Reports by Christopher Bassano from the World Fly Fishing Championships

New Reports by Christopher Bassano from the World Fly Fishing Championships

Please find eleven reports from Christopher Bassano.
First Report
I thought I would send you all a quick email from Europe as I had promised I would. As you will know, the team arrived in Norway this morning for two weeks of practice before the official competition week.Unfortunately, I have been unable to join them in Mosjoen as I have been unwell and in hospital since Saturday. It turned out that I had a bad case of gastro and my antibiotics seem to be doing the job. As I am currently in Wales, I will join the team in the evening of the 4th of August.

The last three weeks have been rather remarkable. I have been lucky enough to fish in France, Slovenia, England and Wales with my very good friend, Tim Strong. We have been lucky enough to spend time on the water with world renowned fly fishermen and guides who have taught us a tremendous amount about river craft with an emphasis on Grayling fishing. The learning curve has been steep! Jean-Pierre Coudoux was our first instructor, guiding us on the beautiful Dordogne River. He is a dry fly purist and "teacher" of the French National Team when it comes to dry fly fishing. The people, food, fishing and fly life were all fantastic. After a few days we then headed south to Yannick Rivierre where we fished the beautiful and fish filled L'Aude River. Grayling and trout abound in this river but they are not easy. This was just the sort of fishing we were hoping to find. Yannick's instruction was again first class as put into practice the techniques and theories he had lectured us on during his November Seminars in Tasmania last year. Once again, our level of ineptitude was evident but by the end of our stay with him, both Tim and I had progressed markedly. I can not help but mention that Tim broke off the largest Grayling I have ever seen in my life on the final afternoon. It was massive!

Our final stop in France was outside Grenoble on the Italian border. Fishing with Jann Caleri (aka. "The Gladiator") was once again, eye opening. Jann has fished in seven world fly fishing championships or France making the top ten five times! In his own words and with the wonderful sense of humour he posses, he said, "I have never finished on the podium individually and that is why nobody has ever heard of me." Two fourth places wasn't too bad and no doubt the two gold team medals and umpteen silvers at that level would ease the pain. The fishing here was different again. Mostly sight fishing to smaller fish in large rivers, this as a little closer to what the Australian Team might find at the worlds in Bosnia in 2015. Fish were harder to locate and the extreme heat which had followed us around France continued with temperatures in the mid to late 30's. Only two days with Jann was never going to be enough and many of the photos I took of our time together are some of the best so far. He is a sight casting specialist and a man of tremendous talent with an uncomplicated but thorough view of how to catch fish. His hospitality was again a highlight with he and his lovely girlfriend going out of their way to cater for us.

To say that these guys are good anglers would be an enormous understatement. From France we trained across Italy to Slovenia.

I could not do the fishing and scenery in Slovenia and France any justice in an email. The superlatives would run out and this, after having fished Slovenia three times in the past. Tim consistently caught some very large Grayling and managed a Marble Trout of over three pounds on the famous Soca River in front of a critical audience of onlookers!! This was a true highlight. For me, the catching and releasing of a Grayling 51cm long was truly wonderful. It was caught on a small dry fly and fought into the darkness of the night on extremely light tippet (around 2lb breaking strain). A fish of over 50cm is considered a trophy and although I had managed many in the upper "40's", this was a true behemoth. Catching fish alongside rafters and canoeists was new which had a novelty value I never tired of.

We stayed at Villa Nobles with a fly tying legend called Branco Gasparin. I may have his surname incorrectly here! HE would have to be one of the worlds leading fly tiers and as innovative as anyone I have ever seen. Again, Tim and I could not believe how easy he made things look and his short cuts were impressive. If this wasn't a major highlight then his wife's cooking certainly was. The Europeans know how to eat! It helps if you like bread. Tim felt obliged to try some of Branco's home brew for breakfast on the last morning. It looked like syrup and smelt like it wasn't far off metho but Tim assures me that it tasted very good. Perhaps this is the reason why he did not suffer from a stomach bug a couple of days later and I did!

In England, John Horsey was also kind enough to spend a day on Chew Valley lake with Tim and me, helping us get our heads around catching "stocked" rainbows in bright, calm conditions. As Australia have not been wonderful at this in the past during world championships, this was a fabulous opportunity to learn from someone who is widely regarded as the worlds best lake angler.

A day on a Norfolk chalk stream with English fly fishing author, Charles Rangely Wilson brought a different pace to our otherwise hectic schedule. Trying to learn as much as possible in as shorter a time as possible can be draining. The fishing with Charles was somewhat reminiscent of casting dry flies in the head waters of many Tasmanian streams. The only difference being that some fish were well over a pound and the water as clear and weed choked as the photos of famous test... on a micro scale! Charles is a wonderful angler and manages to remain the minimalist we would all like to be while on the water.

It is a shame that it culminated in me spending five days lying on my back in pain but was well and truly worth it.

The hotel in which the Australian team is staying in Norway has wifi. I will attempt to send an email out as regularly as possible to you all and let you know how things are going. A shorter, more condensed version will be on Facebook if I do not get the time every night. If there is anyone who you feel should be included in my reports, please feel free to let me know and I will add them to the list.

