Spey Casting Comp at Sportfish Reading

[James9118]

As part of their spring show Sportfish Reading are going to run a Spey Casting comp with a Mackenzie rod being offered as a prize. Details and sign-up are here: http://www.sportfish.co.uk/speycasting-competition

[Ben_d]

Max rod length 15'6" and not open to the trade, presume that means instructors too? Odd comp that one!


Ben

[Paul Arden]

I can't imagine there being many entries if you take out the professionals. It will be interesting to hear the results and numbers.

[Lasse Karlsson]

I hope they get alot of the ones not entering in other comps because of the pros...

Cheers
Lasse

[Paul Arden]

One of the reasons my good mate Jon Allen didn't become an instructor was because if he had the wouldn't have been able to compete in many UK competitions. In the 5 weight there wouldn't have been many instructors around who he wouldn't have wipe the floor with! And he would have preferred that!

There are quite a few Spey guys who aren't instructors. Are you training on the Speys, James?

Cheers, Paul

[James9118]

My double handed Spey experience amounts to about 3 hours tops - all at various shows like the Sportfish one. I don't salmon fish so I don't own an outfit to practice with.

I hope it works out well, hopefully the early qualification will encourage those who are a bit shy about casting in front of a crowd. Who knows, if it's successful maybe they'll expand it to include pros. Irrespective, I think it has to be a good thing in light of other events deciding to drop casting competition.

I'm not sure what constitutes a 'pro' with regard to this comp - I'll find out.

James

[Ben_d]

Not sure about anyone else but, for me it was seeing "pros" casting 120' with a #5 line that got me into distance casting. Surely it would make sense to have two categories?



Cheers

Ben

[FunkyT]

Am i counted as a Pro?
I don't think i am.
I'm a bloke who sells a few fly tying materials.
Will i be excluded?

[Paul Arden]

I think so, Toby. It say no trade, not no pros or instructors. It reminds me of a story Jon told me in archery where some guys would actually miss targets on purpose to stay in the second division where they could win as opposed to moving up to the first division where they would get beaten.

Anyway I have no opinion on this. I can see why they do it. Maybe a good idea for these things would be for all entries to go in a hat and have a random draw at the end.

[JAT]

Hi guys as some of you have asked for clarification on the competition here you go.

This competition we have decided to run as something a bit different, we haven't done this before so it's new ground for us. We have no idea how successful it will or wont be. Which ultimately will decide whether or not it happens again.

This is an amateur competition designed to encourage Joe public to "have a go" with a chance of winning some great prizes. We are looking at entrants that otherwise would never consider entering other competitions due to the calibre of the usual entrants.

Instructors and members of the trade (ie employees within the trade) are not allowed to enter, this we hope will encourage others to have a go very much in line with the premise of the B100 class at the BFCC.

We have set the qualifying early, again so that individuals that might feel embarrassed or nervous about casting will be more relaxed, this is after all about having a bit of fun and perhaps for some, trying something new. We all had to start somewhere!

We need all the support that we can get with this first attempt at this type of event and who knows what could happen in the future if this is seen as a success. Many thanks to the BFCC who have agreed to help with the judging (James & Tracy).

With that in mind if you know anyone that you think might want to have a go please can you get them to sign up at the following web page
http://www.sportfish.co.uk/speycasting-competition

Who knows we may end up spawning some future champions, your help to promote it in anyway is greatly appreciated!

Best regards
Tomo