[Mike Barrio]

Chris Ogborne has just been off the 'phone and I am delighted to announce - here first folks  - that the Open Saltwater Distance competition has been saved and will go ahead this year

My sincere thanks to all of you who assisted/offered support in making this happen.

This year there will be no cash prizes but, most probably, tackle prizes for 1-3rd places.

Get in..... 

H

Excellent news ..... Well done Hamish

[Marc Fauvet]

 

[Hamish Young]

Well, it's been a busy morning on the 'phones

An offer has been made by the organisers to help with the costs of those wanting to enter the Saltwater event. To take advantage please bung me an email to betanut@talk21.com with some urgency.....

H

[Mike Barrio]

For those that haven't tried this before ....... What exactly are the current rules Hamish? Or how are they different from the BFCC ST27 rules for example?

Best wishes
Mike

[Hamish Young]

Mike,
Good question.... seeing as we're still waiting for the rules to be posted these are the old rules which we will be working to.

THE CLA GAME FAIR OPEN SALTWATER FLY CASTING CHAMPIONSHIP
RULES OF COMPETITION

1. The championship is open to all comers regardless of gender, amateur or professional. Competitors need not be resident in the UK.

2. First prize will be awarded to the competitor who is judged to have cast the greatest distance using an approved Cast.

3. There will be a prize awarded to the principal manufacturer who has designed and built the rod used by the winner.

4. Competitors may compete with any rod, reel and line provided they fall within the following specifications:
• The rod must be single-handed and no greater than 12ft in length.
• The reel must be of the normal revolving spool fly reel design
• The casting line, or casting head, in the case of weight forward profile lines, may be of any length but must not exceed an overall diameter of 2.5 mm at any point and must be of a density that classifies it as a floater, in the opinion of the judges. The line must float.
• The running line or backing may be made of any material strength or density, provided it satisfies the judges that it is of a type normally used in saltwater fly-fishing. Running line will not be deemed legal if it is considered obviously too weak to hold, for instance, a running bonefish.
• A Line Tray must be worn by each competitor, and at no time must the running line be allowed to touch the ground between either competitive or false casts.
• There must be a leader/cast of at least 6ft in length attached to the front end of the line and to this must be attached a brightly coloured wool or wool substitute tag, without weight, in place of a fly.

5. Each competitor will be given one minute warm up and practice time immediately followed by two minutes competition casting time. Approved casts will only be judged during the competition time and competitors must include at least one false cast between each competition cast. The distance will be judged as the landing point of the tag at the completion of each cast.

6. Should the same distance be cast by two or more of the top competitors during the Finals of the event, then these competitors will take part in a cast off until a clear winner can be found. Competitors must use the same rod, reel and line in the cast off as has been used in the earlier stage of the Final.

7. Failure to abide by any of the above rules and guidelines could result in the disqualification of a competitor.

The decision of the judges is final.

There are hassles with the restrictive elements of the CLA event, not enough time to fire off casts is one of them due to the amount of line husbandry needed to conform to some of the more quaint rules. You might, not unreasonably, argue that the rules are almost set up to make it impossible to compete
Where the BFCC ST27 has 27grams as the upper weight cast the CLA Open is unlimited in that respect, some folk have gone into the 40g + territory with weight.... and that's a lot to shift about on a single hander in two minutes. Trust me

Within the rules you might call the CLA Open Saltwater event a single handed 'unlimited' which has a nice ring to it....... 

H

[Mike Barrio]

Would eliminating the requirement of a line tray, allowing the running line to be on the ground and extending the time to say 4 mins be enough to make the event feel more like the usual ST27 events Hamish? ............. and give folk the impression that it would be easier to take part?

[Hamish Young]

Very much down to personal preferences Mr B.....

For my tuppence worth I'd be happy enough retain the line tray if the amount of casting time is made realistic - say the same as the Spey competition.
Arguably the amount of time for line management is critical in both, but at least the Spey chaps can get their running line on the deck rather than the Saltwater where getting into whatever contraption you are using as line tray happens to be.