I would like to thank Julien and Alana Thomas for their tremendous help in organising our trip through mainland Europe and for hosting magnificently. Thank you too to all of those I have mentioned above. I will be back.

On a more personal level, my wife and little girl have been home without me for three weeks trying to organise insurance after our shack flooded. Through all of this, our little Sage has started to walk! I am very upset that I was not there to see the first few steps but no doubt I will be cursing it in a few months time.

Currently, I am in Wales, staying with another good friend, Phil Price. Phil is a regular member of the Welsh Fly Fishing team and visited Tasmania for the Commonwealth Championships two years ago. He is looking after me very well and am presently trying to convince him to take me out to the Wye for a few Grayling this afternoon. He is having none of it but I will wear him down!

I hope this email finds you all well and I will be in touch whenever possible.

Second Report - August 2nd – 5th

I was unable to get myself well enough to fish with Phil Price in beautiful mid Wales before he drove me to England’s midlands. The gastro infection I am still suffering from has taken its toll on me and consequently, rest has been the priority over the last few days. I can’t believe fishing had to come second!

Another very good friend of mine, Bernie Maher, owns a trout and course fishery in Derbyshire’s north called “Press Manor Fishery”. I was supposed to officially open Bernie’s new fishing lodge a few days earlier but was otherwise engaged in Aberystweth Hospital. If I wasn’t feeling bad enough about not being there, Bernie kindly reminded me of the busy evening that took place and how much I had disappointed those that did attend… WHAT A GREAT FRIEND!

Phil stayed and fished with me at Press Manor for a few hours where we landed many good-sized Rainbows on streamers and nymphs. When the session was over, he headed back to Wales to prepare for an invitational competition this weekend.

Bernie and Janet Maher live in the beautiful English town of Matlock and this was to be my home for the next two nights. As a former Derbyshire first class cricketer and English Commonwealth Fly Fishing team member, there is always a lot to talk about with Bernie. The nights were a little longer than they should have been but always entertaining.

The first half of the 3rd of August I spent on a boat at Press Manor catching more great fish on floating lines and buzzers while Bernie was busy qualifying for the English Bank fishing titles in a couple months. He clearly handled the windy conditions better than the rest and managed to qualify in first place.

Another friend of ours then joined us for a few hours of fishing on the swollen and discoloured waters of the River Derwent. Short line nymphing was very successful and I managed to land some beautiful Grayling around 34 – 38cm along with a few equally good-sized trout. This stretch of water at Willersley Castle was an area I had fished many times before while playing cricket in the area and is owned by the Derbyshire County Angling Club.

My final night in England has been spent packing and trying to reduce the excess baggage bill I would receive on my three flights to Mosjoen the next day.

While catching up on emails and Facebook messages, it was clear that the rest of the team were enjoying good fishing in Norway. I hope they have it all sorted by the time I hit the water. I can’t help but feel a little bit upset about not being there to help and enjoy the “team atmosphere”… that’s not to say I haven’t loved the wonderful hospitality afforded me by the Prices and Maher’s!

Today we left Matlock at 8:00am and I will be travelling until I reach Mosjoen at 7:40pm. Heathrow has never been an enjoyable place to spend a few hours and today was no different.

Although I have visited the other Scandinavian countries, this is my first trip to Norway. It is rare now days to be stopped in your tacks in shock at anything. Two things have already done this to me in Norway.

I had heard that this was a rather expensive place to visit and has not disappointed me here! Having exchanged $500 AUS for 2,388.94 NOK it was clear the exchange rate was around 4.9 NOK per Aussie $. It always fell good when you give someone money who then hands back notes with greater numbers printed on them. It feels like you are getting more for your money! That was, until I bought myself a bottle of water and a muffin during my two hour stop over in Oslo airport. This cost me 70 NOK. A quick calculation tells me that I have just managed to pay around $14.30 AUS for a small drink and muffin! I don’t feel as though my exchange with the lady at the currency office went quite as well I had originally thought!!!

The second thing that struck me about Norway and continues to do so as I sit and wait for my next flight, is what an amazingly attractive race the Norwegians are. I don’ think I have ever seen a race of people more stunning.

Krystal must have Norwegian blood in her!!??!!

I am sorry that this report has had little to no fishing in its contents but as you can see, I have hardly done any. That is all about to change as I meet the team in a few hours and can finally settle in to catching some fish. I promise that the rest will not be quite as boring as this one! The thought of fishing is making me feel better already…

Third Report

I thought I would send you all a quick email from Europe as I had promised I would. As you will know, the team arrived in Norway this morning for two weeks of practice before the official competition week.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to join them in Mosjoen as I have been unwell and in hospital since Saturday. It turned out that I had a bad case of gastro and my antibiotics seem to be doing the job. As I am currently in Wales, I will join the team in the evening of the 4th of August.

To say that these guys are good anglers would be an enormous understatement. From France we trained across Italy to Slovenia.

I could not do the fishing and scenery in Slovenia and France any justice in an email. The superlatives would run out and this, after having fished Slovenia three times in the past. Tim consistently caught some very large Grayling and managed a Marble Trout of over three pounds on the famous Soca River in front of a critical audience of onlookers!! This was a true highlight. For me, the catching and releasing of a Grayling 51cm long was truly wonderful. It was caught on a small dry fly and fought into the darkness of the night on extremely light tippet (around alb breaking strain). A fish of over 50cm is considered a trophy and although I had managed many in the upper "40's", this was a true behemoth. Catching fish alongside rafters and canoeists was new which had a novelty value I never tired of.

