Mythical, legendary and historical, a new edition of the “24 hours of the black croaker” came to an end this Sunday on the beaches of the Tres Arroyos district, an event that was attended by 4,584 fishermen, a excellent figure for the proposal carried out by the Hunters Club.
Victory in the main contest It was for Gustavo Barrionuevo, from Cascallares, who chased a 3,206 kg white sea bass in the 5 Salto area, a specimen that earned him a 4×4 truck. Marcos García, from Carhué, finished second with a piece of 3,029 taken from Piedras de Franganillo, while Kevin Urbistondo, from Tres Arroyos, came third with a 3,020 kg sea bass. This year no black croaker was caught, so the classification was completed entirely by white croakers.
Meanwhile, in the tournament parallel to the variety of greater weight Alejandro Romay, from Tandil, prevailed and took a 0 km vehicle, with a 27,925 kg mongrel, taken out shortly after the start of the competition, in Médano Blanco. The podium was completed by Martín Mondini, from Azul, with another 12,080 kg specimen and Sebastián Frigeria, from CABA, with a 11,560 kg mongrel.
The contest, as usually happens in these tournaments of long breath, had different climates. In the previous one, until minutes before starting, the heat turned the beach into an oven that forced the fishermen to go into the sea to cool off. Shortly after the start, the wind turned and increased, lowering the temperature a bit. That good Saturday was not repeated on Sunday, since there was a storm with strong gusts of wind that put the different camps and fishermen against the ropes. The weather conditions changed for the awards ceremony, when the sun returned to close the party accordingly.
At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, the delusion of the 4,584 participants, sinkers and hooks loaded with prawns, squid or anchovies, preferably flying through the air and falling into the Argentine Sea. There were many, mainly from far away destinations, who came to start the tournament and had to find their way through the crowd. There were those who contributed through the sand, in search of the mongrels, others, the majority, went to the jumps, with the intention of pricking the croakers.
10 minutes must pass for the first croaker to qualify, fished by Nicolás Weharhahne from Tres Arroy, who caught a 2,124-kilogram blonde in the Third Jump. Seven minutes later, Gustavo Ordoñez, from Coronel Suárez, surpassed him with a 2,231-kilogram specimen obtained in the same area, leading for a while; until, at 4:35 p.m., Marco García from the town of Carhué, jumped to the top of the classifier to not move for the rest of the day, with a 3,029-kilogram white croaker caught in the Piedras de Franganillo area.
Around 20:00, all 50 places in the main contest were already filled, showing the Good rhythm in fishing that caused a lot of work for the ichthyologist involved in the Hunters Club contest, Juan Piscicelli, who did not have a break until late at night in the control of the pieces. García’s leadership was going to end at dawn, when the white croakers made a strong pass going through the fifth jump, in the area they call Julián’s well, around 02:00.
Gustavo Barrionuevo was one of the fishermen who tried to catch it, finding himself changing the tackle at that time, since a long descent had been working well for his companions. He embodied a squid, went into the water, and after five minutes he already had a bite that he could not specify. He returned to the water, and there he was going to give himself what fate had for him fixed.
A long blonde sea bass, but somewhat skinny, which when weighed exceeded 3 kilos and he was excited about victory, something that was confirmed when it was weighed, officially, in the central control. For the popular “Paisa”, the only piece of the species that he was able to achieve in the tournament, in a run of 25 to 30 minutes with a lot of pique, where in 200 meters, a good number of croakers came out.
Barrionuevo, a stevedore at the Micaela Cascallares Cooperative, is a regular participant of the contests, like his family, synonymous with success in the fishing contests of the region, with his brother Nelson, Ulises and Antonella, children of “Nicha”, and nephews of “Paisa”, who qualified many times but did not managed to win. He got on the podium of “Las 24” in 2020, when he avoided the heaviest blonde croaker, a 3,413 kg specimen, but could not obtain the trophy since Carlos Alzogaray from Salta caught a 1,616 kg black pigeon.
Gustavo was second, being awarded that year with a Chevrolet Prisma. The long-awaited victory came four weeks ago, when in Marisol he won more than two and a half million pesos in the Oriente FC tournament Luck calls for luck, the saying goes, and now he was spinning the second victory of his career in the largest open water tournament in the country, about to declare itself as Provincial Festivalafter a recent order placed.
On the side of the parallel contest, the definition came very quickly. During the first minutes of competition, Alejandro Romay from Tandil had an unforgettable pique in the Médano Blanco, a mongrel who on firm sand accused 27,925 kilograms. At 15:35 he was positioned as the leader and it was almost a feat to overtake him.
A new organizational success, a real party of sport fishing that has grown, since that first edition where 58 people registered, won by Ever Chachero during the second day in 1962, with that black croaker weighing 19,300 kilograms. A contest that only exceeded a thousand rods in 1978, and reached a record number of entries in 1987 with 6,862 fishermen, a figure that some consider a world record for entries in this type of contest.
Main results
croakers
1º Barrionuevo Gustavo – Cascallares – Corvina Rubia 3,206 kg
2nd García Marcos – Carhué – Corvina Rubia 3,029 kg
3rd Kevin Urbistondo – Tres Arroyos – Corvina Rubia 3,020 kg
varied
1st Romay Alejandro – Tandil – Chucho 27.925 kg
2nd Mondini Martín – Blue – Chucho 12,080 kg
3rd Frigeria Sebastián – CABA – Chucho 11,560 kg
