The 27th World Fly Fishing Championships & Conservation Symposium
by Todd Oishi
The 2007 FIPS_MOUCHE World Fly Fishing Championships and Conservation Symposium were held in Kemi, Finland, from June 13th to the 20th. There were twenty-three countries in attendance with a total of 117 competitors for this year's competition. Being this year's competition was held in the Northern region of this Scandinavian country, we were fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to experience and witness the wonders of the "Midnight's Sun". The days we spent fishing in Finland were definitely long and the ability to distinguish between night and day - at times made them seem even longer.
Finland was an extremely beautiful country with countless lakes and rivers, which makes it a Mecca not only for anglers but for all who enjoy the outdoors in general. It was very reminiscent of the time that I spent in Sweden's Lappland, which hosted the championships back in 2005.
The competition river, the Simojoki (Salmon River), is a wide and fairly slow flowing river that meanders through the country's farmlands and forests of pine and birch towards the shores of the Baltic Sea. Although it possesses small numbers of grayling and brown trout, it is better known for its pike and salmon fishing.
Overall, the Simojoki is dark and fairly deep, which makes the majority of its waters unwadable. The shallow riffles with their slippery, basketball sized boulders made wading a task not to be taken lightly. A sturdy wading staff and felt soled boots with studs are pretty much standard equipment for this river.
During our unofficial practice session, we drove the river from top to bottom to view as much of the competition waters as possible. The sectors were well marked, although the beats were yet to be defined with sign posts until the night before the first day of competition. We were quite concerned about the lower competition water, as it seemed to lack quality moving water and riffles, and in many places it closely resembled a wide slough or lake.
Without a single rise to be seen and with so much water to cover, locating and catching a fish within a three hour session would not be an easy task. We discussed possible tactics and approaches to such still waters, but I was certain that the organizers would surely have selected better water than those which we had seen.
After several days of experimenting and practicing in the Simojoki's practice waters, we had some fairly effective tactics, techniques and patterns, which produced small numbers of fish on a fairly consistent basis. Czech (short-line) nymphing and long-line nymphing seemed to be the two most effective methods for producing grayling and brown trout in the riffles and pocket-water.
Once the competition began, it became clearly obvious that one of our greatest obstacles and adversaries would be the obvious lack of countable fish in many of the competition beats. With such erratic fish populations being recorded in the beats, the "luck of the draw" definitely came into play and would be a deciding factor for many competitors and their respective beats. The ability of the individual competitors to catch the few and precious fish within their beats was no small achievement and drew the utmost of respect from their peers.
Several of the beats on the Simojoki never produced a single fish during the competition (fifteen hours of fishing), which meant that the lack of scoring was not necessarily a reflection of the angling abilities of those competitors. On the other hand, some beats consistently produced decent numbers of fish, which meant top placings for those lucky enough to have drawn those prime waters. For example: in my group, an outstanding Slovakian angler named Miroslav Antal -- individual gold medalist from Slovakia's 2004 WFFC -- blanked (zero fish scored) during three of his sessions, but placed 1st for two of his sessions, when his beats actually possessed fish!
Many competitors agreed that the lake was an extremely poor venue for a lake competition, as it possessed no natural trout as it is extremely prone to "winter-kill" (iced-over for six to seven months of the year). And the only trout that were present for the competition had been dumped into the lake only a week or two prior to our arrival.
The lake was extremely challenging and a complete mystery for our Canadian team as we had little understanding of these foreign trout and their feeding habits. In hind-sight it is clear that locating, understanding and predicting the movement of the pods of fish was the key to successful angling. The lake definitely fished better during the earlier minutes of each session, before the crowding and pressure from the anglers shut the fish down and dispersed them into the deeper waters.
For those competitors who missed-out on those "golden minutes" of prime positioning experienced blanks or poor numbers of fish during their sessions. During my session on the lake, the majority of the fish were caught during the first ten or fifteen minutes of the session and very few were caught there-after. The Irish and English competitors in my group told me that they each caught their single trout within the first ten minutes of the session (as did many others) while those of us who arrived late blanked during that session. Six trout recorded, was the top catch for my session.
The people of Finland were extremely friendly and the organizers and volunteers did an outstanding job of keeping things organized, on track and without incident. When the dust had finally settled, the results of this year's competition were staggering, as so many of the competitors recording blanks per sessions. 33.8% of the competitors blanking per session was the overall average. On day three, 42% of the competitors blanked during the fifth and final session of competition. There were so many blanks recorded on the river sessions that Finland's competition made Portugal's seem like "a walk in the park".
Team results:
1. France
2. Czech Republic
3. Finland
4. Portugal
5. Spain
6. United States of America
7. England
8. Italy
9. Australia
10. Slovakia
11. Republic of South Africa
12. Bosnia & Herzegovina
13. Scotland
14. Poland
15. Norway
16. Croatia
17. Romania
18. Belgium
19. Slovenia
20. Netherlands
21. Ireland
22. Canada.
Individual medals:
Gold, Marek Walczyk (Poland),
Silver, Eric Lelouvier (France),
Bronze, Antonin Pesek (Czech Republic).
When I think back on Finland's World fly Fishing Championships, I think I shall always remember the tale told to me of one competitor having to be rescued by a boat, since he was unable to safely wade back across the deep and treacherous river. For most of us, this scenario pretty much summed-up the difficult conditions that we were all experiencing while wading in certain stretches of the Simojoki, and more importantly; symbolized how desperate we all were to search-out our beats and scour their waters in attempt to find fish and avoid the dreaded blank…
2006 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships - Llangollen, North Wales, UK
2006 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships Llangollen, North Wales, United Kingdom
Sept 25, 2006
by: Todd Oishi
Every second year, the countries of the Commonwealth send some of their finest fly fishers to fish the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championship -- this year's championship was held in Northern Wales. The competition was spread out over four days on the scenic and spectacular River Dee and two loch-style sessions were held on the massive Llyn Brenig reservoir. We were more than pleased with the size and numbers of both grayling and browns in the river Dee and the enormous rainbows that the Brenig possessed were every lake fisherman's dream!
The 2006 Canadian team -- that consisted of Mark Anderson, John Beaven (captain), Carl Brumby, Todd Oishi and Donald Thom -- was called into action to compete against some of the best anglers that Australia, England, Isle of Man, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland and Wales had to offer. This year several countries sent multiple team entries: Scotland had both a men's and ladies team, England sent two men's and a ladies team, while Australia and Wales had entered two men's teams. This brought the number of teams in attendance to thirteen -- with a total of sixty-five individual competitors.
Our Canadian team was plagued with last minute cancellations this year, as one of our members (Gord Bacon), had been sent home prematurely from Portugal's World Fly Fishing Championships with some very serious health issues. We were however fortunate enough to have found an English angler, named Carl Brumby who was permitted to fill the vacant spot. Randy Taylor -- who is one of our Fly Fishing Canada's strongest competitors -- had an unexpected work related matter that required his full attention and left our team short a competitor. He did manage to find and send a last-minute replacement named Mark Anderson -- who was certainly no stranger to competitive fly fishing.
Our team practiced daily on the Dee, where we had good results with both nymphs and dries. Each practice session produced decent numbers of grayling and brown trout as well as unbelievable numbers of juvenile Atlantic salmon. The Brenig fished exceptionally well, with top-water action producing respectable numbers of rainbow trout in the three - five pound range. After four successful days of practice, we felt quite optimistic and prepared for whatever challenges the competition might throw our way!
September 22, 2006:
9:45am till 11:45am - First session Championships
For my first session of the competition, I had drawn a beat just under and downstream of the world's biggest aqueduct, which towered high above the River Dee. At the start of my two-hour session, I could see the occasional grayling rising and rippling the glassy surface of the upper-most pool. I could tell that these fish were grayling by the small bubbles that formed upon the surface after each delicate rise. As grayling takes in an insect upon the surface, the vacuum created within the grayling's pea-shaped mouth, draws the insect inwards, and small bubbles are produced as they exhale the water and any air that was inhaled in the process.
I had my first grayling within the first fifteen minutes, but it was too small to count. After several more minutes, I had another take my fly and it was a counter this time. My controller recorded its length after briefly admiring its beauty, we gently released it back into the water. I waded back out and tried the same pool for a while, but it only produced the odd small fish so I moved on further downstream.
I tried Czech Nymphed as I worked through a fast chute, but the waters refused to give up its fish. With a short two hour session (two hours is the typical time period) the pressure was on to keep moving and searching for willing fish. At the tail-out of the riffle, I felt several light taps on my line -- they were Atlantic salmon par of approximately 15cm length. Not wanting to harm these fish -- and waste valuable time -- I moved downstream further to a shallow, heavily weeded pool.
My first few drifts produced little more than weed upon my flies. I switched tactics and tied on three spiders (soft-hackle patterns), which allowed me to successfully swing my offerings above the weed bed channels, in plain view of any fish that might be willing. Within the first several drifts, I had my first taker! I abruptly set the hook and brought to my net as quickly and carefully as possible -- it was a 30 cm grayling.
I waded back across the river to my controller where we recorded and released the fish. I waded back to the same spot and swung my spiders over several channels, which produced several more fish, and several that were too small to count. Sadly -- just as I had cracked the secret of these waters -- the session came to an end... My results in this session were good enough to earn me a second placing.
12.00pm till 2.00pm - Second session Championships
After getting off to a great start, my hopes were high until I arrived at my next competition beat. Quite late as a result of the organizer's unforeseen transportation problems, my controller informed me that I had less than five minutes before I was to start my next session. I told him that I needed longer time to prepare and that half-an-hour was pretty much the standard prefish prep time for competitions. He told me that due to the tight scheduling, that we must strictly adhere to the designated times for each competition session.
I quickly reached back for my fly rod from my Fishpond backpack, attached the reel, tied on a fresh leader system, but before I could tie on my second fly, my controller shouted "BEGIN"! I was so rushed and ill-prepared that beyond not having had a decent opportunity to even preview my beat -- I still hadn't the time to even assemble my second fly rod that I normally leave on the bank for working small dry flies. This would prove to be disastrous as during the rushed preparation for this session -- I had neglecting to secure and double check that my back-up fly rod was firmly attached to my backpack!
I waded out into the river, casting and working every seam and flow that might hold a fish. Within the first fifteen minutes, I took a spill as I stepped onto a small patch of weeds that lay on top a flat rock. The strong current swept my feet and I fell into the water with a force that knocked my wading staff loose and dangling by its tether. As I regained my composure and folded up my staff -- I realized that I had lost my Sage fly rod that was attached to my backpack.
I was devastated as this rod was not mine to loose, but rather one that a friend had loaned to me for this competition. I quickly scanned the river for any sign of my fly rod and made my way back to shore so that I could run to the bottom of my beat in hopes of catching the rod as it drifted downstream.
I slipped about as I made my way to the bottom of the beat, but sadly there was no sign of the rod. My next move was to wade back upstream to the location where it came free, and hopefully feel it with my feet as the waters of the Dee were quite dark and tea-stained. With only a little more than an hour left in this session -- I had felt that I had pretty much blown my chances and more importantly, my concentration and focus.
With less than ten minutes to go, I strung on a single dry Royal Coachman and waded deep into the mid-river's currents in order to reach the far bank's waters. I bobbed my way downstream as I worked the far bank with my dry. I cast it into a slack seam behind a small boulder and with the help of a reach/serpentine cast. I was able to obtain a still presentation that would last only seconds at best. It was at that split-moment just before the currents pulled the last bit of slack line -- which causes the fly to speed up as well -- I saw a large brown trout roll in the water's surface as it tried to grasp my fly. Unfortunately, the fly had begun its acceleration and the trout missed it only by a few millimeters.
I recast to the same rise for several attempts and sadly moved on to the next most likely spot. I worked the river until the end of the session, but the loss of the rod weighed heavily on my mind. Time came to an end and I informed my controller that I had lost my rod and the circumstances that surrounded its lost. I walked my beat one last time and left the river with a heavy heart, as not only had I blanked in this session, but I had lost a $600 Sage fly rod in the process.
I placed 11th in this session.
2:15pm till 4:15pm - Third session Championships
This was a challenging beat, as there was rarely any room for a decent back cast unless I waded directly into the river. This stretch of the Dee was known locally as 'the salmon pools'. The far bank was strictly 'off-limits' as it belonged to an angling club, that restricts all public access to its banks.
My last session for the day and I couldn't have asked for better conditions as the late afternoon skies clouded over and the winds were non-existent. My controller informed me that the previous competitor had done well on this beat and hooked several grayling during her session. I was optimistic even though I could only see the odd occasional rise on the edges of the deeper pools. I had decided to use my small CDC's for this beat as it was wide, glassy and deep.
I had limited shoreline from which to cast, as the steeply sloping banks were treed and covered with small shrubbery. I covered the upper most sections without any takers, so I worked my way downstream to a small island that split the river's flow into two equal portions. I saw a grayling rise in the slight eddy that the island created, and began to wade across the river to the island, from which I felt I could properly cast my offering to the fish.
