We closed 2021 with a record number of anglers

2021.12.31. Share

True to the traditions of previous years, we rethink, appreciate what this year was like, how we were able to fit in with the community we represent. The 2020 record set our year high in both fishing effort and fishing effort. Already at the beginning of the year, it seemed that the difficulties of the epidemiological situation would not disappear from our lives in 2021 either. The changed circumstances in the world and in Hungary have tested the adaptability of individuals and communities.

While in 2020 the sector was hit by several favorable impulses as a result of the epidemic (eg state deferral, contribution reductions), the year 2021 brought interesting unexpected challenges. In addition to the negative effects of the epidemic, pond fish production may have had an extremely difficult year, with feed prices rising by around 40-50 percent this year, which was clearly 20-25% higher in fish prices in the second half of the year than in the previous year. negative effects. Furthermore, the cold, low-rainfall spring and the prolonged summer drought reduced fish production capacities, which also resulted in a temporary shortage of fish, which also had a price-increasing effect on our purchased fish. So much for the hardships in a nutshell, let’s see what we’ve gotten over the year.

Last year's record -11,082 people - we managed to further increase our number of adult and child anglers to 11,524 in 2021. It is a great pleasure for us that out of this number of members, the number of our children exchanging state tickets was 1,781, which is an increase of 127 people compared to 1,654 in 2020. In addition to the increase in fishing membership, our main goal is for more and more people to switch to regional fishing tickets for the fishing waters we use. Among adult anglers, a total of 3,138 adult fishermen voted to trust our fishing waters with an annual ticket exchange in 2020, while in 2021, 127 more people, ie a total of 3,265 adults, found the opportunity to relax in the iron waters. With regard to child anglers, it is also a pleasing fact that we managed to increase the number of annual ticket exchanges from 735 to 784 by 2021.

This year, the fishing test will take place nationwide in a completely revamped electronic format on tablets, but will still require a personal appearance. With the help of our fishing guard colleagues, we continued to hold exams despite the pandemic, with 481 successful examiners in 2021. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the possibility of a free fishing test does not mean that unprepared fishing candidates will always leave with a fishing test certificate. In 2021, 44 people failed their first fishing exam and were forced to take an additional exam.

In addition to the rising fish prices, the increase in the number of fishermen and the change of licenses ensured that we were able to place a total of 85,183 kg of one- and two-year-old fish and 75,150 pre-farmed native fish stocks in our waters. In accordance with the fisheries management plans approved by the authority and the needs of the fishermen, the largest quantities of carp of the size that can be caught have been introduced into the fishing waters. In addition to the carp dominance, we tried to plant other native fish species as much as possible, depending on the availability. The following quantities of pre-farmed native fish were deployed during the year: 3,150 goats, 5,000 catfish, 6,000 brown trout, 20,000 compos, 8,000 balins, 3,000 ling, 20,000 pike. It is a great pleasure for us that this year we managed to display 10,000 one-summer pike, 763 kg of one-and-two perch, 950 kg of two-summer pike and 20,850 kg of mixed whitefish. Due to the lack of fish stocks, we could not buy more bream and predatory fish, but we expect even smaller quantities from suppliers at the beginning of next year, this year.

We would like to ask all our fishing partners to pay special attention to the juvenile fish introduced recently, so that the Association's efforts to replenish the stock will reach their goal in the coming years. We started our journey in the spring of the XVI. Our Primary School rival in Vasi Vizeken with 22 teams and 88 starters. We started five fishing clubs in the county with the help of volunteers in elementary schools. At the beginning of the summer, we held the Youth Fishing Competition in the Iron Waters for the young pecs, whose winners could take part in the final held at the MOHOSZ National Fishing Camp. At the end of July, 33 children from all over the county took part in our fishing camp in Vaskeresztes at a discounted price. Our youth programs were implemented with the partial support of the MOHOSZ Fisherman's Youth Education and Training Program.

On behalf of the Hungarian National Fishermen's Association, we successfully organized the VI. Method Feeder Two semi-finals and one semi-final of the National Championship, with entrants from all over the country. In connection with the competitions, we held preparatory cups, in which, similarly to the national competitions, an average catch of 20-25 kg was made per round to the satisfaction of the competitors.

In March, we decided to hold and announce all of our previous county events. This is how we made it and, on the whole, it can be said that no program was left out in the multi-round competition series of the Vas County Association of Sport Fishing Association. A total of 57 people entered the non-entry cup series in the adult and youth hobby categories, while 22 people competed. Several times before the tournaments, he had to close his pre-registration months due to oversubscription. A novelty in the history of our competitions was the creation of the conditions for a lottery technique that avoided multiple physical touches due to the epidemic situation. We held the morning technical briefing and raffle online before the races. Instead of the usual start of the races, we only met the riders at their fishing spots and the announcement of the results took place in a narrow circle. Thanks to the Szombathely Department Store of Decathlon, we were able to reward the fishermen who were awarded in our competition series with valuable gift vouchers in addition to the souvenirs this year as well. Fish Day in Pinka Valley Iron Cross, which was visited by more than ever before - about 1,500 people.

In September we organized an integrated fishing competition, where the young people of the Public Benefit Nonprofit Ltd. for the Disabled and the Homeless spent a nice joint fishing afternoon with the anglers of the Vas County Association of the Sport Fishing Association at the Szombathely Boating Company.

