Hello Tony, so you're at the Angelwelt in Berlin to watch the final with all the other competitors! It must be a special moment?
Tony: yes, but it's subtitled in German! (Laughs) What is really special is to meet the other competitors and to share this moment with them. We met really cool people and there is a great atmosphere.
Do you feel the public's enthusiasm for this competition and for your team?
Tony: yes, there were a lot of people who came up to us to tell us that they enjoyed what we did and our good mood. We heard a few "Yes Tony's" too.
We feel that there is also a real fervor around the show.
But the real star is Dustin! At the end, there were countless fans lining up to get an autograph and take a picture with him!
Westin is off to a good start with a top 5 at over 350 cm. In ambush, as you predicted last week!
Tony: exactly, but once again, Dutch nights made the scores swing. We can see that overall, it's not as good as last year in terms of size, but there is always this 95 cm that falls and wins the point of the big fish. So as expected, Abu wins, especially thanks to this big fish which makes the scores swing.
We can hear you grumbling at one point, there were a lot of dropouts during this last half day?
Tony: a lot is not the word, but yes, there was a little period where I dropped out a bit! This is maybe the second one in a row and in this context, it always makes everyone angry when you lose a fish. We are in competition and all the points count.
We were in the objective to scratch the point of the number, so it was hyper rage!
By the way, watching this last episode with the other teams, everyone was following it closely, as no one knew how far the others finished and the point of numbers was ultimately important! Nays and Abu Garcia were somehow stressing to see how far we would go!
Maybe if we hadn't lost themâ?¦ But, fishes are inevitably lost and you can't make 100%. And this is the reality for all teams!
You seem to have found a productive spot! Or are you hopping from ridge to ridge?
Tony: we move a lot in fact! We understood a trick and targeted zones of passages, so we try to jump from spots to spots to find them. And in the end it works!
It was not necessarily simple conditions on this stay and we manage to find them despite everything.
14 fishes on 10 hours of fishing, it is not so bad as that in the end, if we redo the analysis of the day. We can't blame ourselves for having fished badly that day!
You can see behind Dustin (from Team Nays) that it's a full moon. Is this an important parameter for you?
Tony: oh yes, I think so! In any case, there must be a connection. They have favorite times to be active in relation to many parameters, and without a doubt the moon. Especially for the big one I think!
From my experience, I can't say that because I don't fish at night. But it can also play on the results during the day. I think that yes, it is an important parameter, but there are so many parameters that play a role that it is difficult to isolate it.
Moreover, Freddy Harbort in the night of the edge explains that the luminosity is important and that in this context, the fog was harmful on fishing. So yes, it is certain that the moon must play in one way or another on the activity of the pikeperches.
The ranking changes extremely quickly during this episode! The outcome is really undecided!
Tony: yes, there is a lot of action, like all the final episodes! But it's also well put together to keep the suspense going.
Only 28 cm and 3 fishes of difference with the winners in the end! The day/night difference is not so significant!?
Tony: no indeed, I agree, we can't say that we take a beating! We manage to get out of each episode despite the fact that we fish during the day. But that's the way it is, it's the rules in Spain so we have to deal with it.
Besides, there are a lot of people who don't know that we are not allowed to fish at night in Spain. Or in France for that matter! And we had a lot of questions about it where the spectators asked us why we didn't do it.
Could you make the Zander pro in France?
Tony: we saw during the questions that, rightly, the Seine is famous for its big pikeperches! But I think that compared to the periods of shooting, it is a little bit early in the season and that we did not have at this time the necessary water strokes to bring out the big fish.
But it is not only the Seine, the Rhône also produces very large fish. But I am not sure that there is the same regularity as in Holland and there is still the problem of night fishing.
During high water, there is the possibility of going after big fish, but the right conditions have to fall at exactly the right time, and outside of this context, we wouldn't have the same yield.
In the end, fishing during the day, I think Spain is one of the best countries to go and compete with the other teams.
Abu Garcia takes the 3 points, but I have the feeling that they still came close to a correctional. Do you think it was a strategic mistake not to secure the number one point?
Tony: yeah, maybe, because we saw that they had that stress about the numbers. They were watching us regularly during the episode and they were anxious to know what score we were going to finish with.
I didn't ask them, but maybe the spot they found was no longer productive after dark, and they were forced to change their focus. Or maybe it was clearly their strategy to fish the number until a specific time, then look for a big fish afterwards. But yes, even if they take the 3 points, it could have been hot if that big fish didn't come in.
But we know where they fish and how it's done, and the likelihood of catching this big one was high!
What image are you left with at the end of this season?
Tony: is the magnificent lake and the moments shared with Stéphane. But above all, it's the prefishing and the gravity around it. It is the collective adventure and the preparation with a whole team. It is really the human side that remains and that is pleasant in this competition!
Shall we meet again for a season 3?
Tony: yEAH!!! It's already in the box and I can't wait! We'll see what happens, but we've still worked a lot to hope to win. Clearly, we are not going there to play the podium or to make the figuration. Our objective is to win!
