We are proud to announce that Tomasz Kurnik has won the first edition of the Hobie Predator Open. The Polish angler managed to claim the top spot with a stunning 510 centimeters of fish caught over two days. Second place is taken by Ronald Traas from Holland. After the second and final day he caught 477 cm of fish. Both guys qualify to participate in the 6th Hobie Fishing Worlds in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, USA in December.
“I’m very happy that I won the tournament. It has been very difficult. Tough fishing with all the different techniques involved. The atmosphere was great and I’m really looking forward to go to the Worlds in the USA. I’ll be back fishing more tournaments for sure!!” Tomasz reacted after winning the event.
Saturday morning, 19 anglers reported at beach club ‘de Banaan’ for the quick morning briefing. After the weather forecast was told, “a slight breeze and calm waters with a little overcast where the sun sometimes pokes through,” the key-tags were handed out and all competitors went to get their kayaks ready to go.
At 7:40AM, the horn blew and all competitors raced off to their first fishing spot. It didn’t take long before a marshal boat had to assist in measuring a big fish. Within the first hour of the competition, Martin Breuer (DE) needed the marshal’s help. He seduced a 87 cm pike to bite. “After a short but fierce drill I got her in the net and called the marshal boat. Catching a fish like this just an hour into the competition is great,” Martin told us.
The tournament was held in two different waters, het Haringvliet and het Hollands Diep divided by the Haringvlietbrug. These waters are known throughout Europe for their superb fishery. This was proven again when the anglers returned to shore. 16 out of 19 anglers caught fish on the first day.
Closing day one, Wolfgang Schulze (DE) was leading with 296 cm followed by 2nd Michael Weber (DE) 218 cm, 3rd Ronald Traas (NL) 212 cm, 4th Tomasz Kurnik (UK) 209 cm and 5th Martin Breuer (DE) with 181 cm.
Ian Harris from the United Kingdom had a great day of fishing. He caught two nice asp but unfortunately these were not the tournament species. “Right time, right place, right guy, wrong fish.” Ian said laughing. Soon Ian became known as #WrongFish.
Day -2
Wolfgang Schulze walked into beach club ‘de Banaan’ Sunday morning with a lead of 78 centimeters. When asked how that felt he responded: “I’m excited to be in the lead, but nothing is sure yet. Still one more day of fishing.”
Like the day before, it didn’t take long after the first call was made to the marshals. Just 15 minutes into the competition Ronald Traas, in 3rd position, called in for a marshal boat. Unfortunately the call was not for him, but for the current leader, Wolfgang Schulze. Real sportsmanship from Ronald! Wolfgang hooked a nice 67 cm zander to start the day. “This is a great start! But still not there yet”.
Just 30 minutes before noon, Polish angler Tomasz Kurnik hooked into a massive fish right in front of the marshal boat. After some while, a head appeared from the deep water and a big pike is nicely directed to the net. This lady measured 97 cm and gave Tomasz a huge boost in the ranking.
Around noon, a lot of rain came over the tournament arena. The anglers found cover in sheltered areas and hiding under the bridge, but none came in early. They were all still fishing very fanatically. The first angler checked in at 2:45PM.
Unfortunately, not everybody got back in time and some penalties had to be given, one of which went to Ronald Traas. He came back 10 minutes late and therefore got a 10cm penalty. He went to the far end of the tournament arena to try and fill up his bag. When asked if it was worth it he responded: “I certainly hope so. I pedaled like crazy to get back. I underestimated the distance a little bit, but I got a nice bag with 3 pikes and 3 zanders. We will see where that brings me”.
The scoring began and a lot has happened in the ranking after day two. At 6:00PM the final scores were presented. Wolfgang Schulze from Germany finished in 3rd place. After his very good first day, he couldn’t manage to maintain the lead. He received a goody bag and a 1 year premium account for Insight Genesis.
Ronald Traas came in second place. He got 275 cm of fish on day two which brought him to a 477 cm of fish in total. “It feels really good to qualify for the Worlds. I fish a lot of tournaments and finally everything fell into place. I took some risk going the long way on day two. But it paid off big time! I’m really excited” Ronald said.
Tomasz Kurnik from Poland came into first place at the first Hobie Predator Open. A massive 301 cm bag on day two propelled him from the fourth place to the number one spot! “The big pike on day two was exactly what I needed. Without this fish, I wouldn’t even be qualified. Now I can go to the Worlds and get a flight voucher. This is just amazing!” about his win.
We would like to thank everyone involved in the first Hobie Predator Open. It has been a blast and we hope to see you all next year!
Check out the full scores:
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