As I waded across, I continued to cast and skate my small fly on top of the waters below me. The river was deep, dark and its rocky bottom was extremely slippery. Trying to focus more upon my wading as the water breached the top of my waders -- I saw a rise and set my hook! I immediately felt the heaviness of the fish as it ran into the main stem of the river. Still trying to maintain a secure footing, I turned and slowly made my way back towards the bank -- and my controller -- as I fought this large grayling
After releasing the large grayling, I tried to dry off my CDC fly, but it was no use, as the grayling's slime had rendered it useless for the time being. I opened my fly box to select another CDC pattern, but as I took a spill while crossing back with my fish... my CDC fly box, drying patch and all of its contents were now completely soaked!
I had placed sixth in this session.
September 23, 2006:
9:45am till 11:45am - Forth session Championships
We arrived at Brenig early in the morning to clear skies, but strong winds that left the lakes surface quite choppy and unsettled. I had drawn a competitor from the Isle of Man as my boat mate. After the formal greeting, we spoke rather candidly and both had a wealth of information from our team mate's experiences of the previous day's competition to draw from. He told me that he wasn't comfortable running the boat and asked if I minded controlling the boat for both halves of the two hour session.
At first, when you consider the disadvantages of lack of a moment of free time due to constant starting of the motor and repositioning the boat for its next drift -- versus the advantage of being able to maneuver the boat to my advantage -- I reluctantly accepted his offer.
By the end of the fourth session I had two trout on my score sheet, while the Isle of Man competitor had one. We both worked hard for the fish we had managed to land. I had placed eighth in this session
12.00pm till 2.00pm - Fifth session Championships
This final three hour session would be spent with Susan Sisson, a member of the English Ladies' Team. One again, I had been asked to captain the boat for the first half of the session and control the boat and its drift - with the help of the drogue.
The afternoon wind was rather harsh, which resulted in our drifts being quite rapid and short even though the drogues performed quite admirably. The bulk of the crowd seemed to head towards the Eastern shores, but I convinced my boatmate to start our session on the Western shore as the winds would blow us at an angle sideways to the banks rather than away from them. This would allow us to work and effectively cover the shoreline with a grid pattern. I also preferred to fish the same waters that my fellow team mates had found to be productive during the previous day's competition times that mirrored my own.
At the conclusion of the fifth and final session of the championships, I had recorded two trout on the score card, which placed me sixth in my group. Everyone worked hard for every single fish that was landed during both sessions on the Brenig and several competitors blanked during today's sessions. As it would turn out, the Brenig fished much slower with the average catch being significantly lower than yesterday's.
Epilogue:
Back at the competition hotel, we gathered for our final team meeting in our rustic hotel room. Captain John -- the last to return from the fifth and final competition session -- had just returned from the Dee. He sauntered into the room and with the greatest smile you can ever imagine, looked my way and informed me that my Sage fly rod -- that was lost and swept away in Dee's currents 28 hours earlier -- had been found! John told me that a member of the Scotland's Ladies team had found it seven beats below my original location, which was nearly a mile further downstream!
Later that evening, during the closing ceremonies and awards banquet, I had the opportunity to personally thank the member of the Scottish Ladies team that found my fly rod. I now gained the reputation as being "The Luckiest Man in the Commonwealths".
The closing ceremony was a grand event with traditional singing, a fine meal, good wine and great company. The top honours of the gold medals went to Scotland's Men's Team, while Wales A took the silver medal, and Wales B the bronze. The "top story" of the championships was that of young Kieron Jenkins' achievements -- at only 14 years of age, he had broken the Commonwealth's standing-record for most fish caught in a single session and placed second individually. He is definitely an angler to watch out for in the future championships and competitions!
I shall never forget and will always cherish my memories of my personal one-on-one lessons on 'loch-style' fly fishing with Vince Gwilym on the Brenig - John Beaven's excellent tutorial on 'swinging spiders' on the River Dee -- and the numerous friendships I had made during my time at the Commonwealths. I feel that the angling experience over these past 21 days in Europe and the U.K. will only serve to improve my future fly fishing endeavours - both recreational and competitively.
Team Results Total Placings:
1 Scotland 80
2 Wales A 85
3 Wales B 123
4 England A 125
5 Australia Commonwealth 157
6 South Africa 166
7 New Zealand 169
8 Isle of Man 169
9 Canada 171
10 Australia World Team 176
11 England B 186
12 England Ladies 190
13 Scotland Ladies 220
Individual Results Name Total placings:
1st Scotland Men Jake Harvey 9
2nd Wales A Kieron Jenkins 10
3rd England A David Shipman 10
25th Canada John Beaven 26
35th Canada Donald Thom 33
36th Canada Todd Oishi 33
47th Canada Mark Andersen 38
50th Canada Carl Brumby 41
The next Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships will be held in New Zealand, 2008
Sept 25, 2006
by: Todd Oishi
Every second year, the countries of the Commonwealth send some of their finest fly fishers to fish the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championship -- this year's championship was held in Northern Wales. The competition was spread out over four days on the scenic and spectacular River Dee and two loch-style sessions were held on the massive Llyn Brenig reservoir. We were more than pleased with the size and numbers of both grayling and browns in the river Dee and the enormous rainbows that the Brenig possessed were every lake fisherman's dream!
The 2006 Canadian team -- that consisted of Mark Anderson, John Beaven (captain), Carl Brumby, Todd Oishi and Donald Thom -- was called into action to compete against some of the best anglers that Australia, England, Isle of Man, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland and Wales had to offer. This year several countries sent multiple team entries: Scotland had both a men's and ladies team, England sent two men's and a ladies team, while Australia and Wales had entered two men's teams. This brought the number of teams in attendance to thirteen -- with a total of sixty-five individual competitors.
Our Canadian team was plagued with last minute cancellations this year, as one of our members (Gord Bacon), had been sent home prematurely from Portugal's World Fly Fishing Championships with some very serious health issues. We were however fortunate enough to have found an English angler, named Carl Brumby who was permitted to fill the vacant spot. Randy Taylor -- who is one of our Fly Fishing Canada's strongest competitors -- had an unexpected work related matter that required his full attention and left our team short a competitor. He did manage to find and send a last-minute replacement named Mark Anderson -- who was certainly no stranger to competitive fly fishing.
Our team practiced daily on the Dee, where we had good results with both nymphs and dries. Each practice session produced decent numbers of grayling and brown trout as well as unbelievable numbers of juvenile Atlantic salmon. The Brenig fished exceptionally well, with top-water action producing respectable numbers of rainbow trout in the three - five pound range. After four successful days of practice, we felt quite optimistic and prepared for whatever challenges the competition might throw our way!
September 22, 2006:
9:45am till 11:45am - First session Championships
For my first session of the competition, I had drawn a beat just under and downstream of the world's biggest aqueduct, which towered high above the River Dee. At the start of my two-hour session, I could see the occasional grayling rising and rippling the glassy surface of the upper-most pool. I could tell that these fish were grayling by the small bubbles that formed upon the surface after each delicate rise. As grayling takes in an insect upon the surface, the vacuum created within the grayling's pea-shaped mouth, draws the insect inwards, and small bubbles are produced as they exhale the water and any air that was inhaled in the process.
I had my first grayling within the first fifteen minutes, but it was too small to count. After several more minutes, I had another take my fly and it was a counter this time. My controller recorded its length after briefly admiring its beauty, we gently released it back into the water. I waded back out and tried the same pool for a while, but it only produced the odd small fish so I moved on further downstream.
I tried Czech Nymphed as I worked through a fast chute, but the waters refused to give up its fish. With a short two hour session (two hours is the typical time period) the pressure was on to keep moving and searching for willing fish. At the tail-out of the riffle, I felt several light taps on my line -- they were Atlantic salmon par of approximately 15cm length. Not wanting to harm these fish -- and waste valuable time -- I moved downstream further to a shallow, heavily weeded pool.
My first few drifts produced little more than weed upon my flies. I switched tactics and tied on three spiders (soft-hackle patterns), which allowed me to successfully swing my offerings above the weed bed channels, in plain view of any fish that might be willing. Within the first several drifts, I had my first taker! I abruptly set the hook and brought to my net as quickly and carefully as possible -- it was a 30 cm grayling.
I waded back across the river to my controller where we recorded and released the fish. I waded back to the same spot and swung my spiders over several channels, which produced several more fish, and several that were too small to count. Sadly -- just as I had cracked the secret of these waters -- the session came to an end... My results in this session were good enough to earn me a second placing.
12.00pm till 2.00pm - Second session Championships
After getting off to a great start, my hopes were high until I arrived at my next competition beat. Quite late as a result of the organizer's unforeseen transportation problems, my controller informed me that I had less than five minutes before I was to start my next session. I told him that I needed longer time to prepare and that half-an-hour was pretty much the standard prefish prep time for competitions. He told me that due to the tight scheduling, that we must strictly adhere to the designated times for each competition session.
I quickly reached back for my fly rod from my Fishpond backpack, attached the reel, tied on a fresh leader system, but before I could tie on my second fly, my controller shouted "BEGIN"! I was so rushed and ill-prepared that beyond not having had a decent opportunity to even preview my beat -- I still hadn't the time to even assemble my second fly rod that I normally leave on the bank for working small dry flies. This would prove to be disastrous as during the rushed preparation for this session -- I had neglecting to secure and double check that my back-up fly rod was firmly attached to my backpack!
I waded out into the river, casting and working every seam and flow that might hold a fish. Within the first fifteen minutes, I took a spill as I stepped onto a small patch of weeds that lay on top a flat rock. The strong current swept my feet and I fell into the water with a force that knocked my wading staff loose and dangling by its tether. As I regained my composure and folded up my staff -- I realized that I had lost my Sage fly rod that was attached to my backpack.
I was devastated as this rod was not mine to loose, but rather one that a friend had loaned to me for this competition. I quickly scanned the river for any sign of my fly rod and made my way back to shore so that I could run to the bottom of my beat in hopes of catching the rod as it drifted downstream.
I slipped about as I made my way to the bottom of the beat, but sadly there was no sign of the rod. My next move was to wade back upstream to the location where it came free, and hopefully feel it with my feet as the waters of the Dee were quite dark and tea-stained. With only a little more than an hour left in this session -- I had felt that I had pretty much blown my chances and more importantly, my concentration and focus.
With less than ten minutes to go, I strung on a single dry Royal Coachman and waded deep into the mid-river's currents in order to reach the far bank's waters. I bobbed my way downstream as I worked the far bank with my dry. I cast it into a slack seam behind a small boulder and with the help of a reach/serpentine cast. I was able to obtain a still presentation that would last only seconds at best. It was at that split-moment just before the currents pulled the last bit of slack line -- which causes the fly to speed up as well -- I saw a large brown trout roll in the water's surface as it tried to grasp my fly. Unfortunately, the fly had begun its acceleration and the trout missed it only by a few millimeters.
I recast to the same rise for several attempts and sadly moved on to the next most likely spot. I worked the river until the end of the session, but the loss of the rod weighed heavily on my mind. Time came to an end and I informed my controller that I had lost my rod and the circumstances that surrounded its lost. I walked my beat one last time and left the river with a heavy heart, as not only had I blanked in this session, but I had lost a $600 Sage fly rod in the process.
I placed 11th in this session.
2:15pm till 4:15pm - Third session Championships
This was a challenging beat, as there was rarely any room for a decent back cast unless I waded directly into the river. This stretch of the Dee was known locally as 'the salmon pools'. The far bank was strictly 'off-limits' as it belonged to an angling club, that restricts all public access to its banks.
My last session for the day and I couldn't have asked for better conditions as the late afternoon skies clouded over and the winds were non-existent. My controller informed me that the previous competitor had done well on this beat and hooked several grayling during her session. I was optimistic even though I could only see the odd occasional rise on the edges of the deeper pools. I had decided to use my small CDC's for this beat as it was wide, glassy and deep.
I had limited shoreline from which to cast, as the steeply sloping banks were treed and covered with small shrubbery. I covered the upper most sections without any takers, so I worked my way downstream to a small island that split the river's flow into two equal portions. I saw a grayling rise in the slight eddy that the island created, and began to wade across the river to the island, from which I felt I could properly cast my offering to the fish.
As I waded across, I continued to cast and skate my small fly on top of the waters below me. The river was deep, dark and its rocky bottom was extremely slippery. Trying to focus more upon my wading as the water breached the top of my waders -- I saw a rise and set my hook! I immediately felt the heaviness of the fish as it ran into the main stem of the river. Still trying to maintain a secure footing, I turned and slowly made my way back towards the bank -- and my controller -- as I fought this large grayling
After releasing the large grayling, I tried to dry off my CDC fly, but it was no use, as the grayling's slime had rendered it useless for the time being. I opened my fly box to select another CDC pattern, but as I took a spill while crossing back with my fish... my CDC fly box, drying patch and all of its contents were now completely soaked!
I had placed sixth in this session.
