Zhuhai angler Cai Jianmin helped his team win 50,000 yuan ($7,450) with the greatest single weight caught in the 2019 Wanshan Islands International Fishing Open last weekend.

The largest-ever fishing competition hosted by the Wanshan Marine Development Experimental Zone drew a record 150 competitors to the well-known fishing area in Guangdong. Of course, the total prize pool of 226,000 yuan ($33,680) also attracted fishers from China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asian countries, and other regions. 

Good-sized sea bass

Contestants fished from small spaces assigned to them (random pegs) on Dong’ao, Big Wanshan, Small Wanshan, Baili, Hengzhou, Zhuzhou, Guizhou and other points of the Wanshan Archipelago. A cold-blast of air brought by a downpour didn’t dissuade any of them.

Cai Jianmin of Zhuhai Fish Team 1 got the biggest catch with a combined weight of 11.33 kg (25 lbs). He and teammates Dong Wei and Liang Jinjia also won the championship for group total catch weight.

Anglers generally had good catches as there were so many fish of various sizes in the waters. The fish were all donated to Zhuhai Special Education School for a student feast from the ocean.

Random peg assignment [Photos by Cheng Lin / Zhuhai Daily]