This page was last updated on 28/4 and may be updated until the competition starts.

WHAT IS THE BIG 5 - SUMMER PIKE?

The Summer Pike is a team competition where anglers all over Sweden can compete against each other.

Instead of everyone gathering in one lake and competing, it is now possible to compete in all bodies of water at the same time.
The concept provides a gentler fishing pressure on the individual water and the possibility that more people can participate in the competition.

HOW & WHEN DO YOU COMPETE?

You compete as a team and there can be one to three people on the same team.

It is the five longest pikes #THEBIG5 that determine your placement in the competition.

The pike are reported continuously throughout the qualifiers, no later than 3 days after they are caught.

A person may not be part of more than one team. If a person in a team becomes ill during, for example, the final or during the competition, it is OK to drop out. However, a member may never be replaced during the competition, neither in the qualifying round nor in the final. It is of course completely OK to fish with people other than those who are part of your team as long as you do not enter their fish in the competition. It is also OK to participate in other competitions at the same time.

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COMPETITION PERIOD/QUALIFATION

The competition period/qualification is June 1st - June 30th, 2024

All competing teams will receive an SMS on June 1st at 8:00 AM with their reporting code.

There are no restrictions regarding electronics here.

FINAL - WHO WILL GO TO THE FINAL?

The top 30 from the qualifiers advance to the finals. 

The final will take place in any water on September 7-8, 2024 (Saturday - Sunday).
In the final you are NOT allowed to use LIVE GIVARE, because of course we cannot control this. Gentleman's Agreement in effect. More info regarding the final will come as it gets closer.

WHERE CAN YOU COMPETE?

In all Swedish waters where it is permitted to fish for pike. It is permitted to have a team spread across different locations. Participants are responsible for having a valid fishing license in the water being fished and following the rules of the water.

WHAT DOES IT COST TO PARTICIPATE?

Price 349 SEK per person. One sticker / team included (extra can be purchased upon registration for 199 SEK).

WHAT CAN YOU FISH FROM?

Boat, raft, kayak, canoe, float ring, waders, beach, land, harbor piers & street fishing.

There are no restrictions regarding fishing platforms.

FISHING EQUIPMENT

Allowed fishing methods are spinning, jerkbait, fly fishing, jig/dropshot, trolling, vertical.
NO ANGLING, ONLY ARTIFICIAL BAITS. Keep in mind that only one active rod per person is allowed. This means you cannot have four rods with bait in the water when trolling, for example, and only count one rod for the competition. If possible, use heavy equipment, avoid ultra-light rods so that you can bring in the fish quickly. If there are three people in the boat, a maximum of three rods may be used at the same time and a maximum of one active rod per person. 

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MANAGEMENT OF THE FISH

We recommend a wet unhooking mat (measurement sticker) and quick and gentle handling of the fish. 

Short drills, remember to shorten the time you drill the fish. If you are not going to measure the fish, avoid lifting the fish out of the water, but instead unhook it in the water and otherwise handle it as gently as possible. If there are several of you, help each other! LIP GRIP = FORBIDDEN! All fish must be released!

Read also Sportfishers advice on catching and releasing fish

ADVICE ON WATER TEMPERATURES

The reason why the Summer Pike is a long competition is because we have very different temperatures in both the air and the water in our elongated country. When it is at its warmest, we advise you not to fish and hope that everyone in the competition fishes with common sense. 

REPORTING IN THE FISHY APP

All reporting is done in the FISHY app. More information regarding this will follow.
Documentation of fish is done together with the team's start number and the measurement sticker that you have been sent home.
Write the start number with a waterproof pen on the measurement sticker. The minimum length for an approved pike is 70cm.
The tail fin may be compressed without damaging the fish (it must not be pulled/torn).

1. You must report a picture with the measurement sticker and a picture of you posing with the pike. 

2. Pike should always be reported in whole centimeters rounded down.
If the measurement sticker shows 100.9, the fish should be reported at 100 cm. 

3. Keep in mind that the same fish may only be reported once per team. 

4. The fish must lie flat with the jaw/head against the zero/stop on the sticker and the belly must be facing down on the sticker. This is to avoid cheating and to always photograph the same side of the fish so that you cannot report the same fish twice. If the mouth does not touch the stop, we deduct X number of cm.