These results, without much work, would not have been possible if our fishermen and our colleagues and volunteers had not worked together and helped each other and the work of the Association. Before we move on to present our other results, we would like to thank our anglers once again for their permits and leisure activities on the shores of the Iron Waters during the year with patience, attention to others and the safety of all of us. We are extremely proud of our ticket vendors, staff, volunteers, fishing guards, anglers, partners and everyone who has worked again in this challenging year to make fishing a regular leisure activity and have contributed to our success.

This year, our association also strived to provide long-term fishing opportunities for all its fish in all areas of the county. The right to fish on Lake Rábasömjén belonged to our Association, but the ownership of the property was unsettled and the future of the area and the fishing lake was always uncertain due to the large amount of illegal waste accumulated over the decades. In the first half of this year, the old-new owner settled and liquidated an illegal landfill near the lake and then offered the lake for sale. Thanks to the successful management of our association and the help of MOHOSZ, we managed to increase the assets of our association by purchasing Lake Horgász in Rábasömjen. It is a great pleasure for us that, as the owner, we managed to obtain the missing water rights permits for the mine, which has existed for decades, so that Lake Rábasömjén is our seventh self-owned lake in the county, with fishing opportunities in the area.

The development of our existing fishing waters is also our priority task, and the Vas County Local Government has been a key partner in the implementation of our goal for many years within the framework of the Regional and Settlement Development Operational Program. A TOP-1.2.1-15-VS1-2019-00009. Our project entitled "Fishing Tourism Developments in Vas County" received a gross grant of HUF 136 million at the end of the previous year, in which the implementation of the planned developments started in the spring of this year. In order to develop fishing tourism on the waterfront, roads, car parks, slopes and promenades were maintained, as well as benches, rest areas and information boards. We are in the final stages of the project, and the final handover of the developments may take place in the spring of 2022.

In addition to the developments listed above, we also renovated the accommodation facilities operating in our 15-year-old Vaskeresztes Fishing Tourism Center together with the company operating the Alpine Inn with the development support of the Kisfaludy tender accommodation. Through the complex performance of our association and the collection of fifteen years of rural development experience, our association has had the opportunity to implement the project entitled “Promotion of local values and experiences in the Pannonian Regional Development Association”, which will end on 30 June 2023. One of the main goals of the project is to focus on the importance of local values and experiences among tourists visiting the area, as well as among the residents of Vas County. Within the framework of the project, a regional Facebook and Instragram page entitled “Pannon Experience” was created and operated, as well as a regional PANTER calendar for 2022. In addition, we are present at regional community and municipal events, which we regularly report on.

Our new tourism and rural development and environmental projects are still being developed to make the highest possible quality of environment available to everyone on the shores of the Iron Waters. Our plans include the parallel implementation of welfare developments along natural watercourses, the preparation and implementation of habitat development projects along major watercourses (Rába, Pinka, Kerka…, etc.) within the framework of the MAHOP Plusz program to be launched in the coming years. . We would like to thank the representatives of the Hungarian National Anglers' Association, the Vas County Local Government and the mayors and mayors of the region for their active support and contribution to achieving our development goals.

On several occasions, our fishermen, together with social fish guards, conducted boat inspections and coordinated group inspections in addition to their monthly inspections to protect fish stocks. With the support of the Hungarian National Fishermen's Association, the professional fishing team with the law enforcement exam also managed to renew its fishing uniform this year. Our fishermen took part in the inspection of the on-site measurement of the transported fish consignments for 54 days during the installation and / or on-site installation of the fish consignments. In addition to fish protection tasks, professional fish guards carry out regular waterfront maintenance and mowing in the following water areas: Lake Magyarszecsődi, Lake Sárvíz in Gersekarát, Lake Püspökmolnár, Lake Pinkamindszenti, Lake Merseváti, Lake Nagypirzt Lake), Vaskeresztes Pinka backwater, the fishing sections of the Abért lakes, the dammed Pinka section of Horvátlövő. This year, in addition to regular and continuous fish guarding, fish farming and other fish farming activities, our fishermen and their volunteers performed the maintenance and repainting of the welfare elements and equipment (benches, tables, seats, etc.) owned by the Association. We would like to thank the active social fishermen and partner organizations involved in fish conservation and waterfront maintenance throughout the year and look forward to your assistance in the future.

Vas Népe, the main media sponsor of our Association, reported regularly and in detail about our programs and current events, in which you can read a fishing page about the events of Vas waters every two weeks. Szombathely Television also reported on all our important events and news, and the recordings are available in the video gallery of our website. All in all, it can be said that we have a colorful, meaningful year in terms of our organizational life, and in most areas we have an extremely successful year, which, of course, still has many tasks and challenges to solve. In conclusion, we would like to remind our fellow anglers that the state tickets of 2021 and the annual regional tickets of Vas are valid until January 31, 2022, so they can be used for fishing without any problems at the beginning of next year. The state fishing tickets for 2022 are already available at all our member organizations, and we hope that the special purchase of regional tickets will start smoothly in January. During an epidemic caused by a new type of coronavirus as an emergency, be patient and keep away from other customers when changing tickets. Arrive at the association's sales outlets at a distance of 2 meters and in all cases in a mask covering the mouth and nose. Familiarize yourself in advance with the customer reception rules of the associations and strictly adhere to the specific regulations of the ticket offices.