Whilst I like the idea of a making the event an internationally recognised ST27 type affair I equally like the idea of 'single handed unlimited' which the Saltwater event almost is. I will be basing most of my gear around ST27 this year.... as it happens.....

H

[Mike Barrio]

Hope you guys aren't getting a soaking Hamish

Cheers
Mike

[Hamish Young]

On occasion we did Mr B..... and I was bloody glad for it as the heat and humidity was draining at times

Not too sure how many pics Ben took as I took feck all - again 

There will be more to say once thoughts are collated, but we got home in the wee small hours and in my defence I'm on just a few hours kip thanks to the wee fella who seems determined that now Dad is home now would be the best time to kick off
It was an enjoyable CLA and the Open Salt Water was a big success; a very big thank to all who made helped make it happen 

[Hamish Young]

So I don't have any photos to share I'm afraid  I was either too busy working on the Mackenzie Fly fishing stand, watching other events or entering qualifying for the Saltwater event to take any.
That was my three days at the 2014 CLA. Boy was it hot, I mean really feckin hot with a chilli on top kind of hot.

The important thing is that the two 'big' events (Saltwater and Spey) were well attended, the Saltwater had in excess of 40 entries over the day and a half of qualifying. The final was held on the Saturday afternoon (eventually  ) which was in keeping with how it's previously been run. Personally, I'd like to have seen it run on the Sunday before the Spey final..... giving almost another 12 hours of potential entrants to have a chuck, maybe another time.
Plenty of folk came to enter the Saltwater who I had not met before but who had rallied to the call. Although none of them qualified for the final - only the best 6 go through - I'm confident most will be back next year to have a crack at it again. There was great camaraderie amongst the competitors which was really nice to see.
I was delighted to qualify for the final, at the previous two events I have been within a gnats bollocks of qualifying but been knocked out at the last minute. Not this time.

Despite crushing heat, humidity, torrential rain (thank the Good Lord for the rain ) crap wind conditions and .... well..... you get the idea.... I popped in a cast in the 36 metre territory which seeded me 4th. Now that's some 10 metres below where I've been casting at home, it was really brought home to me this time that the caster who is consistent in all conditions will be successful. Ben seeded 1st by casting better than I've seen him chuck before, almost as if there were no pressure at all. Utter git.

Come the final I have to say I was a smidgen nervous to begin with. Stepping up onto the 'big' platform (where the Spey event takes place) with a good sized audience and a thunder and lightening storm going on around you is an experience I can assure you.
Once I started casting some advice given to me by Scott Mackenzie kicked in and, despite everything going on around me, I did OK. I expected to have my arse handed to me and finish last but it wasn't to be and I threw some really good casts; enough to remain 4th at the end with some really top casters ahead of me. I believe I was only a few centimetres from making the top three but I was just happy, exhilarated in fact, to have been part of a final. The conditions were tricky though and, honestly, Ben was unlucky to come second. Luck of the draw and all that. Good caster though he is young Tommy had a major wind assist with his winning cast.

Results of all CLA events are here: http://www.gamefair.co.uk/visitor-info/results/fishing-results

I'll be doing the Spey event next year as well. Promises to be fun Hopefully Ben will post about his exploits over the weekend too.
Thinking of going next year when it's at Harewood House in Yorkshire You should.
We hope to have raised the profile of the Saltwater event and, perhaps more importantly, encouraged some Ladies events for next time. See you there.

H

[Ben Dixon]

Will sort some pics in next day or two Hamish.  I took a lot more video than pics so will need to pull out some stills from it.

Cheers

Ben

[Allan Liddle]

Well done guys 
Sounds like you had a great time Hamish.   

[Ben Dixon]

Linked from Sexyloops for now.....


Spey Qualifying Distances



Spey Final Distances

Less than 1 metre in first four places, very close indeed.

Cheers

Ben

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff ..... well done guys!

Cheers
Mike