Ronald's visblog: Hobie fishing European championship

So this weekend it was time for the first Hobie Fishing European Championship. Which was held at "De Banaan" at Hollandsdiep/Haringvliet in the Netherlands.
Friday we had a practice day and what we already expected turned out to be true, fishing was tough. I managed to catch one zander in six hours of fishing. I had to attend to a wedding in the evening so i couldn't team-up with my buddy's from team viskayaks.nl that evening at the cottage at the campsite.
After a short night sleep i arrived at the venue saturday for the first matchday. It was very cool to see so many kayakfishing fanatics getting their kayaks all geared up for the match. With 48 skilled anglers from all over europe it was going to be a very exciting match. Ofcourse we had a little home advantage but with a venue this big everyone had a chance.

Getting ready for the start.

After the start everyone pedalled off to their chosen spots. I tried some spots closeby but didn't managed to catch anything so i decided to take a gamble and go to the very end of area 1. Near the island Tiengemeten in the Haringvliet. Which was aproximally 5 kilometers from the start. It didn't bring me the result i was hoping for but luckily i managed to catch a pike so it wasn't all for nothing.

71 cm.

Sadly it turned out to be the only fish for me that day. And when i got back and heard that my team mates caught some more fish i knew that my chance for a good end-result was very small. But with three of my team mates in the top five our team had a great result. My buddy Daniël was even in the top spot! My pike got me at the 14th position so not all was lost.

In the evening we had a very nice barbeque at our cottage and after a few beers the fishing stories got wilder and wilder. Ofcourse we had a very important day ahead of us so we decided to call it a night at eleven.

Sunday was the second and final matchday and i was hopng for a better result then yesterday ofcourse. After the start we raced of to our chosen spot because we knew we had to get there early. Because we knew it was going to be crowded. Sadly a few competitors decided to take a short cut at the start, a bit unsportive in my opinion..

After we reached the spot that was productive yesterday Daniël managed to catch a perch an a cast later a pike. Which he needed badly to strenghten his leading position. Very good for him ofcourse and i was very happy for him. But i needed to catch something also ofcourse and lots prefarebly..

But i tried and i tried and cast after cast my chances where getting slimmer. The 'biting moment' at the spot was already over and after an hour or so the insecurity kicked in. What to do? Where to go? I decided to go to the bridge and try for zander. But when i reached the bridge i heard that nothing was being caught there so i went back and lost valueable time.
Back at the spot it didn't get better. With every cast i got more frustrated which didn't help my concentration. The feeling that it was going to be a blank day got bigger and bigger. Only a few hours left i went to the spot near the windmills close to Willemstad. Hoping to catch a pike or perch near the weeds. Spinnerbaits, topwaters and weedless softbaits, i tried it all but with no result.. The final hour of the tournament i tried something else. The Spro aruku shad was my final lure. The lipless crankbait had to save the day. Just next to the weeds at a depth of 3 meters was my target zone. I casted and casted till my arm nearly fell of. And then finally i got a bite close to the kayak but the perch immediatly unhooked itself. Aargh! Fifteen minutes later i hooked another perch which stayed on. But this fish got stuck in the weeds and freed itself. Very indecent words came out of my mouth at that moment..
I was running out of time and i had to go back, just one of those days..
Disappointed i arrived back at the shore. Ofcourse i was very curious to hear what Daniël's result was. He managed to catch another perch so good for him. My buddy Rob caught an absolutely stunning pike of 111 centimeters so i was sure he was going to win the award for biggest fish.

What a beauty!

Then the waiting began for the award ceremony. Was it enough for Daniël?
After a few beers and a nice barbeque dinner the moment was there, the award ceremony.
As Gero announced the top ten and counted down to the final three tention got higher and higher for Dan.. As Gero announced the number two position we knew it. DAN IS THE MAN!
Daniël became the first European Hobie kayak champion, a truly great achievement!
In a few years time Daniël evolved himself to being a very skilled kayak sport fisherman with this well deserved title as the culmination point. I'm also very proud of his accompishments!

Looking back at the weekend i had a blast, even with a meagre result. Lots of respect for the guys who travelled so far for this event. Competitors from England, Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium and Slovakia it was nice to meet you all!
A special thanks for Gero and rest of the organisers, the sponsors (very nice goodies!) and ofcourse my buddies from team viskayaks.nl Johan, Rob, Daniël, Dave, Tom, Raf and special guest Johan van Kooten!