From June 29 to July 2, 2016, in the Netherlands, near the city of Hellevutesleys, international competitions were held for fishing predatory fish by spinning from the boat “WORLD PREDATOR CLASSIC 2016”. 51 crews from around the world took part in this tournament. The Russian team was represented by famous Moscow fishermen and Andrei Medvedev and Andrei Donskov. The competition took place in three stages on Lake Haringvlit. The fishing area was divided into two zones: Rapala and Shimano. According to the rules of the tournament, the first two days of the competition, each team had to catch in different zones, and on the third day, the zones were generalized and the fishermen participating could send their boat to any point of the designated water area. The distance between the boats during the competition should be at least 100 m.

Three types of fish were taken into account: perch, pikeperch and pike, and not the weight of the fish was quoted, but its length. Trophies are photographed on a ruler and released. The photo is immediately sent to the judges through the application on the smartphone (they are issued to everyone!). This is very cool, although troublesome for the participants, because in past years, in these competitions, everything was done quickly and correctly, not always and not at all. Fish is measured from the beginning of the head to the tip of the tail. The minimum sizes of predators to be counted: perch 22 cm, pike perch 42 cm, pike 45 cm.
On June 29, the official opening took place, a very colorful celebration: all are elegant, there are a lot of spectators with flags. Beautiful boat parade, cannon shooting. A huge boat as a prize for the winners. Really great holiday done, well done!


Tomorrow start, we have number 13. And in the appendage there are a number of nuances — we are without training and there is no anchor (according to the rules, you can’t use an ordinary rope anchor, but I-Pilot is not in the rented boat). The wind is very strong, the wave is high, so we will hang out in a drift and taxi with an electric motor, we have a fighting mood! June 30 is the first day of the competition. Today the wind is 8-12 m / s and it periodically rains heavily. The water area is huge and therefore, due to weather disasters, it was cut. Yesterday, before midnight, we discussed an action plan, where to start, what points to examine and what tactics to apply. But this morning we had to revise all our plans and quickly come up with a new one.

In short: in the morning we went to check the pike perch on deep brow, then we looked for pike and perch in shallow water and then on the situation. Sudak did not disappoint — they quickly caught the first one, an hour after the second, after a lull ….


The toothfish was caught in a jig using classic twisters and vibro-tails mounted on head sinkers weighing 24-28 g. In addition, the Russian foam rubber also worked for us, which is a curiosity for local athletes. Recall that we are without an anchor, so one of us had to constantly steer an electric motor to keep the boat in place. It was a bad job, given the strong wind, and the bait harness left much to be desired — the terrain was naturally felt on the verge. But we did not give up, and yet we caught a few credible gadgets. Then the offensive gathering of pikes right at the boat, for a vskidka in it was about 70 cm, weight near the «three rubles».
Next, we decided to check the pike-perch irrigation, which worked quite well in past years (perches here regularly come across weighing up to 1.5 — 2 kg, and the pike can fly mega-test up to 15-17 kg), but this time it’s empty … Once again returned to the point foolishness. A long silence, and finally, one of us tumbles the pike perch 65 cm, after which we were forced to go to the finish line, because time was running out. Waves of half a meter! Regular shower! The result here is determined by the total length of all fish. Today we caught 161 cm. This is an average result, but we think it is not bad, given all the difficulties of fishing. I must say that today other participants have many zeros. In general, the motto of our team is “TWO METERS A DAY!” And if the pike had not descended, then the task would have been fulfilled …

By the way, today, one crew caught a giant pike 125 cm long — so far this is a competition record given the results of past years!
July 1 is the second day of the competition. The wind increased to 10-12 m / s, and the organizers reduced the tour time by 2.5 hours. We figured that taking into account the long transitions in time for fishing, we get 3 hours — very little of course …
We have already noticed that at our deepest point zander has a clear morning out. We managed to catch him and immediately caught two excellent “fangs” — 66 and 60 cm. This time, the favorite among the jig baits was Storm So-Run rubber in natural colors. But we needed a third test “tail”. They began to move, to search, of course, not easily in a big wave. But at the end they caught it. Small, but necessary. And to the finish.

