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Dozens of top youth and female fishers are due to descend on Gqeberha in three weeks’ time to compete in an ultra-light line angling competition with the goal of hooking pole position.
The 2026 South African Light Tackle Boat Angling Association (Saltbaa) offshore angling competition will bring a healthy revenue injection for the city and show off Algoa Bay’s reputation as one of SA’s top fishing spots.
Saltbaa national secretary Madelein Brown said 85 anglers would be arriving from around the country and competing in three categories — under-16, under-21 and ladies.
There were no prizes but the participants competed for points towards gaining their provincial and ultimately national colours.
“They’ll be fishing from the Port Elizabeth Harbour wall east to John Tallant Road and no more than 1km offshore.
“They will be fishing for non-edibles like diamond skates (diamond, twineye), rays (blue, electric, duckbill) and sharks (bronzies, ragged tooth, sand) and edibles like grunter, steenbras, garrick, leervis and rock cod.”
Brown said the anglers were allowed to keep some of the edibles as long as they fell within bag limit conditions, but most would likely opt not to.
“The fish they hold onto they cannot count towards points.
“And also these little boats don’t have fridges, so most competitors release all their catches.”
Saltbaa, which was established in 1964, has a mission of “promoting ... sustainable utilisation of our natural resources through conservation awareness of our freshwater and wetland areas ... for the benefit of safe boat angling to all South Africans”.
Brown said to this end, there was no gaffing and weights were extrapolated from size, which significantly reduced stress on the fish and potential death.
“The catch is reeled in close to the boat and then scooped onto the deck using a net.
“Each boat has a marshal who oversees the process as the fish is measured with a ruler and photographs are taken, before the catch is released.”
She said the anglers would all be restricted to a maximum 4kg line, in line with all Saltbaa competitions.
“This aspect promotes a unique, highly technical form of sport angling that focuses on skill over heavy gear.
“It requires significant experience and technique to land large fish on light tackle.”
She said while lines did snap, this did not scupper Saltbaa’s conservation efforts.
“The line is so thin that it disintegrates relatively quickly. And we do not use stainless steel hooks, so after a time they will rust and drop out of the mouth of the fish.”
She said the March 27-April 2 event was shaping up to be a windfall for Nelson Mandela Bay.
“We have 85 anglers who will be taking part. That’s down from the last time we hosted the event in Gqeberha and I think it’s because of the state of our economy currently.
“However, Saltbaa competitions are always family affairs so all the anglers, their families and the organisers from out of town will be here for a week.
“The cost of accommodation at Willows, food and bait from local service providers, vehicle and boat fuel and the launches from Pedsac [PE Deep Sea Angling Club] add up to many hundred of thousand of rands for the metro.”
She said Saltbaa alternated annually between freshwater and ocean events.
“We have hosted a number of the ocean events here in Gqeberha and it has always ranked high in terms of catch volume.
“Mossel Bay was at one point the best but now it’s PE [Gqeberha] again.
“Earlier this month, Saltbaa men competed here and pulled out a total of 29 tons of fish over four days.”
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