It is a shame that it culminated in me spending five days lying on my back in pain but was well and truly worth it.

The hotel in which the Australian team are staying in Norway has wifi. I will attempt to send an email out as regularly as possible to you all and let you know how things are going. A shorter, more condensed version will be on Facebook if I do not get the time every night. If there is anyone who you feel should be included in my reports, please feel free to let me know and I will add them to the list.

I hope this email finds you all well and I will be in touch whenever possible.

Fourth Report - Norway, August 7th

Rain greeted us in the morning as we headed to breakfast. The buffet is becoming rather repetitive! Not that I am complaining but those who travel quite a lot would know what I am talking about. Jason continues to wear his fluro ‘canary yellow’ jacket to breakfast which would certainly glow in the dark if they turned out the lights. He is a proud Australian!

The first half of the day was spent on another river that I am not even going to bother trying to spell and you couldn’t pronounce it anyway. For the sake of having a name for it, let’s call it, “The Desert”.

I think you know the rest of the story from here!

The water looked spectacular and in Joe’s eyes this was, “one of the best rivers I have ever seen in my life”. It was wide and swift (as most are) and should have been full of fish. We did manage a few modest fish with Chris Dawson managing to pluck three out of one small area. Craig had a good fight with what appeared to be a very large sea trout before it took off down stream faster than his little legs could carry him and they parted company. I managed a couple of fish but all in all, it did not fish well as its appearance might have you think.

After lunch we headed back onto a lake to solidify our techniques and plans. We all caught multiple fish and as will be the case in the competition, some areas fished better than others. You still have to be able to catch them when they are there and Staggy put on a clinic! Craig landed five fish in his first twenty casts and was also impressive while Chris D. used other tactics to catch more than a dozen in quick time. These numbers of fish will not be forthcoming in the competition and it is all very well to be catching them in practice with no angling pressure on the fish but in having this sort of success, it does give us the ability to take the flies and techniques into the competition sessions and fish them with confidence.

More bear scats were found (in the forest) around the lake and once again, the mosquitos left us drained of blood.

Tonight was once again spent tying flies and going over the days events.

On other news, the competition venues have now been officially ‘beat’. We are able to see the pegs on the river banks that donate the sizes and locations of each beat. The three rivers will have beat sizes of 150m, 120m and 100m although it is suggested that no beat be shorter than 200m! The rain affects water height and quality every day although they are as quick to fall as they are to rise. In flood, at least two of the rivers would be unfishable as steep wooded banks run along the edges and at low levels, many beats are only wadeable for the first two meters.

Apart from mosquitos, there appears to be little fly life although the trout seem eager to eat the fly when they see it.

Today was also the first day that nobody broke a fly rod! If there is a way to brake one, we will find it.

More teams are turning up daily and the rivers, lakes and hotel are becoming busier. The event is clearly big news in this area and today’s newspaper had a double page photo of Staggy looking at his fly box with the rest of us the background. Craig was a little miffed when he managed to locate himself in the background with his pants down, getting changed!

A final note that may well interest everyone:

Mosjoen is built on the Vefsna River which was always regarded as one of the countries top salmon fishing locations. Our guide told us that a few years ago, a sea lice was found that was severely damaging the fish and aquatic fauna. In order to eradicate the lice and prevent a total disaster, the authorities poisoned the entire river below a large waterfall along with every tributary downstream of this point. The tipped poison in at the source and along the length of each of these streams and everything died. It is for this reason that nobody is allowed to fish in any of the rivers at any time. The poison may well have disappeared but they do not want to take the chance of it being transported on anglers clothing, flies, etc and this is the basis behind the French team being in the trouble they are in. It also means that while driving to competition and practice venues, we go over and alongside wonderful looking rivers that no longer hold any fish. Other aquatic life is coming back and they are hoping to get another salmon run soon.

That is it for now. We are all well and enjoying Norway.

Today was another very interesting day. We all made it through and are looking forward to tomorrow.

Fifth Report 10/08/2013

I am still getting plenty of grief about my spelling which means it is time for me to play my "word recognition" card. On occasions the computer I am using, uses it's "word recognition" function to change a word I am writing to one I was not intending to use. I only just manage to find the time to write the email and am yet to read back over any of them. They are a one time deal! Having said that, I do find a good level of humour in the replies I am getting.

Take care everyone.

There was a little more fishing done today and the report attached will reflect that. I hope you are enjoying them or at the very least, keeping an eye on what is happening over here. There is a bit of info in this attachment. I am sorry that I am unable to be specific about flies and techniques used at this stage. Believe me, they will all be forth coming at the end of the competition in one week from now. The team has a protocol which I must follow for now. As with all competitions, the information gained during practice is kept pretty close in the lead up but once the competition is over, everything should and will be, shared with everyone.

I am not promising, but I may get the chance to email a few photos over the next couple of days.

I hope this email finds you well and catching fish if you are fortunate enough to be getting out.

Thank you for the emails and Facebook messages of support!!

