Leo Pegels is the winner of the 2017 Hobie Predator Open! Jumping from 3rd place after day 1, he had a full bag and left everybody else far behind him. With this big win, he also won a spot in team Europe for the Hobie Fishing Worlds 7. Here is a full report:
Day 1
As the siren went off at 7:00AM, 50 kayaks pedal onto the Haringvliet. The Hobie Predator Open 2017 has officially started. The 50 competitors, from eight countries, target Zander and Perch. Both fish are very common and grow very big in the Lake.
Within an hour, the patrol boat saw some action as it passed Felix Frey from Sweden. He hooked a nice Zander early in his first Hobie tournament. “I lost a big Zander, I tried again 50 meters ahead and got an strike immediately. At that point the patrol boat passed and managed to take some pictures. Unfortunately it stayed with the one Zander today but I’m confident that tomorrow will be better.
Our cameras caught a few more fish in the morning after which it became quiet. The wind picked up a quite a lot and made fishing really hard. “Fishing is different when there is a lot of wind” Marco Nieuwehuizen tells us. “I know these waters quite good, but the wind made it hard.”
Competitors started to check in around 1:30PM. Everybody checked in before 3:00PM and while the competitors ordered some freshly baked pizza, the judges checked the scores. 33 anglers managed to get some fish on their measuring board on the first day.
The leader after day 1 is the French angler Julien Le Dez. He had a total of 245cm. The top three is completed by two Dutch guys, Vincent Tobé (2nd with 232cm) and Leo Pegels (3rd with 212cm).
Day 2
Because of the change of the clock to summertime, sunrise came one hour later than the first day. Anglers pedaled out of the Marina at 8:00AM. Before they went on the water, the morning briefing took place. Key tags were handed out and check in times are announced.
“I’m going for the Zander in the deep areas in the morning and try to get the Perch in the afternoon.” Julien says about his strategy for the day. “Being in the lead is nice, but today is the day to perform.”
The competitors spread out across the water quickly. With 2-3 Bft wind it is much better than day 1. This gives everyone the opportunity to follow their game plan, resulting in fish quickly. Around noon clouds filled the blue sky, but the lack of wind made up for this. Fish is being caught and people stay out late. Normally this is a good sign. Vincent Tobé hooked a nice aggressive Perch right in front of the patrol boat.
When the check in times come closer, anglers gather around the entrance of the Marina and try to fill their bags in the waters there. Around 2:00PM the first group of anglers checks in and is registering fish. Just over 3:00PM everybody checked in and were busy filling out their scorecards.
The barbecue was lit, sausages were put on and the judges went for the scoring. Anglers are talking with each other and are cracking the figures in their head. Then, around 5:30PM the award giving began. This year we have some small prize packages for 1st to 3rd place and one for the biggest fish. We want to thank Hobie Polarized and Westin Fishing for their support in both the goodie bags and prize packages.
The prize for the biggest fish, a 75+ cm Zander is won by Marcus Thoren from Sweden. He did not take the risk of losing the fish and made a photo for 75cm. “I measured the fish on the measuring board and saw it was just slightly bigger than the board. I decided it was best for the fish to not call the marshal boat and release it straight away.”
3rd place is for Helmut Schoddel from Germany with a total amount of 392cm.
2nd place is for Felipe Esser from Germany. He put a total of 346cm of fish on his measuring board.
Then the only spot left to hand out was first place. After two days of fishing Leo Pegels from the Netherlands won the 2017 Hobie Predator Open with a stunning 500cm fish! Being in third place after day one, he went out this morning and came back with a full bag. That jumped him not only to first place, but also to the Hobie Fishing Worlds 7!
“I’m so happy right now! I worked hard to get these fish on my board and it is amazing that it payed of. There are so many good anglers here, that makes it extra special. I’m really excited to be qualified for the Hobie Fishing Worlds 7. I look forward to be a part of this.” Says Leo Pegels about winning the Hobie Predator Open an qualifying for the Hobie Fishing Worlds 7.
Even those who did not win anything had a blast. A lot of personal records have been broken. “The trip was awesome. I didn’t catch that many fish, but I’ve had this monster Perch slamming into my lure.” Micheal Weber happily says. “That’s why I love fishing!”
We want to specially thank Jachthaven Atlantica and Kayakwinkel for letting us use their accommodation and helping us with everything we needed.
Full Scores:
Check out our Flickr page for all the event photos.
