Tracy&James | Wednesday, 9 July 2025
Running fly casting competitions at the Scottish Game Fair in Scone Palace, near Perth, is always great fun, but often with challenging weather conditions. We're frequently surprised how casters still want to compete when it's blowing hard and/or when it's raining heavily. There were occasions of caster's caps flying off into the water to be rescued by our team, however, thankfully, no-one fell in, though one well-known angler did slip promptly down one of the steep banks, luckily he was wearing waders so was unharmed (or appeared OK as he immediately started casting on the pontoon with the Jerome, Laurent and Francois of the Fly Casting Lab who had travelled from France to support the Game Fair).
As usual, there was a fantastic stream of people ready to compete during the day. In the evening, the casting instructors and other fishing stall holders were ready for impromptu casting sessions. We cast with the Fly Casting Lab team every evening and they competed daily in the casting Championship. James, who didn't compete, suggested a left-handed (or non-dominant hand) cast-off that he won, of course. Then we had a PULD comp, that Jerome and Blaine dominated. I think I may have won the best 'tracking' session.
It was lovely to catch up with friends and make new ones. The volunteers helping all enjoyed their time and several of them entered the comps. Some of the instructors managed to have a go too, when they weren't too busy providing instruction, sometimes to the daily competitors who asked for advice to improve. We had lots of youngsters entering and ladies too, and the age range was from 10 years to gents in their eighties.
Most people competed in the Championship on the Friday and Saturday when the wind was strong and blowing across the pontoon, often making it difficult to cast. I only managed to do my entries on the Sunday morning when the wind was calm and often still. As did Stewart and the winning junior, Jack. However I was quite pleased to be placed 5th overall, with only 0.5% off 4th place. Our next Game Fair comp is only a few weeks away and I intend to enter every day to aim to be better placed.
James and I always leave the weekend pretty exhausted, though that also might be three nights camping – not something I particularly enjoy. Thankfully it wasn't as cold as last year so we didn't need the thermals I took just in case. Besides the casting, there was a little bit of fishing by some of the others as most evening we saw several rises. Besides the huge numbers of dogs, there were horses amongst other country animals. The small horses that provided emotional support, were adorable, particularly the smallest one called Haggis.
We're still in Scotland for the week as I'm working here, and we won't be back home till nearer the weekend. The weather is looking good for being outside so maybe we'll have a few evenings on our local rivers. Also I'll be practising my accuracy casting as I'm still aiming to get a score of 50 or above in a comp. I learnt some new casting techniques over the weekend too, so I can practice them too.
Whatever you are doing this week, enjoy and tight-lines.
Cheers, Tracy