And here is the "official" CR ....
A few words about our participation and victory in the Sea bass Open des Glénan on the weekend of June 20 and 21, 2015.
For those unfamiliar with the world of Saltwater fishing, this is currently and has long been the most prestigious Sea bass boat fishing competition with lures organized in France .It takes place over two one-day heats and the aim is to measure Sea bass over 42 cm. The 5 biggest count towards the ranking, and the fish must return to their element alive.
We fielded 3 Rodhouse teams. Rodhouse 1 was represented by Rodhouse boss Goulven DOLLE and staff member Morgan Bideau.
Those who know us will know that we entered this competition with one thing in mind: to win. We told our friends and family, at the risk of making a mistake, but I think that also enabled us to arrive mobilized, with the preparation that allows you to be confident in your fishing.
After some very difficult prefishing in the area in the weeks leading up to the competition, we knew we were going to war: out of 4 days spent on the water, we spent two days with 0 fish, preferring to concentrate on spotting current veins, the right tide times and balls of forage fish.
One of the first tactical choices was the boat. Given the super-calm weather forecast, we decided to take my boat
my boat rather than Morgan's. It's a smaller boat, more discreet both for the fish and for the other competitors on the water, and makes it easy to fish with two people. It's a 5.40m semi-rigid that's a bit of a baby compared with the big boats on the circuit. To leave nothing to chance, I had it completely overhauled by my friend Fanch at the SMO shipyard in Le Hézo, Morbihan. The boat had to be 100% operational and reliable, and it was.
We then validated the tidal moments when the fish were active. More than the GPS point itself, this information is essential to avoid spending unnecessary time on a mat of electronically detected but inactive fish. Efficient prefishing, tidal current studies and the activation of buddy networks enabled us to validate a few certainties, around which we wove a canvas of B-points and emergency itineraries that allowed us to spend useful time between the various active points.
We fished with blanks from North Fork Composites and Batson-Rainshadow, MB809 IM for heavy shad fishing called "Drift and lift", Black Minnow 160 with TP of 30 or 60 with which we had scratched 3rd place on the podium last year, but which served us less this year. We had SJ 706 and Prototype NFC MB705 for Crazy Sand Eel 150 and 220 animations, and Batson IMMWS68MX and RX8+783 blanks for deeper, lighter vertical fishing on the fly, a bit like diagonal fishing in Freshwater fishing.
The lure of the competition that secured 95% of our catches was the Crazy Sand Eel from Fiiish, which is a less obvious and more technical lure than the Black Minnow, but just as formidable if not more so when used when, and as, required.
Morgan fished Crazy 150 in Blue and Green colors in 20grs TP, I was more comfortable on Crazy 220 in 30 and 60 TP, Gold and Blue colors.
On Saturday, we landed 4 fish, including a 75 cm one, all caught on Crazy. Morgan caught 3 fish, including the big one. As for me, I opened the score, fishing veins of juice along drop-offs of 10 to 20 meters. The fish were fairly active, and the day went according to plan despite the fact that we didn't manage to land a fifth fish.
On Sunday, as always on competitions, the fishing was tougher. The area has been stirred up by 45 boats, the mattes have flattened out, and the beautiful detections we had the day before on the HUMMINBIRD 858 and 899 combos have crashed. So we had to use our electronics to look for fish hidden on the slabs, at the entrance to the hollow rocks and in the kelp. I work in max mode on the combo to get as much information as possible on the screen, with two different color palettes, half the screen on Down Imaging to discriminate fish echoes from disturbances, and a quarter of the screen with the carto to drift where needed.
We then move on to more classic fishing and have to bring out the shads. The fish are on small sardines, and we go down on blue 120 mm TP Black Minnow weighing 12grs, which for us is the ultimate in Finesse fishing... The bottom scrape and the straight retrieve allowed us to bring in 3 fish, one of which was 74 cm. This Sunday, Morgan brought in one fish and I'll do the other two, including the 74. We worked in perfect harmony during the prospecting phases, and switched to the winning pattern when one or the other had it.
This is the first big competition we've won. We've tried to reduce chance as much as possible and control as many factors as possible. The great shad fishing champion Fred Lavion came by to say a few words in a friendly and straightforward manner at the prize-giving ceremony, and this meeting and exchange means a great deal to us. We're also delighted to be sharing the podium with our team-mates from Team Bigoud, with whom we've been pulling each other's strings for years. We've shared with them the competitions we've missed out on, the end of the table, and that only makes this moment even better. Well done, guys.
This victory at the Glenan is even sweeter since the competition is masterfully organized by a good team of buddies we've met over the years on the Opens, namely Glenan Peche Sportive https://glenanpechesportive.fr/ and their team of volunteers and stewards, who have been working for a year to make this possible . Many thanks to them.
[img]https://www.rodhouse.fr/img/glenan2015/17.jpg[/img]
We're super happy and proud to have been able to win this major competition fishing with home-made rods and to have been able to hoist the rodbuilding colors to the top of the bill.
