There is a generally accepted line, column, sentence in Latvian angling literature and in newspapers – republished so many times, that some publishings established mistakes and from a simple historical fact this information has turned into a misleadingly tempting “angling world Everest” of Latvia, and also into a peculiar, latest history evidence of characterising angling and fish. The line, which through the years has turned into myth, has become the ultimate border of fantasy of Latvian anglers. No matter where it has been seen or read, statistically dry data set has not left many anglers in peace since the beginning of state's restoration of independence until now. In the theory of fishing there is a concept “fish of dreams”. It does not leave in peace the imagination of big and small anglers, making them fantasize boldly and continue to go fishing again and again. This year the entry about Latvian record pike is celebrating the 30th anniversary, “Release the Mother!” presents the public “first performance” of this authentic and nearly lost story:
“Pike, 19.56 kg, 139 cm, 1989 yr., Lake Ungurs., V. (Vilhelms) Petjukevičs”
The first search of information for this article and video story began already in March. Record in the ideology of “Release the Mother!” nature friendly angling has a significant meaning, basically, one of the fundamental reasons why the “Release the Mother!” photo competition, so popular amongst anglers, was created was the stylistic decrease of quality and quantity of carnivorous fish and separate specimen caught by anglers... There should have been more information or even all the information about the largest pike caught in Latvia with a fishing rod, not giving reason for speculations: Maybe it has not even existed? Why there is no photo published? Why there is not a single description of this epochal event?
In the literature and newspapers (in the electronic cards of libraries the original source is not found) of the last thirty years, in line with the assumption, a more detailed version of the toxic writing is not found. When connecting with the more known authors of fishing content, we didn’t learn anything new about the record holding pike. In the verification research or the “time machine” work of the Latvian record pike, the author of this article got help with memories and knowledge from these people: Ārija Aņēna, angler, the only “almost” witness, former record holder of largest perch, Roberts Čunkurs, grandson of the record pike's catcher, Lelde Pole, angler and boater, ichthyologist Matīss Žagars, anglers from Cēsis and Valmiera regions Kristīne Maklere and Laila Grīnberga; editor-in-chief of newspaper "Druva" Arta Gaņģe, longterm sports angling enthusiast Jānis Stikuts, also fisherman Jānis Siļickis and Agris Ķesa, inspector of State Environmental Service and also others.
The full version of the article can be read here.