Norway, 10/08/2013

A beautiful day dawned with blue skies and little to no wind. We were back on the Vefsna River in the same area we had finished off at last night. A few of the guys went down stream while Staggy, Mark and I fished over the exact spot we had practiced on the day before. Incredibly, the river had fallen at least 20cm over night. We thought it looked low yesterday but now it had become crystal clear with reduced flow. It was going to be a tough session.

Staggy caught a lovely little Brown Trout before we had put our rods together and we became optimistic. Over the following three hours, conditions and fishing became very difficult. Remembering that almost every country had very heavily fished the area in which we were fishing over the last few days, we changed tactics and had instant success. It is amazing how the best-laid plans sometimes have to be thrown out of the window in a matter of a few hours. Water, weather, hatches and general fish behavior is unpredictable and although it pays to be prepared with plan A, B and C, other options have to be employed if the ones you are using just don’t feel right. Fortunately, we were able to adapt and land a few lovely grayling.

Meeting back at the car for lunch, the other guys had had plenty of success. Craig had found fish rising and they had all caught big numbers of fish although, only around a quarter of those had measured.

It was clear that the team would remain in that part of the river for the afternoon session.

Staggy again pulled one out early but after that, a plethora of small fish plagued him. I managed a good 26cm grayling and there was plenty of action from fish that were too small to get the fly into their mouths. No matter what method we employed, there was a lot of interest without reaching the magical 18cm mark. Four Italians (who arrived yesterday) walked down just below us and caught a couple of good-looking fish in a fast run over the course of an hour and a half.

Seeing my first rise of the day, I was fortunate enough to cover the fish immediately and came up tight on a 47cm Grayling. This was followed a few minutes later by a 43cm fish. I had my camera with me this time and a few good photos have been taken. While this was going on, Mark landed a 47cm Grayling further up river along with a measuring Brown.

Under the conditions, we were very happy with the results and when considering that our tactics had to change and evolve throughout the day, it was another good lesson.

The streets of Mosjoen are now getting ready for the opening ceremony tomorrow. We will walk through the town and end up in the “square” where the flag of every nation have been flying for a week. The Australians will be first as it is in alphabetical order and Angola is not competing this year! Mark Bulley has the enormous and enviable honor of being the flag bearer. Most of your clothes for the ceremony need dry cleaning but after Mark’s debacle with the cost of his washing a few days ago, we are all too afraid to even ask in case we charged for doing so.

Around the traps:

The French have been keeping a low profile and in fact, we have not seen them at all while we have been here. They are not at the official hotel yet and we have managed to avoid each other on every venue.

In some of the funniest news I have heard since arriving in Norway, it appears as though the Czechs have been going out deep-sea fishing since they have been here! They have been the best in the world for many years now and are feeling so confident that they decided to have a day chasing Halibut! Wouldn’t it be good to be that confident? In most cases, you would suggest that it is arrogant but they are always this laid back about it. Over the years, they have been very popular champions.

For the Australians, the build up to these championships has been a long one. Trips to the VIS, practice sessions in winter, fundraisers and countless meetings and conversations have taken place over the past 18 months. Now that things are so close it is almost unbelievable. In one week from now, it will all be over. Many sportsmen and women who train for years to compete in Olympic games, etc. no doubt have the same feeling but it is strange to think that after all of that effort and hard work, it will simply be over in a matter of three days of competing. Imagine how Usain Bolt feels when it is over in less than 10 seconds?!! No wonder he slows down just before the line to make it last a little bit longer.

On Monday, official practice starts. A decision has to be made as to who wants to go to the practice sessions and who wants to rest up in the hotel and tie flies. Individuals are all different in how they want to prepare and no doubt it will be up to us to make a decision. Two out of the five sessions are going to be on lakes but 2/5 of our practice has not been on lakes. This is due to the lack of suitable water available. For tat reason, I am sure that most people will want to have one boat session the practice lake. I will try and get a bit of both rest and fishing into my schedule. I like to be fishing and especially when it comes to nymphing, I feel as though the closer to the comp time you can do it, the more ‘in touch’ you are with the drift management, etc. I lose ‘feel’ quite quickly and not being 100% in touch with those flies from the first cast of the competition, could mean a missed fish. When it comes to pulling streamers, I am not sure it is that important to be practicing right up to competition day. My arm needs the rest.

It is equally important to get rest and have all gear in order from spare shoe laces through to having fly boxes in a neat and orderly state. Among many other things, leaders need to be tied, glasses cleaned, flies tied, silk lines waxed and everything put exactly where you need it. It all takes time. It is at these times that you are very grateful to be using the best equipment that will withstand the sort of punishment it has been getting and give you the best possible chance to perform on competition day. As fishermen, we can always think of a thousand excuses so eliminating ‘gear failure’ is not a problem!

Team Malta is here! Those in FFA will know Steve Varga. He is the Maltese Australian who represents Malta in the World Championships. Steve arrived with his lovely wife a couple of days ago. He went out onto the Vefsna today and managed to catch his first fish - a lovely grayling. Unfortunately, he then fell in and had to go back to the hotel.

That’s it for now. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Norway, August 11th

We all had a sleep in this morning and made it to breakfast around 8:00am. Every one of the 27 nations taking part in the 33rd World Fly Fishing Championships is now here. The Hotel is packed.

