” (S.I.O.B.C.). Accompanying the tournament there was an opportunity to run a promotion presentation on our products. We didn’t take long to decide that we simply couldn’t turn down such an invitation. Within two days we had booked our flights and hotels and preparations were in full swing. Flyers, banners and various sales materials had to be packed. Naturally we also filled a suitcase with samples of our lures.
Prospects for the competition looked good because over recent weeks the fishing had been continuously on fire. But as things so frequently happen in life, things turn out a lot differently to what you expect. In this case it was cyclone “Edilson” that put paid to our plans. Edilson was not the actual problem but the subsequent change in currents, which brought nothing but green water, made marlin-fishing very difficult.
A total of 18 teams from a variety of countries took part in the competition which was based at the Le Morne Angler’s Club on the Black River. On the day before the tournament the organizers gave us a briefing and then we all had dinner together. The competition started the next morning at 7 a.m. and everyone steamed out to sea together full of beans and in great humour. Lines had to be taken in at 4.30 p.m. and this set the rhythm for the four day competition.
Unfortunately, only 7 blue marlin and a couple of wahoo and dorado were caught in the course of these four days. The winning team was from Finland with two marlin caught and released. We counted ourselves lucky to have finished the competition with 2 strikes and one released blue on the fourth day. This was enough to put us in 6th position overall together with an English team.
The tournament was extremely well-organized and the composition of the team members exceedingly pleasant. The gala dinner followed by the award ceremony and the great prizes soon made us forget the poor fishing and the atmosphere between the teams was excellent, especially after a couple of cool beers.
As a matter of interest, our boat “Nostalgie” is available for charters with immediate effect. If you are interested here are the contact details: Raymond Le Court, Crabyachting@gmail.com , + 230 5 940 24 21.
Stephan Kreupl, February 2014
