This program produced and presented by the friendly Swedish Kanalgratis.se team is growing and sees the number of teams and sponsors increasing year after year. A quality program that is broadcast for 6 weeks with one episode every Friday at 7pm on Kanalgratis.se's YouTube channel.
Issue concept and allocation of points
The concept is simple: to bring together 16 of the best anglers in Europe in a competition filmed over 3 days with 10 hours of fishing per day. Each day of competition will be the subject of 2 episodes.
4 points will be distributed per day (number of poles over 30 cm, biggest pole, biggest Top 5 in cm, biggest pole in Topwater) and 4 additional points will be awarded at the end of the competition (highest number of poles over 30 cm throughout the competition, biggest pole in the competition, biggest Top 5 in cm, biggest pole in Topwater in the competition)
The French in the spotlight
Frédéric Jullian
Frédéric Jullian is a regular on the program. This year he will be teaming up with Niklhaus Bauer, a talented Swedish fly fisherman and a familiar figure in this competition as well, the only mixed team combining a lure and a fly fisherman.
Sylvain Legendre and Jean-Baptiste Morel
For his third participation, Sylvain Legendre will pair up with Jean-Baptiste Morel, the man who is usually behind the camera in the episodes of "Mission Impossible" offered on Fox Rage's YouTube channel.
Gaël Even
The big French surprise of this 7th season of Perch Pro is the participation of Gaël Even, a fisherman who is no longer presented and whose technical mastery is equalled only by his capacity of analysis and his knowledge of the environment. Gaël replaces Frédéric Jullian alongside Marc Ptacovsky.
Summary of the first episode
Team Sporting
The Sporting team starts the competition with fast prospecting lures (Lipless and Blade Jig) in order to quickly locate the fish. A strategy that pays off from the start for Sporting who starts the competition with a bang with several fish over 40 cm but the shoal moves forcing them to follow it. The reunion with the shoal is marked by the catch of a superb 47 cm fish in the Blade Jig! Their first part of the competition will not be marked by an impressive number of fish but by an average size of fish exceeding 40 cm!
Team Bite of Bleak/Lurefans
For its part, the Bite of Bleak/Lurefans team adopts the same strategy as the Sporting team and registers a 47 cm fish on the 2nd cast. Then, the 2 anglers link up the big fishes and take off in terms of the number of fishes and the Top 5 of the biggest fishes. Then calm comes back until a 48 cm zebrafish comes to break it!
Team Illex/Gunki
For its part, the Illex/Gunki team is banking on the complementary nature of the approaches, with Marc Ptacovsky fishing with stickbait on the surface, while Gaël Even is prospecting the lower layers of water with spinnerbait. Approach quickly paid off with several mesh fish. Change of spot, approach and search for big fishes quickly rewarded by the catch of several 40+ including a 48 for Gaël Even who will put the team on a par with the Bite of Bleak/Lurefans team for the point of the biggest fish.
Team CWC
On the great Dutch lakes, the CWC team takes the same approach as the Illex/Gunki team. Evert Oostdam fishes on the surface while Adam Orre combs deep with a blade. It is Evert Oostdam who will open the CWC counter with a 43 cm fish. Then it's Adam Orre's turn, who successively comes on board with four fishes of 45, 47 and two fishes of 43 cm!
Team Nays
Team Nays' strategy for this first day is announced: fast edge fishing in Powerfishing. After a first fish is landed, a Blade Jig trailer is cut, a first surface mesh fish is counted. Then it's a chain of unmeshed fish until a 40+ fish is caught on the surface and then a second one... But the luck is changing and the team is linking up the meshed fish but not enough to get the point of the number.
Team Fox Rage/Salmo
The Fox Rage/Salmo team will bet on the Topwater during this competition that the binomial starts alternating between stickbait and popper. First fish on the popper before going down into the water column to trigger other fish. Even if, between the tourists and the divers, the spot is not the most peaceful there is, this will not prevent Jean-Baptiste Morel from catching a large 45 cm zebra.
Team Humminbird/Vision
Just like the Fox Rage/Salmo team also fishing in France, the Humminbird/Vision team bets, during the competition, not on the number, but on the big fish in Topwater. Niklaus Bauer unblocks the situation with the first fish which, if it's meshed, doesn't really correspond to what the team came for, i.e. perch up to 50 cm!
Team Strike King/Lew's
Viktor Enblom and Per Tjernström from the Strike King/Lew's team also open their countdown with a first 36 cm fish in Topwater alternating between animated stickbait in "Walking the Dog" and popper. Unfortunately, this will be their only mesh fish for this first episode, a fish which nevertheless gives them 1 point for the biggest fish caught on the surface. An unhoped-for and fragile point!
Review of the points
The teams virtually hold the following points at the end of the first half day:
3 points for Bite of Bleak/Lurefans : number of fish + Big Fish + Top 5
1 point for Strike King/Lew's : Big Fish in Topwater
1 point for Illex/Gunki Big Fish point tied with Bite of Bleak/Lurefans team