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5. The entire pike must be visible, as well as the part of the sticker needed to determine the length. If the pike is 80 cm, it is sufficient for 81 cm of the sticker to be visible. 

6. It is up to you as a team to take such a good measurement picture that we in the competition jury can rule out that the picture is manipulated in any way or that the decal is cut/glued together to gain cm. To make it easy for you to prove this, we have a red area at the top of the decal.  

Tip: Avoid putting anything on the red surface if you want to be sure that the fish can be approved.

Clarification: If we in the competition management can see from the picture that the decal has not been cut or manipulated in any way, it doesn't matter if something sticks out a bit on the red, but for your own sake, keep it as free as possible as it is easy for "a little" to become a lot. As always, it is the jury that decides.  

6.1 Examples of images that may be denied are when any part of the red surface is completely covered at the height, then we cannot see whether it is cut off or not. This does not mean that an image will be denied because, for example, a little grass or seaweed is hanging over the red.

7. The picture must be taken directly above the stop (not diagonally from the right, for example). Pictures taken at a questionable angle will be rejected or have a deduction. Clarification: This means that the fish must be measured lying against the sticker, so you cannot photograph the fish hanging in a gill grip with the sticker upright because then the angle becomes questionable.

8. The decal should be stretched out and therefore a hard surface is recommended. If the decal is very dented and loose, we will deduct centimeters and in the worst case, refuse the fish if we cannot estimate the length of the fish.

NOTE: It is always the competition management that ultimately decides whether a fish can be approved or not!

Upload your catch

After proper documentation of the fish, you report it via the Fishy app. As soon as a pike is reported, it is automatically included in the results. All catch pictures will be displayed during our rresult list and here other participants can report a catch report as invalid if they suspect cheating or if they think the documentation of the fish is unclear. After that, a member of the competition jury will make a decision and then determine whether the fish should be approved or not. 

Same total length/big5?

The total length of the five longest pikes over 70 centimeters may be counted in the competition. If two teams have the same total length, the team with the longest fish wins. If it is also the same length, we look at each team's second longest fish, etc. It is therefore very good to have more than 5 fish registered if it is necessary to decide on, for example, fish six, seven, etc. If a team does not get 5 pikes over 70 cm, it is of course possible to compete with a smaller number. (Recapture within the team is not allowed). 

Keep an eye on the scoreboard

During the competition you can results page Keep track of your and the other teams' positions in the competition. Note that the results are temporary until a competition jury has reviewed them after the competition's closing date. We will check reports continuously during the competition period, but even if we do, there is a chance that the results list will change at the end of the competition after a final review by us. 

Cheating report

You can help us by "reporting cheating" on a catch report that you think violates the rules, then we will take an extra look as soon as possible. In the report, you can write what is wrong, etc.

If a team has knowingly cheated, that team will be disqualified with immediate effect. 

Have you had a fish removed?

There can be many reasons why a fish has been removed/denied. Log in to the FISHY app and read message  from the competition management with motivation why your picture has been rejected. If you can counter with a better picture of the same fish that allows us to approve it, it is ok to upload the catch report again. A removed fish does not have to be completely dead.

WHEN WILL THE FINALISTS BE ANNOUNCED?

When the qualifying round ends on June 30th, our competition jury will review the photos one last time.
Shortly thereafter, we expect to be able to present the finalists.

The rules for the final will be presented in connection with this. 

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TEAM NAME

The team name must not contain inappropriate words. If you use a protected trademark as a team name, you must have permission from the respective trademark. TheBig5 has the right to change a team name at any time if these rules are not followed.

OTHER

1. If you want to put the decal on a self-made board to make sure it stays perfectly straight, this is perfectly OK, However, one requirement is that you have a stop similar to ours that is at least 5cm high. The decal may not be cut.

2. TheBig5.se reserves the right to use participants' captured images for its own marketing purposes.

3. The organizer is not responsible for any deaths, accidents or injuries.

4. It is up to the competitor to be responsible for their own insurance.

5. Any winning tax is paid by the winners (not by the organizer), it is up to the winners to contact and handle any winning tax with the Swedish Tax Agency.  

6. The registration fee is binding and non-refundable.

7. Participants are responsible for having a valid fishing license in the water they are fishing in and following the rules of the water.

8. We ALWAYS recommend a life jacket. 

We recommend all our dear participants to join the Sportfiskarna who fight for our passionate interest <3