US Nat'l FF Tournament @ State College

[afishinado]

T Minus 1 Week to National Fly Fishing Championship 2009
Fri, Oct 16, 2009

1 week left until some of the top fly fishing anglers in the United States converge in State College, PA to take a shot at making team USA! Competitors will start to filter into the State College region soon testing their skills and flies against Pennsylvania’s world class Wild Trout fishery. If you have a bit of time on your hands and live in the region you might want to go out and watch some of these fine anglers compete. Bring a pair of binoculars, a folding chair, and get a completely free lesson in how some of the best fly fishing anglers pursue wild trout.

The competition will be held on sections of the following rivers during the listed times and dates. Check in with TCO fly shop in State College late next week for exact locations and directions to the streamside competition http://www.tcoflyfishing.com

Rivers:
Penns Creek
The Little Juniata River
Spring Creek
Big Fishing Creek

Times/Dates:
9am-12pm, 2pm-5pm – - Sat 10/24 & Sun 10/25
9am-12pm – - Mon 10/26

Or if you’re of the mind, organizers may still need volunteers:
Volunteer Signup

You’re dedicated TroutLegend Reporter will be on the scene! Check back for quick updates as the competition rages on and hopefully many lush pictorial essays before and after the actual event.

Share and Enjoy:


Link to source: http://troutlegend.com/competitivecircuit/t-minus-1-week-to-national-fly-fishing-championship-2009/

 

[Chaz]

Yawn, baseball is a competative event Fly-fishing is not. I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there that can outfish the competitors.

 

[wetnet]

Chaz wrote:
Yawn, baseball is a competative event Fly-fishing is not. I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there that can outfish the competitors.

Tell yourself that if you want to. Sorry Maurice.. I guess I should drop this now. How about on Friday at noon.

So you fish not to catch fish. Just for the beauty of the day....,. I'm not buying it. It is the adreneline of the strike. Don't fool yourself. We do it for that moment.. The hit, the set, the fight to the net or just a hook shake to see it swim off.

If you boast what you bragged. Do it , or find some of those people you where talking about. Try out at some regionals, make the team...........Then turn it down.

Yawn, It's late.

 

[jayL]

Tell yourself that if you want to. Sorry Maurice.. I guess I should drop this now. How about on Friday at noon.

So you fish not to catch fish. Just for the beauty of the day....,. I'm not buying it. It is the adreneline of the strike. Don't fool yourself. We do it for that moment.. The hit, the set, the fight to the net or just a hook shake to see it swim off.

If you boast what you bragged. Do it , or find some of those people you where talking about. Try out at some regionals, make the team...........Then turn it down.

Yawn, It's late.

You're flat out wrong if you think that our hyper competitive society has infiltrated fishing in everyone's eyes.

I hold nothing against most people that want to compete in FF, but I've got to give my opinion on the whole thing:

This competitive fly fishing crap is another example of the popular fly fishing cliques of the world giving themselves authority among the community... so they can proceed to make money. Let's call ourselves the best, then charge through the nose on guided trips.

I'm not buying it.

There, I said it.

 

[Squaretail]

The difference between the competitors and non-competitors is a non-competitor can go out and not be successful, but still enjoy the day.
A competitor will have some kind of sour taste in their mouth no matter what, unless they win.
I'd probably try once it if they didnt cost so much money in general.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

jayL wrote:

This competitive fly fishing crap is another example of the popular fly fishing cliques of the world giving themselves authority among the community... so they can proceed to make money. Let's call ourselves the best, then charge through the nose on guided trips.

I'm not buying it.

There, I said it.

Several of the people that competed in this event are friends of mine. If you look at the list of competitors, the number of guys that guide is pretty low. You don't have to buy it, 'cause they're not sellin it!

Of the ones that do guide - and I personally know at least 2 that do, they'd laugh at this notion. Looking at this from a business perspective, competing puts them so far into the red that they couldn't see the black side of the ledger with the Hubble telescope! Plain and simple - they do this because:

1 - they want to learn all they can about this sport, and this is a great way for them to be at the "cutting edge" of technology and knowledge.

2 - they just have a lot of fun doing it.

I personally don't care to compete, but I don't begrudge anyone that does. I don't tell anyone how they should enjoy themselves fishing, and I expect others to not tell me. Whatever floats your boat - as long as it's legal, and you enjoy it, have at it.

