Sports Fishing Club Annual Troll
The Sport Fishing Club, which has been in the fore-front of angling activities, once again organised its Annual Trolling Competition March 21. The event this year has been restricted to members of the Sport Fishing Club and Ceylon Sea Anglers Club.
The club celebrated its 21st year with this mega event, which has generated a great deal of enthusiasm and interest with over sixty participants registering for the competition. This year’s awards were the best on record with prizes of fishing tackle being valued at over Rs. 150,000.
All this has been possible due to the support of the club’s sponsors, many of whom have been involved with successive competitions organised every year.
The event commenced from the Mt. Lavinia beach opposite the Golden Mile restaurant and concluded with the weighing in ceremony and prize distribution. The day’s proceedings ended with fellowship and the never ceasing stories of the monsters that got away, followed by a lunch at the Golden Mile Restaurant.
Angling in Sri Lanka has a long and colourful history. The British introduced Trout to the streams of Nuwara Eliya and Horton Plains to make fly fishing a recreational activity that eventually was passed down to the locals. Unfortunately, due to pollution of the waterways as a result of uncontrolled industrial and agricultural activity, Trout are restricted to the pristine Horton Plains water shed.
Fishing on the South West Breakwater in Colombo was a favourite pastime of many anglers, and provided healthy fun for the entire family. Unfortunately, due to the serious security risks as a result of the war, fishing on the Break Water was banned. However, with the end of the war and normalcy returning, the Anglers look forward to the restoration of their Break Water permits.
In 1979, a group of anglers mooted the idea of forming a club that would promote ethical sport fishing and create an awareness of the sport amongst the younger generation. Thus was born the “Sport Fishing Club.”
The Club has over 20 years of history, being the pioneers in the area of game fishing in Sri Lanka. They are proud of organising some of the Biggest Sport Fishing Competitions in the island. The most popular being the Sea Troll.
Sport Fishing is all about the sudden rush of adrenaline which helps rejuvenate many young and old who are hooked on to it.
The organisers believe that with the unstinted cooperation they have received from the Sri Lanka Navy, the numerous sponsors and their members, the club is bound to go from strength to strength.