September 23, 2006:
9:45am till 11:45am - Forth session Championships
We arrived at Brenig early in the morning to clear skies, but strong winds that left the lakes surface quite choppy and unsettled. I had drawn a competitor from the Isle of Man as my boat mate. After the formal greeting, we spoke rather candidly and both had a wealth of information from our team mate's experiences of the previous day's competition to draw from. He told me that he wasn't comfortable running the boat and asked if I minded controlling the boat for both halves of the two hour session.
At first, when you consider the disadvantages of lack of a moment of free time due to constant starting of the motor and repositioning the boat for its next drift -- versus the advantage of being able to maneuver the boat to my advantage -- I reluctantly accepted his offer.
By the end of the fourth session I had two trout on my score sheet, while the Isle of Man competitor had one. We both worked hard for the fish we had managed to land. I had placed eighth in this session
12.00pm till 2.00pm - Fifth session Championships
This final three hour session would be spent with Susan Sisson, a member of the English Ladies' Team. One again, I had been asked to captain the boat for the first half of the session and control the boat and its drift - with the help of the drogue.
The afternoon wind was rather harsh, which resulted in our drifts being quite rapid and short even though the drogues performed quite admirably. The bulk of the crowd seemed to head towards the Eastern shores, but I convinced my boatmate to start our session on the Western shore as the winds would blow us at an angle sideways to the banks rather than away from them. This would allow us to work and effectively cover the shoreline with a grid pattern. I also preferred to fish the same waters that my fellow team mates had found to be productive during the previous day's competition times that mirrored my own.
At the conclusion of the fifth and final session of the championships, I had recorded two trout on the score card, which placed me sixth in my group. Everyone worked hard for every single fish that was landed during both sessions on the Brenig and several competitors blanked during today's sessions. As it would turn out, the Brenig fished much slower with the average catch being significantly lower than yesterday's.
Epilogue:
Back at the competition hotel, we gathered for our final team meeting in our rustic hotel room. Captain John -- the last to return from the fifth and final competition session -- had just returned from the Dee. He sauntered into the room and with the greatest smile you can ever imagine, looked my way and informed me that my Sage fly rod -- that was lost and swept away in Dee's currents 28 hours earlier -- had been found! John told me that a member of the Scotland's Ladies team had found it seven beats below my original location, which was nearly a mile further downstream!
Later that evening, during the closing ceremonies and awards banquet, I had the opportunity to personally thank the member of the Scottish Ladies team that found my fly rod. I now gained the reputation as being "The Luckiest Man in the Commonwealths".
The closing ceremony was a grand event with traditional singing, a fine meal, good wine and great company. The top honours of the gold medals went to Scotland's Men's Team, while Wales A took the silver medal, and Wales B the bronze. The "top story" of the championships was that of young Kieron Jenkins' achievements -- at only 14 years of age, he had broken the Commonwealth's standing-record for most fish caught in a single session and placed second individually. He is definitely an angler to watch out for in the future championships and competitions!
I shall never forget and will always cherish my memories of my personal one-on-one lessons on 'loch-style' fly fishing with Vince Gwilym on the Brenig - John Beaven's excellent tutorial on 'swinging spiders' on the River Dee -- and the numerous friendships I had made during my time at the Commonwealths. I feel that the angling experience over these past 21 days in Europe and the U.K. will only serve to improve my future fly fishing endeavours - both recreational and competitively.
Team Results Total Placings:
1 Scotland 80
2 Wales A 85
3 Wales B 123
4 England A 125
5 Australia Commonwealth 157
6 South Africa 166
7 New Zealand 169
8 Isle of Man 169
9 Canada 171
10 Australia World Team 176
11 England B 186
12 England Ladies 190
13 Scotland Ladies 220
Individual Results Name Total placings:
1st Scotland Men Jake Harvey 9
2nd Wales A Kieron Jenkins 10
3rd England A David Shipman 10
25th Canada John Beaven 26
35th Canada Donald Thom 33
36th Canada Todd Oishi 33
47th Canada Mark Andersen 38
50th Canada Carl Brumby 41
The next Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships will be held in New Zealand, 2008
2006 World Fly Fishing Championships - Coimbra, Portugal
26th World Fly Fishing Championships & Conservation Symposium - Coimbra, Portugal
September 11, 2007
by Todd Oishi
As fly fishers, when we ponder fly-fishing "dream destinations" throughout the world, rarely -- if ever -- does Portugal come to mind. Although it is one of the most beautiful and scenic places I have ever visited, it proved to be one of the most challenging locations to hold a World Fly Fishing Championship.
During the first week of September 2006, six members of Team Canada assembled in the small, picturesque, hillside village of Pennacova, Portugal. Three of us were from BC: Gord Bacon of Kamloops (a veteran of several championships) was our captain/alternate, Trevor Welton of Langley, and me from Maple Ridge. John Nishi was from Millarville, Alta., Terence Courtoreille from Hay River, NWT, and Tom Irvine from Gravenhurst, Ont.
John, Terence and I competed as teammates at last year's WFFC in Sweden, and Tom had competed in Spain in 2003. Although the entire team competed at the 2005 FFC National Fly Fishing Championships and Conservation Symposium at Campbell River, BC, it was Trevor's first international competition. With our team's collective competitive fly-fishing experiences, we were optimistic about placing well.
During the week prior to the WFFC commencing, we planned to travel throughout this mountainous region of Northern Portugal, fishing the official practice waters as we viewed and assessed the actual competition waters. One major setback troubled and concerned our team, however -- the airlines had lost several of our bags containing fly-fishing equipment. We got by with sharing clothing, rods, reels and equipment until the lost luggage arrived at our hotel -- nearly one week late.
With the help of our Portuguese guide, Joca, we navigated through a confusing maze of winding roadways. His ability to find prime angling waters proved to be more valuable than any fly pattern or fishing advice he could possibly offer. Joca planned our practice days to include long, leisurely lunch breaks, which allowed us to escape blazing the mid-afternoon temperatures, which were consistently in the upper 30s.
Although the rivers and lakes were difficult to locate at times, brown trout were even more difficult to find in the rivers. More concerning, not one of the twelve trout that we encountered during our river practice sessions met the minimum 19 cm qualifying length for the WFFC.
Results on the lakes were equally disappointing, for we found only small fish in the weedless, clear waters. While walking about the shorelines, we observed a few grasshoppers, several black sedges, and some minute airborne midges, which provided valuable clues about the main food sources available to the rainbow and brown trout.
Other competitors were experiencing the same dismal results during their practice sessions. This left a very uneasy feeling with many teams, for few of us had developed a technique or fly pattern for enticing the larger trout. We remained optimistic, however, feeling that if larger trout were actually present, they would accept our offerings. But our experience left us wondering whether Portugal actually possessed any fish of size at all.
Session 1
My first venue of the championship was the Ciera River, which offered one of the most beautiful and serene settings imaginable. A tiny, intimate mountain stream, it is surrounded by fragrant pines and eucalyptus that blanket the steep rocky slopes. Fishing required extreme stealth while approaching its crystal-clear waters that averaged one to two feet deep. This level of stealth was magnified ten-fold by the over-abundance of whitefish (Iberian Nace), called "Bogas" by the locals. When intimidated by my approach, they would panic and scatter, in turn alerting and spooking the brown trout.
While fishing my 150-metre-long beat for the allotted three hours, I crawled right up the river's middle on my knee pads, with one hand in the water at all times. This supported my upper body low and horizontal to the water's surface, but after observing how visible and exposed I still must have appeared to the trout, I donned my camouflage face-mask. Using extremely small, light-coloured adult caddis patterns, I made short, precise, sidearm casts from a downstream position to avoid overhead casting, which would have definitely spooked those wary trout.
By the session's conclusion, I had managed to land four trout: two of eligible size and two that missed by just a few millimetres. After boarding the competition bus, I was shocked to hear from my friend "MC" (a South African) that he and eight other competitors in my group had blanked (caught no fish) during the session. My results earned seventh place for the session.
Session 2
After a spectacular lunch, we bussed to the next venue: the Alva River. A wide, slow-flowing river, it snaked alongside the colourful fields of sun-dried corn and melon patches that dominate the arid valley floors. Also, as this region is known worldwide for producing excellent wines, vineyards lined the Alva's banks and surrounding hillsides. One local told us that at this time of year, the river's brown trout hold tight against banks, in the shade of overhanging vines, and feast on any grapes that fall into the water.
I started at the bottom of my beat, casting a dry fly upstream while working upstream toward two riffles where the river curved sharply. Five minutes into my session, the skies opened and it rained harder than I've ever experienced before while fishing. The large raindrops hitting the water definitely helped conceal my presence, but made dry fly fishing completely impossible.
After reaching the riffles I decided to Czech Nymph the faster-flowing water, as I'd had good success with this technique during practice. I tied on one of my heaviest Czech nymphs as the top dropper, a much lighter Czech nymph for the middle dropper, and a small Pheasant Tail Nymph as the point fly.
Fishing the riffles proved difficult, for the bottom was full of weeds and snags, and the banks were choked with brush and overhead limbs. It proved fairly productive, though, as I netted five trout during that session; three counters and two just barely under the minimum size.
By the session's end I was soaked from head to toe, chilled, shivering, and not looking forward to the 90-minute bus ride home in wet clothing. Back at the bus, a Spanish competitor saw my dilemma and kindly offered me his spare set of clothes for the long ride back. I accepted with thanks.
My performance in that session produced 14th place, and I was 33rd overall on the scoreboard.
Session 3
Rossim and Lagoacho lakes were selected for lake venues. Both are large reservoirs that were built on top of some of the highest peaks in all of Portugal. The harsh environment surrounding them is nearly void of vegetation, and resembled an eerie painting of a lonely moonscape.
Our bus arrived at Rossim Lake early in the morning, to unimaginable conditions: winds were blowing steady at 80+ kph, with near zero visibility as thick clouds blew up from the coast, and the temperature plummeted to a chilly 5 degrees Celsius.
Unfortunately, with the extreme wind and mist blowing directly into my face for the entire three-hour session, I was rarely able to cast farther than 30 feet, and even then my leader and flies would often hinge back on the line, rendering my cast useless.
Whitecaps pounded against the sandy beach, churning the water near shore into a brownish, silty soup. Since competition rules clearly stated that lakes were to be fished "bank-style", meaning positively no wading or setting foot into the water, while I managed to hook several small trout I was unable to reach the larger ones. I blanked that session and received a 21st place in my group, as did the Australian and Bosnian competitors who fished the beats on either side of mine. The anglers who had the wind to their backs, or could cast sideways to the wind, did fairly well, but in the end five trout was the top catch for that session.
The afternoon was reserved for the Conservation Symposium, at which local authorities educated our group about their efforts to preserve and enhance the rivers of Portugal.
Session 4
I shared a portion of the morning bus ride to Lagoacha Lake with an English competitor named John Horsey, a true legend and champion in the world of fly fishing. John had been to Kamloops, BC, in 1993 to compete in the WFFC, and was curious about how those lakes were fishing now.
The winds at Lagoacha had let up slightly since yesterday, but were still a force to be reckoned with at speeds up to 60 kph. Fortunately, my beat had a small bay that lay directly downwind from a tiny point of land. While stringing my rod I surveyed my beat, then rigged a three-fly setup with a large black Boobie as the top dropper, followed by a Hare's Ear Nymph and a Pheasant Tail Nymph on the point. I then slipped on a pair of fingerless gloves to seek some respite from the cold wind.
I made my first cast and counted down to allow my line time to sink, and on the very first strip my line shot through my fingers as a large trout absolutely hammered my fly. I was caught completely off guard and it was gone before I could set the hook. I took off my gloves in disgust and tossed them to the ground. My decision to seek comfort had just cost me my first fish of the session.
Three casts later I had another hit, but this time I set the hook and brought a 30-cm rainbow to net. With the pressure of drawing a blank now off, I could relax and have some fun. After landing a second trout, I eventually switched to a dry line and changed my flies.
While stripping my three-fly combo on the surface, a rainbow swirled on my top dropper, a Boobie. I paused to allow it a second opportunity to take the Boobie, but instead it leapt into the air and crashed down on top of the middle dropper, an Elk Hair Caddis. I twitched my line to impart some action, and the same trout turned and took my point fly, a Hare's Ear Nymph. I set the hook, then quickly landed, measured and released the trout. My controller and I discussed what had just happened, for neither of us had ever witnessed such an event.
At the session's conclusion I had landed six counters and lost three trout. That was my favourite session of the entire championship and earned me 7th place in my group.
Session 5
The afternoon session was on the Mondego River, a wide, lowland stream. I quickly discovered that it fluctuates severely, rising and falling with the release of water from hydro dams farther upstream. Such erratic conditions would make any river challenging, but combined with the effects of the recent drought that Portugal had been experiencing, the river's current temperatures were in the extreme range of 75 degrees. Although the Mondego was teaming with a very healthy population of Bogas, which thrive in that environment, the brown trout were few in numbers and obviously had a harder time adapting to such harsh conditions.
