The First Israeli Carp Cup “Autumn 2005”

From 9 to 12 of November, on the ‘Gofra’ beach (Lake Kinnereth), the Israeli Angling Club – “IsraFish” – organized the first sport carp fishing championship in Israel’s sporting history, The championship was conducted according to the rules of F.I.P.S.e.d. The main rules include:

Catch and release
The competition is over a 72 hour period
Teams consist of two anglers. Each are allowed 2 rods with one hook on each rod. The bait is mounted on the ‘hair-rig’ only.
Landing the fish not on a special carp mat is forbidden.

The championship was commercial (in order to build the prize fund and pay all expenses). The registration fee was about 200 US Dollar per team. The prize for the first place was about 1500 $, second place – 750$, third place – 500$, and the biggest fish – 250 $. The “biggest fish” prize was won by “Neman” Team (Peter Tansoura and Alex Price) – mirror carp 15 kg 250 g. (33.6 Lb).

The level of organization was very high, as reported by participants and viewers.

In order to conduct this championship our club received permission from the police and Ministry of Agriculture and Fishing Control. The access to the beach was closed during the competition by agreement with the beach managers.

The struggle was very intense. The difference between first and second place was only 1 kg. All sportsmen escaped the “0” results (one team caught the first [and last] fish at the 70^th hour of the competition. This team won the prize for “Will to Win”) and this shows the real potential of the Kinnereth as a place for serious carp championships that may host about 30-35 teams.

The weather was perfect (about +23°C in the daytime and +16°C at night); on the last night the temperature fell to +8°C, but this fact was not able to stop the participants.

The referee’s team worked around the clock, during the entire championship and since they were equipped with walkie-talkies, they were able to know the situation in each zone and sector, and bring it to the participants. Each referee was equipped with a special light-reflecting jacket, walkie-talkie, light tripod, electronic scales and weight sack. The referee’s level was also noted as “very high” by teams.

During the competition, 117 carps (mirror and common) were caught and released with a total weight of 350 kg (772 lb) and a lot of catfish (not counted).

A table of the final Carp Cup results follows:

Place	Zone/Sector	Team	Total Weight (gr)
1	1/5	Reznikov Alex + Bounkin Igor	62.860
2	1/2	Gutarts Vldimir + Tarnavskiy Naum	61.820
3	3/12	Finarsky Michael + Erlich Oleg	45.460
4	3/16	Makarov Oleg+ Mishenin Slava	35.660
5	2/9	Tantsura Piter + Price Alex	32.820
6	2/10	Mindin Slava + Nemkov Yuri	28.640
7	3/13	Lutsevich Dima + Duhovny Alex	20.460
8	3/14	Kantor Alex + Gursky Maxim	16.520
9	1/6	Roden Phillip + Shnaider Yaniv	15.280
10	3/15	Kolokoltsev Dima + Pompy	15.260
11	1/3	Kvitko Aron + Slamaev Benny	8.040
12	1/8	Blecher Allan + Johny	3.640
13	2/11	Bereza Vladislav + Gorbonos Alex	2.120
14	1/7	Nikiforov Igor + Shlyahov Eduard	1.920

Some of the pictures taken during the competition
Sunset on Kinneret	Tiberias at night	Sunset on Kinneret
11 kg	Putting out free-feed	Ready...
We are the champions!	Hard fish	Beach cleaner
Team "Sloth"	Landing	Another sunset
Beauty of the carpfishing	Small, but valid!	Vastness...
Alone...	Here the record!	15.250!

Good work!	Come on, baby, come on!	Cups waiting for winners
First place - well done!	Tired but not broken	Referees team
	Last shot...