This day was all about fly tying. Straight after breakfast we all headed to the fly tying room and started to fill our boxes with various creations, both local and Australian. I thought y fly tying area(s) at home are messy but this room has taken it to another level. We have all borrowed things from one another and there is not one piece of carpet showing through anymore. In these situations, we often end up with boxes of useless flies that end up going rusty after a few seasons of non-use before they are thrown away. As we are mainly chasing wild brown trout, many of these flies will have a place in y fly boxes when I get home. There shouldn’t be too much wasting!

We were all showered and shaved for the opening ceremony in the streets of Mosjoen this afternoon. The parade was supposed to start at 16:00 but as usual, things were delayed. A few spots of rain threatened to spoil things but the weather soon cleared and we were walking around town in sunshine. Each team had a flag bearer and a local young girl dressed in traditional Norwegian clothing, carrying their countries “name”. The girls looked wonderful and seemed to enjoy their role. There were also three countries competing for the first time. Chile, Mongolia and Latvia are making their debut while New Zealand and Wales were notable absentees.

The Czech team was at the front as they are the reigning world champions, followed by the Aussies. As the home nation, the Norwegians brought up the rear. An all female marching band lead the precession into town and across to the cinema where the opening ceremony was held. Most of the teams were looking smart but I would have to say that the Australians were certainly the most dapper! That big Akubra seems to suit Craig more than most. He must have been a cowboy in a previous life. We handed small koalas out to kids on the side of the road along with fishing stickers, pins and pens from home. Once inside, four separate mayors spoke us to. It appears as though the competition encompasses three areas in this region, all of which fall under the constituency of the last mayor. The captain of the Norwegian team took the oath in behalf of all of the competitors, promising to obey by the rules and play within the spirit of the competition – it’s a shame he didn’t say all these things a week or so ago with some of the countries present! Anyway, it all went off without a hitch.

The ceremony also gave some of us the chance to catch up with many of the English. As is the case with most sports, we have a very healthy relationship with them and would like nothing more than to beat them in Europe.

There was a very large Buffet dinner back at the hotel before we saw a presentation by the people from Chile.

Chile has put in to host the first ever “Masters World Fly Fishing Championships” next year. You have to be over 50 years of age. They showed some wonderful fishing footage of the area and spoke at length about the great wine. I gathered from the nods of appreciation by those over fifty in the room that the wine is more important than the fishing when you reach that age! I think Jason Garret is eyeing out a position on that team. I look forward to the day when we can pick an Australian team to go to a World Championships there too.

More fly tying and leader making kept us busy until bedtime. Mark and Staggy headed off early while Craig retired to his room to complete leader preparations. Chris and I stayed up tying while Joe was just hanging around waiting to hear about the draw which was taking place in the Captains meeting.

The Captains meeting takes place in the evening of the first official day, that being today. This is when captains get to ask questions about rules or rule modifications for the competition and express any concerns about anything they have seen or heard. The draw is then done in the presence of all captains to ensure it is fair. There are five people fishing (and one reserve) in each team over five locations in three days. Each of the five sessions is three hours long. Day one has a morning and evening session, day two only has a morning session and day three has morning and afternoon session again. The draw that took place tonight was to find out which member of each team would fish which location at what time. This also then tells you who is in your ‘group’ from other countries as there is one from each country in your group.

Jason came down to tell me my draw before I came to write this. I will be fishing both lakes session on day one, starting with the lake from the bank in the morning and then the boat session in the afternoon (two separate lakes). I will then fish the remaining three rivers over the last three sessions. For those who do not know, your placing in each session is calculated (practically the person who catches the most fish in your session will be first, second most second and so on). This therefore gives you a ranking somewhere from one to twenty seven (27 countries competing). You want to get a one! After your five sessions over three days, your five ranking points will be added up and the person with the lowest score wins. The team event is therefore decided upon by the sum total of the five individual rankings at the end of the competition.

I can hear those who comp fish saying, “that’s not exactly how it works…” but rather than go into a long winded explanation, the more fish you catch in relation to others in your group, the better your ranking will be. What this means in simple terms is that you are in fact only competing against the other 26 people in your group. What is going on at other venues is irrelevant to you. In theory, if you have a weak group of anglers in your 27, you have a better chance of doing well. However, this is the World Championships and the ‘weak’ anglers are still fantastic fishermen. There is no such thing as a weak draw! Far from it.

I was also very, very happy to learn that I will be fishing against John Horsey from England in my group. John is regarded as the world’s best lake angler although his overall standing in world championships of late has shown that he is an excellent river angler as well, finishing on the podium in New Zealand at the world champs a few years ago. That competition had three rivers and two lakes in it, much like this one. John is a wonderful guy and a very good friend of mine. I wish him very well and hope he comes second in every session! I think he might do a little better than that though.

Another thing to come out of the captains meeting was the issue we have all got with the beats they have put on one of the rivers. The river is very large and they have placed beats on both sides of the river, opposite one another. This has never happened before. The problem is that the water levels are very low and falling every day. The river is now very shallow on one side and anglers will be able to wade out and beyond half way and fish in someone else’s water! The poor person on the steep side of the river will have almost no water to fish while his counterpart will be pulling them out for the same piece of water. The organisers don’t think it is going to be a problem. I am expecting an absolute bun fight!