I decided to "high-grade" my beat and spend the first hour working prime areas that would most likely hold fish. I set up with a Czech Nymphing rig, and was immediately into a dozen Bogas. Each gave me hope that it might be a brown, but as they came to net my heart sank. After my watch sounded the end of first hour, I started long-line nymphing with a"hopper/dropper" rigging, from the uppermost beat marker to the bottom. After reaching the lower end, I switched tactics and worked my way back upstream using a double dry fly setup.
With darkness setting in and less than half an hour left in the session -- and still no trout -- I worked back downstream, this time swinging a Rolled Muddler. The seam of a promising-looking shallow riffle produced a hit, and the one and only brown in the entire beat ran upstream toward me and into the back eddy. I tried putting tension on my line, but the trout spat the fly just as quickly as it took it. Time was up -- I had drawn another blank. I was in good company, for 65% of the anglers in my group also blanked in that session.
Prior to, during, and after the competition, many teams agreed that the Mondego River, with its low number of trout, erratic flows and extreme temperatures, should have been excluded from the competition. The majority of the competitors failed to catch a single fish the Mondego during the WFFC, and this river proved to be the undoing of our team's efforts, and for many other countries as well. Even our U.S. neighbours blanked four out of five sessions on the Mondego. Once again, the Europeans, who are used to fishing under such difficult and adverse conditions, dominated the competition.
Although the overall catch per person was significantly less than a "typical" WFFC (27 trout for the individual gold medalist), I personally enjoyed my Portuguese experience, and feel that I gained a great wealth of knowledge as a result of having to fish under such extreme and challenging conditions. It was definitely one of the toughest -- yet most rewarding -- fly-fishing experiences of my life, as every trout that was landed and released was truly treasured, as they were by everyone who attended the competition.
Team Results:
1 Czech Republic
2 France
3 Spain
4 Italy
5 Portugal
20 Canada
Individual Results:
1 Czech Republic, Antonin Pesek
2 Spain, Jonathan Torralbo
3 Czech Republic, Martin Droz
67 Canada, Todd Oishi
78 Canada, John Nishi
87 Canada, Terence Courtoreille
90 Canada, Tom Irvine
96 Canada, Trevor Welton
September 11, 2007
by Todd Oishi
As fly fishers, when we ponder fly-fishing "dream destinations" throughout the world, rarely -- if ever -- does Portugal come to mind. Although it is one of the most beautiful and scenic places I have ever visited, it proved to be one of the most challenging locations to hold a World Fly Fishing Championship.
During the first week of September 2006, six members of Team Canada assembled in the small, picturesque, hillside village of Pennacova, Portugal. Three of us were from BC: Gord Bacon of Kamloops (a veteran of several championships) was our captain/alternate, Trevor Welton of Langley, and me from Maple Ridge. John Nishi was from Millarville, Alta., Terence Courtoreille from Hay River, NWT, and Tom Irvine from Gravenhurst, Ont.
John, Terence and I competed as teammates at last year's WFFC in Sweden, and Tom had competed in Spain in 2003. Although the entire team competed at the 2005 FFC National Fly Fishing Championships and Conservation Symposium at Campbell River, BC, it was Trevor's first international competition. With our team's collective competitive fly-fishing experiences, we were optimistic about placing well.
During the week prior to the WFFC commencing, we planned to travel throughout this mountainous region of Northern Portugal, fishing the official practice waters as we viewed and assessed the actual competition waters. One major setback troubled and concerned our team, however -- the airlines had lost several of our bags containing fly-fishing equipment. We got by with sharing clothing, rods, reels and equipment until the lost luggage arrived at our hotel -- nearly one week late.
With the help of our Portuguese guide, Joca, we navigated through a confusing maze of winding roadways. His ability to find prime angling waters proved to be more valuable than any fly pattern or fishing advice he could possibly offer. Joca planned our practice days to include long, leisurely lunch breaks, which allowed us to escape blazing the mid-afternoon temperatures, which were consistently in the upper 30s.
Although the rivers and lakes were difficult to locate at times, brown trout were even more difficult to find in the rivers. More concerning, not one of the twelve trout that we encountered during our river practice sessions met the minimum 19 cm qualifying length for the WFFC.
Results on the lakes were equally disappointing, for we found only small fish in the weedless, clear waters. While walking about the shorelines, we observed a few grasshoppers, several black sedges, and some minute airborne midges, which provided valuable clues about the main food sources available to the rainbow and brown trout.
Other competitors were experiencing the same dismal results during their practice sessions. This left a very uneasy feeling with many teams, for few of us had developed a technique or fly pattern for enticing the larger trout. We remained optimistic, however, feeling that if larger trout were actually present, they would accept our offerings. But our experience left us wondering whether Portugal actually possessed any fish of size at all.
Session 1
My first venue of the championship was the Ciera River, which offered one of the most beautiful and serene settings imaginable. A tiny, intimate mountain stream, it is surrounded by fragrant pines and eucalyptus that blanket the steep rocky slopes. Fishing required extreme stealth while approaching its crystal-clear waters that averaged one to two feet deep. This level of stealth was magnified ten-fold by the over-abundance of whitefish (Iberian Nace), called "Bogas" by the locals. When intimidated by my approach, they would panic and scatter, in turn alerting and spooking the brown trout.
While fishing my 150-metre-long beat for the allotted three hours, I crawled right up the river's middle on my knee pads, with one hand in the water at all times. This supported my upper body low and horizontal to the water's surface, but after observing how visible and exposed I still must have appeared to the trout, I donned my camouflage face-mask. Using extremely small, light-coloured adult caddis patterns, I made short, precise, sidearm casts from a downstream position to avoid overhead casting, which would have definitely spooked those wary trout.
By the session's conclusion, I had managed to land four trout: two of eligible size and two that missed by just a few millimetres. After boarding the competition bus, I was shocked to hear from my friend "MC" (a South African) that he and eight other competitors in my group had blanked (caught no fish) during the session. My results earned seventh place for the session.
Session 2
After a spectacular lunch, we bussed to the next venue: the Alva River. A wide, slow-flowing river, it snaked alongside the colourful fields of sun-dried corn and melon patches that dominate the arid valley floors. Also, as this region is known worldwide for producing excellent wines, vineyards lined the Alva's banks and surrounding hillsides. One local told us that at this time of year, the river's brown trout hold tight against banks, in the shade of overhanging vines, and feast on any grapes that fall into the water.
I started at the bottom of my beat, casting a dry fly upstream while working upstream toward two riffles where the river curved sharply. Five minutes into my session, the skies opened and it rained harder than I've ever experienced before while fishing. The large raindrops hitting the water definitely helped conceal my presence, but made dry fly fishing completely impossible.
After reaching the riffles I decided to Czech Nymph the faster-flowing water, as I'd had good success with this technique during practice. I tied on one of my heaviest Czech nymphs as the top dropper, a much lighter Czech nymph for the middle dropper, and a small Pheasant Tail Nymph as the point fly.
Fishing the riffles proved difficult, for the bottom was full of weeds and snags, and the banks were choked with brush and overhead limbs. It proved fairly productive, though, as I netted five trout during that session; three counters and two just barely under the minimum size.
By the session's end I was soaked from head to toe, chilled, shivering, and not looking forward to the 90-minute bus ride home in wet clothing. Back at the bus, a Spanish competitor saw my dilemma and kindly offered me his spare set of clothes for the long ride back. I accepted with thanks.
My performance in that session produced 14th place, and I was 33rd overall on the scoreboard.
Session 3
Rossim and Lagoacho lakes were selected for lake venues. Both are large reservoirs that were built on top of some of the highest peaks in all of Portugal. The harsh environment surrounding them is nearly void of vegetation, and resembled an eerie painting of a lonely moonscape.
Our bus arrived at Rossim Lake early in the morning, to unimaginable conditions: winds were blowing steady at 80+ kph, with near zero visibility as thick clouds blew up from the coast, and the temperature plummeted to a chilly 5 degrees Celsius.
Unfortunately, with the extreme wind and mist blowing directly into my face for the entire three-hour session, I was rarely able to cast farther than 30 feet, and even then my leader and flies would often hinge back on the line, rendering my cast useless.
Whitecaps pounded against the sandy beach, churning the water near shore into a brownish, silty soup. Since competition rules clearly stated that lakes were to be fished "bank-style", meaning positively no wading or setting foot into the water, while I managed to hook several small trout I was unable to reach the larger ones. I blanked that session and received a 21st place in my group, as did the Australian and Bosnian competitors who fished the beats on either side of mine. The anglers who had the wind to their backs, or could cast sideways to the wind, did fairly well, but in the end five trout was the top catch for that session.
The afternoon was reserved for the Conservation Symposium, at which local authorities educated our group about their efforts to preserve and enhance the rivers of Portugal.
Session 4
I shared a portion of the morning bus ride to Lagoacha Lake with an English competitor named John Horsey, a true legend and champion in the world of fly fishing. John had been to Kamloops, BC, in 1993 to compete in the WFFC, and was curious about how those lakes were fishing now.
The winds at Lagoacha had let up slightly since yesterday, but were still a force to be reckoned with at speeds up to 60 kph. Fortunately, my beat had a small bay that lay directly downwind from a tiny point of land. While stringing my rod I surveyed my beat, then rigged a three-fly setup with a large black Boobie as the top dropper, followed by a Hare's Ear Nymph and a Pheasant Tail Nymph on the point. I then slipped on a pair of fingerless gloves to seek some respite from the cold wind.
I made my first cast and counted down to allow my line time to sink, and on the very first strip my line shot through my fingers as a large trout absolutely hammered my fly. I was caught completely off guard and it was gone before I could set the hook. I took off my gloves in disgust and tossed them to the ground. My decision to seek comfort had just cost me my first fish of the session.
Three casts later I had another hit, but this time I set the hook and brought a 30-cm rainbow to net. With the pressure of drawing a blank now off, I could relax and have some fun. After landing a second trout, I eventually switched to a dry line and changed my flies.
While stripping my three-fly combo on the surface, a rainbow swirled on my top dropper, a Boobie. I paused to allow it a second opportunity to take the Boobie, but instead it leapt into the air and crashed down on top of the middle dropper, an Elk Hair Caddis. I twitched my line to impart some action, and the same trout turned and took my point fly, a Hare's Ear Nymph. I set the hook, then quickly landed, measured and released the trout. My controller and I discussed what had just happened, for neither of us had ever witnessed such an event.
At the session's conclusion I had landed six counters and lost three trout. That was my favourite session of the entire championship and earned me 7th place in my group.
Session 5
The afternoon session was on the Mondego River, a wide, lowland stream. I quickly discovered that it fluctuates severely, rising and falling with the release of water from hydro dams farther upstream. Such erratic conditions would make any river challenging, but combined with the effects of the recent drought that Portugal had been experiencing, the river's current temperatures were in the extreme range of 75 degrees. Although the Mondego was teaming with a very healthy population of Bogas, which thrive in that environment, the brown trout were few in numbers and obviously had a harder time adapting to such harsh conditions.
I decided to "high-grade" my beat and spend the first hour working prime areas that would most likely hold fish. I set up with a Czech Nymphing rig, and was immediately into a dozen Bogas. Each gave me hope that it might be a brown, but as they came to net my heart sank. After my watch sounded the end of first hour, I started long-line nymphing with a"hopper/dropper" rigging, from the uppermost beat marker to the bottom. After reaching the lower end, I switched tactics and worked my way back upstream using a double dry fly setup.
With darkness setting in and less than half an hour left in the session -- and still no trout -- I worked back downstream, this time swinging a Rolled Muddler. The seam of a promising-looking shallow riffle produced a hit, and the one and only brown in the entire beat ran upstream toward me and into the back eddy. I tried putting tension on my line, but the trout spat the fly just as quickly as it took it. Time was up -- I had drawn another blank. I was in good company, for 65% of the anglers in my group also blanked in that session.
Prior to, during, and after the competition, many teams agreed that the Mondego River, with its low number of trout, erratic flows and extreme temperatures, should have been excluded from the competition. The majority of the competitors failed to catch a single fish the Mondego during the WFFC, and this river proved to be the undoing of our team's efforts, and for many other countries as well. Even our U.S. neighbours blanked four out of five sessions on the Mondego. Once again, the Europeans, who are used to fishing under such difficult and adverse conditions, dominated the competition.
Although the overall catch per person was significantly less than a "typical" WFFC (27 trout for the individual gold medalist), I personally enjoyed my Portuguese experience, and feel that I gained a great wealth of knowledge as a result of having to fish under such extreme and challenging conditions. It was definitely one of the toughest -- yet most rewarding -- fly-fishing experiences of my life, as every trout that was landed and released was truly treasured, as they were by everyone who attended the competition.
