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BFCC Fly Casting Competition at Huntingdon

The newly-formed British Fly Casting Club held its inaugural fly casting competition at Huntingdon racecourse. Fish & Fly rod tester Pete Sutton seems to have done quite well! The next event is to be held in association with The British Fly Fair on 25 and 26 October.

On Sunday, 7 September 2003, the British Fly Casting Club (BFCC), in partnership with the UK Surfcasting Association (UKSF), held its inaugural fly casting competition at Huntingdon racecourse in Cambridgeshire. Fourteen fly casters from different parts of the country took part in a friendly competition comprising fisherman’s fly distance using a standard 7 weight outfit, single-handed trout distance (an ICSF tournament grade event), double-handed salmon distance (another ICSF tournament grade event), and a chance to become part of the 55 yard club using any fly tackle capable of attaining this distance without using a casting platform.

Although the weather report suggested a windy day coupled with bouts of rain, the fly casters saw neither during the morning casting rounds. Because the casters were not using platforms coupled with a lack of wind, no British fly distance records were going to be broken. Even so, the competitors had a great time sharing their casting knowledge and techniques.

Mike Marshall, the co-founder of the 55 yard club, provided the casters with a great demonstration on distance casting form and showed each of us that distance is a matter of technique rather than brute strength alone.

Fly fisherman’s distance

To appeal to fisherman and tournament caster alike, this event was added to the BFCC list of casting events. A 7 weight outfit was provided by BFCC founder, Dr Sam Davis, for this event in an effort to create a sense of fairness and to test each caster’s ability and to come to grips with a new casting outfit. To make sure that everybody had a chance to get as much out of this event as possible (i.e. casting practice and a chance to beat their previous personal best), Sam decided to create morning and afternoon casting rounds. The morning session was dominated by Pete Sutton (APGAI) and Carl Hutchinson (FFF). Pete’s longest was 116.2 feet followed closely by Carl’s 111.7 feet then Matt Mile’s effort at 107.3 feet.

Many of the novice casters were so inspired by these distances that instead of just watching, all of them joined in to give it a go. The wind did show up intermittently in the afternoon session where again Pete and Carl bettered their best morning casts with a whopping 124.5 and 116.8 feet respectively. Pete’s cast was a beauty with long narrow loops followed by a smooth but crisp forward cast which was carried by a nice puff of wind during mid flight. All of the casters who participated in the afternoon session bettered their morning distances by at least a yard.

Single-hand trout distance/55yd Club

Nine casters enjoyed throwing the equivalent of a 17 weight fly outfit (9 foot rod, 38 gram/50 foot Airflo shooting head line with 8 pound mono as running line) provided by Sam and most were amazed at how far they could launch a shooting head despite the lack of wind. Nobody threw less than 130 feet (43 yards) on the day. Hugh Newton (our only veteran tournament caster showed that age wasn’t a bar to performing well) won the event with a cast of 154.9 feet. He was followed in second by Rob Caley (a surfcaster cum fly caster convert from a previous BFCC/UKSF outing) with a cast of 152.06 feet. Sam Davis came in third with a cast of 151.4 feet. None of the new casters were able to gain their 55 yard club badge but it’s only a matter of time before they make the grade.

Double-hand salmon distance

Even though Sam provided a 17 foot rod loaded with a 120 gram shooting head, many of the casters enjoyed this event because the casting technique was simpler than the one used in the single-handed trout distance event (no hauling was involved and the forward launch cast consisted of a crisp overhead snap of the rod). Seven casters had a go and nobody cast shorter than 162 feet (54 yards). Again, Hugh Newton (a previous salmon distance world champion) proved that his experience was still paying dividends by winning this event with a cast of 214.8 feet. This narrowly beat Sam Davis who came in a close second with a cast of 211.9 feet. Rob Caley was third with a 192.2 foot effort.

All 14 casters went home with a fly tackle prizes supplied by Terry Carol of Ziplex to whom we extend our warmest thanks. Colin Howlett of the UKSF provided trophies to the top casters in the three events and was extremely helpful in helping us set up for the day.

Next Event

The next BFCC fly casting competition will be held in conjunction with the British Fly Fair. All interested fly casters who want to have a go at any of the events can contact Carl Hutchinson on info@corporateflyrods.com. Further information on the BFCC can be found at www.thebfcc.co.uk.