The Latham fishing competition is the biggest in the fishing section calendar at the Dar Yacht Club. The boats go our for 36 hours in the area to the south called Latham or into the channel between Dar and Zanzibar.
Before the boats set sail there was a raffle – kind of an auction – so people could bet on the boat which would catch the most fish. After that they left the bay and headed out to sea.
There were 14 boats in the competition, including those moored at the club and those from further afield. Some people had come down from Kenya to take part.
There were also several young fishers and one woman. I was keen to see the boats come back so went to the club at 6pm on Sunday to see people carrying heavy bags and boxes of fish gingerly making their way up the ramp to the weighing area.
They looked exhausted and in need of a shower and change of clothes. I had never been to the weighing area and apparently it is little used. But it’s a nice place with a bar and BBQ place. There was free beer for the participants supplied by Tanzanian Breweries as usual.
Fish were weight, photo of bill fish released in the competition were examined, calculations made and winner announced later that evening.
For the me the most exciting part was seeing the enormous 77kg yellow fin tuna which took 2:30hrs to bring in. I imagined the fight between man and fish and how dreadful it must have been for that poor fish.
Some of the fish looked so exotic – I could not put a name to any but the sail fish and the tuna.
There were prizes for different categories and species of fish, lures and beers and Garmin equipment as well as trophies. I have been promised a place on a boat to go and trying deep sea fishing soon. I can’t wait.