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Already at the beginning of May and in June the creative team of “Release the Mother!” tried to trace the legendary big perches of the LVM Lake Lielauce. They have been seen pasturing in the freshwater algae in sunny non-windy days and have been heard munching in late evening hours, but they were not tricked into biting lures and to be measured. The code of Lielauce's perches was broken in the fifth competition of Mammadaba Angling Championship – in a short period of time two teams managed to catch and release large amount of huge perches and to take leading places in the competition. Matter of chance or conformity of natural laws – that is the question...

“We found perches at the northern part of lake already during the practice, but we weren't expecting that in this rather small lake we will be able to catch so many big perches, moreover, in a competition mode. Table – limit of 20 valid fish – was already full, the smallest specimen of 35 centimetres, all beautiful creatures were let go carefully – can you kill someone that has grown in the tough Latvian conditions for more than ten years?” Mārtiņš Ruša from team “E un M” tells and expresses his opinion, he was fighting together with his team mate Edgars Kukutis. “Release the Mother!” doesn't want to reveal the precise angling technique, but we think that this is a close analogy to popular USA Bassmaster tournaments and techniques. Matīss is an experienced perch angler and according to his observations, these big perches have found a mollusc diet in the Lielauce, because the lake is currently going through its characteristic period of European crayfish shortage. “Those surely were not little fish that were falling out of them (perch)” tells Matīss.

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After being introduced with the big perch phenomenon of Lake Lielauce, the ichthyologist Matīss Žagars expressed his assumption that in the specific lake and in the specific conditions a comfort zone of perch schools can be possible – cooler than everywhere else, moreover, accessible food supply that doesn't require a lot of energy to spend.

The boat house manager of LVM, Igors, remembers a similar case few years ago when identical “show” took place, that time they were fishing on earthworms. He also confirms that only 1 post about this glorious moment put on Facebook had immediately brought big perch hunter crews to the Lake Lielauce from all over Latvia. “Release the Mother!” and Mammadaba asks to be considerate with big perches of Lielauce – keep for yourself some of the smaller specimens, but put large ones in the measurement trough, take a photo and release them, and send in to the “Release the Mother!” contest.

Contest “Release the Mother!” that in 2018 takes place in lakes Kaņieris, Alūksne, Babīte, Lielauce, Gulbju, Burtnieks and also in the Seda Pond and Tērvete Reservoir is supported by SIA Ieroči, FishBon, Eholotes and Golteenn. The contest takes place from May 1 until November 30.

Good luck!