As far as the winning and losing goes - to a man, they'll all tell you that they had fun, made new friends, and learned things that will make them better and more successful anglers. If they didn't enjoy it, they wouldn't do it.

While I don't compete myself, I do enjoy the benefits of what the competitors learn. Lots of guys have taken bits and pieces of competition-learned skills and use them themselves, ie Czech nymphing and Euro-nymphing. Some of the best sources we have in this country on these techniques are George Daniels and Loren Williams. They're both guides, but both of them share FOR FREE any knowledge they've obtained in competition. If they're doing it for the money, that's a pretty dumbazz way to treat your "acquired assets".

What about the 13-18 year old kids that compete? Does this mean our streams are gonna be overrun with little pimple faced guides? :-o

They're just having fun. Making a living in the flyfishing industry isn't as easy as many would think. Ask George Daniels - he's gotta work in a flyshop all week long to support his "habit", and he's the National Champ two years running.

 

[jayL]

Ed,

I have no problem with those competing. I want to make that clear.

I do have a problem with wetnet implying that by saying he's not interested, chaz is actually not worthy of the competition. Some of us are flat out disinterested. It has nothing to do with not being good enough.

These people are the self-proclaimed best. More power to them.

 

[JackM]

If competition makes fishing exciting for you, by all means have at it. It doesn't enhance the experience for me, in fact, it detracts from it. I like fly fishing for the solitary pursuit of fish that it seems to be to me, even when I go out with others. I am too poor of an angler to give much attention to "success" in catching. I make decisions on what, where and when to fish that have nothing to do with how many or how big and I wouldn't want to alter that decision making dynamic with thoughts of accomplishing goals based upon numbers or size.

 

[Acristickid]

Couple points/oberservations I would like to make-
(have a good buddy that competes)


1. Maybe this is a biased opinion coming from me since I do not believe I would be good/expereinced enough to compete in the first place; therefore not much real interest.


2. I think it is an excellent opportunity to get together to learn from very knowledgable anglers. Getting to make contacts etc... No doubt in my mind about that.

3. Jay- the cost to enter and travel can be prohibitive to some. (I would prefer to take a leisure trip for tarpon.)

4. I struggle with "winning" a competition. I mean okay so you caught more fish in a certain stretch of stream on a particular couple days. What if your stretch got pounded with a spin guy the day or two before the event and other folks stretch did'nt.

My buddy calls me naïve. I do recognize that you probably would'nt get too far if you were not skilled because you do have to "qualify" at other events. Not sure my thoughts are totally correct but that what it seem like to me. Although- if that is your thing it is not going to bother me.

 

[trowpa]

I'm with JayL on this one. I have competed before (surf fishing tournaments, not fly fishing). Just isn't my thing. Compete if you want to, but for me - competition detracts from why I fly fish. I'd never do it myself.

 

[MKern]

This is where I differ from a lot of you.

I like competitions and think they are good for the sport; the more interest the more money flowing in keeping shops and water open.

I do think they have a downside; which is blocking off public water, even for a few days, leaves a sour taste in peoples' mouths.

If I ever had the shot to compete I would, I would have even made it a lifestyle a couple years ago (but with a family, and morgage...).

I don't like the beat format, but what else is there? Anglers can't choose their water, because it would be too crowded in certain areas. However, being a good angler means you can deal with anything.

I also know that when I go to Somerset and listen to George Daniel speak, some of you, or atleast people against competitive fly fishing, are in the room asking him questions.

I'm all about learning what I can to become a better and more successful fly fisher. I think comeptition leads to the evolution of fly fishing techniques. And for me, catching fish is why I got into fly fishing (along with other reasons); so anything that involves catching fish is cool with me.

 

[jayL]

I ask George questions in person all the time. I don't think that changes anything.

 

[MKern]

Jay we agree on a lot, but this is one thing we are at opposite poles...

 

[jayL]

Yeah, I know. I'm fine with that too. It's largely a personal decision. I just felt like I should defend Chaz here. Wetnet's flat out wrong in her assertion that disagreeing with competition means anything more than just that.

 

[troutslammer]

i am not for or against competitive fly fishing , but it is a hard to argue fact that competiton doesn't make you better ..