The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

So who can answer why tournaments are so taboo in this industry? I think it would bring a lot of people into the sport. It would also encourage people to get more involved with sport they love. Also why is it that people look down on me for being a tournament caster? If you are a bow hunter you shoot targets! I seem to have a knack for getting some lengthy posts!! Let’s see what we can get out of this topic!! I plan on getting sponsors to give a 10,000 prize most likely 80 % to the conservation effort of your choice!!
George

Fly fishing should not be a competition.
I'd rather spend a quality day alone on a mountain stream than win a casting tournament. I've competed in distance casting competitions before and it did absolutely nothing for me.

I have also seen some wonderful distance casters and perfect form casters....everything perfect when they cast, but some of them are horrible anglers. They can cast well, but they cannot fish.

Personally, I just can't seem to remember the last time I was out fishing and needed to punch my 5 wt. 100+ ft. It just doesn't happen. And I'm on the water about 300 days per year all over the globe. Sure there's the occasional 60 footer to a bonefish in a strong wind, but casting 100-115 ft. in front of a crowd of spectators does nothing to help that situation.

IMHO, tournaments are boosters for ones ego and/or marketing tools for rod makers.


sd (in Cali for a while)

Im talking fishing tournaments. Just because you think your above it, doesnt mean it wouldnt be good for the indusdry. Younger guys like competetion as well as physical activity (mountain biking, kyaking, rock climbing). I Think if I incorporate the two we could have one very sweet televised tourney!! Some younger guys throw in your thoughts!!!

There is a show on TV once in a while ... it's called Fly Fishing Masters. It's on the old OLN ... now VS network. It is a competition and its pretty cool to watch. This is what I could find with a quick Google search.

http://www...an.com/skills/brbarrett/

because they are tacky...
Casting tournaments or the like, I have no problem, but competing to stick the most fish so you can "win" is tacky and IMO, unethical.

While you Google,
There are established charity flyfishing tournaments like the Redbone for Cystic Fibrosis and the Jackson Hole One-Fly that assists stream enhancements in that area. The particpants in these tournaments pay (somethimes a lot) to compete, no prize money, just the enjoyment of the activity and being able to help folks or give something back to the sport.

http://www.redbone.org

http://www...ents_one_fly_contest.php

Now, if folks here wanted to start a yearly fishing tournament modeled after the One-Fly for the benefit of this organization, The Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation
http://www.cjdfoundation.org



I'd pay to compete

Paul

Flyfishing is a solitary sport, shared at the end of the day with friends over a refreshing libation. Tournament fishing is for those who feel they have something to prove. Those of us who are older have already done it, sometimes twice, and don't feel the need to prove anything to anyone, thus we will opt out....except, of course, those poor fools going through a mid-life crisis.

once ya get it organized..

Paul

Old guys are competitive, and still like physical activity, too. Some of us just don't like the idea of tourneys because it takes away from the quietness of "the quiet sport", and is too much like "BASSmasters" in general.

I guess I look at it in a different way. I like the excitement of competition. I like edginess and nervousness when you are waiting to see if all you practice pays off. I like the fact that it helps me broaden my knowledge. Hell I even like a good ass whooping in a competition, it makes come back really prepared. I feel that those of you who like fishing to be more of a mellow relaxing experience; tournament probably just aren’t for you (not to say you wouldn’t do well) but you simply wouldn’t enjoy it. I on the other hand like to get my blood flowing. Extreme sports are on the rise and i would love to see them incorporated in fishing. I have a great video idea incorporating those ideas into fishing...sort of like the modern Lee Wulf bush pilot angler idea.

Explain unethical because I dont see it as such. Especially under OLN format.

grevel wrote:
Explain unethical because I dont see it as such. Especially under OLN format.


In my estimation the commercially driven, testosterone/adrenaline based competitive pursuit of fish with the sole idea to catch as many and as big a fish as possible, is wrong. No matter what rules, or charity or cause, the competition is an "I" based, ego driven event that reduces the now damaged, torn and probably dying fish, to a poker chip, in a game that IMO borders on perverse. Fly fishing is about the fish and their environs, not how proficient at catching them any one dude may be.