This page can be updated until 31/8

WHAT IS THE BIG 5 - HOSTBORREN?

Höstborren 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 waterways at the same time, throughout the autumn. 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 perches #THEBIG5 that determine your placement in the competition. Perches are reported continuously throughout the competition period and the fish must be registered no later than 3 days after it has been caught at thebig5.se

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.

GROUPS - After registration closes, all teams will be divided into 5 (FIVE) groups. The draw is completely random and has nothing to do with where in the country you live. The top 3 teams from each group advance to the finals.

COMPETITION PERIOD/QUALIFICATION

The competition period/qualification for the groups is 31/8-20/10

All competing teams will receive an SMS on 31/8 at 08.00 with their start number (also in the Fishy app).

Final: November 2-3 (Saturday Sunday) in common water X!

FINAL - WHO WILL GO TO THE FINAL? 

The top three from each group advance to the finals.

The final takes place November 2-3 in water X* (Saturday - Sunday).

Water X is revealed when the qualifier is over to avoid fishing pressure in the water and of course to increase the tension!

In the final you may NOT use LIVE GIVARE or trolling*

The winners of Höstborren2024 get a final place in the SM in perch 2025.

*If the authorities allow this, otherwise it will be in any Swedish water.

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WHAT DOES IT COST TO JOIN?

It costs SEK 349 per person to join. One measuring sticker is included per team, then you can buy extra for SEK 199 each.

STARTER PACKAGE
We will send out starter packages in two rounds:
20/8 to all who registered by 18/8 
27/8 to everyone who registered by 25/8 

Start package will be sent home in the mailbox of the team captain. The starter package contains information and the number of measurement stickers you ordered when registering.

Tip: Get ready as early as possible as we do not control the mail aisle, you can NOT start fishing before you have this year's sticker from us.

WHERE CAN YOU COMPETE?

You can fish in all Swedish waters where you have permission to fish for perch. All forms of poaching are prohibited. It is also allowed to have a team spread over different locations.

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. In the qualification, there is no ban on live donors.

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! THE TOOL LIP GRIP = FORBIDDEN! All fish must be re-released!

Also read Sportfisher's advice on catching and releasing fish

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REPORTING IN THE FISHY LIVE APP
All reporting takes place in the FISHY LIVE app. Download it where apps are.
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 perch is 30 centimeters. It is important that the images are CLEAR.

1. You must report a picture with the measurement sticker and a picture where you pose with the perch.

We also need to be able to see a large part of the fish's cover to be able to determine recapture. 

We recommend that you do not touch the fish at all on the measurement image (of course this does not apply to the posing image). 

If this is not possible, use as few fingers as possible (maximum one hand) to hold the fish in place during photography. The head, mouth and gill lids are always a prohibited area. This is for the best of the fish and to avoid pulling, pushing and tearing the fish to gain length. The caudal fin may be gently pressed together without damaging the fish. 

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2. The perches must always be reported in whole centimeters which are rounded down. If the measuring sticker shows 35.9, the fish must be reported at 35 cm.

 

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

 

4. The fish must lie with the jaw area/head towards the zero/stop on the sticker and the belly must be down on the sticker. The head must therefore always be measured towards zero and the belly of the fish must point downwards. 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.

5. The entire perch must be visible on the measurement image and also the part of the decal needed to determine the length. If the perch is 30cm, it is enough that a little more than 30cm of the sticker is visible (and start number of course). 

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, a little grass or seaweed hangs over the red. See sample images under point 8.

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.

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. 

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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-live app. As soon as a perch is reported, it is automatically included in the result. All catch pictures will be displayed under our results 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 perches over 30 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 perches over 30 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 keep track of your and the other teams' position in the competition on the results page. 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 deliberately cheated and this can be proven, that team will be disqualified.

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 the message from the competition management with the 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 therefore have to be completely run.

WHEN WILL THE FINALISTS BE PRESENTED?

The qualification ends on 20/10 at 18.00, after which our competition jury goes through the pictures one last time.
The following day, the finalists are presented.

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

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 3cm high. The sticker must not be cut.

 •  Thebig5.se reserves the right to use the participants' captured images for its own use in marketing.
 •  The organizer is not responsible for any deaths, accidents or injuries.
 •  It is up to the contestant to be responsible for their own insurance.
 •  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.  
 •  The registration fee is binding and non-refundable.
 •  The participants themselves are responsible for having a valid fishing license in the water being fished and for following the water's rules.
 •  We ALWAYS recommend a life jacket and sobriety on the lake. 

FINAL INFO:

We will release all information regarding the final when the qualifiers are finished.

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