Team Results:
1 Czech Republic
2 France
3 Spain
4 Italy
5 Portugal
20 Canada
Individual Results:
1 Czech Republic, Antonin Pesek
2 Spain, Jonathan Torralbo
3 Czech Republic, Martin Droz
67 Canada, Todd Oishi
78 Canada, John Nishi
87 Canada, Terence Courtoreille
90 Canada, Tom Irvine
96 Canada, Trevor Welton
2006 U.S./North American Fly fishing Championship - Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
June 9, 2006
by Todd Oishi
Beyond being a most enjoyable experience -- where many new friendships were made and ideas exchanged -- the "U.S. National / North American Fly Fishing Championships" proved to be an extremely tough and challenging contest. The organizers did an incredible job selecting challenging venues and beats for the competition, which in turn would allow them to select from the country's best competitive fly fishers to represent the United States of America at the 2006 World Fly Fishing Championships in Portugal.
My time spent fly fishing in the spectacular countryside near Boulder, Colorado -- just prior to and during the competition --was one of the most scenic and memorable experiences of my life. Often, I had to refocus and force myself to concentrate upon the fishing rather than admiring the breath-taking scenery that surrounded me.
The South Platte River weaves a twisted course amongst massive boulders that lie scattered about the valley floor and plunges through a series of canyons. With a healthy trout population and a multitude of access points -- it isn't hard to understand why this river has remained popular with locals and neighboring fly fishermen. It is truly a wondrous place to cast a fly and that every fly fisher must certainly make a pilgrimage to at least once in their life-time.
Below the dam at Estes Park, homes line one side of the Big Thompson, while the roadside encompasses the other. The rushing sounds of its waters and the thick scrub-brush do a somewhat respectable job of masking its close proximity to civilization. Similar to the South Platte -- the Big Thompson River has decent numbers trout, but it is also-known for possessing another rare and valuable gem, -- which is its crowning jewel -- the colourful Green-back cutthroat trout, which has been designated as the official state fish of Colorado.
While serene and very inviting at first glance, presenting our humble offerings to the wary trout in these clear and extremely shallow rivers, proved to be an exhilarating challenge as the angling pressure is quite intense. After several successful days of practice, and a chance to inspect the actual competition venues, our confidence was at an all-time high.
Just a few days earlier, I was in the Czech Republic, where I had attended the "Czech Nymphing Master Class", to enhance and improve my competitive fly fishing skills and knowledge -- as far as river nymphing was concerned. Although Colorado's shallow waters weren't exactly the ideal waters for employing this short-line, high-stick nymphing technique --with some practice and modifications -- I was able to adapt it to match the classic "tail water" fisheries of both the Big Thompson and South Platte Rivers.
Conservation Symposium: The afternoon of the day prior to the first session of competition was set aside for an extremely impressive Conservation Symposium. The list of guest speakers was extremely impressive and left no doubt that Trout Unlimited and the numerous conservation groups based in this area were doing an outstanding job rehabilitating and conserving Colorado's forests and precious waters.
One of the biggest stories in my mind was the efforts to rebuild the populations of the Green-back cutthroat trout, which, in the 1930's were thought to have become extinct. Their numbers began to dwindle as a direct result of the transportation and stocking of non-native fish species in the many rivers and lakes that they inhabited. In the 1960's a few isolated streams where discovered to contain pure strains of the green-backs. A few adults were caught and their offspring were reared in hatcheries, to be reintroduced into the appropriate waters. Soon there-after, all stocking of "non-native" species was completely halted, and the Green-back's numbers gradually increased. Today, they are listed as an endangered species and remain protected by a strictly enforced "catch and release" policy.
Opening Ceremonies: At the opening ceremonies, I had the opportunity to meet and speak with several other competitors in the group. I was thoroughly impressed by angling achievements of the American competitors at the National Fly Fishing Championships, as they had all reached this level of competition through their regional trials, in order to earn the right to compete for a spot on the 2006 Team USA.
The three regional trials, which were held in Fresno, Utah and Michigan, had produced a total of six, five-man teams. As well, three teams that consisted of past Team USA members were hand-selected to compete as the "Dream Teams'"; Team USA 1, Team USA 2 and Team USA 3. The Colorado guides association had also been invited to participate and assembled two teams to enter the competition; 'Colorado Men's' and 'Colorado Women's'. Along with the five-man British Military Team and our five-man Canadian Team -- that brought the number of teams entered in the championships to thirteen, with sixty-five individual competitors.
Session one:
Big Thompson - I lost two counters and landed one small trout, and eventually two decent trout qualified me for 11th place in the first session.
Session two:
Lily Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park - two that were just shy of the 20cm minimum length and one 40cm greenback cutthroat trout 4th place
Session three:
South Platte -- Decker's seven trout, but only five trout that met the minimum required length of 20cm for 7th place
Session four:
South Platte -- Waterton Canyon produced six trout, one lost on the way in and two that were slightly too small to count and three trout of size, for 5th place in this session of the competition.
Session five:
My final venue was on the 9000 foot elevation Clear Lake, which is nestled high atop the majestic Rocky Mountains. --Lost one 30 cm trout and landed a 33cm rainbow trout for 3rd place
Brett Bishop 1st
Mike Sexton 2nd
Josh Stephens 3rd
John Nishi 18th
Todd Oishi 23rd
Chris Pfohl 33rd
Gord Bacon 64th
Wayne Yoshizawa 65th
At the Colorado Championships, once again, the "local competitors" (those from Colorado and the neighbouring states of Montana, Wyoming and Utah) who pre-fished and understood the trout within these unique waters, and more importantly --the effective patterns and tactics -- seemed to place the highest within the competition's standings. I felt that attending this competition was an excellent prep for future World Fly Fishing Championship, and the added confidence and knowledge gained from fishing such small and technical waters, would be invaluable to everyone who attended this magnificent event.
www.bcflyfishingadventures.com
June 9, 2006
by Todd Oishi
Beyond being a most enjoyable experience -- where many new friendships were made and ideas exchanged -- the "U.S. National / North American Fly Fishing Championships" proved to be an extremely tough and challenging contest. The organizers did an incredible job selecting challenging venues and beats for the competition, which in turn would allow them to select from the country's best competitive fly fishers to represent the United States of America at the 2006 World Fly Fishing Championships in Portugal.
My time spent fly fishing in the spectacular countryside near Boulder, Colorado -- just prior to and during the competition --was one of the most scenic and memorable experiences of my life. Often, I had to refocus and force myself to concentrate upon the fishing rather than admiring the breath-taking scenery that surrounded me.
The South Platte River weaves a twisted course amongst massive boulders that lie scattered about the valley floor and plunges through a series of canyons. With a healthy trout population and a multitude of access points -- it isn't hard to understand why this river has remained popular with locals and neighboring fly fishermen. It is truly a wondrous place to cast a fly and that every fly fisher must certainly make a pilgrimage to at least once in their life-time.
Below the dam at Estes Park, homes line one side of the Big Thompson, while the roadside encompasses the other. The rushing sounds of its waters and the thick scrub-brush do a somewhat respectable job of masking its close proximity to civilization. Similar to the South Platte -- the Big Thompson River has decent numbers trout, but it is also-known for possessing another rare and valuable gem, -- which is its crowning jewel -- the colourful Green-back cutthroat trout, which has been designated as the official state fish of Colorado.
While serene and very inviting at first glance, presenting our humble offerings to the wary trout in these clear and extremely shallow rivers, proved to be an exhilarating challenge as the angling pressure is quite intense. After several successful days of practice, and a chance to inspect the actual competition venues, our confidence was at an all-time high.
Just a few days earlier, I was in the Czech Republic, where I had attended the "Czech Nymphing Master Class", to enhance and improve my competitive fly fishing skills and knowledge -- as far as river nymphing was concerned. Although Colorado's shallow waters weren't exactly the ideal waters for employing this short-line, high-stick nymphing technique --with some practice and modifications -- I was able to adapt it to match the classic "tail water" fisheries of both the Big Thompson and South Platte Rivers.
Conservation Symposium: The afternoon of the day prior to the first session of competition was set aside for an extremely impressive Conservation Symposium. The list of guest speakers was extremely impressive and left no doubt that Trout Unlimited and the numerous conservation groups based in this area were doing an outstanding job rehabilitating and conserving Colorado's forests and precious waters.
One of the biggest stories in my mind was the efforts to rebuild the populations of the Green-back cutthroat trout, which, in the 1930's were thought to have become extinct. Their numbers began to dwindle as a direct result of the transportation and stocking of non-native fish species in the many rivers and lakes that they inhabited. In the 1960's a few isolated streams where discovered to contain pure strains of the green-backs. A few adults were caught and their offspring were reared in hatcheries, to be reintroduced into the appropriate waters. Soon there-after, all stocking of "non-native" species was completely halted, and the Green-back's numbers gradually increased. Today, they are listed as an endangered species and remain protected by a strictly enforced "catch and release" policy.
Opening Ceremonies: At the opening ceremonies, I had the opportunity to meet and speak with several other competitors in the group. I was thoroughly impressed by angling achievements of the American competitors at the National Fly Fishing Championships, as they had all reached this level of competition through their regional trials, in order to earn the right to compete for a spot on the 2006 Team USA.
The three regional trials, which were held in Fresno, Utah and Michigan, had produced a total of six, five-man teams. As well, three teams that consisted of past Team USA members were hand-selected to compete as the "Dream Teams'"; Team USA 1, Team USA 2 and Team USA 3. The Colorado guides association had also been invited to participate and assembled two teams to enter the competition; 'Colorado Men's' and 'Colorado Women's'. Along with the five-man British Military Team and our five-man Canadian Team -- that brought the number of teams entered in the championships to thirteen, with sixty-five individual competitors.
Session one:
Big Thompson - I lost two counters and landed one small trout, and eventually two decent trout qualified me for 11th place in the first session.
Session two:
Lily Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park - two that were just shy of the 20cm minimum length and one 40cm greenback cutthroat trout 4th place
Session three:
South Platte -- Decker's seven trout, but only five trout that met the minimum required length of 20cm for 7th place
Session four:
South Platte -- Waterton Canyon produced six trout, one lost on the way in and two that were slightly too small to count and three trout of size, for 5th place in this session of the competition.
Session five:
My final venue was on the 9000 foot elevation Clear Lake, which is nestled high atop the majestic Rocky Mountains. --Lost one 30 cm trout and landed a 33cm rainbow trout for 3rd place
Brett Bishop 1st
Mike Sexton 2nd
Josh Stephens 3rd
John Nishi 18th
Todd Oishi 23rd
Chris Pfohl 33rd
Gord Bacon 64th
Wayne Yoshizawa 65th
At the Colorado Championships, once again, the "local competitors" (those from Colorado and the neighbouring states of Montana, Wyoming and Utah) who pre-fished and understood the trout within these unique waters, and more importantly --the effective patterns and tactics -- seemed to place the highest within the competition's standings. I felt that attending this competition was an excellent prep for future World Fly Fishing Championship, and the added confidence and knowledge gained from fishing such small and technical waters, would be invaluable to everyone who attended this magnificent event.
www.bcflyfishingadventures.com
2006 Czech Nymphing Masterclass - Navarov, Czech Republic
Navarov, Czech Republic
May 31, 2006
by Todd Oishi
I first heard of the Czech Nymphing Masterclass while I was competing as a member of our Canadian National Fly Fishing Team at the2005 World Fly Fishing Championships in Lycksele, Sweden. The World Championship was my first opportunity to observe Czech Nymphing in action, on Sweden's rivers. I watched in amazement as Jiri Klima and the Czech National Team used this fly fishing technique during the practice and competition sessions, and soon came to realize exactly how incredibly productive and effective Czech Nymphing could be. It was for this exact reason that I enrolled into the very next available Masterclass!
The Czech Nymphing Masterclass is held in the historical Rusalka Pension, which is set deep in the scenic, forests and fragrant countryside of Navarov. The host, Robert Borrenberg, does an outstanding job of educating, organizing and entertaining the fly fisher who gather from all around the world to attend the Masterclass. The CNM offers its students a superior understanding of rivers and the fish that inhabit them, and more importantly... how to effectively fly fish for them.
The headmaster and chief instructor of the Czech Nymphing Masterclass is Jiri Klima, the captain and coach of the Czech Republic's National Fly Fishing Team. Jiri is known internationally and highly-respected for his fly fishing skills and achievements in the world of competitive fly fishing. I was thoroughly impressed by his teachings and after Jiri's classroom instruction and the 'one-on-one' time that we spent together on the rivers, I was able to catch fish were I am certain I could not have done so in the past... and in far greater numbers than I could have ever imagined!
I would highly recommend the Czech Nymphing Masterclass to anyone that wishes to improve upon their river fly fishing skills and knowledge where river nymphing techniques are concerned. It has definitely made me look at all of my competition waters and favourite 'home-waters' with a whole new perspective and approach.
