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

WHAT IS THE BIG 5 - THE SUMMER PIKE?

The summer pike is the team competition where anglers from all over Sweden can compete against each other.

Instead of everyone gathering in a 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 can be one to three people in the same team.

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

The pikes are reported continuously throughout the qualification, no later than 3 days after it has been caught.

A person may not be part of more than one team. If a person in a team becomes ill at e.g. final or during the course of the competition, withdrawal is OK. However, a member may never be replaced during the competition, neither in qualifying nor in the final. It is of course perfectly fine 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/QUALIFICATION

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

All competing teams will receive an SMS on 1/6 at 08.00 with their reporting code.

There are no restrictions regarding electronics here.

FINAL - WHO WILL GO TO THE FINAL?

The top 30 from the qualifiers make it to the final. 

The final takes place in any water on September 7-8, 2024 (Saturday - Sunday).
In the final you may NOT use LIVE DONORS, because of course we cannot control this Gentleman's Agreement that applies. More info regarding the final will come as it approaches.

WHERE CAN YOU COMPETE?

In all Swedish waters where fishing for pike is permitted. It is allowed to have a team spread over different locations. The participants themselves are responsible for having a valid fishing license in the water being fished and for following the water's rules.

WHAT DOES IT COST TO PARTICIPATE?

Price SEK 349 per person. A sticker / team is included (extras can be purchased at registration for SEK 199).

WHAT CAN YOU FISH FROM?

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

There are no restrictions regarding the fishing platform.

FISHING EQUIPMENT

Permitted fishing methods are spinning, jerkbait, fly fishing, jig/dropshot, trolling, vertical.
NO FISHING, ONLY ARTIFICIAL BAITS. Keep in mind that only one active rod per person is allowed. You must therefore not have four rods with bait in the water at e.g. trolling and only count one rod to the contest. If possible use heavy equipment, avoid ultralight rods so 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 (the measuring 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 re-released!

Also read Sportfisher's advice on catching and releasing fish

ADVICE ABOUT WATER TEMPERATURES

The reason that 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 hottest, we advise you not to fish and hope that everyone in the competition fishes with common sense. 

REPORTING IN THE FISHY APP

All reporting takes place in the FISHY app. More info regarding this to come.
Documentation of fish takes place 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. Minimum length for approved pike is 70cm.
The tail fin may be compressed without damaging the fish (you may not pull/tear it).

1. You must report a picture with the measuring sticker and a picture where you pose with the pike. 

2. The pikes must always be reported in whole centimeters which are rounded down.
If the measuring sticker shows 100.9, the fish must be reported at 100 cm. 

3. Remember that the same fish may only be reported once per team. 

4. The fish must lie flat with the jaw area/head towards the zero/stop on the sticker and the belly must be 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 and also the part of the decal needed to determine the length. If the pike is 80, it is sufficient that 81 cm of the sticker is visible. 

6. It is up to you/you as a team to take a measurement picture that is good enough that we in the competition jury can rule out that the picture has been manipulated in any way or that the sticker has been cut/pasted 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: Can we in the competition management see in the picture that the decal has not been cut or manipulated in any way, it does not matter if something sticks up a bit on the red, but for your own sake keep it as free as possible as it is easy to "little" becomes a lot. As always, the jury decides.  

6.1 Examples of images that may be denied are when some part of the red surface is completely covered in height, then we cannot see if it is cut or not. This does not mean that a picture will be rejected because, for example, some grass or seaweed hangs over the red.

7. The photo must be taken directly above the stop (not diagonally from the right, for example) photos taken at a questionable angle will be denied or deducted. Clarification: This means that the fish must be measured lying against the sticker, so you cannot photograph the fish hanging by a gill grip with the sticker on top because then the angle becomes questionable.

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

ATTENTION! It is always the competition management that decides in the end whether a fish can be accepted or not!

Upload your catch

After a correct documentation of the fish, you report it via the Fishy app. As soon as a pike is reported, it is automatically included in the result. All catch photos will be displayed during springrresult 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 decide whether the fish should be approved or not. 

Same overall 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. Should it also be the same length, we check each team's second longest fish, etc. It is therefore very good to have more than 5 fish registered if it should be the case that it has to be decided on, for example, fish six, seven, etc. If a team does not get 5 pike over 70 cm, it is of course possible to compete with a smaller number. (Recapture within the team not allowed). 

Keep track of the position

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

Fraud report

You can help us by "fraud reporting" 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 crazy, etc.

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

Have you had a fish removed?

The reasons why a fish has been removed/denied can be many. Log in to the FISHY app and read message  from the competition management with motivation why your image 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 therefore have to be completely run.

WHEN WILL THE FINALISTS BE PRESENTED?

When the qualifier ends on 30/6, our competition jury goes through the pictures one last time.
Shortly afterwards, we expect to be able to present the finalists.

The rules for the final are 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 completely straight, this is perfectly OK, however, one requirement is that you have a stop similar to ours that is at least 5cm high. The sticker must not be cut.

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

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

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

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

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

7. The participants themselves are responsible for having a valid fishing license in the water being fished and for following the water's rules.

8. We ALWAYS recommend a life jacket. 

We recommend all our dear participants to join the Sports Fishermen who fight for our burning interest <3