{"id":22209,"date":"2024-08-05T15:17:51","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T13:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=22209"},"modified":"2024-08-06T09:33:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T07:33:55","slug":"trout-report-top-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=22209","title":{"rendered":"Trout Report – Top Dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Trout Report – Top Dogs<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Tried and tested is many a successful anglers mantra. But, being creatures of habit does make stepping out of our comfort zone and fishing differently no easy task. Fortunately there\u2019s always a common denominator when it comes to fishing the TOPS Corporate Challenge and that\u2019s the comfortable company of colleagues and acquaintances that become friends in the celebrations that typify this hallmark event.<\/div>\n
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Opening night of the TCC Final followed this familiar pattern, until a few curve balls were thrown at the entrants. Bonus points for fish over half a meter in length were applauded, but the animated debate started when entrants were asked to nominate their ‘Top Dog\u2019 on the fishing front.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div>
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After a little verbal wrestling, a team champion was chosen, only to be told that they would not be allowed to bequeath any fish over their quota. Taunting laughs and much friendly ridicule followed much quenching of thirsts.<\/div>\n
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Waking to howling winds was a sobering experience, but \u00a0knowing the incredible holiday prizes up for grabs, everyone departed for their dams before the sun made an appearance. Remarkably, despite the bleak weather, the WildFly waters really delivered! 132 fish were caught in the first 5 hours, with a 59cm Rainbow from Wayne Stegan setting the benchmark.<\/div>\n
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As usual, it was an animated lunchtime at Notties, with artistic license the cornerstone of many great fishing stories being shared.<\/div>\n
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The wind died marginally in the second session, allowing the fly fishers to notch up a further 103 Trout, and Alistair Moores-Pitt pipped his team mate by recording a stunning 60cm Hen. But the story that echoed at the legendary Notties that evening was the all ladies team \u2018Women in Waders\u2019 \u00a0at the top of the leader board, pulling ahead of their husbands,\u2019The Zimmers\u2019. It takes a brave bunch of men to challenge their better halves at this event.<\/div>\n
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Calm conditions greeted the contestants the following morning, as everyone was puzzling what a fly shy Trout would eat. Considering our lofty position in the food chain, we sure give the fish a lot of credit and it\u2019s easy to get infatuated with this conundrum if they continually refuse your advances.<\/div>\n
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Winter fishing for Trout can certainly thicken your skin.<\/div>\n
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Only 69 fish were recorded in session three and those that stayed out of their float tubes reaped the rewards. Levity was soon restored come lunch, with the Casting Olympics at Notties, judging what a fly fisher can really do with a beer in one hand and a rod in another.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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The final afternoon at the TCC final is where dreams are made and a few frustrated hopes dashed. It always comes down to that one fish in the eleventh hour. A paltry 50 specimens made it to the net, to tally a rewarding 354 Trout for the TCC final.<\/div>\n
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A very impressive total of 1310 fish were measured and released at this year\u2019s event, with many more lost, providing the substance for future great fishing tales. Top fly fisher was closely contested but eventually conceded to Richard Bechard and Ali held onto the biggest fish award despite Ivo Buratovich\u2019s 60cm Rainbow cock fish.<\/div>\n
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The eyeopening total of 163 feral Trout measuring over 50cm was the result that really stood out this year.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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As ever a closely contested affair, but with every team winning a fishing holiday somewhere in Africa it was all smiles come prize-giving. In 5th place was ‘The Zimmers’, with 4th going to the unofficial \u2018Department of Fisheries\u2019. Bronze medals deservingly awarded to the ‘Notties Fly Beserkers\u2019 and runners up, the \u2018Reel Wanderers\u2019 narrowly missed winning.<\/div>\n
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Yet, there was one team that impressed everyone, not only as they led the charge in Notties pub every night, but because four years ago they finished stone last. Testament to their efforts and perseverance, the \u2018Fly By Nights\u2019 were duly crowned the 2024 TOPS Corporate Challenge Champions. A truly great fishing story!<\/div>\n
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The TCC continues to set the standard for festive fly fishing in South Africa, so if you hope to get a coveted slot, make sure you apply early.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div>
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Trout Report – Top Dogs Tried and tested is many a successful anglers mantra. But, being creatures of habit does make stepping out of our comfort zone and fishing differently no easy task. Fortunately there\u2019s always a common denominator when it comes to fishing the TOPS Corporate Challenge and that\u2019s the comfortable company of colleagues and acquaintances that become friends in the celebrations that typify this hallmark event. Opening night of the TCC Final followed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":22241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[80,52,23,279],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-competitions","category-events","category-fly-fishing","category-tops-corporate-challenge"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Untitled-1-copy-1.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8sv9-5Md","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22209"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22257,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22209\/revisions\/22257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}