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Round 1 Sector A
In sector A, the furthest downstream, the pair Baptiste VERGER and Martin JEANSON fish.
This area has many structures to fish, such as dolphins, footbridges, pontoons, bridge piers... Which means there are plenty of options. However, too many opportunities doesn't necessarily mean good rankings, and you need to make the right choices to perform well.
During our training sessions, the French have noticed that there might be something to play for on the edges. Indeed, certain shallow edges seem to be neglected by other nations, yet we manage to catch several smallmouth black bass, the smallies, in these edges.
The horn sounds at 9:30 am on Saturday. It marks the start of the sector. Competitors often run to the position they feel is most suitable.
Fishing starts at 10am and finishes at 3pm, a five-hour run.
Baptiste and Martin follow the team's strategy and start fishing the edges... But unfortunately, as is often the case in competition, things don't go as planned. Smallies seem to be absent. Baptiste nevertheless managed to open the counter with a superb 51cm walleye that was hunting!
Martin follows up with a smallie and a drum. Our duo apply themselves as they slip from their initial strategy due to a lack of touch. Halfway through the run, they're in a pretty good position, but after that, nothing can be counted for them. They were unlucky, with fish just under the 25 cm mark.
They finished sixth out of nine, not a bad result given the difficulty of the fishing.
Round 1 sector B
Much further upstream on the Fox River, in sector B, we find the duo of Tom BONTEMPELLI and Jeremy SEGUIN.
Sector B is very large, but only the "canal" and the upstream part seem interesting. Downstream, there are very few marked spots, and the banks are shallow and do not "hold" many fish.
The canal is the first spot to go, as it's home to a good number of walleye and a few other species, including white bass.
At 9:30am, Tom and Jeremy quickly set off down the canal, on the last third downstream... But the other nations are positioning themselves on the two upstream thirds. Doubts inevitably arose... And indeed, at 10 a.m., when we start fishing, we quickly realize that the walleyes are positioned in a slight current vein that fades downstream.
Some nations are stringing walleyes together, while the French are not getting any hits. So it's time for plan B: fishing the edges for balck bass.
Halfway through the run, Tom and Jeremy changed tack and set off to rake the edges. It wasn't long before Tom caught a black bass, which reinforced our partnership.
Upstream from the sector and using the same methodical fishing along the edge, Jeremy in turn lures a very nice smallmouth black bass measuring 43 cm!
At the end of the run, once the upstream edge had been well exploited, Jeremy and Tom decided to head back to the canal and try to catch a walleye. Thomas GASNIER and Gabriel BINET, posted on the canal, announce that many pairs have left their places on the canal.
Jeremy and Tom spent the last hour there, and with less than 10 minutes to go in heat 1, Jeremy put the long-awaited walleye in the water.
They finished fifth out of nine in their sector.
At the end of the first run, our French team had accumulated 6 and 5 points for a total of 11 points, putting them in fifth place out of nine nations. The bronze medal is still up for grabs, but watch out for any slip-ups, as we could just as easily finish last... Sunday's second and final round will be crucial!