For those unfamiliar with the world of Saltwater fishing, this is currently and has long been the most prestigious Sea bass boat fishing competition with lures organized in France .It takes place over two one-day heats and the aim is to measure Sea bass over 42 cm. The 5 biggest count towards the ranking, and the fish must return to their element alive.
We fielded 3 Rodhouse teams. Rodhouse 1 was represented by Rodhouse boss Goulven DOLLE and staff member Morgan Bideau.
Those who know us will know that we entered this competition with one thing in mind: to win. We told our friends and family, at the risk of making a mistake, but I think that also enabled us to arrive mobilized, with the preparation that allows you to be confident in your fishing.
After some very difficult prefishing in the area in the weeks leading up to the competition, we knew we were going to war: out of 4 days spent on the water, we spent two days with 0 fish, preferring to concentrate on spotting current veins, the right tide times and balls of forage fish.
One of the first tactical choices was the boat. Given the super-calm weather forecast, we decided to take my boat
my boat rather than Morgan's. It's a smaller boat, more discreet both for the fish and for the other competitors on the water, and makes it easy to fish with two people. It's a 5.40m semi-rigid that's a bit of a baby compared with the big boats on the circuit. To leave nothing to chance, I had it completely overhauled by my friend Fanch at the SMO shipyard in Le Hézo, Morbihan. The boat had to be 100% operational and reliable, and it was.
We then validated the tidal moments when the fish were active. More than the GPS point itself, this information is essential to avoid spending unnecessary time on a mat of electronically detected but inactive fish. Efficient prefishing, tidal current studies and the activation of buddy networks enabled us to validate a few certainties, around which we wove a canvas of B-points and emergency itineraries that allowed us to spend useful time between the various active points.
We fished with blanks from North Fork Composites and Batson-Rainshadow, MB809 IM for heavy shad fishing called "Drift and lift", Black Minnow 160 with TP of 30 or 60 with which we had scratched 3rd place on the podium last year, but which served us less this year. We had SJ 706 and Prototype NFC MB705 for Crazy Sand Eel 150 and 220 animations, and Batson IMMWS68MX and RX8+783 blanks for deeper, lighter vertical fishing on the fly, a bit like diagonal fishing in Freshwater fishing.
The lure of the competition that secured 95% of our catches was the Crazy Sand Eel from Fiiish, which is a less obvious and more technical lure than the Black Minnow, but just as formidable if not more so when used when, and as, required.
Morgan fished Crazy 150 in Blue and Green colors in 20grs TP, I was more comfortable on Crazy 220 in 30 and 60 TP, Gold and Blue colors.
On Saturday, we landed 4 fish, including a 75 cm one, all caught on Crazy. Morgan caught 3 fish, including the big one. As for me, I opened the score, fishing veins of juice along drop-offs of 10 to 20 meters. The fish were fairly active, and the day went according to plan despite the fact that we didn't manage to land a fifth fish.
On Sunday, as always on competitions, the fishing was tougher. The area has been stirred up by 45 boats, the mattes have flattened out, and the beautiful detections we had the day before on the HUMMINBIRD 858 and 899 combos have crashed. So we had to use our electronics to look for fish hidden on the slabs, at the entrance to the hollow rocks and in the kelp. I work in max mode on the combo to get as much information as possible on the screen, with two different color palettes, half the screen on Down Imaging to discriminate fish echoes from disturbances, and a quarter of the screen with the carto to drift where needed.
We then move on to more classic fishing and have to bring out the shads. The fish are on small sardines, and we go down on blue 120 mm TP Black Minnow weighing 12grs, which for us is the ultimate in Finesse fishing... The bottom scrape and the straight retrieve allowed us to bring in 3 fish, one of which was 74 cm. This Sunday, Morgan brought in one fish and I'll do the other two, including the 74. We worked in perfect harmony during the prospecting phases, and switched to the winning pattern when one or the other had it.
This is the first big competition we've won. We've tried to reduce chance as much as possible and control as many factors as possible. The great shad fishing champion Fred Lavion came by to say a few words in a friendly and straightforward manner at the prize-giving ceremony, and this meeting and exchange means a great deal to us. We're also delighted to be sharing the podium with our team-mates from Team Bigoud, with whom we've been pulling each other's strings for years. We've shared with them the competitions we've missed out on, the end of the table, and that only makes this moment even better. Well done, guys.
This victory at the Glenan is even sweeter since the competition is masterfully organized by a good team of buddies we've met over the years on the Opens, namely Glenan Peche Sportive https://glenanpechesportive.fr/ and their team of volunteers and stewards, who have been working for a year to make this possible . Many thanks to them.
[img]https://www.rodhouse.fr/img/glenan2015/17.jpg[/img]
We're super happy and proud to have been able to win this major competition fishing with home-made rods and to have been able to hoist the rodbuilding colors to the top of the bill.
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