Ice Fishing World Championship 2007

[Nisid]

For those who are interested what's going on in the rest of the Worlds.

Team USA and Team Canada did not go because the Championship was postponed due to the ice conditions.
Team China did not go either for another reason.

Team results:

Latvia - 1
Lithuania - 2
Poland - 3
Belarus - 4
Russia - 5
Ukraine - 6
Estonia - 7
Sveden - 8
Finland - 9
Kazakstan - 10
Czech Republic - 11


Rita from Latvia is the World Champion.
Our respects and congratulations!

You could watch her fishing on the DVD:
http://mormyshka.com/images/Mormyshka_DVD_Preview2.html

[flyingknee]

Cool post Nisid,it is neat to see how people fish in a different country.That Rita has the touch.

[pikemaster789]

so how is this tournament run? what kind of fish are targeted?

[C.C.]

so how is this tournament run? what kind of fish are targeted?

I don't know and I don't know but if thats what they fish for I think I'll keep fishing here in the good ol USA. That looked like an awful lot of dinks to me.

[sparky]

If I'm not mistaken it's the weight of all fish caught.  I've seen some of those match fishing contest from Europe and their fishing is totally different than ours.  We are more species oriented, where as they go and catch what ever species they can.  You should see of the catches they make using 2 and 3 lb test line.  Of course they also use poles that range from 11-22 foot long.  In ice fishing contest like that 1 and 2 lb is the normal.

[seaweed01]

Great video, thanks for sharing it.

[snelly]

what are the rules of this tournament? It must be numbers because there were an awful lot of dinks. most I would consider bait. But you can only use it where you caught it. It can't be transported in New York.

[sparky]

You have a limited time period to catch all the fish you can.  You are assigned to a certain part of the lake by drawing and you must stay within the give area.  If I remember right you are only allowed one pole. 

There was an article years back in In-Fisherman about this type of fishing.  That is how Thill (sp) bobbers got started.  The inventor was a match fisherman.  In- fisherman was pushing his type of bobbers and floats for a long time. 

The holes are usually chumed with the bait before you start to fish.  I know on open water fishing of this type they even use sling shots to lob the chum bait out to where they fish.  This type of competitive fish is very popular in Europe.

Do a goggle search for match fishing.  It really looks interesting.

[Nisid]

I just want to add a comment, that observation about dinks is inappropriate.

At World class tournaments, organizers want to exclude any luck, and anglers are almost in even conditions.
Usually organizers use special nets to filter and scare away larger fish from the tournament area.
Sometimes the area can be completelly stocked with smaller to medium ones.

The small fish caught are not disposed. Anglers shall return the catch to a collection point of MNR or hatchery for money. Hatcheries produce food for larger fish.

Even in Canada and USA some lakes became overpopulated with small Perch,
till the point where Pike and Walleye fingerlings can not compete with it,
as a result overpopulated Perch stoped growing as well.
There is usually no catch limit, and at some lakes there is unofficial rule to not release the catch.

Constance Lake, ON had no limit on winter pikes. Each week-end there was a minivan from Chinese store collecting the catch.

A booklet, suggested to not release cat-fish from Ottawa River and use the catch as a good fertilizer for your garden.

WA State pays $4 for each Pike-minnow for the first 500 caught, and $8 therefore. Conditions and Rules applied.
Some people compete for the largest pay-check in the season.

Most States in USA do not require fishing license for Carp. No limit. You can catch it and kill it.

Opposites:
In Austria, Perch limit is 3 per day. I can't say exactly, but rules say:
"You must stop fishing if you reach your daily limit even if you released the fish".
Some Gills are forbidden to fish at all. But I enjoyed catching Trouts and Greylings.

Returning from the Ice Fishing Show, St. Paul, I met a guy from Seattle, WA in the airport at the bar. I ordered fried walleye, and he said that only stupid f...ing people from "add your location" can eat fresh-water fish.

Regards.
 
 

[munchy71]

I don't know fellas.  It doesn't look like she's actually "competing" in the video.  Looks more like she's practicing.  Also doesn't look like there's any intention to return those fish to the water.  Just my opinion....

It's too bad that Mike & his crew couldn't make it to the champs.  I think they could have made us Yanks proud.

I listened to seminar by Greg Wilcynski (he's the developer of St. Croix's spring bobbers)at the Ice Fishing Expo in St. Paul last year, and he actually said that most of the fish caught in these European tournaments would be considered bait by Americans.  He also stated that they couldn't use any kind of electronics!!!!  I couldn't imagine trying to find fish without my Vexilar....

-Munchy

[fishermanjake]

I gotta say that's nothing special, I think IceShanty holds a huge amount  of undiscovered talent.  I've never heard the the world icefishing championships, but i have heard of iceshanty.com.  Most of the men and women on this website would probably be talented enough to compete.  It's a cool video, but good luck proclaiming a world champion when the world doesn't compete.

[TGF]

  Most of the men and women on this website would probably be talented enough to compete.  It's a cool video, but good luck proclaiming a world champion when the world doesn't compete.

I missed this post last spring...

Anyone can fish at a world championship but you can only do it within a small area (approx 50 X 120 meters) with a member from each country in that area. You have to stay 5 meters from another fisherpersons ground flag where they are fishing and their home base flag. No power augers or electronics of any kind and you wouldn't want to use there as would slow you down on the set up and having to move from hole to hole. In the time you just adjusted your vexilar from old hole to new one, Rita has caught 6 fish. You are literally running in the zone trying to locate fish, stay away from other flags, once located you fish hard till they move (sometimes a couple minutes) then you do. You fish small diameter holes (4 inches is huge with 2-3 inch being the norm).
Yes the fish are small there as mentioned by NSID earlier but the organizers pick the area the championship will be held with small fish in mind. I'm not talking a lb fish as that would be a monster at worlds. You are lucky if fish is half an oz . You put your fish in a bag and they are tallied up after the 3 hours of fishing. Big fish are kept out of area. You can't leave the area/zone.
You are fishing with very small diameter line. One lb line is too big and you would end up with very few fish.

In Europe icefishing is very big and many try out for the coveted spot for their country. Icefishing is big sport there like football and hockey.

Rita is a great fisherperson and does her country proud. She is also a pleasure to fish with. She isn't competing there but just demonstrating the mormyshka technique.

That technique is deadly on dead of winter slow bite fish here. I have caught an over 9 lb rainbow using that method.

We have talent in our way of fishing but to fish at an event like that...well its a hole new ballgame. To be a talented icefisher I think one has to think outside the box  .

[Art 53]

Terry Have you met Rita and actually fished with her and were That's pretty cool if so

[jayswimmer09]

the thing is with people around here is we tend to specialize on one fish, we pick our favorite fish and fish for it all winter long. we would probably get our butts kicked over there but then bring them over here and we would kill them, its all about homefield advantage. and yes some of these fish are smaller than the bait i use but hey who cares fish are fish!!!