You can check them out at their website: www.czechnymphs.com
www.bcflyfishingadventures.com
May 31, 2006
by Todd Oishi
I first heard of the Czech Nymphing Masterclass while I was competing as a member of our Canadian National Fly Fishing Team at the2005 World Fly Fishing Championships in Lycksele, Sweden. The World Championship was my first opportunity to observe Czech Nymphing in action, on Sweden's rivers. I watched in amazement as Jiri Klima and the Czech National Team used this fly fishing technique during the practice and competition sessions, and soon came to realize exactly how incredibly productive and effective Czech Nymphing could be. It was for this exact reason that I enrolled into the very next available Masterclass!
The Czech Nymphing Masterclass is held in the historical Rusalka Pension, which is set deep in the scenic, forests and fragrant countryside of Navarov. The host, Robert Borrenberg, does an outstanding job of educating, organizing and entertaining the fly fisher who gather from all around the world to attend the Masterclass. The CNM offers its students a superior understanding of rivers and the fish that inhabit them, and more importantly... how to effectively fly fish for them.
The headmaster and chief instructor of the Czech Nymphing Masterclass is Jiri Klima, the captain and coach of the Czech Republic's National Fly Fishing Team. Jiri is known internationally and highly-respected for his fly fishing skills and achievements in the world of competitive fly fishing. I was thoroughly impressed by his teachings and after Jiri's classroom instruction and the 'one-on-one' time that we spent together on the rivers, I was able to catch fish were I am certain I could not have done so in the past... and in far greater numbers than I could have ever imagined!
I would highly recommend the Czech Nymphing Masterclass to anyone that wishes to improve upon their river fly fishing skills and knowledge where river nymphing techniques are concerned. It has definitely made me look at all of my competition waters and favourite 'home-waters' with a whole new perspective and approach.
You can check them out at their website: www.czechnymphs.com
www.bcflyfishingadventures.com
2005 Canadian National Fly Fishing Championship - Campbell River, B.C.
Campbell River, British Columbia
September 25, 2005
by Todd Oishi
I have been a regular competitor at Highland Valley's "Trojan Pond Fly Fishing Tournament" for several years. Although this highly respected event attracts many of British Columbia's finest stillwater anglers, I had always hoped for an opportunity to compete at a national or international level. Thus, last year when I heard that the "National Fly Fishing Championships and Conservation Symposium" would be held at Campbell River, B.C., in mid-September, I decided it was my golden opportunity.
My good friend, Wayne Yoshizawa, and I had been partners for two Trojan Pond tournaments, so while somewhat experienced at competitive fly fishing as a duo, we were strangers to the five-person team concept. After discussing the prospects of entering a team, we decided to give it a shot and started looking for three more members.
Norm Godding was an obvious choice. A seasoned angler and accomplished fly caster, he had many years of experience with rivers, lakes and the ocean. Another was Trevor Welton, a fish habitat biologist and avid fly fisherman. Since his youth he had spent many summer days fly fishing the rivers and ocean beaches in the Campbell River area.
Last spring, when a Team Canada member had to drop out of the 25th World Fly Fishing Championship and Conservation Symposium in Lycksele, Sweden, I was asked by Fly Fishing Canada Executive Director Jack Simpson to step in. I accepted eagerly, but that is another story. Our team captain was Gord Bacon, who had competed five times at WFFCs, twice at Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships, and three times at the Oceania Fly Fishing Championships in New Zealand. Upon hearing that Gord Bacon had entered the NFFC as an individual, I persuaded him to join our team. He agreed and it was a unanimous decision to appoint him team captain.
Our "Team Mustang" strategy was simple: during four days of practice, each would make detailed notes and observations regarding our successes and failures. We would fish several times on the beaches, twice in the Campbell and Quinsam Rivers, and once on Echo Lake. We worked as many of the designated beats as possible, and attempted to replicate the actual times and conditions. The ocean's ever-changing tides were the only variables.
Although we frequently crossed paths with other competitors during our practice sessions, the atmosphere was always friendly, cordial, and often helpful as ideas were exchanged. Meanwhile, at the Anchor Inn, the headquarters hotel, the energy level increased daily as individual competitors and organized teams from across Canada arrived.
On the morning of the first competition day, I shared a boat with Clint Goyette of "Team Endiables" for a three-hour session on Echo Lake. It contained rainbow trout averaging about 30 cm long, of which we hooked and lost several during the session, noting that most of the other competitors were experiencing the same problem.
Eventually, a plump 29 cm rainbow fell for a Black Leech I was fishing with a sinking line. It scored 680 points, enough to place me third for my group in that session.
Norm, who was also on Echo Lake, placed third in his group for that session, and Trevor had an incredible day on the beach, landing seven sea-run cutthroat trout, earning first place in his group. Gord blanked on the Campbell River and Wayne blanked on the beach. With a fairly solid showing for our first session, our combined efforts resulted in second place on the team scoreboard.
I began my afternoon session on an ocean beat at Salmon Point, fishing with Warren Soper of "Team North Island" (also a former WFFC and Commonwealth competitor). At 86 --he looked much younger-- he was the oldest competitor at the event. With not a single fish seen from our vantage point overlooking the beat, I decided to work the shallows for sea-run cutthroats, while Warren opted to probe the deeper waters.
After thoroughly covering the shallows, I ran back to the northern most boundary where a small school of coho had started showing, and waded out until water was lapping too close to my wader tops for comfort. The odd salmon showing inside the kelp bed were barely within range, and while I was using an 11-foot 2-inch, 7-weight fly rod, my casts frequently fell short.
Unable wade out farther or aerialize any more line, I reeled in and returned to shore. Gripping my rod between my teeth, I picked up the largest, barnacle-covered boulder I could lift, then waded slowly back out until the water again reached my wader tops. Dropping the rock, I stepped up on top of it and gained about 18inches of height. This increased my casting distance by at least 20 feet, so I could now reach beyond the cruising salmon and retrieve my fly in front of them.
Spotting a coho porpoise in the waves, I laid my fly ahead of it, paused, then started stripping in line. I felt a sharp tug, then the coho soared into the air before heading for deeper water. With only a 6-pound test leader I could apply modest pressure at best, but it was enough. Eventually, after several powerful runs, it started tiring and I led it into knee-deep water. Once safely within my net, our controller waded out and recorded its length at 55 cm, which counted for 1,200 points.
By the second session's conclusion I had placed second in my group and moved up to fifth place overall. Meanwhile, Wayne had earned sixth place on his Campbell River beat, Gord and Trevor had both blanked on Echo Lake, and Norm had blanked on the beach. We were disappointed but not discouraged to learn our team had dropped one place below "Team VIP" and into fourth place on the scoreboard. In the individual standings I had moved up to fifth place and Trevor had plummeted from second down to ninth.
The following morning I awoke at 4 o'clock and tied a dozen of my most productive saltwater patterns for my teammates who were assigned to the beaches. My morning session was scheduled for the Campbell River at the Roderick Haig-Brown beat with Morgan Ostlerof "Team Campbell River." We had met the previous day, and I was impressed to learn of her direct involvement in saving the banks of the Campbell River from a recent, highly controversial commercial development.
Halfway through this session I netted a cutthroat, and then lost it when I slipped and fell while trying to wade back across a particularly strong flow. I was heartbroken as it was a definite counter, but refused to give up hope. Shortly after, our controller gave us the 15-minute warning. I ran to the bottom of my beat, then started power-wading upstream and casting tight in toward the top end, covering as much water as possible within the remaining time.
With less than 10 minutes remaining, I roll-cast slightly upstream above a set of rocks. When my line tightened immediately, I tugged sharply to release my fly from the rock. The rock tugged back. There was a brilliant flash and I saw it was a large chum salmon. I lifted my rod, attempting to raise and turn its head, hoping to gain control before it started toward the swift water in midstream, where it would surely snap my 6-pound test leader.
In an unbelievable stroke of luck, the salmon cooperated, turned sideways to the current and shot past my feet, right into two large rocks at the river's edge, where it halted momentarily. With one smooth, swooping action I pulled and released my landing net from the back of my vest, then netted it from the tail. The net's frame stopped just shy of the chum's gill covers, for it was much too large to fit inside.
I blew my whistle to summon the controller, and together we attempted to record the fish's length. It extended well beyond the official measuring trough provided by the host organizers, but a conventional tape measure revealed its length was 79.5 cm, which registered the maximum allowable score of 1,300 points. It was also the largest fish caught during the competition.
The morning ended with me placing second in my group, Trevor and Gord earning first and second places respectively on the beaches, and Wayne and Norm both blanking. We had regained second place on the team scoreboard, Trevor had rocketed into third place overall, and I was in first place.
During my afternoon Echo Lake session, I shared the boat with Warren Soper. The afternoon winds were manageable, but since we were competing "loch-style" (the flies must be presented ahead of a free-drifting boat), the boats were all required to use drogues (water-anchors) in order to maintain a reasonable drift speed.
Within the first half hour I landed a 30 cm rainbow and felt relieved to be on the scoreboard. The afternoon session went fairly well other than an unexpected ear-piercing courtesy of Warren, and I brought two more rainbows to net and lost two others.
That session earned me first place for my group, and Norm placed first in his group. Trevor placed second on the Quinsam River, Gord placed fifth on Echo Lake, and Wayne blanked on the beach. We were overjoyed to hear that our team was now in first place, and the top three individual placings remained unchanged: Trevor in third place, John Nishi of "Team NWT" in second, and me in first.
Our initial plan was working well. We had team meetings immediately after and right before each session. At them we made detailed notes of the results and observations from our individual sessions, then analyzed and dissected them with round-table discussions and recommendations on how each sector and beat should be re-approached. This way, whomever fished it next would be fully prepared for whatever came his way.
It was still dark the following morning when the bus dropped four of us competitors at Rotary Beach for our final session. The sunrise over the Coastal Mountains was one of the most spectacular I have ever witnessed.
This would prove to be my toughest session yet, for the tide was at its lowest point and the incoming tide wouldn't start until the session's last quarter. The only action over the next two and a half hours were five sculpins, which didn't qualify. As the tide shifted and water levels slowly rose, a small cutthroat struck my fly, made a short run, then jumped and shook free. I ended up drawing my first blank, but had given it my best effort. Overall, only a single 34 cm trout was caught during this entire session.
Gord blanked on his beach beat to the south, Norm blanked on the Quinsam River, but Wayne placed third in his group on Echo Lake, and Trevor placed sixth in his group on Echo.
The final count revealed that our team had managed to hold onto the lead, finishing just four placings ahead of "Team Equipe Airflo" (team gold medalists in the first two NFFCs). In addition, the top three individual positions had remained unchanged: I was in line for the individual gold medal, John Nishi the silver, and Trevor the bronze.
That afternoon the competitors and participants attended the two-hour Conservation Symposium, during which four guest speakers gave excellent presentations about current conservation and environmental concerns regarding local fisheries, and what was being done to enhance and rectify these situations.
That evening the closing ceremonies were held at the Campbell River Maritime Heritage Center. Competitors, volunteers, officials and honoured guests gathered at this sold-out event, which featured a superb meal and an incredible conservation fund-raising auction. The evening climaxed with awarding of the team and individual medals, and presentation of the coveted Doug Austin Memorial Trophy for Top Rod.
Looking back, I recall that everyone involved was on a high, and that most participants in the 3rd NFFC vowed to reunite their teams and attend the 4th NFFC in Ontario.
www.bcflyfishingadventures.com
September 25, 2005
by Todd Oishi
I have been a regular competitor at Highland Valley's "Trojan Pond Fly Fishing Tournament" for several years. Although this highly respected event attracts many of British Columbia's finest stillwater anglers, I had always hoped for an opportunity to compete at a national or international level. Thus, last year when I heard that the "National Fly Fishing Championships and Conservation Symposium" would be held at Campbell River, B.C., in mid-September, I decided it was my golden opportunity.
My good friend, Wayne Yoshizawa, and I had been partners for two Trojan Pond tournaments, so while somewhat experienced at competitive fly fishing as a duo, we were strangers to the five-person team concept. After discussing the prospects of entering a team, we decided to give it a shot and started looking for three more members.
Norm Godding was an obvious choice. A seasoned angler and accomplished fly caster, he had many years of experience with rivers, lakes and the ocean. Another was Trevor Welton, a fish habitat biologist and avid fly fisherman. Since his youth he had spent many summer days fly fishing the rivers and ocean beaches in the Campbell River area.
Last spring, when a Team Canada member had to drop out of the 25th World Fly Fishing Championship and Conservation Symposium in Lycksele, Sweden, I was asked by Fly Fishing Canada Executive Director Jack Simpson to step in. I accepted eagerly, but that is another story. Our team captain was Gord Bacon, who had competed five times at WFFCs, twice at Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships, and three times at the Oceania Fly Fishing Championships in New Zealand. Upon hearing that Gord Bacon had entered the NFFC as an individual, I persuaded him to join our team. He agreed and it was a unanimous decision to appoint him team captain.
Our "Team Mustang" strategy was simple: during four days of practice, each would make detailed notes and observations regarding our successes and failures. We would fish several times on the beaches, twice in the Campbell and Quinsam Rivers, and once on Echo Lake. We worked as many of the designated beats as possible, and attempted to replicate the actual times and conditions. The ocean's ever-changing tides were the only variables.
