Fly Casting And The Olympics
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Works for me. There are several sports that require accuracy versus sheer physical prowess and in the end could Michael Phelps really shoot a bow better than the top competitors there? Their talents are as impressive than as not.
I won't be competing anytime soon though. And we all know that ones ability in say fencing at the olympics doesn't necessarily mean that they would be able to kill more people on a French battlefield than say an Olympic caster could catch more fish.
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10,660 Posts
Can I pick the uniforms?
Funny story,
My dad told me of a fly casting contest back in the early 50's, in Missoula MT.
There were three different categories to win a prize(s) - Distance, Accuracy, and Roll Casting. Men came from all over, as it was a pretty "prestigious" contest back then. They came from Idaho, Wyoming, the Dakota's and of course MT.
At the age of 15...he won all three categories. I still have the Pemco reels that he won in one of the events. The placard however, has been lost.
The prizes were a wicker creel basket, two Pemco reels, and a nice flannel shirt. That last one kills me, but hey, we are talking about a whole different era then.
Anyway, here's the "funny" part:
The Sporting goods store that was hosting the event, wouldn't give him the prizes. They said the contest was for "grown ups", and his scores didn't count. There was no age limit. They just didnt anticipate that some farm kid could win.
Well, being kinda a quiet farm boy, he walked back to his aunt and uncle's house, where he was staying - you see, he made the trip from Livingston, just to enter the contest.
Well...his 6' 2" 285 lb ...um...auntie, didn't take to kind to that. She grabbed my dad, threw him in the truck, and raced down to the "celebration party". They had given the prizes to the second place winner.
His aunt made quite the scene, demanded to see the results of the winner, and wouldn't you know...my dad's score card (signed by each judge, for each event), was higher than the "winners".
My dad remembers it being very awkward, when they had to ask for the prizes back, from the, uh.... losers!
Unfortunately, whenever my dad visited his aunt and uncle's house to fish and hunt, the sporting goods store totally snubbed my dad and his relatives, and wouldn't sell to them. Back then, I guess you could get away with that kinda thing.
That said.... I have a reel, that is worth more than I could ever sell it for.
My dad told me of a fly casting contest back in the early 50's, in Missoula MT.
There were three different categories to win a prize(s) - Distance, Accuracy, and Roll Casting. Men came from all over, as it was a pretty "prestigious" contest back then. They came from Idaho, Wyoming, the Dakota's and of course MT.
At the age of 15...he won all three categories. I still have the Pemco reels that he won in one of the events. The placard however, has been lost.
The prizes were a wicker creel basket, two Pemco reels, and a nice flannel shirt. That last one kills me, but hey, we are talking about a whole different era then.Anyway, here's the "funny" part:
The Sporting goods store that was hosting the event, wouldn't give him the prizes. They said the contest was for "grown ups", and his scores didn't count. There was no age limit. They just didnt anticipate that some farm kid could win.
Well, being kinda a quiet farm boy, he walked back to his aunt and uncle's house, where he was staying - you see, he made the trip from Livingston, just to enter the contest.
Well...his 6' 2" 285 lb ...um...auntie, didn't take to kind to that. She grabbed my dad, threw him in the truck, and raced down to the "celebration party". They had given the prizes to the second place winner.
His aunt made quite the scene, demanded to see the results of the winner, and wouldn't you know...my dad's score card (signed by each judge, for each event), was higher than the "winners".
My dad remembers it being very awkward, when they had to ask for the prizes back, from the, uh.... losers!
Unfortunately, whenever my dad visited his aunt and uncle's house to fish and hunt, the sporting goods store totally snubbed my dad and his relatives, and wouldn't sell to them. Back then, I guess you could get away with that kinda thing.
That said.... I have a reel, that is worth more than I could ever sell it for.
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9,505 Posts
Thank you for sharing this story! This is life incarnate! Reminds me of our current politics (I apologize to eat mods for bringing up the "P" word.)Funny story,
My dad told me of a fly casting contest back in the early 50's, in Missoula MT.