The Italian brought up the complaint and said it was ridiculous to allow such a thing to happen and that wading across the river was easy. The Norwegian in charge (all six foot four of him) told him that not even he could wade across the river, as it was too high. An argument ensued before the head of FIPSMOUCH (the governing body) asked how the Italian could possibly know that the water was easily waded as it is totally out of bounds to all competitors and teams. That put the entire issue to bed! It will probably be a disaster.

Around the traps:

Jason was able to speak to the French team today and ask about what had happened with the police. To cut a long story short, the rumors were true and they have each been fined the equivalent of $3,000AUS. Their gear was not taken from them.

There is one final note of interest… to me anyway.

The Czech team is certainly star studded with multiple individual and team world champions along with their captain who is the second most decorated competition fly angler in history. The current world of fly fishing generally acknowledge that Martin Droz from the Czech Republic is the world’s best angler. When highly ranked anglers from around Europe including France (their closest rivals) say that he is the best, then you know he is good. He is extraordinarily consistent and there is not a competition in the world he has not won in which he has fished. He looks a little bit like the pictures of Jesus in the Bible and some say he walks on water and doesn’t need waders!!!

It was with huge disappointment that I read some time ago that he was not going to be at these championships. We heard he had suffered a car accident and had spent months in hospital a couple of years ago. This had really knocked him around. He eventually came out and won the Czech title that year, followed by the individual gold medal at the European Championships (the world’s second biggest event). But, he had not been selected in the Czech team.

To our amazement, he is now in the team and will be competing. That is a huge relief and very exciting. When you come to an event such as this, there is nothing better than competing against the best of the best and he is the best. It would almost not be right to hold these titles without him. I can only hope that he is in my group and I get to fish against him, one on one. I will find that out in the morning. Having said that, I could draw one of the other two world champions that they have or the two-time youth world champion from the last two years. They can probably all fish pretty well??!!! But, a shot at Martin Droz would be superb. Remembering that unlike other sports when you literally do compete against others in a reactive manner, fly fishing is nothing more than you versus the fish. You simply have to catch the fish in front of you and that is all you can do. What someone else is doing has no effect on you at all. It is for this reason that I can allow myself to have a healthy respect for someone I will be fishing against. He and I are actually only competing against the fish, not each other.

In the morning, Joe, Chris, Mark and I are going to go for our final river practice session. It will not be an official practice but rather a trip to a different river that we have fished before. We will fish for the first half of the day and then head back to tie more flies and be with the rest of the team. Tomorrow is a very important day in terms of preparation. Let’s hope it is a success.

Norway, August 12th

Today was very low key. Although it would have been wonderful to sleep in, the general nervous tension around the place meant that we simply had to be up and about. There was plenty to do but not much that would interest you.

Jason was waiting for us at breakfast with our groups. You may remember that last night we found out which order we would fish the venues. Today we also found out who was in our group from the other countries. It is important to remember that every angler here is very, very good. There are no bad anglers but some are simply better than others. Although I expressed mild disappointment not to be in the group with Martin Droz (Joe has that role), there are plenty of other ‘guns’ from all parts of the world. I have a group of excellent anglers, which, although it will make things difficult, will be a fantastic experience and test. Those who do not competition fish may not know some of these names but here are a few in my group. John Horsey (England), Thomas Adam (Czech), David Arcay Fernandez (Spain and current world champion), Jean Guillaume Mathieu (France), Antonio Rodrigues (Portugal) and Stefano Di Martini (Italy). The rest are very handy too!

I have posted the draw on my Facebook page if anyone is interested in seeing who is what group, where they are to fish and who are they are going to be fishing against.

Staggy, Craig and Chris decided that they needed to tie flies all day and that is exactly what they did. Joe, Mark and I decided that we would go to one of the more productive waters in the area to do a little more practice. I like to be fishing as does Joe where as the others need to relax and get away for a while. The needs of each individual have to be catered for at this stage where possible.

As we no longer have the BBB to get around in, Joe drove us out to the river in a new hire car, which Glenn has arranged for the remainder of the competition. This will enable him to get around to see various anglers through the course of a day.

We stopped and asked for permission from the local farmer who was obliging. The river had fallen once again and the fish behavior ahs changed. I was keen to simply work on my fighting and landing technique with such small fish that are very ‘bouncy’ and Joe and Mark were refining a couple of techniques and getting stuck into them.

We left after lunch was taken in the middle of a grassy field surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Life has been tougher but I feel as though this was the calm before the storm.

On the way home we decided to stop and look at a few of the competition venues that have now all been beat. The Vefsna and the Austervefsna run very close to the main road. Now that the water is so low and clear, every beat can be seen in detail. It will not be easy! I know I have said it before but these rivers will be extremely beat dependent. There are going to be huge fights between anglers on opposite sides of the river. The odd fish was seen and looked quite catchable.

We arrived back at the hotel and the guys were busy at work. Glenn had once again taken responsibility to tie a few patterns for us, which is helpful beyond words.

