The OET at Sodwana: South Africa's Billfish Classic Since 1977
OET 2026 at Sodwana Bay · 3-part guide
- Part 1: The story of the OET (you are here)
- Part 2: How OET 2026 works
- Part 3: The OET kit list
Before sunrise on a Monday in early November, the tractors start pulling ski-boats down the beach at Jesser Point. Crews who have towed all the way from Gauteng, Mpumalanga and beyond punch through the shorebreak, run for the deep water off Sodwana Bay and set their spreads. The Suzuki Mallards OET Bill & Gamefish Tournament has started, and for the next five days nothing on this coast matters quite as much.
The OET is one of the longest-running offshore tournaments in South Africa, and its organisers bill it as the biggest deep-sea fishing competition in the country. Here's what it's about, and why so many anglers plan their whole year around one week at Sodwana.
Born inland, raised at Sodwana
The OET was founded in 1977 by the Mpumalanga Deep Sea Angling Association (MDSAA), which still runs it today. That makes for an unusual story. The MDSAA is an inland association, affiliated to SADSAA, with more than 500 affiliated anglers and more than 50 Protea and Springbok anglers to its name. The tournament's name is widely said to come from Oos-Transvaal, the old Eastern Transvaal, home to many of its founding anglers.
That inland heart is what makes the event special. Most OET crews live hundreds of kilometres from the sea, and every November they hitch up and make the long tow to Zululand anyway. By tackle maker Pulsator Lures' count, 2025 was the 47th OET, which makes 2026 the 48th.
Why Sodwana, and why November
Sodwana Bay sits inside the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, where the continental shelf runs unusually close to shore. Boats launch straight off the beach at Jesser Point and are in billfish water after a short run, which is why Sodwana has become one of the most important billfish venues in the country.
The timing is no accident either. Local experts writing in Ski-Boat magazine put the main marlin season at early November through to March, with striped marlin plentiful in November and December, usually in 300 to 500 metres of water. The OET falls right at the start of that window. It's the first of three big November events at Sodwana, followed by the Billfish 15000 and the SADSAA Heavy Tackle Billfish Nationals, which the 2026 tournament calendar lists for 16 to 20 November. When the OET fleet heads out, billfish season has officially started.
What the crews are chasing
The headline acts are the billfish: blue, black and striped marlin, sailfish and the shortbill spearfish. Every one of them is released. Alongside them, crews target game fish for the scales, including dorado, wahoo, king mackerel and yellowfin tuna.
Some years the tuna steal the show. On day four of the 2018 tournament the fleet weighed yellowfin of 26, 36.7, 43.5, 44.7 and a massive 78.3 kilograms, and Ski-Boat magazine noted that tuna over 30kg had hardly ever been recorded at the OET before.
A release tournament at heart
At the OET, billfish never come to the beach. Under the current rules, every release has to be proven with a photo or video showing the day's coloured arm band, the fish under control on the leader, the leader clearly tipped and the species clearly identifiable. Billfish, kingfish and greater barracuda are not allowed at the scales at all.
Releases are also where the tournament is won. A released marlin is worth 200 points on 37kg line and 300 points on 10kg, while game fish score by the kilogram. One good bite can take a boat from the middle of the leaderboard to the top. We break the full scoring down in part two of this guide.
Recent heroes
In 2018, Kobus Sutherland's Tropical Dream released two striped marlin on the final day to take the title, and the crew went home with two Mercury four-stroke outboards.
The 2025 edition, fished from 2 to 7 November, produced a winner for the history books. Suzuki Marine South Africa's final rankings had Queen Pine on top overall with 701.3 points. According to Pulsator Lures, it was only the second time in the event's history that a boat fishing the 10kg line class won outright.
2025 final rankings, as published by Suzuki Marine SA
More than the fishing
Not every OET is a bite-fest. The 2018 and 2019 editions both battled poor weather and slow billfishing, with days lost to wind and dangerous surf. Yet writing about 2018 in Ski-Boat magazine, Erwin Bursik described a packed welcome function, happy hours and prize-giving, and summed it up simply: "there is more to fishing than just fish."
The OET is ingrained in the heart and soul of all OET-ers.
Erwin Bursik, Ski-Boat magazine
That's the real reason the OET has lasted almost half a century. The weather can take away a day's fishing, but it can't take away the week, and that's why the fleet comes back every November.
Heading to Sodwana this November?
Entries for 2026 are open on the MDSAA website. Whether you're entering a boat, crewing for a mate or just going up to watch, part two covers how the week runs, how scoring works and how to enter. And because five days on the water in Zululand sun will test any kit, part three is our practical packing list.
Keep reading: OET 2026 at Sodwana
