Brunn Shield - Round 3 - Ballarat (Australia)

[ChrisBaty]

So the SKISH appears as three events cast back to back on the same court. First Dry Fly - 3 casts at each target with at least one false cast between each presentation cast. After 5th target back to target 1 for roll cast and yes you have that correct, caster has to hit target twice before moving onto next target but as many casts as required ie it could take 5 casts to make the 2 hits on target 1 before you move onto target 2 but you are casting against the clock so at the end of 1 minute 30 seconds if you haven’t hit all 5 targets twice you still must move onto the wet fly round. Wet fly is again in order 1 through 5 but only 2 casts to be made at each target with now false casts allowed after the first presentation cast. Hope that all makes sense now. The confusing thing for me was that there is also a stand alone Dry Fly event and a stand alone Wet Fly event cast hence the 3 different courts.

Cheers
Chris

[Paul Arden]

Thanks Chris. And typically quite a heavy line is used. I assume a floater?

I like the sound of the wet fly and roll cast games. I assume that the shortening adjustments are made on the water for these two events and in the air for the dry fly?

Many years ago Hywel Morgan showed me something similar but from what I understand there is a difference between ICSF and the Aussie event? And not necessarily floating lines.

It seems to me that one of the most important skills is accurate strip measuring!

Thanks, Paul

[ChrisBaty]

Paul,
Yes, strip measuring is important although some cast by eye. Currently I use strip measure for wet and by my eye for the dry but I have a long way to go to be remotely competitive even at a club level. And yes shortening is done on water for roll cast and wet fly while lengthening and shortening are done in the air for the dry. Line weights are on the heavy side, often a 9. Intermediate lines are used for smaller diameter but greased to float. From my understanding the ICSF and Aussie SKISH have some minor differences but I’m still getting my head around the differences myself. I think we will cast the ICSF SKISH, Dry Fly and Wet Fly at the final round of the Brunn Shield so I will better understand after that. Lots of learning to do.

Cheers
Chris

[Paul Arden]

That’s great. Thanks Chris, I have a much better understanding of it now

[John Waters]

Hi Paul,

Correct, the shortening and lengthening in very fly are made during false casts, wet fly and roll cast on the water. The wet fly part of the Australian Skish is a challenge because after completing your second PULD delivery at target 1, you have to estimate the length of line need to get to target 2 and strip this line off the reel. Then complete a PULD delivery for your first score at target 2, whilst shooting the stripped line to target 2. No false casting. That length of slack line can be anything from say 8 feet to 13 or 14 feet. After your second PULD cast at target 2, strip the length of line need to target 3 and repeat. Coming back from 3 to 4 and from 4 to 5 is easier as there is no slack line involved, you strip back on the water and just have to estimate the impact of the angle of hoop 4 off the straight line to the platform. Ditto from target 4 to target 5.
Most use an 8 or 9 weight line but some use 5 or 6. Most prefer intermediate lines but some use floating. Judging the length of the line during the false cast is still the most challenging task in accuracy casting. Sighting the fly is conditions dependent so when you can't see the fly, you need to make a judgment using another indicator of length. That is the most challenging accuracy casting situation. There are stripping strategies used in all accuracy events, even those in which the distance of the targets are not known, e.g. Trout Accuracy, but in the end its a judgment call and the more you practice, the better your judgement.
The Wet Fly event is the one that produces on average the lowest number of scores, even though the hoop distances are known to the caster and after the first deliver it is all PULD casts. It's an event I would like to see included in the WCs.

John

[ChrisBaty]

John, you articulated that much better than I could, Thank you. That wet fly event is surprisingly tricky. I spent quite some time practising that this afternoon after performing poorly in it yesterday.

[John Waters]

Hi Chris,

Like all events there are some short cuts and in the Wet Fly event they apply to targets 4 and 5. I'll come down one afternoon for a cast and a chat mate.

John

[FishNoGeek]

Very interesting - thanks especially for sharing the layouts and explaining the 'must measure in the air' sequence. Some of that is actually quite close to what we've recently worked up for the FFI's new saltwater curriculum, except that we set a limit on false casts and were naturally more lenient with accuracy since it wasn't meant to be competitive.

About the first two layouts - this might be a silly question, but may the caster cast over their dominant shoulder for all targets, both left and right of the centerline? Or do some targets need to be addressed from over the caster's non-dominant shoulder?

Our salty stuff requires casts over both shoulders in order to avoid an imaginary guide standing on the poling platform behind the caster, and centerline targets must employ a horizontal (parallel to the water, giver or take) cast for the same reason. Hitting an offside target at 60ft (~18m) was by far the hardest task in our run-down, particularly when you're starting with fly-in-hand and limited to no more than three false casts (sorta 2.5, but that gets techy quickly). Even most of the advanced casters we've run through the system struggled with that one, so I'm curious whether those offhand casting techniques are being tested in a competitive environment.

Very cool. Glad it went well for you!

[John Waters]

Hi Brian,

No restriction on what rod plane the caster uses. Generally, wind direction and strength determines the rod plane used, however, judging distance in different light conditions may also impact the rod plane used, including the horizontal plane. Different rod planes
are not tested specifically, but it is not uncommon in Australian tournament accuracy casting to have a competitor use both off-shoulder and a range of on-shoulder rod planes in a single event event.

John