Dinner was eaten at a lovely restaurant close by where “Whale Steaks” were on the menu! Nobody ordered it of course. The waitress who served us had been working the night before at the opening dinner, works at the coffee shop through the day and sometimes at another restaurant in town. As we had run into her so many times, Jason presented her with a small “I love Australia” Koala. She was over the moon and went into the kitchen to boast. Not long after that, the chef and other waitresses were begging for them. Who would have thought that a tiny souvenir koala could bring such happiness?

A final tying session was held after dinner and an informal meeting developed while this was going on. Running through each venue one by one and giving our considered opinions on tactics, flies, etc. had everyone feeling more relaxed by the end of the night. It is easy to get caught up in the goings on when all of the teams are staying in one location and sometimes you just need to lock yourselves away and take stock. It was a very helpful couple of hours.

Tomorrow we are taking it turns to fish the boat lake practice sessions. Staggy, Joe and Mark are going for the first half of the day (they will fish the lake in the morning session when their turn comes) and Craig, Chris and I will fish it in the afternoon for the same reason.

Tomorrow will probably be an extremely busy night and although we would rather not be out on the water but rather organizing gear and tying leaders, etc., we have done so little bat fishing that we all feel as though we need the experience.

Around the Traps:

We have had some lovely message of support come from Australia and everyone appreciates it. When you are this far from home and have been way for so ling, they are a welcome surprise.

Helicopters were flying up and down the rivers today taking video footage of them from the air. This must be for the live television program that will be going o air in Sweden and other parts of Scandinavia. There was talk of the results being updated immediately rather than tallying points at the end of the day to find out which team and individual is winning. The controllers would all carry mobile phones and every time and angler catches a fish, the controller would immediately text the size of the fish to the ‘control center’ where the points would automatically be calculated. That way, those watching on TV would be able to follow exactly who is doing what as it happens. Due to a few issues in past championships and the need for transparency, I cannot see this going ahead. Time will tell.

In less than 32 hours time, I will be taking my first cast in the competition and am really looking forward to it. Our beats for each venue will be drawn on our buses as we get close to the venues themselves. This came about due to a host nation being accused of putting extra fish in their competitors beat over night to ensure that he won the session the next day. It was never proven however the fact that he was suddenly catching rainbow trout in a river otherwise void of them, nobody had a caught a rainbow in that beat or any other during the entire competition and there were tire tracks in the grass heading right to the waters where the fish were swimming around, must surely bring them under suspicion??? The other explanation is that a freak accident occurred and as the local fish farm truck was driving past, it lost control, skidded off the road and the load of rainbows it was carrying fell out of the truck and into the beat of the local angler. That would be feasible except for the fact that it happened five times in one night and every fish happened to end up in the local anglers beat on five different rivers. Maybe they were just lucky?

The boys are pumped and ready to go. We just want it to start. Things are going to be manic over the net few days. I am still planning on writing these reports each night but they will be quite short if I manage to do it at all. I do apologies if I seem to fall off the face of the earth for a few days. I will certainly be able to write something on Thursday evening (my time) when we have the afternoon off.

I appreciate your patience and know that you will be waiting with baited breath for the results.

I will be in touch!!!!

Norway, August 13th

This is a very brief report as I am running short of time.

This morning, Craig, Mark and I tidied up our fly tying stuff and made a few last minute leis while the other three guys headed off to the practice session on the boat lake. The Practice area is at the far end of the lake we are actually using in the competition, which means we have row from one end to the other to get to the water. It gives us a reasonable look at what we have in store.

The fishing was very tough all day on the lake and in the morning, not one fish was caught by ay angler! Joe saw one move, covered it and ended up losing it.

At lunchtime, the three of us who stayed at the hotel in the morning, swapped with the guys on the lake. Craig had a tap from one small fish but it did not stick and that was all! We saw three fish landed. One was on a fast sinking line and the other on a floating line and both seemingly in the middle of some very deep water. They were Arctic Char. There was no fly life and nothing moved all afternoon.

The third fish was hooked and played by either a Chilean or a Spaniard (I apologies to the country who did not catch this fish) in the water in which the competition is to be held. They were over 500m inside the lake (totally out of bounds) and when we approached to let them know that they were F*#ing cheats, they quickly rowed off talking Spanish! We did mange to take some photos of them but I doubt anything will come of it.

Back at the hotel, the finishing touches are being done to leaders, fly boxes, waders, etc. for the morning. The nervousness and tension has not reached ridiculous heights but no doubt that will change in the morning.

Jason ahs been involved in meetings all day and it seems as though common sense has prevailed re the beats on the rivers. They have re beat the rivers, reducing them in size (from already very small beats) but they are only on one side of the river meaning there will not be any fights over whether someone is fishing in someone else’s water.

Around the Traps:

At this time I feel for Mark Bulley. Mark is the reserve and will only get the chance to fish if someone has a serious illness or the captain sees fit to replace one of us. If he gets the chance, Mark will do a fantastic job. He has been fishing very well and been an enormous help to us all. If he does not get the chance in these championships, I do hope he gets selected again in the not too distant future.

Finally, the television reporters from England who are providing the footage for the Fox sports program interviewed me. The Poms had put the guy up to it, as he wanted to talk about the Ashes! They had also told him that I was one of the favorites but we all managed to deflect that sort of rubbish talk back onto those who are the favorites such as the Czechs, Poms, Italians, French, etc.

All is readiness. I would love you all to please keep your fingers crossed in order to make sure that we all get good beats in the morning.

