Dear Efsa Fishing friends,
We had a very good championship, with 80 anglers participating and more than 5000 flatfish recorded !!! This means an average/angler of 60 flatfish. In general the fish were of good size, only the dabs were a bit smaller. Many of the flounders and plaice sized around 30 cm. We believe that this good result was achieved as many of the anglers have fished the waters around Elsinore before (EC Boat 2013) and some participants have trained hard, especially the Swedes & Danes.
There was a strong wind on the Friday, but the 3 excellent skippers of Fyrholm, Skjold and Sværd found an area where we had some shelter from the wind and caught a lot of fish. Almost all the fish were returned to the sea as this championship was catch & release. The Saturday offered calmer sea, but less sunshine, anyway, with temperatures over 10 C it wasn’t bad for this time of year in Denmark.
The results were dominated by Swedish and Danish anglers, they are used to fish in the Øresund and really know how to catch flatfish at a high speed. On the Friday mainly dabs and flounders were recorded, on the Saturday dabs and plaice. So none can complain about the diversity, as on top of this also 4 rough dabs were recorded. One of the reasons why so much fish was caught was certainly the quality of the ragworms, these were excellent.
The championship went well, no fishing accidents, only 1 or 2 weevers, a high competitive standard and recording fish for the neighbours was always done with a smile. Also the boat-stuarts helped and guided where needed, making this species championship a big success.
The Swedish national A-team; Anders Sunesson, Benny Johansson, Henrik Karlen, Peter Evander and Magnus Landblom, won over the other nations, with Denmark A on a second spot. As a new ingredient there was a 3 men-mixed nationality team. This competition was won by Michael Lorenzen (DK), Benny Johansson (SW) and Henrik Karlen (SW). The 4 men team was won by a danish team with Niels Godsk Jørgensen, Cees Vader,  Michael Lorenzen and  Martin Hubert; Michael and Martin also won the 2 men team.
Individually Jan Godsk and Magnus Landtblom tied at first position after day 1, but day 2 changed some of the top 10 positions, some held on, some slipped out of the top 10. With a big margin Nichlas Iversen from Denmark conquered first position in front of Magnus Landblom and Daniel Møller, both from Sweden.

Swedish A-Team, European Champions Species 2015; Peter, Benny, Henrik, Magnus, Anders.

Chairman of DHF, Eskild 1. position seniors

Nichlas Iversen, DK, EFSA Species Champion 2015

Benedikte Havemann (DK) was the best fishing lady and Jonathan Alm (SW) beat his rival Timmie Wallin (SW) in the junior class. Thomas Hansen caught the longest fish, a plaice of 54 cm and 1.5 kg. Nichlas Iversen caught the biggest amount of fish also; 111 recorded.

Petter Skudal, Best life member

Best International 3 men team (Benny, Henrik, Michael)

DHF thanks the excellent sponsorships of Westin Scandinavia and Pure Fishing. Which sponsored many  high quality fishing gear prices to very happy winners. The scores were ready on time and after the price winning ceremony, we had a nice dinner at hotel Marienlyst, our HQ, a hotel with a high standard of quality and good food. Everyone we talked to was very positive, so, not the last time we stay here.
On the DHF (Danish Seafishing Organization = Dansk Havfiske Forbund)-website all results will be published. Also all results were sent to the secretaries of all the nations participating already.   www.dhf.nu
I thank you all on behalf of the Danish organization for a fair and positive spirited European Species Championship 2015 and we wish EFSA England good conger-fishing in 2016.

Kim Bowden informs about the EFSA species 2016

Happy Norwegians

Cees Vader, secretary DHF