Although we frequently crossed paths with other competitors during our practice sessions, the atmosphere was always friendly, cordial, and often helpful as ideas were exchanged. Meanwhile, at the Anchor Inn, the headquarters hotel, the energy level increased daily as individual competitors and organized teams from across Canada arrived.
On the morning of the first competition day, I shared a boat with Clint Goyette of "Team Endiables" for a three-hour session on Echo Lake. It contained rainbow trout averaging about 30 cm long, of which we hooked and lost several during the session, noting that most of the other competitors were experiencing the same problem.
Eventually, a plump 29 cm rainbow fell for a Black Leech I was fishing with a sinking line. It scored 680 points, enough to place me third for my group in that session.
Norm, who was also on Echo Lake, placed third in his group for that session, and Trevor had an incredible day on the beach, landing seven sea-run cutthroat trout, earning first place in his group. Gord blanked on the Campbell River and Wayne blanked on the beach. With a fairly solid showing for our first session, our combined efforts resulted in second place on the team scoreboard.
I began my afternoon session on an ocean beat at Salmon Point, fishing with Warren Soper of "Team North Island" (also a former WFFC and Commonwealth competitor). At 86 --he looked much younger-- he was the oldest competitor at the event. With not a single fish seen from our vantage point overlooking the beat, I decided to work the shallows for sea-run cutthroats, while Warren opted to probe the deeper waters.
After thoroughly covering the shallows, I ran back to the northern most boundary where a small school of coho had started showing, and waded out until water was lapping too close to my wader tops for comfort. The odd salmon showing inside the kelp bed were barely within range, and while I was using an 11-foot 2-inch, 7-weight fly rod, my casts frequently fell short.
Unable wade out farther or aerialize any more line, I reeled in and returned to shore. Gripping my rod between my teeth, I picked up the largest, barnacle-covered boulder I could lift, then waded slowly back out until the water again reached my wader tops. Dropping the rock, I stepped up on top of it and gained about 18inches of height. This increased my casting distance by at least 20 feet, so I could now reach beyond the cruising salmon and retrieve my fly in front of them.
Spotting a coho porpoise in the waves, I laid my fly ahead of it, paused, then started stripping in line. I felt a sharp tug, then the coho soared into the air before heading for deeper water. With only a 6-pound test leader I could apply modest pressure at best, but it was enough. Eventually, after several powerful runs, it started tiring and I led it into knee-deep water. Once safely within my net, our controller waded out and recorded its length at 55 cm, which counted for 1,200 points.
By the second session's conclusion I had placed second in my group and moved up to fifth place overall. Meanwhile, Wayne had earned sixth place on his Campbell River beat, Gord and Trevor had both blanked on Echo Lake, and Norm had blanked on the beach. We were disappointed but not discouraged to learn our team had dropped one place below "Team VIP" and into fourth place on the scoreboard. In the individual standings I had moved up to fifth place and Trevor had plummeted from second down to ninth.
The following morning I awoke at 4 o'clock and tied a dozen of my most productive saltwater patterns for my teammates who were assigned to the beaches. My morning session was scheduled for the Campbell River at the Roderick Haig-Brown beat with Morgan Ostlerof "Team Campbell River." We had met the previous day, and I was impressed to learn of her direct involvement in saving the banks of the Campbell River from a recent, highly controversial commercial development.
Halfway through this session I netted a cutthroat, and then lost it when I slipped and fell while trying to wade back across a particularly strong flow. I was heartbroken as it was a definite counter, but refused to give up hope. Shortly after, our controller gave us the 15-minute warning. I ran to the bottom of my beat, then started power-wading upstream and casting tight in toward the top end, covering as much water as possible within the remaining time.
With less than 10 minutes remaining, I roll-cast slightly upstream above a set of rocks. When my line tightened immediately, I tugged sharply to release my fly from the rock. The rock tugged back. There was a brilliant flash and I saw it was a large chum salmon. I lifted my rod, attempting to raise and turn its head, hoping to gain control before it started toward the swift water in midstream, where it would surely snap my 6-pound test leader.
In an unbelievable stroke of luck, the salmon cooperated, turned sideways to the current and shot past my feet, right into two large rocks at the river's edge, where it halted momentarily. With one smooth, swooping action I pulled and released my landing net from the back of my vest, then netted it from the tail. The net's frame stopped just shy of the chum's gill covers, for it was much too large to fit inside.
I blew my whistle to summon the controller, and together we attempted to record the fish's length. It extended well beyond the official measuring trough provided by the host organizers, but a conventional tape measure revealed its length was 79.5 cm, which registered the maximum allowable score of 1,300 points. It was also the largest fish caught during the competition.
The morning ended with me placing second in my group, Trevor and Gord earning first and second places respectively on the beaches, and Wayne and Norm both blanking. We had regained second place on the team scoreboard, Trevor had rocketed into third place overall, and I was in first place.
During my afternoon Echo Lake session, I shared the boat with Warren Soper. The afternoon winds were manageable, but since we were competing "loch-style" (the flies must be presented ahead of a free-drifting boat), the boats were all required to use drogues (water-anchors) in order to maintain a reasonable drift speed.
Within the first half hour I landed a 30 cm rainbow and felt relieved to be on the scoreboard. The afternoon session went fairly well other than an unexpected ear-piercing courtesy of Warren, and I brought two more rainbows to net and lost two others.
That session earned me first place for my group, and Norm placed first in his group. Trevor placed second on the Quinsam River, Gord placed fifth on Echo Lake, and Wayne blanked on the beach. We were overjoyed to hear that our team was now in first place, and the top three individual placings remained unchanged: Trevor in third place, John Nishi of "Team NWT" in second, and me in first.
Our initial plan was working well. We had team meetings immediately after and right before each session. At them we made detailed notes of the results and observations from our individual sessions, then analyzed and dissected them with round-table discussions and recommendations on how each sector and beat should be re-approached. This way, whomever fished it next would be fully prepared for whatever came his way.
It was still dark the following morning when the bus dropped four of us competitors at Rotary Beach for our final session. The sunrise over the Coastal Mountains was one of the most spectacular I have ever witnessed.
This would prove to be my toughest session yet, for the tide was at its lowest point and the incoming tide wouldn't start until the session's last quarter. The only action over the next two and a half hours were five sculpins, which didn't qualify. As the tide shifted and water levels slowly rose, a small cutthroat struck my fly, made a short run, then jumped and shook free. I ended up drawing my first blank, but had given it my best effort. Overall, only a single 34 cm trout was caught during this entire session.
Gord blanked on his beach beat to the south, Norm blanked on the Quinsam River, but Wayne placed third in his group on Echo Lake, and Trevor placed sixth in his group on Echo.
The final count revealed that our team had managed to hold onto the lead, finishing just four placings ahead of "Team Equipe Airflo" (team gold medalists in the first two NFFCs). In addition, the top three individual positions had remained unchanged: I was in line for the individual gold medal, John Nishi the silver, and Trevor the bronze.
That afternoon the competitors and participants attended the two-hour Conservation Symposium, during which four guest speakers gave excellent presentations about current conservation and environmental concerns regarding local fisheries, and what was being done to enhance and rectify these situations.
That evening the closing ceremonies were held at the Campbell River Maritime Heritage Center. Competitors, volunteers, officials and honoured guests gathered at this sold-out event, which featured a superb meal and an incredible conservation fund-raising auction. The evening climaxed with awarding of the team and individual medals, and presentation of the coveted Doug Austin Memorial Trophy for Top Rod.
Looking back, I recall that everyone involved was on a high, and that most participants in the 3rd NFFC vowed to reunite their teams and attend the 4th NFFC in Ontario.
www.bcflyfishingadventures.com
2005 World Fly Fishing Championships - Lycksele, Sweden
Lycksele, Sweden
August 23, 2005
by Todd Oishi
Following are excerpts from the daily diary that I kept while attending the 25th FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championship and Conservation Symposium in August 2005.
11 August 2005: After five memorable days spent sightseeing throughout England and Scotland, I have finally arrived in the small northern town of Lycksele, Sweden, situated just inside the Arctic Circle. As I walked through the massive revolving doors and into the lobby, I finally felt as though the months of research, preparation and practice are finally coming to a climax.
Following introductions and a warm welcome from the rest of Team Canada, we sat at our table in the hotel's dimly lit dining room and dined upon Swedish-style spaghetti. As "new kid on the team", this gave me a chance to get to know the four other teammates with whom I will be spending the next 11 days.
Our captain, Gord Bacon is from Ontario (he has since moved to Kamloops, B.C.). A veteran of numerous WFFCs, he is a great source of information regarding competitive fly fishing. John Nishi from Alberta and Sorin Comsa of Ontario competed at last year's (2004) NFFC in Quebec, and both were also at the 24th WFFC in Slovakia. Terence Courtoreille from Hay River, NWT, also competed at the NFFC, and at last year's Commonwealth Championships in Scotland.
Over dinner we discussed plans and strategies for our practice sessions, which will involve fishing on waters similar to those of the actual competition. Over the next seven days, we will experiment with various patterns and techniques that we hope will yield significant numbers of arctic grayling and brown trout.
12 August 2005: This morning our local guide, "Yimmy", drove us through avast wilderness to view the actual competition areas. Recent heavy rains have drenched the region, causing the rivers to rise up to 50 cm higher than normal. This meant that searching for insects in order to match the hatch was nearly impossible. The extremely high water levels have also impacted the fishing severely, so the mere handful of grayling and trout that we managed during our"unofficial" practice session were much appreciated.
16 August 2005: Five days of practice and our nightly meetings to compare notes and analyze our day's fishing has bolstered our confidence. Each day has offered a few more pieces of the puzzle. Along with Gord's guidance, we felt prepared for our two days of official practice.
With the arrival of seemingly endless waves of fly fishers from around the world, the previously calm, serene atmosphere of the hotel lobby and dining room are now filled with laughter and a rich mix of foreign languages.
17 August 2005: Day one of the official practice. My assigned group was dropped at a central location near the lower Gigan River. Some competitors had obviously scouted it beforehand and knew exactly where to go. I jogged about 1 km downstream along a logging road, then hiked through the gently rolling hills toward the river. It was beautiful -- dense growths of moss, lichen, mushrooms of every imaginable colour and shape, and an unbelievable abundance of low-growing blueberry and fiery-red lingonberry bushes. Upon reaching the river, I saw that the grassy banks were well below the surface. The practice session proved challenging, but I managed two grayling that took nymphs retrieved tight against the bank.
18 August 2005: Day two of official practice on Lake Rodentrask.
Today's calm conditions meant that locating brown trout in the lake was visual. I chose to practice with Gord and Sorin, and we all managed to land brown trout averaging 25 cm long. We kept detailed notes of our individual successes, then set aside our most productive fly patterns for duplication later at our nightly meeting. All trout were taken in shallow water on nymphs just barely subsurface, and retrieved with short, medium-paced strips.
19 August 2005: First official day of competition. Morning session on Lake Rodentrask. I shared a brightly-coloured green and yellow boat with a Swedish team member for the three-hour session. Rise rings on the calm lake left clear indications as to where the fish were. After much searching and several pattern changes, we each landed trout and lost several near the boat. My second trout was slightly under the 20-cm minimum, but by the session's end I had one 25-cm brown that counted, as did the majority in my group. Quite a few "blanked" (zero fish).I placed 14th in my group for this session.
19 August 2005: Afternoon session. I drew a "break", which means I had the afternoon free to rest and prepare for tomorrow. This also means a Zero score and placing for everyone in my group.
20 August 2005: Morning session on the lower Logde River. I began on Sector IV, Beat 13. As the controller and I hiked through the dense bush to my location on the river, she informed me that on the preceding day, Pavel Machan, top rod from the Czech Republic's team, had managed only two grayling on this beat for all of his efforts, with the longest 27 cm. This didn't discourage me, for I felt that once the session began it was just my fly rod and me matched against the river and its fish.
Upon arrival, I saw that the water was too high and swift to wade safely, which limited the fish-able portions extremely. I could understand why the Czech had experienced such a difficult session. After spending most of my session working a small outcropping of rocks that extended from the riverbank, I landed two undersized grayling (less than 20 cm) and one of 35.1 cm. Given the river's condition and degree of difficulty, I was satisfied with my results. I placed 14thin my group in this session.
20 August 2005: Afternoon session on the upper Logde River. My beat looked more like a slough than a river, which meant "Czech nymphing" would be absolutely useless. The water's dark colour and depth would also restrict my dry fly presentation.
Shortly into my session, an Italian competitor fishing the beat next to mine hooked a small grayling. While bringing it in, a 45 cm-long pike latched onto the grayling and refused to let go. He eventually netted both, but as pike don't qualify for this competition only the grayling counted.