At the end of the day, we improved our result and rose in the standings. Satisfied, did everything they could! Interestingly, other participants today have very few pikes caught (although again there is a trophy of 120 cm — this is about 14-15 kg!). Well, there are more zeros today, many made worse.
Sadness: Shimano gave us a test rod from the new series — Fireblood. We even managed to fish them. But one of the sticks today was broken by the Finnish Wrestling Champion (he is a WPC member!) — he climbed into our boat to watch the “Russian foam” … and stepped with his powerful foot. The «stick» had no chance to survive at all!
Tomorrow is the final day. They promise the same wind, but we are already getting used to it …
July 2 is the final, third day of the competition. The wind began to blow even harder, gusts up to 14 m / s! In the morning, the organizers even wanted to cancel the start, but later they still released the crews into the water, but again reduced the tour time by 2.5 hours. We decided to go to yesterday’s distant points. Yes, a loss of time, yes, the fish were knocked out there, but other places were less studied, we did not have any training. Allow three hours for fishing. The morning exit of zander, as in previous days did not happen, alas. But an hour later we catch the first «standings». Gone from zero, already easier …
Further silence, went to the neighboring point of lumps. And there is a surprise — 80 cm pike! The jig worked, the Storm So-Run Superu Shad vibrotail, with a glamorous pink color. New searches, we really need two more zander. Recall that according to the rules 1 pike, 3 zander, 3 perch are counted. Moreover, any three zander of the smallest size (42 cm) give 126 cm — this is more than any pike. That is why we started our day with zander. He is also more predictable. It’s hard to set accurately in a stormy wind, but we’ve got used to steer with an electric motor, it’s not bad, but to fully catch, (to those who are on the motor), it’s not possible, consider half the fisherman … As a result, after several movements around the place, we still catch two identical gadgets. Drivers Cloud

Yes, we have fulfilled our motto — we caught TWO meters a day! Let me remind you that the fish is not weighed, but measured on a ruler, and the total length is considered. We are very satisfied, we understand that they have risen substantially in the standings. But at the finish we learn that pike and one pike perch are not counted to us!
According to local rules, photographing fish for refereeing is necessary only on one side (left). A strange rule, but it is. We knew about it, and on the line we shot it that way.
But when a boat in a strong wind without an anchor quickly drifts to the stones, then you need to do everything quickly. And we need to have time to take a photo, record the fact of the capture, the size of the fish in the protocol and send the photo to the judges. In this case, the photo should be in focus, not blurry, whole, and the right side. In the confusion, you forget about the little things that are actually very important.
Interestingly, yesterday, many crews counted fish photographed with the wrong side. But they said — «this is the last time.» And today they didn’t count us. At the same time, our fish lay correctly on the line (the line is important for calculations). It is unclear what affects the position of the fish in the hands? We believe that the judge did not behave quite correctly, because in fact they should not have counted or counted the wrongly photographed fish for all athletes, and establish new clear requirements in the next competitions, and not make such decisions in the process of this tournament, and if they made then be kind enough to remove from the protocol incorrectly photographed in the hands of fish caught the other day before by other participants. It’s so fair!
But we are still happy with the result. They did everything they could. Without training and in difficult conditions, the achievements are very good. In the final table, we are the 30th (and this, taking into account not counted pike by 80 cm and pike perch by 42 cm)!
It is noteworthy that many eminent, local athletes who perfectly know the reservoir and achieved high results in past tournaments, this time were at the end of the final protocol. What could go wrong with them is not clear …
Following the results of the three-day tournament, the first place went to the team from Finland, the Dutch took second place, and the Finnish crew came in third. The largest fish: pike perch 83 cm (Belgium), perch 52 cm (Holland), pike 125 cm (England). Our gear: A.Medvedev: Spinning: Shimano Yasei Pike Casting 2.5 10-30g

Multiplier: Shimano Calcutta Conquest 201
Cord: Power Pro Bite Motion 0.23mm
A. Donskov :
Spinning: Shimano Fireblood, length 2.7m, test 15-40g
Coil: Shimano Stradic FK 4000
Braid: regular Power Pro 0.19mm
Thank you to our sponsor — company Rapala.
Respect Mikko Vähätalo for caring!
Soon watch the report on the competitions on the channel «Hunter and Fisherman».