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When you're a passionate and assiduous sea bass angler, winning the Open des Glénan is an enormous reward. While it's always possible to be in the right place at the right time by chance, in our case it was a different story.
A long-standing quest
The story began in 2016 when I met my fishing partner and friend Matthieu. We quickly found our affinities, both on the water and in life, and a shared taste for finesse bass fishing.
So, while Matthieu had already taken part in the Open des Glénan 2017 with a mutual friend, Hugues, we had already decided to prepare and prospect together for the 2018 edition, which we would do together.
Many false leads and strategies
For a long time, our taste for fine fishing led us to aim for victory in the Chamber... But we soon realized that, while it was possible to make a nice quota and finish well in the standings, first place seemed almost out of reach...
We were therefore forced to leave our comfort zone and move towards deeper, heavier fishing. That's when the real trouble began, and we had to endure a series of poor fishing trips over a 2-year period. The Glénan archipelago is really a very special area, with its own logic of activity and fishing.
My usual zones in the south of Morbihan operate (not only of course) according to a current logic; but in the archipelago, the current is very weak and the sea bass holding positions correspond to another logic that took us a long time to understand (in part...).
Despite our errors and mistakes, by following this logic we managed to rank 23rd out of 120 in 2018.
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The beginning of understanding
In the course of numerous discussions with friends and locals convinced that we were on the wrong track, we tried to understand the clues and advice they were willing to give us. But although we understood them, in reality we found it difficult at first to make the connection with what we were actually experiencing on the water... until... one day, a typical situation presented itself and light was shed!
Little by little, outing after outing, we began to piece together part of the puzzle, the activity, the positioning, the movement of the fish, their behaviour and so on. Our outings became much more productive and regular in terms of catches, but also rich in lessons to be learned each time, and our repertoire of spots grew progressively.
2019 edition cancelled
We're now just a few weeks away from the 2019 edition and we've gained a lot of experience. We can't say we've mastered the zone perfectly, but we've learned enough to hope for a good showing on the day of the Open. So much so, that 2 weeks before the competition, at the end of our outing, we were able to post an average quota of 74cm. This is obviously exceptional, and will be impossible to achieve on the day of the competition. But we know that we have the keys in hand to reach, or at least touch, our objective...
Unfortunately, with 2 days to go to the competition due to dangerous weather, the organizers made the wise decision to cancel the event.
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A plan that runs smoothly
In 2020, due to the covid, the event was of course cancelled once again, and so here we are, 4 days away from the 2021 edition. We hadn't set foot on the archipelago since July 2019 and had only an afternoon to prefetch, try to find the activity and do the rounds of our zones... The results were meagre, and on the eve of the competition we decided to take a big risk, having little information on how the fish were holding up... The idea was not to look for a quota in the hope of placing, but to play for the win (or the last place) and visit our big spots...
It's 7:45 a.m. and we're almost the last on the starting line, lacking the horses on my transom... And we're off to an area between 8 and 20 m deep, characterized by boulders in the middle of the sand, where we hope to find some nice sea bass...
We don't know yet, but some days everything just works out, and for us the date is Saturday, June 12, 2021!
10:30 am: a quota of 66 cm
First stone, nothing... On the second, Matthieu hooks a 53 fish, which kicks off the competition and gets us into the swing of things! On the next one, Matthieu makes a very nice spot and I hook a fish that at first sight I think is small, but I'm sure it's a sea bass, given its fighting behaviour and the fact that it surfaces far away from the boat; I then see a huge caudal, followed by a long, powerful rush. In the end, the small fish announced was a sea bass of over 80 cm, which would prove to be the big fish of the competition!
After measuring with the stewards, there's a 45-minute gap... We know there will be some slow times, and we're trying to stay focused!
I then hooked a 63cm fish, which gave us a boost, and in the process Matthieu hooked a very large fish... 75cm!
At this stage, we still have one more fish to catch to reach the quota... Very soon we had 3 fish in a row. It was now 10:30 a.m. and we had an average of 66 cm and were almost certain to be on the top step of the podium. To remove any doubt, we had to take the 53 out of our quota and replace it with a bigger one... This was done at 1:00 p.m. with a new big fish of 69 cm caught by Matthieu. Despite the new catches, the afternoon seemed almost long! We can't wait to see the results, and to be sure that no other team has been so touched by grace.
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The reward
The competition comes to an end at 5:00 p.m., and we head for the assembly point in Concarneau Bay with our friends from Team Rodhouse. There are 5 teams on the stewards' boat, and after discussing the day's catches, we have no doubts about the outcome of the competition, which will be confirmed when the official results are announced.
This victory takes on a very special flavour for Matthieu and me, as it is the reward for so many days spent in the archipelago, and we know that for this moment to arrive, many things have to come together, some of which we can't control... So we're savoring the moment, knowing that there may not be a second, but with the hope that all the hard work we'll be putting in next season will be rewarded with 5 big bars on Saturday and 5 equally big ones on Sunday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Open des Glénan!
