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The Fly Fishing World Championship in Tasmania just ended...

3K views 35 replies 19 participants last post by  Matey 
#1 ·
... and France won the gold medal, with the Czech Republic second and Spain third. It was a very disputed tournament until the very last day, with only 1 point difference between the the first three teams. The US was 6th.

On individuals, the Englishman Howard Croston won the gold medal, the Spanish David Garcia got the silver medal, and the Slovakian Kristian Sveda got the bronze. The first US team member was Josh Graffam, 6th.

You can check all the results here: https://www.wffc2019.com/latest-results/ . Also, there is a 45 min video that the organization released for the controllers (the refs) that explain many interesting things on how to apply the rules. It is long, but quite recommendable if you ever wondered how the fishing championships work. https://www.wffc2019.com/rules/
 
#5 ·
Personally, I think fly fishing competitions are useless. "Acumen and skill" in fly fishing is not something that can really be measured in a contest. Unfortunately, the fish have much input into the results and the catching of same is more a coincidence of the fish being in the right place at the right time rather than the alleged "skill" of the fisher. Yes, you can decide the winner of a casting contest by finding the person who can put a fly into a teacup at 100 yards, but what does that measure? It only shows you which person is a competent caster, but says nothing about his/her skill at the sport other than mechanics. Although anecdotal, I have seen great caster get skunked at the same time a 8 year old kid who is a first time fly fisher gets an 18" Brown. Fly fishing is a "Zen" pursuit and those who really are "good" fly fishers understand that.

Just my humble opinion, but the only competition in fly fishing is with yourself.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Personally, I think fly fishing competitions are useless. "Acumen and skill" in fly fishing is not something that can really be measured in a contest. Unfortunately, the fish have much input into the results and the catching of same is more a coincidence of the fish being in the right place at the right time rather than the alleged "skill" of the fisher. Yes, you can decide the winner of a casting contest by finding the person who can put a fly into a teacup at 100 yards, but what does that measure? It only shows you which person is a competent caster, but says nothing about his/her skill at the sport other than mechanics. Although anecdotal, I have seen great caster get skunked at the same time a 8 year old kid who is a first time fly fisher gets an 18" Brown. Fly fishing is a "Zen" pursuit and those who really are "good" fly fishers understand that.

Just my humble opinion, but the only competition in fly fishing is with yourself.
There was a Fly Fishing Competition on TV sponsored by Ford many years ago. Perhaps some of you grey beards remember it. It was called something like "The Fly Fishing Games."

Two man teams competed in 4 regional competitions in the USA. The top teams from the 4 regions were then flown to an unknown location to compete with each other in an elimination style tournament.

Want to know which team won? Steve and Tim Rajeff. They not only won, they destroy both the team in the semi final and the team they faced in the finals. So much for casting acumen not mattering in actual fishing.

Here's the other thing about competitions. Did you know that bead head nymphs were developed specifically for competition rules which do not allow added lead to the leader so any weight has to be part of the fly.

If you think "fly fishing competitions are useless," you should throw away your bead head nymphs. Heaven forbid you should use something invented that is "useless".
 
#12 ·
Meanwhile 300 miles north of Tasmania, in Bateman's Bay, mullet are falling from the sky on account of aerial tankers bombing bushfires with scooped up estuary water. Large swaths of Australia's coastal forest is burning and summer has yet to start....
View attachment 219548
That means they are dumping brackish water on their forest!
 
#16 ·
Fishing as a competition holds zero interest for me....though I am fishing in a salmon derby this winter for the first time.

While I think something like this is pretty useless personally, if it floats your boat that's cool with me

That said, I find it a pretty big stretch to think that bead head nymphs would have never been a thing if not for a tournament. Tournament anglers aren't the only ones trying to catch fish. Its putting a bead on a hook for crying out loud.
 
#20 ·
Fishing as a competition holds zero interest for me....though I am fishing in a salmon derby this winter for the first time.

While I think something like this is pretty useless personally, if it floats your boat that's cool with me

That said, I find it a pretty big stretch to think that bead head nymphs would have never been a thing if not for a tournament. Tournament anglers aren't the only ones trying to catch fish. Its putting a bead on a hook for crying out loud.
One does not need to spend any effort thinking about how to put weight on the hook itself if it is possible to easily attach it to the line (fsplit shot). Only when the existing solution is not valid (in this case because the competition rules do not allow weight on the line) is when there is an extra effort to look for other solutions to solve the problem. I think competition in many sports forces competitors to look for other solutions, either to comply with regulations or to acquire a competitive advantage.
 
#22 · (Edited)
I also don't really care for the idea of "fly fishing competition" but (see below) have started tying nearly all of my flies on what are labeled as "competition" hooks. They have long and very sharp claw points, that hook and hold well when using light tippets. I like using the wide gape - short shank and buggy grub-like shaped styles for dry and wet flies.

Did they evolve because of the competition niche?
 
#23 ·
I also don't really care for the idea of "fly fishing competition" but have started tying nearly all of my flies on what are labeled as "competition" hooks. They have long and very sharp claw points, that hook and hold well when using light tippets. I like using the wide gape - short shank and buggy grub-like shaped styles for dry and wet flies.

Did they evolve because of the competition niche?
I believe they did with the upward curve of the barbless point which helps to keep the fish on.
 
#24 ·
Everything we do, there's some competition for...

Personally, I think it's cool that it's there. Some people are just competitive in that way and good for them. I think that more people than are willing to admit love the numbers aspect of it. Why else is this whole Euro-nymphing thing so big right now? Personally, I don't prefer to fish that way, but will just to change things up on occasion and to catch a few more fish (if that streamer bite just isn't happening).

Hell, there are millions of fans of NASCAR....it's just driving.
 
#29 ·
Good point! And I can relate to the "without using indicators" comment :rolleyes: . So to change my earlier comment...
I also don't really care for the idea of "fly fishing competition"...
I don't think I'd enjoy participating in a sanctioned "fly fishing competition"; a niche of a hobby I find so engaging and fulfilling, but to be totally honest I am usually aware of how well my buddies are doing. I do have a couple of Tenkara buddies who consistently catch more fish than I but believe fishing with and watching them makes me a more skillful angler.
 
#35 ·
I watched the first 5 minutes or so of that rules video out of curiosity. And saw what most people would horrible fish handing in their video when showing a foul hooked trout.
It’s pretty hard to think that they care too much about the fish when treating them so in their training video.
Unless proper is to measure fish out of water a long time. Then watch fish flop onto the rocks on land. Then pick it up with a death grip, no gloves or wetted hands. Then just hold onto it while continuing the amazing monologue of important information

I mean seriously??? And I’m not a fish handling nazi by nature
 
#36 ·
I watched the first 5 minutes or so of that rules video out of curiosity. And saw what most people would horrible fish handing in their video when showing a foul hooked trout.
It's pretty hard to think that they care too much about the fish when treating them so in their training video.
Unless proper is to measure fish out of water a long time. Then watch fish flop onto the rocks on land. Then pick it up with a death grip, no gloves or wetted hands. Then just hold onto it while continuing the amazing monologue of important information

I mean seriously??? And I'm not a fish handling nazi by nature
I sure hope the camera was already running while they were getting ready to shoot that segment. That fish was already out of the water in the measuring tray at 2:30 and didn't get released until 3:38 after enduring the Kung Fu grip for the last 0:38 seconds.
 
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