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FLY CASTING TOURNAMENT AND CONTEST NEWS 6 |
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$52,000.00 prize pool for casting - fishing contest winners NOW HEAR THIS Outdoor Life Network is sweetening the pot for fly fishers. Nothing like the bass bonanza but a start. This summer their Fly Fishing Masters fishing contest will allow the winners of four regional fly casting contests to participate in regional and a national trout fishing contest for substantial bucks - in cash. No boats or fly rods. The proceedings will provide video footage for a fly fishing show later in the year after the October finals. The contestants will be teams of two with the only restriction that fly fishers under 18 years of age must enter with a parent or legal guardian. The first regional is in and near San Francisco, commencing June 27, 2003. the Northeastern qualifier will begin July 18 at State College Pennsylvania with fishing in Spruce Creek, Rocky Mountain, August 1, Denver Colorado for casting and Steamboat Springs, Colorado for fishing. The Southeast, September 19th at Atlanta for the casting contest and Helen Georgia for fishing. The finals will be somewhere accessible to Kansas City, starting October 10th.
Any team of two can apply by completing the the detailed application which must be submitted by June 15. The extensive details of the contest are on several pages of the Outdoor Life Network website. Briefly, any two fly fishers can apply for the regionals by completing and submitting the detailed application on or before June 15. Fifty teams for each regional will be chosen and notified by June 20. The qualifiers will compete in a combined accuracy and distance game with their own nine foot five weight fly rod and a five weight weight forward floating line and leader and accuracy fly supplied by the contest sponsors. There is a suggestion that each team include a competent fly tier. There is no application fee but those selected will pay $100.00 per team to participate. The contestants will go to the site of the regionals at their own expense and shoot four targets at distances from 20 to 70 feet and then cast for distance overhead and roll casting, with the same outfit. The targets have three concentric rings, six feet, four feet and two feet in diameter with graduated scores One of the targets will be behind an obstacle requiring a curve cast to score and the scoring is weighted in such a way as to place a premium on accuracy. It is my present judgment that there will be more variation in accuracy scores than in distance scores This format is reminiscent of another television contest in which scores in accuracy determine choice of beat on the fishing river part of the contest. The casting contest reduces the contestant pool to the eight top scoring teams. These top scorers then have a fish off for the regional winning team. The regional teams, four of them, then have a fish off somewhere near Kansas City for the prizes of $30,000.00 for the winning team, $15,000.00 second, $5,000.00 third and $2,000.00 fourth. The fishing contest involves a series of two and three hour sessions walking a particular beat on a river. One member fishes at a time and the other gillies - tying on flies, handing the fisher a dry rod or a sink tip rod, spots fish (climbing a tree is good) etc. (They can have three rods each). The first fish caught must be measured and the fisher then can elect when to measure any other fish caught. When a fisher has measured two fish, time is up for that person and the other fisher goes to work. When the other has measured two fish time is up for the team. The combined lengths of fish caught determine the winners with ties broken by elapsed time. This sounds like a lot of fun. The ticket is to regard the trip to the regional as a fishing trip. If you are one of the fifty chosen plan to compete and go fishing. If you win the casting competition your fishing is on the tournament. If you don't win your fishing is on you, like it always is. All of the regionals are near good fishing. There is no rule against mixed teams and I can think of some that would be competitive. The contest itself seems like a first class spectator event given the variety of the casts involved and the pressure on the casters. The promoters will be getting their money back from the TV footage of the contest and the contestants all face the prospect of becoming a sports celebrity for a little while. Can you imagine a guide or insurance man or surgeon going back to the office after being shown on national TV fishing for $30,000.00. I expect they will film some fish that got away and I suspect that there will be some big fish in the waters chosen. Now aren't you glad you made friends with your fly rod.
AMERICAN CASTING ASSOCIATION NATIONALS July 27 to August 1, 2003 Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Details on American Casting Association website.
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