Update Pike Challenge – World Cup Holbina Trei Bibani!
18 teams already joined the event: Daiwa France, Lowrance France, Salmo Polonia, Salmo Hungary, Official National Team Rep. Moldova, Official National Team Lituania Team 1 and 2, Official National Team Czech Republic Team 1, 2, 3, 4, Romania 1,2,3 Official National Team, Telekom Romania, Strike Pro Romania, Rapala Romania. More to come!
Training it's not alowed a week before tournament.
May 21st - 25th, 2015
For the first time, the Pike Fishing World Cup will take place in the Danube Delta, a unique reservation in Europe, where humid wild areas have still survived. The competition track will be arranged on lake HOLBINA within the touristic complex of Holbina - Trei Bibani, thus ensuring the highest organizational standards for this competition.
Location
The lake enclosure at Holbina with a total surface of 1.276 ha has all the qualities of wild waters in the Danube Delta. Aquatic ecosystems of this lake offer the ideal environment for sport fishing enabling the growth of a sensational pike population, with regard to density as well as size of the capture. Frequently, captured pikes are longer than 1 m and some days a fisher can bring to the boat more than 100 pikes. On top of that, fishers are surrounded by unique landscapes, they can watch thousands of birds, all of this making the place a true natural sanctuary.
Holbina
The touristic complex of Holbina - Trei Bibani is already known in the Danube Delta for the high quality standards of service it offers to its clients. Comfort and luxury, carefully concealed in the natural context, are enhanced by a restaurant where culinary art emphasizes the refined traditional cuisine of lake settlements in the Delta.
Contest facilities
The Pike Fishing World Cup is a competition for teams of two fishers in Best Five system- the largest five pikes - and contestants are offered boats with outboard and trolling engines. These boats are equipped with livewells having aerators that allow to keep pikes for measuring as well as special devices where captured fish can be measured in order to continuously update the Best Five list before official measuring. The contest has 2 runs of 8 hours each, and every run begins at 5 am. Arbitration is ensured by six boats with referees who will assure both a smooth run of the contest within regulations as well as fish measuring.
Coverage
The main media partner is the TV channel Fishing & Hunting who will offer on its site a complete media coverage of the event, before the start, during the competition as well as thereafter. This comprises publicity articles about the race, CVs of the contestants, event timetables as well as regulations and real time rankings. Also, the channel Fishing & Hunting will ensure LIVE video transmission of the event on a studio set next to the competition track. It will include close covering of the sporting event, interviews with the winners, news related to ranking evolution and direct coverage of the award ceremony. Last but not least, the Pike Fishing World Cup Holbina - Trei Bibani will be subject of a movie that will be aired on Fishing and Hunting Channel. Beside this promotional package offered by the main media partner, there will also be a media partnership with "Fishing For All magazine" - Revista pescuitul pentru toti - that will provide event related articles.
Awards
Cash prizes are allocated as follows;
1st place - 6000 euro
Largest fish captured - 1000 euro
Also 2nd and 3rd places – prizes supported
by sponsors consisting of high end fishing equipements
Contest timetable/Charges
May 21st (Thursday) - participants will be awaited at Dunavatul de Jos (Califar pension) and embarked on a boat for Holbina - Trei Bibani.
In the evening, during the technical meeting, fishers will learn about all the contest regulations and get detailed information regarding the race track as well as the location of the referees within the enclosure.
May 22nd (Friday) - takes place the first run, between 05:00 am - 1:00 pm. The scores and the ranking of this first run will be posted after lunch.
May 23rd (Saturday) - takes place the second run, between the same hours. Final results will be posted Saturday afternoon, followed by the award ceremony.
May 24th (Sunday) - Teams will be able to go fishing (by request) or can take trips on engine boats to visit areas of the reservation.
Also, the organizers will put a boat at the disposal of participants needing to leave earlier, to bring them back to Dunavatul de Jos.
25th May (Monday) - departure to Dunavatul de Jos
Participation fee: 450 € per contestant
These participation charges include river transport, Thursday through Monday housing, meals (dinner on Thursday, 3 meals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, breakfast on Monday), fishing, boat (engines, fuel, batteries).
The cup is transmittable.
General overview
This is a contest for 2 fisher teams, fishing is performed from boat only, in 2 runs.The boat is equipped with 2 engines, an outboard, allowing to move between the fishing areas and a trolling engine used while fishing. These engines are made available for the contestants by the organizers. Each boat is also equipped with a water tank and 2 aerators, that allow keeping the pikes for measuring.The contest has 2 runs of 8 hours each, representing the first and second day of competition. Measurements will be done in the referees' boats that are located in stable positions as follows: 2 teams of referees are on the places established in each sector at the technical session and the other 2 teams are on the central channel. It is prohibited to fish on the central channel and on the access / side channels. Teams are allowed to move using boats equipped with outboards only on the central and the side channels, whereas on sectors A and B they will have to use trolling engines or paddles. Failure to do so will be sanctioned with a warning. The final ranking for the contest takes into account summing up the points acquired during the 2 runs. The team that accumulated the highest total length will win first prize. In case of equal scores, the shootout consists of the largest fish. If equality persists, the largest catch in every run will be taken into consideration.
