Angling instructions from experienced anglers, there at the shore of the lake where information will be shown in real life, after that will follow an angling session in the style of “Release the Mother!” and at the end some words from competent lecturers about fishing and themes that are close to fishing – this is the schedule of all events, 5 in total, and two of them have already taken place – “Learn and educate together with “Release the Mother!”” at the Lake Burtnieks and Lake Lielauce. The idea about “Learn and educate together with “Release the Mother!”” – the series of events supported by the Fish Fund and co-financiers in lakes that support “Release the Mother!” were created after the annual season closing event at the LVM Tērvete Recreation house, where all progressive thinking anglers met to listen to an educational lecture about actual themes and to participate in the discussion about problems.
Jetties of Lake Lielauce are not just a wonderful place for recreation, but they are also excellent for organising public events
The main educational support team of the “Learn and educate” at the LVM Lielauce event on the 10 June – experienced catch-and-release angling instructors – Romalds Ribuzuls, Gints Geistarts, Artūrs Veidemanis and Ingus Goltiņš, but in the lecture part – environment and human relationship researcher, doctoral student Baiba Prūse from the Institute of Environmental Solutions, meteorologist Laura Krūmiņa from the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre and angling photographer Aigars Jansons.
This spring’s or last year's spawn?
The creative team of “Release the Mother!” came to Lielauce already in the evening of Saturday to observe some interesting changes in the behaviour of fish. In the afternoon and evening only a small activity of fish was observed – here and there some small and careless fish made a splash and in some places perch were loudly smacking their mouth, however, a gathering of perch in groups were not observed. The waters of Lielauce stayed relatively quiet until eleven in the evening, when the surface of the lake suddenly became alive – fish were actively feeding on insects that, with dark, had flown out in flocks. Far and near, from time to time, rougher splashes could be heard, where pike revealed its presence while hunting. The quantity and activity of fish in the dark was truly surprising – in the upper part smaller fish that were feeding on insects that were flying close to the water surface or had fallen in, but under them pikes and big perches, who in the short and light nights of June had it easy to select the most favourable bites. At around three in the morning, in the dawn, underwater rush slowly calmed down and Lake Lielauce with the beautiful castle on its shore at seven in the morning welcomed participants of “Learn and educate” shyly quiet and calm.
More than half of century angling experience in one photo
The instruction of catch-and-release angling is a place and space where experienced anglers sit down together with beginners to unite for a greater good or in the name of “Release the Mother!” aim, thus, before rushing to angle, we educate ourselves with the help of invited angling instructors about their experience in various, but especially in LVM waters. Participants were very happy about the stories from Romalds, an angler with more than 50 year experience, and also the demonstrations of his home-made lures. During the instruction, visitors came to a peculiar conclusion, that in a hot summer, like this one, true pike angling fanatics should leave “objects of worship” alone, because a successful release is less possible to high water and air temperatures, but turn their attention to perches or, even better, – tench, which in Lake Lielauce, even the big ones, are circling around boats shamelessly. There was an interesting dialogue between Gints and Ingus about angling experience abroad and comparison with the local situation. However, Artūrs Veidemanis represented the community of local anglers, to their mind the angling seasion will not be easy. Angling instructors also showed their equipment and shared some secrets of angling techniques and showed their “selected weapons” for the first cast in the Lielauce. Participants of “Learn and educate” took 9 boats, some experienced contestants of “Release the Mother!” had also arrived, and for the first time we welcomed guests from Lithuanian Normark/Rapala team, who had been interested in the activity of “Release the Mother!” on social networks. The balance of 6 hours in intense heat – longest pike (67 cm) by Romalds Ribuzuls, second longest by Matīss Ābiķis – 51 cm, both carefully and quickly released. For others just juvenile perches and miniature size pikes. The closing part of the event was in a direction of popular science – themes about relationships between environment and humans, hydrometeorology and photography, that will soon be published in a video version so that a larger audience can learn and educate themselves.
Next “Learn and educate together with “Release the Mother!”” will take place on 21 and 22 July in Lake Alūksne. Information will follow.
Good luck!