Tracy&James | Wednesday, 14 October 2026
It's a busy time for the BFCC team as after the Essex casting day, we had a weekend with the GAIA team in Derbyshire, and we're now preparing to go to France for a fly fishing show with casting competitions. Personally, this is bitter-sweet as I can't cast as much as I would normally do due to the lump on my right hand. At Brentwood, I only cast the light gear and double handed outfits, so it was the first time in many years that I didn't complete all seven events.
There was lots of rods and lines to try at the GAIA weekend as Simon Kidd came with Snowbee gear, plus people attending always offer their outfits to try. I missed out on trying the Snowbee rods and lines, however I was able to run the accuracy comp for any of the attendees to compete at. It was a very popular event as people got the bug and some came back for multiple goes. I was kept pretty busy all morning marking and advising on whether they were 'long' or 'short' of a target. Big thanks to Sara who came with her hubby Ben (a BFCC member) as she helped me manage the event. The overall winner was John Reynolds, with Dominic Hewitt second, however both of them have cast this event before so perhaps had a bit more experience than some of the others. It was lovely to see how people improved their scores after a few attempts.
During the weekend, we decided to present the BFCC Championship winners with their trophies – John Reynolds won the Senior one, and James the Open. It was good to do this with all the attendees (both GAIA and BFCC), as normally this is a rushed activity at the end of the Brentwood event. Plus the few days gap meant I was able to get them engraved with their names for the presentation.
James and I had hoped to fish, however the river was coloured following heavy rain on Friday when we arrived and didn't clear until the Sunday when we were running the BFCC event. Hence when we finally packed up, we decided just to watch some of the others fishing rather then get our waders on. Nick had a couple of lovely rainbows and several other anglers mentioned that they had caught some grayling.
Next weekend as the French competitions are 5 weight events, I'm hoping that I will be good to cast. I have an x-ray later today so hopefully I will soon know what the lump is and what I need to do about removing it. The weather is predicted to be lovely for the fishing show so I am looking forward to sitting out with a glass of wine (or two) watching the fish rise on the river Dordogne. We have booked a cottage that has a back garden that stretches to the river bank and we can walk along it to either the fishing show, or the pubs and shops in the town. We're going with a few others from the BFCC so it'll be a great social as the Fly Casting Lab team are exceptional hosts.
Whatever you are doing this weekend, enjoy
Cheers
Tracy