Kvarken International pike fly tournament

Kvarken International Pike Fly Fishing Tournament | 2010

2010-05-09T18:41:00.000+03:00

Competing teams : Canadaa | Holland | England | Russia | Finland

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THE TOURNAMENT HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN MOVED DUE TO THE ICE SITUATION.

NEW LOCATION: EUMER FISHING CENTER, MERIKARVIA.

So, May is here and with only one week to go until the tournament starts, Mother Nature has surprised us with an unusually cold spring. The area we were supposed to hold the tournament in is still partly iced over. What made us move the whole tournament to another location though, is the fact that the Pike have not yet spawned here. Luckily the guys down at Eumer Fishing Centre offered us a good solution to our little problem, as the Pike down there will just have spawned by the time of the tournament, and they will be hungry as anything!!!

Merikarvia is situated only 150km south of Vaasa, and the river mouth down in Merikarvia, where our new fishing grounds will be, offer very similar conditions. Shallow waters, reeds and rocks mainly make up the area, and lots of fish of course... plenty of big Pike have been caught by the river mouth.

Google maps now also offer a street view of the area, so check out some summer views on the map, in the Location-link.

The tournament will be held on Replot island which is situated in the famous Kvarken World Natural Heritage Site from the 10th – 13th May 2010, & is the 1st international pike fly tournament ever to be held in Finland. The waters around Replot island are very special waters indeed. In fact the entire area and western coastline is aptly named pike paradise by the Ostrobothnian fishing association.

During spring time here, thousands upon thousands of pike can be found spawning in the shallow bays & as the area is found smack bang in the middle of the Baltic sea, water temperatures stay far cooler than closed waters like lakes, and so fishing is prevalent all through the season, from early April – late November when the sea freezes over.

As well as the prolific fishing this area has, It also has an extremely diverse set of fauna & flora. 24 endemic plant families are found on the shores of the Baltic sea, of which 16 are only found in the Kvarken Archipelago. Replot's fauna is equally impressive with over 126 species to be found here such as Skuas, Black Guillemots, Eider ducks, Razerbills, White tailed eagle,Crane,Ural & Great Grey Owls & the endangered Scaup. Elk,White tailed deer,Bear,raccoon dog,Fox,Otter all live on the island as well.

The area is wild & rugged with over 2000 islands & skerries to fish between and around With Vision fly fishing, Eumer tube & Baltic pike flies as well as several co-operation partners from the island involved, it promises to be a fly-fishing tournament like no other.

Updates

2010-05-09T18:39:00.011+03:00

Images and updates from the tournament will appear here...

Day one of the tournament and its been a tough couple of days fishing, yet has produced a few good sized fish.Conditions haven't been easy in that there is not a hell of visibility due to murky waters and the pike are either spawning or just finished.
Today saw the Dutch take an early lead with a few 80 cm fish and some smaller jacks.

While the day goes to the Fins with Tuomas Rutknonen bagging the 1st of 2 fish over 100 cm with this one at 102cm.
And this one at 112 cm 10 minutes before the clock rang for the end of the 1st days fishing

Finland lead with England second and the Dutch 3rd. I'll write a more extensive report tomorrow as I'll have more time to spend on the internet.

During yesterdays practice day I managed to chuck some fluff for a few hours from the support boat I'm using. And bagged my 1st fish of the season which weighed 6.2kg.

Not an easy pike to fish for in a small rubber inflatable I can tell you.

This is what the tournament is about........Catch,photo, release!
As I mentioned there will be a more in depth report tomorrow.

Tournament Round Up

With the coldest winter here in Finland for 70 yrs, conditions just weren't ideal to say the least.Pike were three weeks late into spawning due to colder water conditions which made the fishing extremely hard and more to the point frustrating at times. The fishing grounds were teaming with pike but were reluctant to take fly and any fish caught were nearly all post spawn. Never the less there was a real buzz within the teams.

Everyone left from a small boat harbor each morning and were allocated a different guide and boat each day.

David Smith with Kari one of the guides.

Henk-Jan with a 98cm

Pierre-Luc with a 78cm

Henk-Jan with a 96cm & Sander Van der Wal with an 88cm

David Smith with the 1st or 2 pike over 100 cm. This one was 106cm

Benoit Brumiller with a 90 cm

David Smith with his 2nd at 103cm

Erik Hakkert with an 80cm
Me with a small Jack of around 70cm

Due to a problem with the Internet wireless at the lodge we were unable to update the daily standings and catch progress. Anyway Finland had sent a strong team which left the others playing catch up the remaining two days. With pike either spawning or in post spawn blues getting pike to take flies became increasingly frustrating for the teams. With weather conditions changing daily.....so did the tactics. The Dutch four changed their approach from using their long bunny streamers to shorter 100mm schlapen baitfish patterns while the English team kept plodding on with their typically British bulldog never say die approach.After 3 grueling days 1st place went to Team Vision (Tuomas Rytkonen & Saku Pylvainen) from Finland with a total length of 1149 cm

2nd place went to Team England (Mike Smith & Guy Eldridge) with a total length of 1162 cm

And 3rd place went to the Dutch four (Harmen-Jan Platvoet & Erik Hakkert) with a total length of 1062 cm

A total of 127 pike were caught during the tournament and over 476 were caught for the whole week. 7 PB's were broken as well.

