Nice Little Read from Midcurrent

Fly-casting not in the Olympics, but enjoyed in 29 nations
Thursday, August 7, 2008
MORGAN LYLE


I’m sorry to say that as the Olympic Games get under way in China this week, there won’t be a fly-casting competition.
Nor will there be lifesaving, surfing or powerboating — although all those activ ities have international federations that are recognized by the International Olympic Committee.
Of course, casting has a federation too, and it’s been trying to break into the Olympics for decades, said Dale Lanser, exec utive secretary of the American Casting Association.
“The American Casting Association, starting 40 or 50 years ago, has put forth the effort to join the Olympic Committee, demonstrated the sport of casting as a new event, etc, etc, etc.,” he said. “The bottom line as I understand the Olympic effort for a new sport to be recognized and become an official event is the number of countries in the world that actually do participate in the event. The magic number of countries is unknown to me, but my guess is 50 to 75 countries are needed.”
If that’s the case, we’re short of the mark. The International Casting Sport Federation lists 29 countries as members. Twenty-two are in Europe; the others are the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand and Singapore. Still, the list shows the global appeal of fly-casting; every continent is represented except South America and Antarctica. (South America’s an odd omission, since there’s plenty of fly-fishing there.)
The American Casting Federation and the International casting Sport Federation both run tournaments for spinning rod and fly rod casting. There are other clubs devoted to just one or the other, and some sanction competition with bait-casting and spinning rods.
When the modern-day Olympic Games began in 1896, competitive fly-casting was already well established. In 1906, an Irishman named John Enright set a world record by casting a salmon fly 152 feet at an Anglers Club of New York tournament in Central Park. The New York Times reports Enright used a 20-foot greenheart rod that weighed four pounds. That would probably be in the two-handed rod category in today’s events, and Enright’s toss would be about half of what today’s casters can cast.
By the way, the famous George M.L. LaBranche came in second in the accuracy competition in that 1906 event and eighth in the trout-fly distance event, presumably single-handed casting, at 77 feet.
According to the ACA, Steve Rajeff holds the current American record for men’s single-handed casting — an astonishing 236 feet — as well as the two-handed record of 290 feet. Pamela Peters of Ohio holds the women’s single-handed record of 125 feet and the two-handed record of 178.
I suppose the International Olympic Committee can’t allow every obscure sport in the world into the Games. They have to draw the line somewhere, and at the mom ent, fly-casting is on the other side of it.
I like the current list of Olympic sports well enough, and I’ll check in on the Beijing Games from time to time. But if fly-casting ever does manage to become an Olympic sport, you can bet I’ll be glued to the tube. If you can cast a fly 236 feet, you deserve a gold medal.

IFH MONDAYS

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MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK

Fish Where the Big Fish Hide!

bullseyefisherman.com

Trout Bums -- Fuel vs. fishing: A reel problem

By Randall Sumner, Yakima Herald

I was reading an online fly-fishing forum the other day. This is a great place to get the pulse of a fly fishing community; you find out how much time the cubicle people have on their hands at work.

Mostly it's the same old questions about waders, rods, reels, knots, boats, etc. "Should I buy the $700 waders or wear shorts?" or the classic, "How much should I tip the guide?" I always say, if you have to ask, you can't afford to hire a fishing god. But I digress.
The most interesting subject I found was about the price of gasoline as it affects your fishing travel plans. A lot of people apparently are upset at the price of gas and are angry at the Greedy Rotten Oil Companies (from here on referred to as the GROCs).

The cubicle people seem unhappy, restless and, I sense, horrified that their garages are full of gas guzzlers. What were you thinking when you bought that whopper one-ton truck with a tractor motor, especially if you're not using the thing for work. Now don't get me wrong. I am a free marketer -- I say if you want a big, smoking, rod-knocking beast of a rig, go for it, but then your whining later comes off a bit disingenuous.

Here is a gut check: The price of fuel may modulate some, but it will never come back down. How do I know that? Well, I asked my mom about it; she is wise beyond her years, and she says forget it, the cheap fuel is gone.

So where does that leave us and our fishing travel plans?

We Trout Bum types will probably just stay home and try and grow something to eat in our backyards and huddle for warmth around our BBQs, dreaming of all those good times we'll never have again because of the evil GROCs.
NOT.

No, I suspect we will adapt quite nicely with smaller vehicles and some carpooling to our favorite distant fishing venues. We will embrace the new fuel reality, because that's what fishing teaches us -- to constantly adjust to the conditions as we find them and, most of all, to stay optimistic about the future. My advice is to dump the behemoth monster rig soon while the dumping is good. Or get a second job.

As to the cubicle people and their rants about the GROCs, here are some other by-the-gallon prices that are likely to chap some hides.

Diet Snapple, 16 oz., $1.29: that's $10.32 per gallon.
Gatorade, 20 oz., $ 1.59: $10.17 per gallon
Evian water, 9 oz. $1.49: $21.19 per gallon
Printer ink for your PC's printer: $5,200 per gallon.

My favorite is a gallon of Vicks NyQuil, 6 oz., $8.35 or $178.13 per gallon; it would just be fun to see a gallon jug of NyQuil. Now I realize we don't need to use much of -- or any of -- these products, and that's my point: We don't need to use as much fuel either.
When you consider all the trouble and expense it takes to find, drill, produce, ship, refine, and deliver fuel, it makes you glad the cold medicine people are not in the oil business.

* Trout Bums At Large, written by Randal Sumner, appears six times a year on the last Thursday of every other month. Sumner, a fly fisherman since 1972, is owner of Blue Skies Guide Service on the Yakima River. Trout Bums can be reached at randal@blueskiesfishing.com or randalsumnerart.com

JUST LET IT SIT THERE!

What do you guys think about fisshuing on Monday or Tuesday afternoon. Let me know.

Hammer

Missouri Bluegill

Bluegill Fest?

If I knew how to use photoshop I prolly could have drawn some boobs or a vagina on the bluegill pictured to keep with the trend on the OTD blog. Sorry guys, yes this is actually a post about fishing. Anyway I talked to BL on Saturday about hitting the lake by my house one night this week(maybe Thursday?), and I drove by the lake on Sunday to see what it looked like. It is still a bit murky and I didn't stop to talk to anybody about the fishin', but hey I'm down if you guys are. If anything its a chance to throw a few flies around. Give me shout and let me know the consensus.

Bee Tree Park

It's been too long...

So it's been almost a month! The last post was on March 24th. In order to keep the site fresh and keep people interested I thought I better get this up on the site.

Enjoy a a little Kim Kardashian