INTERNATIONAL BALATON CARP CHALLENGE: As I Saw It …

The spring season of 2024 was special in more ways than one. In addition to a lot of exciting fishing, perhaps one of the biggest challenges and the reason for excitement was the biggest carp fishing competition in the world, the International Balaton Carp Challenge. It was an exciting two weeks when I assisted the two South Africans, Riaan ‘Alleman’ Riekert and Nici Oosthuizen, who were the very first South Africans to enter this prestigious competition. It was an honour and also a good opportunity to expand my own carp fishing knowledge. Although the fishing and the weather were not ideal, I still looked forward to enjoying a meaningful period with them.

How did this cooperative effort come about?

In December last year I received a request from the two carpers to help and prepare them for this big competition. Their request was put to our local team, and after discussing it we  took on the task and I had the honour of accompanying them on their adventure.  I immediately began planning, as although April seemed far away time does fly by so everything had to be organized on time. The task was not easy, as the two sports would arrive with only a suitcase and just a few small items.

The preparations

I had to supply the equipment completely from scratch. They needed a vehicle, accommodation and of course all the equipment, which is no small matter for a competition of this size. Baits, food, and the list goes on… In short, I faced great challenges, all while attending university and working full-time. I’m always looking for challenges and I like to push my boundaries, so needless to say I was quite excited to get involved and organize everything.
I quickly arranged accommodation, the vehicle and the purchase of all the smaller items.  Renting equipment was a bit more of a headache but with the help of the rental company in Felsőörs I managed to get everything. There were only a few small fishing items left, but I made up for them from my own equipment.

The baits were the easiest thing for me. I’m grateful to be part of a team like Haldorado! Our team and the employees of the company helped me a lot and provided the best quality baits. Not in small quantities either, as we started the prestigious competition with more than 100 kilos of bait. Thank you again!
The middle of April was fast approaching. There were only a few days left until their plane landed and I was putting the finishing touches to all the arrangements. All the equipment was prepared for their arrival.

The week prior to the competition:

The few days leading up to the competition were probably the most exhilarating. On the afternoon of April 16, I was waiting for Riaan and Nico at the airport. I was a little nervous, because although I had learned English well during my high school years, this was still going to be a new situation. However, their landing went smoothly, as did our first meeting and we did have a good, amicable conversation.

The first evening was all about rest, but the next morning we got down to work and discussed the schedule thoroughly until the start of the competition. Every day there was something important to do, so none of us were bored! I explained everything about our strategies, tactics and fishing styles at Lake Balaton and they were highly enthusiastic pupils, and I could see that they were quite experienced and knowledgeable carp anglers.

We progressed with the tasks day by day and step by step. The bibs with their competition numbers, the gear, the baits were all prepared in detail. The week before they arrived the early summer weather was quite warm, so they were quite happy to arrive with hardly any bad weather gear. So of course, by the time they arrived the April weather had turned kind of crazy with extremely cold conditions and heavy winds, so we had to go shopping to obtain thermo-suits, but such small problems were easily solved. And then, seemingly in the blink of an eye, the week had passed, we had completed the registration formalities and we were looking forward to Saturday’s opening ceremony and the peg draw.

Week of the competition:

The opening ceremony was as usual of a very high quality and quite spectacular, so it was a pleasure to be there. At the peg draw we were quite nervous. I really wanted to draw a peg  in the area from Tihany to Balatongyörök, but I would also have been satisfied with a peg on the eastern shores. I even thought that it would be fun to draw my own peg because it was also part of the draw. Unfortunately however, all our hopes were in vain as I drew a peg in the area where I least wanted to, namely Peg 200, Balaton’s worst!

The next day, at dawn, we set off to our spot on Huba Street. We arrived in gusty winds and biting cold, and the weather forecast didn’t bode well for the week ahead. We set up our camp, got the inflatable boats ready and impatiently waited for the clock to strike at noon, hoping that the storm warnings would also abate.

When we finally got on the water to do feature finding, I found our fishing area to be even more problematical. At 450 metres from the bank the water was still only thigh deep, and only at 490 metres did it become slightly deeper, but still only 2,5 metres. We placed our loaded hooks at between 470 and 490 metres. We had found not a millimetre of mud, only rock-hard sand and zero natural food but hoped that the strong winds would push some fish out into the shallow water where we had set up our feed. All we could do was to hope for some luck.

But after four days of gusty winds and second-degree storm warnings we had no catches! The situation seemed completely hopeless. It was frustrating that after so much effort and energy, we were such underdogs. There were weather conditions that I rarely see at Balaton. There were so many waves and wind that on the north side it demolished entire piers, and on the south side our “sea” almost flooded.

With only a day or so left, I applied all my knowledge for the last days trying to figure something out. I spent hours on the water with our fishfinder looking for signs of fish and where to position the baits. Thanks to this, we finally managed to catch some fish, but non-weighable at less than 10 kg, but also a decent-size carp of just more than 16 kg. This was our ‘fish of honour’. Riaan and Nico were quite happy about the catch, and I have never worked and fought so hard for a 16 kg carp, so it was especially valuable to us.

Towards the end of the competition the record carp for Lake Balaton was landed, weighing almost 36 kg, which is an incredible catch. I was very happy with the catch and it did give us a bit of a boost for the last hours. Lake Balaton is a wonderful water, I can’t get enough of it!

So the world’s biggest carp fishing competition ended for us. We returned home with mixed emotions and a lot of experience. We had a relentless job behind us, unsuitable weather for fishing, and all from a seemingly impossible peg.

Summary:

These two weeks have been a very difficult and tiring time. I was terribly exhausted at the end, but I also learned a lot from it. This year has been very difficult, not only at our peg, but throughout the lake. This also clearly confirms my thoughts that a 10 kg Balaton carp has enormous value!

It was an honour to assist the South African entry on this bumpy road for two weeks. I am sure that we will meet again and that this is not only the first time that our South African friends have visited Hungary, at IBCC. We will continue to work on the development of this fishing relationship.

Thank you Gabor and Haldorado for this opportunity and support!
It has been an honour to belong to such a team and work with such great people for many years!

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