SPONSORED BY:
The fly casting competition will test an angler's ability to cast a nine foot fly rod to a target at 25 feet, 35 feet, and 45 feet. This competition will be for accuracy only and not for distance.
There will be two levels of competition:
Adult Level and Youth level (14 and under).
Royal Gorge Anglers will provide prizes for the top three finishers in both categories. The adult champion will be awarded a half day guided trip on the Arkansas for two, a $195 value.
The youth champion will be awarded a fully stocked fly tackle pack, a $175 value. Runners up will receive competition Tee shirts. )
In addition to the casting competition, we will demonstrate different casting techniques including the use of a Spey Rod, the long rods from Scotland.
In the days of yore...Home rivers teemed with salmon. Furs, tinsels, silks and exotic feathers from far away places found their way to English, Scottish and Irish rivers as dressing for flies. Most were cast with two-handed rods...
The angling arts migrated to America with the Northern Europeans. By the time of Columbus, fly fishing for trout and possibly salmon was already a past-time in the British Isles. The favored approach was a fly tied on a hook made from a reforged needle, cast on a braided horse hair line with a two-handed rod. By 1800 the British Empire spanned the globe. In southern England many river banks were landscaped so that the angler needn't worry about snagging his back cast. Salmon were regularly caught off the lawn.
Scottish Rivers on the other hand were larger and wilder with natural vegetation along their banks. Long back casts were out of the question on much of the water. Most notable of these wild Scottish rivers was the Spey. Here anglers devised a change of direction roll cast which became known as the Spey cast.
By the 1800's anglers were using fifteen to eighteen foot two-handed fly rods elaborately carved from Greenhart or the new technological breakthrough; laminated bamboo. Some rods weighed nearly three pounds. Men were men in those days.
Today a fast recovery fourteen foot spey rod may weigh as little as seven ounces. It develops the power and speed to deliver a wide range of fly lines to long distances with little back-cast room.
It does take more river time to master. The spey rod is the great equalizer for fly anglers covering medium and large rivers. It is the superior tool for water that is six feet deep or less.