CONTEST RULES
All stages of the tournament take place in the "catch and release" manner. Pikes that don't survive after being released will be taken and kept only by the referees and later on handed over to the organizers.
Killing the fish and keeping it voluntarily by the contestants will be sanctioned and the team will be eliminated from that certain phase.
2. Teams can participate in a run only if their boats are equipped with at least one fishing net and a rotating head grip. Before starting the run contestants have to show to the referees, upon request, their fishing net and the measuring tape.
If they don't comply, organizers will not accept their participation in the run.
3. It's prohibited to drink alcohol in the boat as well as entering the race track under the influence.
The referees as well as the tournament director have the right, in this case, to deny access on the track to any contestant or team. If the problem incurs during the race, that team will be dismissed from the competition track, but the pikes that have been scored so far will be taken into consideration.
4. Contestants have the obligation to behave civilized on the competition track.
5. Fishing takes place only from boats equipped with paddles or trolling engines.
6. Exiting the shore is allowed only in emergencies and only after having announced the referees or the organizers. This also applies for teams that decide to exit the run before regular time has expired.
Failure to comply will lead to canceling the run for that certain team.
7. It is allowed to use all spinning and bait-casting fishing equipment and Texas, Carolina, Drop-Shot. But natural bait and artificial flies are prohibited. A referee can check this at any time throughout the contest.
Teams that do not respect this obligation will have their run cancelled.
8. Trail fishing trolling is prohibited.
Referees will mark a warning for not respecting this obligation.
9. The minimum distance on the lake, between contestants, is 40 m. Referees will mark a warning for not respecting this obligation.
10. Fishers cannot get any kind of fishing equipment from third parties before the end of measuring.
Failure to comply will lead to canceling the run for that certain team.
11. Malfunctioning trolling engines, broken paddles, as well as discharged batteries can only be replaced while the referees or the tournament director are present.
Failure to comply will lead to canceling the run for that certain team.
12. Only one single fishing rod can be used. The contestant is allowed to carry an unlimited amount of spare rods in his boat.
13. Captured fish will be brought in the boat using the fishing net.
Note: after the pike has been recovered in the boat one can handle the fish (it is even recommended) by using a grip in order to release the hooks.
14. Contestants are not allowed to enter the competition track the week before the contest!
The team that brakes this rule is eliminated from that certain phase.
15. Any deviation from civilized behavior on behalf of a contestant towards the other fishers or towards referees or organizers will bring him a warning.
16. If a team gets 3 warnings during a phase, its results will be cancelled in all the 2 contest runs.
17. Leaving in an emergency is permitted only in the presence of referees. Failure to do so will be sanctioned with a warning.
SCORING AND RANKING RULES
1. Only live pike, having its physiological and motor functions within normal range (the fish is breathing, keeps up a normal position by itself and can swim) will be scored. After the measurement, only fish that are quite capable to leave on their own the releasing place, will be validated. The contestant has the obligation to resuscitate the fish as well as to keep it in optimal survival conditions.
A seriously wounded fish, that is bleeding or will certainly not survive after being released, is not going to be scored. The referee together with the tournament director can reach this decision under those circumstances.
2. Anytime the contestant considers necessary to measure his catch, he can do so by going to one of the 2 referees on the competition track.
Note: the referees don't have the obligation to go immediately and perform measurements requested by a contestant who suggests that the fish will not survive.
In every run, each team scores by measuring their 5 largest pikes (minimum dimension = 40 cm), 1cm = 1 point
3. The final ranking of the competition is done by adding up the points in the 2 runs.
The team having accumulated the highest total length will be the winner. In case of equal scores the shoot out is done considering the largest catch. If equal score persists, the largest catch from each run will be taken into consideration.
4. The contestants are not allowed to retain at any time more than 5 fishes. This can be checked at any time of the contest by the referees.
Contestants are responsible for choosing the largest 5 fishes and are required to measure those before handing them over for initial measurement.
If on top of the 5 fishes a team has kept an additional one, this last fish cancels the smallest scoring pike. Therefore in that run the team will score with only 4 pikes instead of 5. If there are 2 additional pikes on top of the regular catch, the last and second to last scoring pikes will be cancelled and the team will score with only 3 pikes. This rule will apply depending on how many additional pikes have been kept, until all 5 pikes are cancelled.
5. By the end of every run, fish measuring stops, except for the ones that came all ready for mesurement before regular run time is expiring and are waiting to be taken in charge by referees
6. It is prohibited to fish after the run time has expired.
Violation of this rule will lead to canceling the results acquired throughout that run.