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Adaptability and responsiveness!
A magnificent fishing zone, sunny weather conditions punctuated by a low tidal coefficient, complicated fishing conditions for many, all saluted by a remarkable victory for the Rapala / Crushcity team. Here's a look back at our third consecutive Suzuki Fishing Team / Grand Pavois Fishing participation in this Sailtica 2026, with what we did, what we learned and what paid off, to secure 5th place out of the 62 entries for this not-to-be-missed spring event.
First of all, congratulations to the 62 registered crews and to the organization of this Sailtica Fishing 2026. An eagerly-awaited event held for the 3rd year in La Turballe, whose presence alongside the Festi'Mer association, organizer of the event, is to be commended. The event took place on Saturday May 23 and Sunday May 24, with a fishing zone encompassing Le Croisic to the south, Piriac and Mesquer to the north, not forgetting the Plateau du Four and the outskirts of Ile Dumet. The area is rich in rock heads, ria mouths, shoals, deep waters, oyster beds, sandy ridges, sandy and/or rocky coastlines...
In short, a complete range of possible situations that we continue to discover year after year. 3rd edition for our Suzuki Fishing Team / Grand Pavois Fishing which, even if we have some reference points, took place in a totally different way compared to other years. In fact, our "habits" of previous years were put to the test, as the area is so rich and diversified, and the fish positions so fluctuating according to tides, coefficients, currents, temperatures, food zones, the presence of boats and nautical activities...
Two different days
With low coefficients over the two days of competition, we all experienced little drift, combined with little wind and a blazing sun... In other words, the two days of competition were complicated for us to manage and apprehend, requiring us to be constantly reactive.
Friday prefishing will prove to be of the utmost importance. We're seeing few active fish in our known zones, including the Plateau du Four, and other deeper areas that were usually productive in previous years, so we're having to set out to discover new fishing zones and, above all, try to position some... active fish. While observation remains a priority (bird hunts, current zones not charted, water colors with lots of zooplankton bloom zones...), it was interesting to think about the chronology of zones and positions to work on according to tide times, local current charts and our scouting. We stuck to the plan, but it was our adaptability and responsiveness that saved the day. We explain...
If we're going to follow our pattern established on the first and second days, it'll be the techniques that make the difference. In fact, we're going to fish the south, then the north of the area, while keeping the vast plateau of Le Four as a wild card, to try and dislodge a few large specimens and increase our average size. We don't have enough knowledge of the area with precise way-points of rock heads to "sand down", and we clearly don't have enough experience of this vast fishing zone. So we have to adapt both in terms of spots and techniques.
If, at the start of the day, we hit a scratching fish (with the EEly Shad from Major Craft), the difference will then be made with surface lures (Asturie and Patchinko from Xorus), followed by the Blade Runner (Illex). Like many at the start of a session, we usually fish three different techniques on board to determine which one triggers and, potentially, to find the lure of the moment. One flies, another scrapes, a third alternates between surface, subsurface and search... The surface will pay off at first, then the blade will allow us to hit active fish in mid-water and reach the quota (editor's note: 5 bass over 42 cm).
We then set off in search of big bass to increase our average, faithful to our "battle plan". The EEly Shad, once again, unleashed a big fish (70+), but the fluoro couldn't resist, rubbing against the rocks after an anthology rush... We finished 12th on the day with 257 points, with fish of 58, 52, 51, 49 and 47. Rapala / Crushcity finished first with 307 points. The women's crew, Flow'Her Fishing EPF, revealed at Grand Pavois Fishing 2025 and invited by Sailtica Fishing, landed the biggest bass of the round and of the competition with an 82 cm. 50 boats were classified and 147 fish were caught on the day, all of them returned to the water of course.
Sunday, of course, will be... different. We thought we'd repeat the solutions we'd found the day before, but... nothing would work. We set off for our productive zone of the previous day, finding the detections but failing to trigger the slightest attack. Surface lures, vibrating blades, jerkbaits with pauses, fly fishing, scratching with small and larger soft lures, everything goes... The fish are there, but nothing gets them moving. Once again, adaptability and responsiveness pay off.
One of us is starting to line fish and this will be the solution for the day. The technique employed will be to let ourselves drift upstream of the detection, let the lure (EEly Shad or Black Minnow from Fiiish) make contact with the bottom, slowly follow the drift while letting the line run and, above all, reel in at a constant pace over the positioned fish, while skimming the bottom as much as possible. The technique is found, the lures are targeted and this will allow us to get in four fish out of five. Obviously, this will last for a while and we have to move to another position.
The blade will bring in the last of the quota, but we have to take out two "too small" fish to increase our average as much as possible. A 66 cm was caught on the fly when we reached another spot, and another followed on the plateau du Four, giving us 270 points with a 66, 56, 52, 50 and 46. It's not fabulous, but it's already better than the day before, and above all, only 35 crews were classified on this 2nd day of fishing, revealing the complexity of the day. The Benabar crew finished 1st with 323 points. a total of 108 fish were caught on the day, all of course returned to the water.
In the end, congratulations to the Rapala / Crushcity (604 points), Fishus Team (594 points), Benabar (578 points) and Lowrance 1 (575 points) teams, who made up the Top 4, followed by our team. 255 fish were caught over the two days, for an overall average of 53.95 cm. What conclusions can we draw from this? Firstly, it's still important to prepare every session as well as possible by observing maps, bathymetry and currents, and to establish a coherent, well-constructed scenario before setting off. Nothing is worse than finding yourself "lost" and fishing the water with no motivation or objective.
Secondly, it's important to carry out quality prefishing, avoiding bludgeoning detection zones and not hesitating to venture into little-known or poorly-known areas. The discovery and surprise can be there, and this is clearly what will save us on these two complex days, since 90% of our two quotas will be achieved on spots unknown the day before. Thirdly, of course, you have to keep a constant eye on the water to detect every movement (current, smoothness, eddies...) and stay alert... and finally, when there are two or three of you on a boat, you mustn't hesitate to alternate techniques to try and find THE solution and the lure of the moment. If each crew has its own solutions, these two days of fishing will confirm this, since what was valid on Saturday was not so on Sunday.
For us, adaptability and responsiveness paid off, with Major Craft and Fiiish soft lures, Illex vibrating blade and Xorus surface lures on the menu. In short, a complete starter/main course/dessert menu! We look forward to seeing you next year at this great event, which goes from strength to strength. Finally, thanks to all the volunteers and partners of Sailtica Fishing.
With Sébastien Mongruel (Suzuki Marine France), Jérôme Taboulet (Way of Fishing) and Pierrick Garenne (Grand Pavois Fishing).
Pierrick Garenne
