Having pointed out what I see as naïve shortcomings with the way the CLA Open Spey Casting Championship is run I may as well continue the thought with the CLA Saltwater Open Fly Casting Championship.

Over the years I have watched, photographed and written about both Spey and Saltwater events. While there is a lot I like about these events there are many things which need to be changed. The Saltwater Championship rules make a line-tray mandatory – frankly that’s simply silly. The rules allow any single handed rod up to 12ft – that’s not a good idea. Then the way the rules are applied seems more than a little arbitrary – which is never good.

Line trays are sometimes used when saltwater fly fishing, but not a lot. I’ve yet to see one on a bonefish flat or on a tarpon skiff. Be that as it may – what’s this event for? I mean, as a spectator what do I want to see?

Well, a couple of years ago I watched the final when the last competitor came to the platform. He was last to cast because he set the best qualifying distance. He prepared himself, did what the judges told him to do – fly in hand – line on reel. Then he started casting, and a huge tangle sailed one or two rings up his rod. He managed one cast during his allotted time and got nowhere near his potential or his qualifying distance. The rest of his minutes in the competition spotlight, in front of a full grandstand, TV and press cameras and his fellow competitors was spent trying to undo a knot.

So, as a spectator, the spectacle the CLA presented me with was a man with a red face, wearing a waste bin on his leg, trying (and failing) to undo a knot for three minutes. Riveting viewing? Great spectacle? If the guys who set and maintain that rule think that will get a few more people excited about fly fishing then their brains are as tweed as their plus-fours.

Then the rod rule – any rod! So what you do once you have a huge basket strapped to your waist is pick up the single handed rod you think will cast farthest matched with a shooting head you have tuned to suit. Do you think that would be a saltwater rod you or I could buy? Or, would you, like several competitors every year, use a specially built tournament rod.

In my less than humble opinion that rule is poor to the point of farce. Clearly the assumption was that competitors would use rods available to the public – increasingly they don’t. So any relevance to fishing goes out the window.

Finally, to cap it all, a short but powerful competitor, the eventual winner of the Saltwater Open this year, comes to the platform. Naturally, he is wearing the regulation stupid huge waste basket strapped to his leg – in fact it was so big and he was so short it was brushing the deck. At which point the announcer decided to invent a rule that the stripping must not touch the deck. (For those interested I have copied the rules below.)

I like that this is an open event – so each competitor can choose his rod and line. I like that the CLA recognises saltwater fishing as a significant part of the sport. I would prefer to watch these top-flight casters using gear you and I can buy, and I would prefer a line class limit. So, had I written the rules, their rods would have been on sale to the public for three months prior to the competition and the first 30ft of floating lines they use would conform to the standard weight of a #10 line.

As far as I’m concerned the Line Tray rule is simply stupid. It inhibits casting, specifically hauling and it is the cause of many tangles. I want to see good long-distance casting – I don’t want to see an un-knotting competition.
 

THE CLA GAME FAIR INTERNATIONAL 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.