More to follow once images start arriving from the teams

My good friend Joseph Bognanno from Sport fishing Americas blog out in Argentina made this the other day.....your the man Joe!

Kvarkens Internationella Gädd-flugfisketävling | 2010

2009-12-11T23:35:00.017+02:00

Tävlande team: Kanada | England | Holland | Ryssland | Finland

Tävlingen sponsoreras av:

Baltic Pike Flies i samarbete med Vision Fly Fishing och Eumer förberäder för den största gädd-flugfisketävlingen som någonsin ordnats i Finland...

Lag från 6 länder kommer att delta i en 3 dagars kamp om ära och berömmelse och fina priser förståss...

Tävlingen skulle ordnas i Kvarkens Världsnaturarv, utanför Vasa stad, mellan öarna Replot och Björkön, men den har nu flyttats till Merikarvia p.g.a. isläget i Kvarken.

OBS! Tävlingen hålls i EUMER Fishing Center i Merikarvia.

Se karta i "Location"-linken.

Tävlingen följer en sträng "catch & release" linje, d.v.s. all fångad fisk återbördas till havet efter vägning och fotografering. Detta är ett av tävlingens viktiga budskap, samt att informera om gäddans viktiga roll i våra vatten.

Merenkurkun Kansainvälinen Hauen Perhokalastuskilpailu | 2010

2009-12-11T23:34:00.018+02:00

Osallistuvat joukkueet: Kanada | Hollanti | Englanti | Suomi

Kilpailun sponsoroi:

Vision Fly Fishing , Eumer ja Baltic Pike Flies valmistautuvat ensimmäiseen Suomessa järjestettyyn kansainväliseen hauen perhokalastuskilpailuun...

6 maata kilpailevat 3 päivää, paitsi kunniasta, myös hienoista palkinnoista.

Kilpailu oli tarkoitus pitää Vaasan saaristossa, Raippaluodon saarella, mutta olemme joutuneet siirtämään sen Merikarvialle jäätilanteen takia.

HUOM! Kilpailu on siirretty EUMER Fishing Centeriin, Merikarvialle.

Tarkempi kartta löytyy Location - linkistä.

Kilpailu noudattaa tiukkaa n.s. "pyydystä ja päästä" sääntöä, eli kaikki vedestä nostetut kalat vapautetaan valokuvauksen ja punnitsemisen jälkeen. Kilpailun tarkoitus on myös tuoda esille tärkeä viesti "pyydystä ja päästä" kalastuksesta ja hauen tärkeästä roolista Suomen vesistöissä.

Kilpailu järjestetään Ma.10.05.2010 - Ke.13.05.2010

Kilpailuaika: klo. 08.00 - 16.00

Lehdistölle:

Lehdistöpäivä: Ke.12.05.2010
Venekyyti kilpailualueelle: Klo. 11.00 - 13.00
(Ilmoittautuminen: Jaakko Ojamo 044 560 3120)

Kilpailuaika: klo.08.00 - 16.00
Kilpailijoiden Haastattelut: klo 16.00 jälkeen.

Rules

2009-12-11T23:31:00.002+02:00

Click to enlarge and press 'Esc' to zoom back out...

Location

2009-12-11T23:28:00.012+02:00

NEW LOCATION: MERIKARVIA

View Merikarvia river estuary in a larger map

Why fish thrive in the Kvarken Archipelago

Click to enlarge and press 'Esc' to zoom back out...

PIKE PARADISE

The Ostrobotnian Fishing Association has developed a website to promote the fishing tourism in the region. The name Pike Paradise was chosen to represent the area as pike in deed is one of the dominant species in our waters. The website is now up and running and contains loads of info on our fishing grounds... check it out!

Teams

2009-12-11T22:52:00.013+02:00

Team Holland:

The Dutch Four
Sander van der Wal, Erik Hakkert, Harmen-Jan Platvoet & Henk-Jan ten Brinke
http://thedutchfour.blogspot.com

Team Canada:
Team Torrent
Pierre Luc Fillion, Benoit Brühmüller

Team England:
Mike Green, Guy Eldridge, Dave Smith, Steve Gait

Team Russia:
A team from Russia has not yet confirmed...

Team Finland:
Vision are putting this team together. No names yet...