Tracy&James | Wednesday, 5 March 2025
Last week I wrote about mine and Tracy's first casting competition of the year, the CNL event in Guadalajara, Spain. In particular I was interested in the 'lake (lago) distance' discipline because it had quite an open set of rules that could be approached differently depending on the caster. I may have incorrectly mentioned last week that rules stated the maximum rod length was 11ft, actually it was 10.5ft, not that anyone used anything over 10ft in the actual competition.
My chosen outfit was a Celestial intermediate DT #8 line which, on a my 10ft ST27 rod, I was casting around 45m in the very short practice session that I had a couple of days before flying out to Spain. Tracy went with a WF #7 floating line (also a Celestial) on a 9ft #10 rod (our usual TCX). Finding out what the other competitors were using was not easy due to the language barrier (we were thankful to have Google Translate on our phone many times during the weekend). Many of them had cast in the competition the previous year and seemed to be favouring casting a #8 Snowbee ED line on a 10ft rod, I assume based on the outfit used by the winner. I didn't try and ask about the weight of the line, anyone who has any experience with the Snowbee ED knows that what is boxed as an #8 could be as described or it could just as easily be a #9. Being as the rules allowed for #9 weight lines this wasn't a problem though.
The qualifying for the 'lake distance' went well for me, well I think it did but I have no idea how far I cast because of the communication issues and the lack of a scoreboard. I did get into the final though and I was casting in the last group so I know I was casting competitive distances (despite using a borrowed rod that I hadn't cast before the timer started). Now it wouldn't be a typical competition for me if I didn't completely balls-up the final and sure enough I did. After my first cast I noticed that my fluff fly had caught on the leader as I started to retrieve it. I was just about to snap it back when the marker ran down the court to sort it out. Usually a gentle pull would release the fluff when it's wrapped around the leader, but it was clear that the marker was struggling to release it despite applying a fair bit of force. I decided to go up and take a look for myself and sure enough my fly was somehow intimately bonded with one of my leader knots. Now, I'll admit at this point I was woefully under prepared in that I didn't have my glasses with me, nor a pair of scissors or even some replacement fluff. So after I eventually got frustrated and snapped the fluff off in order to get the leader straight again, I had to call to the sidelines for snips and wool. Being as I was in the second lane, these had to be delivered the long way round in order to not walk through the other caster's court. Anyway, by the time I'd sorted my issues out 'falta un minuto' had been called and I just about managed to get two casts in. I perhaps was therefore fortunate to be called up for the second place certificate during the prize giving. I have no idea of the winning distance or my distance mind you.
I made up for the disastrous lake distance final with a win in the ST27. This combined with another second place in the accuracy and a third place in the trout distance meant that I cast pretty well on the day. I should say that the weather conditions for all the competitions were not what anyone was expecting – it was colder than the UK and raining all day. I was casting whilst wearing two pairs of trousers and two coats! What was warm though was the Spanish hospitality and the friendliness of the other casters, that made it a great weekend for Tracy and myself. The deep fried pigs ears were fantastic too.
I've already been out on my usual casting field to work on some things that I thought could be improved upon from the weekend, hopefully I can get some of it to stick before our next competition – the UK championships in Millom, Cumbria.
Hope you're having a great week,
James.