Tracy&James | Sunday, 14 February 2021
The entries into the PULD competition have dried up recently so I suspect it’s getting towards the point where Tracy and I should declare the winners and hand out the prizes. That said we’re both confident that we could improve our respective scores, and I’m desperate to join the elite group who have managed 40 metres plus (I’m a foot or so short at the moment). The competition has been an interesting one for me personally as it has forced me to change my pick-up from the one I would normally use in a distance event; picking the fly up from 75ft when you have only one back-cast is nowhere near enough. That said, going for too big a pick-up is equally bad (in my experience), as maintaining tension and shooting into the carry suffers. As such it’s about achieving the perfect compromise, something that I feel I’ve yet to achieve.
We’re aware that distance casting isn’t everyone’s thing (actually competitive casting of any kind is always going to be very niche), so we’ve decided to start another competition that isn’t distance related. I think the sight of people casting the #5 MED huge distances put a lot of people off trying it (or if they did try, they didn’t enter), so we’re hoping that the ‘Wiggle Cast Challenge’ will appeal to some of those casters who contacted us via Facebook requesting a different competition type.
The rules are very simple (or they were until we started talking about targets); perform a wiggle cast, with any outfit, down a tape or line. Then count the number of times the fly-line cuts across the line on the ground (no adding wiggles after the fly-line has landed). The current leader is a certain Lasse Karlsson with a score of 12. I’m pretty sure this is going to be beaten, in fact Tracy is raring to have another go as her first wiggle missed the line entirely and she still scored 11.
As with the PULD challenge there are going to be prizes for the winners, what these are has yet to be decided but they’ll be good (maybe fishing trips like with the PULD). Hopefully we’ll get some entries from a different casters, but we’ll see how it goes.
We did discuss whether the fly should also land in a target for the new challenge, with perhaps an extra couple of points added for being successful. It’s also possible to have a sliding scale determined by the size of the target, i.e. the smaller the area the more bonus points awarded. Any thoughts about this would be appreciated – but only if you intend entering (we’re not changing the rules for someone who has no intention of trying).
If you’re planning on entering either competition then good luck, they both present a significant challenge.
Have a great week,
James