Approximately halfway through my session -- and one of the worst mosquito swarming experiences of my life -- I managed to land a grayling just 5 mm shy of qualifying, but several casts later I netted one of 24 cm. This was my most trying session by far and I'm hopeful that tomorrow's fishing will bring better results. This time I placed 18th in my group.
21 August 2005: Morning session on the upper Juktan River. We met our controllers beside the river and were promptly led to our assigned beats. Using polarized sunglasses to cut the sun's glare, I could see the river bottom -- it was shallow. As my surroundings were devoid of cover I would be too exposed to try Czech nymphing. I decided to try a no. 14 heavily-weighted Bead Head Pheasant Tail Nymph as my dropper fly, suspending it under a no. 12 Royal Coachman dry that would act as an indicator. Twenty minutes into the session, a small brown trout took the nymph. It was barely over the minimum length of 20 cm, but the pressure was off and I could now have some fun.
Under such shallow and clear water conditions, a low profile and stealthy approach was absolutely crucial, and resulted in two brown trout and one grayling landed, as well as several strikes on my two-fly combo. Much happier with this session's results, I was pleased to place 12th in my group.
Later, as we were sitting by the fire enjoying another great shore lunch, news arrived about "the incident." Apparently two bear-hunting dogs had chased a rather large cow moose through the dense woods and into the river, where she finally had the advantage and stood her ground. This must have been quite a site to see, and it was even captured by a South African television crew that happened to be on scene. However, the thrill and excitement seemed to have been lost on the competitors whose waters the moose had raced through and then stopped. I'm sure that any grayling or trout that were present had fled for the river's deepest, darkest pools to escape the chaos.
21 August 2005: Afternoon session on the lower Juktan River. I approached what would be my final beat and, for that matter, the final waters on which I would be casting my flies in Sweden. I finally felt as if I had drawn a promising looking beat, and chose to walk its entire length to observe and analyze it thoroughly prior to the session starting. As the water was extremely clear and very shallow, when the session began I started from downstream and worked up toward the top.
A slightly angled, upstream casting technique rewarded me with a 30 cm grayling, and this proved to be the most successful presentation for those conditions. It seemed as though the grayling and browns would rise to the dry quite willingly, but once they refused, would never rise to it again. I would then add a weighted nymph 50 cm above my dry, which proved to be a very effective method for locating and enticing 2 more grayling of similar size and a 26.5 cm brown trout. After thoroughly fishing my entire beat, I quickly ran back to the bottom and started reworking the locations where I had previously rose or sighted fish.
My first cast, followed by a quick mend, produced an aggressive splash as a grayling attempted to drown my fly. I quickly retied a slightly smaller Coachman onto the leader and sent it sailing off to the exact location as before. This time the grayling rose and hammered the smaller pattern, and the hook was set. I carefully played it and eventually brought him skating into my net, not wanting to lose a fish so close to the session's end. I waded quickly back to the bank where my controller was waiting to record my catch. At 33.6 cm, it was my largest fish of the day. With only minutes left in the session, I waded back out to where I had previously raised a large brown and cast two feet above its holding position. As my fly drifted above the trout's location, it rose, took, and quickly came to the net. This final session created by far the fondest memories of my entire time spent fly fishing while in Sweden.
I placed 11th in my group in this session, and finished 79th overall out of109 competitors.
EPILOGUE
Team results:
1, France
2, Finland
3, Czech Republic
19, Canada
Individual results:
1 Facnce, Bertrand Jacquemin
2 Italy, Massimo Valsesia
3 England, Andrew Dixon
46 Canada, John Nishi
70 Canada, Terence Courtorielle
79 Canada, Todd Oishi
88 Canada, Sorin Comsa
105 Canada, Gord Bacon
Participating in the 25th FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championship and Conservation Symposium was an incredible experience that taught me far more than I could have ever imagined at the outset. It also reinforced my belief that competitive fly fishing can definitely be a positive experience. It provided me with an opportunity to represent Canada, while at the same time observing the various styles and techniques of fly fishers from around the world. It was truly a grand event, and a memorable experience that I shall cherish forever.
www.bcflyfishingadventures.com
August 23, 2005
by Todd Oishi
Following are excerpts from the daily diary that I kept while attending the 25th FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championship and Conservation Symposium in August 2005.
11 August 2005: After five memorable days spent sightseeing throughout England and Scotland, I have finally arrived in the small northern town of Lycksele, Sweden, situated just inside the Arctic Circle. As I walked through the massive revolving doors and into the lobby, I finally felt as though the months of research, preparation and practice are finally coming to a climax.
Following introductions and a warm welcome from the rest of Team Canada, we sat at our table in the hotel's dimly lit dining room and dined upon Swedish-style spaghetti. As "new kid on the team", this gave me a chance to get to know the four other teammates with whom I will be spending the next 11 days.
Our captain, Gord Bacon is from Ontario (he has since moved to Kamloops, B.C.). A veteran of numerous WFFCs, he is a great source of information regarding competitive fly fishing. John Nishi from Alberta and Sorin Comsa of Ontario competed at last year's (2004) NFFC in Quebec, and both were also at the 24th WFFC in Slovakia. Terence Courtoreille from Hay River, NWT, also competed at the NFFC, and at last year's Commonwealth Championships in Scotland.
Over dinner we discussed plans and strategies for our practice sessions, which will involve fishing on waters similar to those of the actual competition. Over the next seven days, we will experiment with various patterns and techniques that we hope will yield significant numbers of arctic grayling and brown trout.
12 August 2005: This morning our local guide, "Yimmy", drove us through avast wilderness to view the actual competition areas. Recent heavy rains have drenched the region, causing the rivers to rise up to 50 cm higher than normal. This meant that searching for insects in order to match the hatch was nearly impossible. The extremely high water levels have also impacted the fishing severely, so the mere handful of grayling and trout that we managed during our"unofficial" practice session were much appreciated.
16 August 2005: Five days of practice and our nightly meetings to compare notes and analyze our day's fishing has bolstered our confidence. Each day has offered a few more pieces of the puzzle. Along with Gord's guidance, we felt prepared for our two days of official practice.
With the arrival of seemingly endless waves of fly fishers from around the world, the previously calm, serene atmosphere of the hotel lobby and dining room are now filled with laughter and a rich mix of foreign languages.
17 August 2005: Day one of the official practice. My assigned group was dropped at a central location near the lower Gigan River. Some competitors had obviously scouted it beforehand and knew exactly where to go. I jogged about 1 km downstream along a logging road, then hiked through the gently rolling hills toward the river. It was beautiful -- dense growths of moss, lichen, mushrooms of every imaginable colour and shape, and an unbelievable abundance of low-growing blueberry and fiery-red lingonberry bushes. Upon reaching the river, I saw that the grassy banks were well below the surface. The practice session proved challenging, but I managed two grayling that took nymphs retrieved tight against the bank.
18 August 2005: Day two of official practice on Lake Rodentrask.
Today's calm conditions meant that locating brown trout in the lake was visual. I chose to practice with Gord and Sorin, and we all managed to land brown trout averaging 25 cm long. We kept detailed notes of our individual successes, then set aside our most productive fly patterns for duplication later at our nightly meeting. All trout were taken in shallow water on nymphs just barely subsurface, and retrieved with short, medium-paced strips.
19 August 2005: First official day of competition. Morning session on Lake Rodentrask. I shared a brightly-coloured green and yellow boat with a Swedish team member for the three-hour session. Rise rings on the calm lake left clear indications as to where the fish were. After much searching and several pattern changes, we each landed trout and lost several near the boat. My second trout was slightly under the 20-cm minimum, but by the session's end I had one 25-cm brown that counted, as did the majority in my group. Quite a few "blanked" (zero fish).I placed 14th in my group for this session.
19 August 2005: Afternoon session. I drew a "break", which means I had the afternoon free to rest and prepare for tomorrow. This also means a Zero score and placing for everyone in my group.
20 August 2005: Morning session on the lower Logde River. I began on Sector IV, Beat 13. As the controller and I hiked through the dense bush to my location on the river, she informed me that on the preceding day, Pavel Machan, top rod from the Czech Republic's team, had managed only two grayling on this beat for all of his efforts, with the longest 27 cm. This didn't discourage me, for I felt that once the session began it was just my fly rod and me matched against the river and its fish.
Upon arrival, I saw that the water was too high and swift to wade safely, which limited the fish-able portions extremely. I could understand why the Czech had experienced such a difficult session. After spending most of my session working a small outcropping of rocks that extended from the riverbank, I landed two undersized grayling (less than 20 cm) and one of 35.1 cm. Given the river's condition and degree of difficulty, I was satisfied with my results. I placed 14thin my group in this session.
20 August 2005: Afternoon session on the upper Logde River. My beat looked more like a slough than a river, which meant "Czech nymphing" would be absolutely useless. The water's dark colour and depth would also restrict my dry fly presentation.
Shortly into my session, an Italian competitor fishing the beat next to mine hooked a small grayling. While bringing it in, a 45 cm-long pike latched onto the grayling and refused to let go. He eventually netted both, but as pike don't qualify for this competition only the grayling counted.
Approximately halfway through my session -- and one of the worst mosquito swarming experiences of my life -- I managed to land a grayling just 5 mm shy of qualifying, but several casts later I netted one of 24 cm. This was my most trying session by far and I'm hopeful that tomorrow's fishing will bring better results. This time I placed 18th in my group.
21 August 2005: Morning session on the upper Juktan River. We met our controllers beside the river and were promptly led to our assigned beats. Using polarized sunglasses to cut the sun's glare, I could see the river bottom -- it was shallow. As my surroundings were devoid of cover I would be too exposed to try Czech nymphing. I decided to try a no. 14 heavily-weighted Bead Head Pheasant Tail Nymph as my dropper fly, suspending it under a no. 12 Royal Coachman dry that would act as an indicator. Twenty minutes into the session, a small brown trout took the nymph. It was barely over the minimum length of 20 cm, but the pressure was off and I could now have some fun.
Under such shallow and clear water conditions, a low profile and stealthy approach was absolutely crucial, and resulted in two brown trout and one grayling landed, as well as several strikes on my two-fly combo. Much happier with this session's results, I was pleased to place 12th in my group.
Later, as we were sitting by the fire enjoying another great shore lunch, news arrived about "the incident." Apparently two bear-hunting dogs had chased a rather large cow moose through the dense woods and into the river, where she finally had the advantage and stood her ground. This must have been quite a site to see, and it was even captured by a South African television crew that happened to be on scene. However, the thrill and excitement seemed to have been lost on the competitors whose waters the moose had raced through and then stopped. I'm sure that any grayling or trout that were present had fled for the river's deepest, darkest pools to escape the chaos.
21 August 2005: Afternoon session on the lower Juktan River. I approached what would be my final beat and, for that matter, the final waters on which I would be casting my flies in Sweden. I finally felt as if I had drawn a promising looking beat, and chose to walk its entire length to observe and analyze it thoroughly prior to the session starting. As the water was extremely clear and very shallow, when the session began I started from downstream and worked up toward the top.
A slightly angled, upstream casting technique rewarded me with a 30 cm grayling, and this proved to be the most successful presentation for those conditions. It seemed as though the grayling and browns would rise to the dry quite willingly, but once they refused, would never rise to it again. I would then add a weighted nymph 50 cm above my dry, which proved to be a very effective method for locating and enticing 2 more grayling of similar size and a 26.5 cm brown trout. After thoroughly fishing my entire beat, I quickly ran back to the bottom and started reworking the locations where I had previously rose or sighted fish.
My first cast, followed by a quick mend, produced an aggressive splash as a grayling attempted to drown my fly. I quickly retied a slightly smaller Coachman onto the leader and sent it sailing off to the exact location as before. This time the grayling rose and hammered the smaller pattern, and the hook was set. I carefully played it and eventually brought him skating into my net, not wanting to lose a fish so close to the session's end. I waded quickly back to the bank where my controller was waiting to record my catch. At 33.6 cm, it was my largest fish of the day. With only minutes left in the session, I waded back out to where I had previously raised a large brown and cast two feet above its holding position. As my fly drifted above the trout's location, it rose, took, and quickly came to the net. This final session created by far the fondest memories of my entire time spent fly fishing while in Sweden.
I placed 11th in my group in this session, and finished 79th overall out of109 competitors.
EPILOGUE
Team results:
1, France
2, Finland
3, Czech Republic
19, Canada
Individual results:
1 Facnce, Bertrand Jacquemin
2 Italy, Massimo Valsesia
3 England, Andrew Dixon
46 Canada, John Nishi
70 Canada, Terence Courtorielle
79 Canada, Todd Oishi
88 Canada, Sorin Comsa
105 Canada, Gord Bacon
Participating in the 25th FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championship and Conservation Symposium was an incredible experience that taught me far more than I could have ever imagined at the outset. It also reinforced my belief that competitive fly fishing can definitely be a positive experience. It provided me with an opportunity to represent Canada, while at the same time observing the various styles and techniques of fly fishers from around the world. It was truly a grand event, and a memorable experience that I shall cherish forever.
www.bcflyfishingadventures.com
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