Hello Valentin, can you introduce yourself to Fishing.news readers?
Meet Valentin Henry (31) and my partner Yohann Henrion (35), we're both from Verdun in the Meuse département. We're active members of the Verdun AAPPMA and volunteers with our federation, regularly organizing competitions and fishing events (boat, FFPS...). We're part of the SilureAccess team (ambassadors), and our fishing techniques are mainly focused on pike and catfish, in a boat for my part, and in a float tube for Yohann, who specializes in this type of fishing, with the particularity of fishing in very strong currents and floods. Of course, we also fish from the shore.
We also have Marius Baits to support us in competitions (a recognized designer in the world of top-of-the-range lures). Lure and fly fishing are the watchwords of our waterside sessions. We also have the particularity of snorkeling in the Meuse river with catfish, pike-perch, pike... Available on the Valentin Henriz You Tube channel, this gives a good idea of what's going on underwater.
Can you tell us about your early days in fishing?
Valentin Henry: as for me, I started fishing when I won a bamboo rod at a village fair when I was 4 years old, but fishing is a long-lasting disease with no possible vaccine. My partner, Yohann Henrion, caught the bug at the same time as me, when his uncle gave him his first fishing rod. The next logical step was to perfect our techniques, and to learn more and more about the environment and the passion in which we evolve.
When, how and why did you decide to take up competitive fishing?
Competitive fishing came to me with those organized by my AAPPMA over 15 years ago. Deciding to fish competitively is first and foremost about challenging yourself, pushing your limits and learning to channel your emotions. But it's also by far the best way to learn! You learn a lot from others. And you also learn a lot about yourself, about your mistakes, and after every competition, you say to yourself the famous phrase (if I had... ). Competition makes you progress very quickly, and you learn something new every time. Of course, you're competing to get on the podium, and that's the driving force behind your motivation. And losing only reinforces that, as my partner and I are very tenacious.
What do you think of competition in general?
I have a very good view of the world of competition, it's about enthusiasts who, like us, have the flame burning within them, we all have our eyes full of headlights on the night before a competition, and for that reason alone, we're all of the same ilk. The atmosphere in competition is always very special, because there's this mixture of joy, sincere friendship and adversity, a bit like when I used to play rugby. The main thing is that, in the end, we're no longer adversaries, we're fishermen! If I had to make improvements to the competition, it would be to see things bigger, ALWAYS BIGGER, and the MFC and FFPS are doing a good job on this, we finally have a competition in France for which we can be very proud !!!! Americans, we're coming !!!!!!
What did taking part in the first Mercury Fishing Cup mean to you?
It was clearly a way for us to enter the big league, to be in the Gam, as they say. I'd already taken part in regional FFPS boat competitions with big names like Legendre, Weill... to name but a few, but this was on a national scale, and to be on the starting line with 55 beautiful boats is really thrilling.
What do you think of this first edition?
For this first edition, we unfortunately didn't have the means to carry out prefishing, so we arrived as tourists and totally missed the fishing on the first day, but the next day we had understood where the fish were and it was semi-remontada. Unfortunately too late, with a ranking of 23 out of 55. We're not pike-perch anglers, and vertical fishing isn't our thing. So we had to adapt to this type of fishing, which was undoubtedly the technique to have on this edition with the Seine in flood, and the big lead heads and live fishing helped us a lot. But even with 30 grams, we were far too high...
Your fondest memory, or anecdote, from the Mercury Fishing Cup?
Warning: the following anecdote is worth the detour... Second day of the competition, we're at the start, the big boats are ahead of us, I'm staying relatively far back with my 30 hp Trader 470, the MFC cameras are on the starting block. I ask my partner Yohann Henrion to move to the front of the boat, to get out of the water faster, and I ask him to film the start for a "good souvenir"... The bugle sounds, and off we go, full throttle !!!!! The boats in front of us are getting ahead of us with 115 hp Pro XS engines. Only, it made a few waves... I ate one at over 40km/h right in the face, my partner fell backwards from the front of the boat, landed on my vertical rod, broke it in two, and stuck a treble hook in his butt! All this in a washing machine because the boats had just taken off... It had been 1 minute since the competition had started, and it started off very strong!!!!
Will you be attending the second edition on Lac de Vassivière?
I wouldn't miss this second edition of the MFC for the world. I still have stars in my eyes from last year. And this time, we're going to be better prepared, and come the day before to scout out the spots on this huge puddle of water! The FFPS and Mercury can count on us to be there, despite the road, because our passion knows no bounds.
Any advice for anglers hoping to take part in the Mercury Fishing Cup one day?
Don't fall on your rods at the start!!! And, come with a smile, it's only fishing! Be pragmatic and organized too, it makes a big difference when you leave reassured.