There were three different categories to win a prize(s) - Distance, Accuracy, and Roll Casting. Men came from all over, as it was a pretty "prestigious" contest back then. They came from Idaho, Wyoming, the Dakota's and of course MT.
At the age of 15...he won all three categories. I still have the Pemco reels that he won in one of the events. The placard however, has been lost.
Anyway, here's the "funny" part:
The Sporting goods store that was hosting the event, wouldn't give him the prizes. They said the contest was for "grown ups", and his scores didn't count. There was no age limit. They just didnt anticipate that some farm kid could win.
Well, being kinda a quiet farm boy, he walked back to his aunt and uncle's house, where he was staying - you see, he made the trip from Livingston, just to enter the contest.
Well...his 6' 2" 285 lb ...um...auntie, didn't take to kind to that. She grabbed my dad, threw him in the truck, and raced down to the "celebration party". They had given the prizes to the second place winner.
His aunt made quite the scene, demanded to see the results of the winner, and wouldn't you know...my dad's score card (signed by each judge, for each event), was higher than the "winners".
My dad remembers it being very awkward, when they had to ask for the prizes back, from the, uh.... losers!
Unfortunately, whenever my dad visited his aunt and uncle's house to fish and hunt, the sporting goods store totally snubbed my dad and his relatives, and wouldn't sell to them. Back then, I guess you could get away with that kinda thing.
That said.... I have a reel, that is worth more than I could ever sell it for.
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4,478 Posts
Because the olympic committee knows that the dude who wins gold will hok the medal and just go buy more fishing gear.
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8,817 Posts
i'd be ok with it as long lines were limited to off the shelf fishing lines.
They had "casting" in the 1932 Summer Olympic games that were held in Los Angeles, but I do not know if fly casting specifically were part of the games or if it included bait casting style equipment. According to the Long Beach Casting Club, member Ben Robinson won a gold medal in "plug" casting. They also state that 1932 was the last time "casting" was included in the Olympic games. I have been unable to find more information on the subject. But perhaps "plug casting" refers to using a fly rod and reel to cast a plug?
http://www.longbeachcastingclub.org/history/
http://www.longbeachcastingclub.org/history/
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10,387 Posts
The entire USA team would be from Montana, with one reserve member from Idaho. This would result in a whole heap of bitchin and whining (mostly from the WA guys) about how unfair things are and the need for reform, blah, blah, blah. Otherwise, sounds like a great idea and would make the games much more interesting to me.
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5,193 Posts
Tough to see much of a difference between fly casting and archery.
If the target is holding still. Make it move and the Florida peeps will dominate. If you have to soak in the view and drink tall boys the the PNW crew will be strong. If done in a parking lot the Cali guys will be strong favorites.
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Rajeff
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Seriously? Come on Ira, much like golf, "distance is for show" not scoring. As predicted, the whining has already started
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1,271 Posts
Somewhere back in the mists of time, my Dad won a casting (distance) contest. Probably some local group, not all that big of a deal, but it made an impression on me. A wrong impression. For the longest time, I thought that the key to catching fish was being able to cast waaaaay out there. not surprisingly, it didn't work very well, and most of my early success was on skinny water where casting wasn't much of a consideration.
Later in life, I managed to hang out with a few skilled flyfishers and saw the light. Short casts and line control get the job done. But I still want to see the uniforms @Swimmy picks out, especially for the women's team.
Later in life, I managed to hang out with a few skilled flyfishers and saw the light. Short casts and line control get the job done. But I still want to see the uniforms @Swimmy picks out, especially for the women's team.
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Rajeff bros can do all three. Cast for distance, cast for accuracy and they can flat out catch fish.Seriously? Come on Ira, much like golf, "distance is for show" not scoring. As predicted, the whining has already started
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294 Posts
Some of these current Olympic events are absurd.
Trampoline what's next "Pokemon Go" !!
DS
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Trampoline what's next "Pokemon Go" !!
DS
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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532 Posts
Trampoline embodies the whole faster higher stronger of the games. Higher for obvious reasons, core strength for the skills and fast turns. Certainly would not be easy and needs guts.
Btw stop being biased, just because an American didn't medal doesn't mean the sport is invalid
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