We will be doing our very best.

Norway, August 14th Competition Day 1

You were all supposed to be crossing your fingers so as that we would draw good beats!

I am keeping this very brief but as usual, I could go ad on about it.

Today was ok without being great or disastrous.

In the morning:

Joe fished well and I think he came fourth in his session on the lake, in the boat.

Staggy fished well and managed a second in his session on the Austnaverfsa River.

Chris landed two on the Vefsna and was around mid flies (12 – 14 ish)

Craig fished the most difficult river and did not manage to hook a fish and there fore had a blank.

I had the lake off the shore and did not even see a fish, let alone get the chance to catch one. There was massive controversy as 17 people blanked that session. The beats were terrible and I certainly drew the worst of them. I was in the curve of a bay. My beat was 50m long, along the shore but as it was a bay and the outside edge of your beat is taken in a line at ninety degrees to the marker, my beat was in the shape of pizza slice. It meant that I could cast from one edge of my beat all the way out of beat on the other side! I couldn’t wade out far either as I would wade off the point of the “pizza wedge and into someone else’s water. It was a total disaster!

In the afternoon:

Staggy fished the Vefsna and caught a couple of fish, which put him 14th.

Craig fished the Austnervefsna very well under the watchful eye of our Captain and also managed two fish. This placed him 10th.

Chris fished the same lake as I did in the morning and did not catch a fish (blank) on which only 4 anglers caught a fish.

Joe fished the Fipling and blanked, not even seeing a trout. 22 people blanked that session.

I went to the boat lake and caught two, placing me in 4th. Interestingly, the winner of the session was in my boat. I have some great stories about it for a later time.

This all means that we are sitting 10th over all.

Staggy is pour best placed angler in 19th and fishing very well.

Joe is 49th.

I am 50th.

Craig is 72 and Daws is 80th.

In a nutshell, the boat sessions will be fine from now, as we have worked that one out. It may get tough in the last session but for tomorrow, we should be ok.

The Vefsna and the Austavefsna are by far the best and most consistent fisheries. There are more good beats than bad ones but once again, if you draw a bad one, you are buggered!

The lake, bank session is totally draw dependent. A good draw ensures fish. A bad one and you may as well sit down and watch the others.

The toughest location by far is the Fippling – which I am fishing in the morning. I will be glad to get it over and hopefully with a fish in the net! One fish here means you will be in the top five for the session and for those who are yet to blank a session, it will mean that you are a chance of winning the individual title. It the place everyone fears. I am not sure there is a good beat on it!!!

That’s it. Only one session tomorrow and the afternoon off.

Australia is in 10th over all with England in 9th. The Czechs are winning with the French very close behind them. From what we have seen so far, the Czechs are very playing within the rules but I am not so sure about the teams around them! More on that later.

Norway, August 15th - Day Two

There was not a lot of good news coming out of today! We only had one session before going to a formal lunch where Norwegians danced in traditional dress, made traditional food and sang traditional songs. Although entertaining to a point, we probably were not in the mood for it and did not appreciate it as much as could and should have.

Joe fished on the Austervefsna this morning and drew a blank. The beat he drew was supposed to be a good one and a week before the competition, plenty of fish could be seen in the area below a road bridge. As the waters levels and comp day got closer, the fish were vacating it in big numbers. He saw one fish rise half an hour before the session started but could not get it up to his fly over the three-hour period. He did not touch another fish.

Chris Dawson fished the boat lake and did not get a take. The word was out about where the best spot was and ten boats attempted to fit into a tight area before starting time, only to spook the fish. He fished with Howard Croston from England in the boat, who also blanked.

There were very few fish landed and a lot of blanks again.

Craig spent his session on the Vefsna River and once again drew a terrible beat. He had the second last beat along a deep edge, which runs next to the main road. Try as he might, he did not get a single touch and had another blank.

Staggy was our shining light. He fortunate drew a very good beat on the wading lake and made the most of it, fishing very well. The team plan was in full effect and he delivered beautifully, catching three fish and winning the session for Australia. Great work Staggy! He is almost single handedly keeping us close to the top ten.

I was fishing the ‘Desilva’ River today. I met my controller at the drop point who spoke beautiful English. What a pleasant surprise for someone who does not speak a single word of Norwegian. As we made the long walk to the beat, he told me that I would certainly not catch a fish. What?! “I will show him”, I thought to myself. When we arrived, it was clear that he was going to be right! Now, I am far from a defeatist but come on…. you have got to be kidding! The Norwegian and a Latvian had fished the beat the previous day and had both blanked. One had packed up with forty minutes to go and the other had only fished it for an hour or so. It was obvious why that had happened. The river was absolutely crystal clear. As clear as any I have seen. The water level had dropped even further overnight but six inches! The riverbanks were well back from the river edge and the sand was exposed. My beat was nothing but sand. I had one rock in the middle of the broad water and that was now out of the water in the middle of a sand island. The deepest part of the bear was under knee deep and there was almost no flow in the entire beat! It was like looking into a sandy tidal sea pool. I had to ask the controller if it was ok for me to walk into the buffer zone between my beat and the one below (which incidentally was 2km away) to pick up a rock and look for fly life as I did not have a rock in my beat.

I worked hard for an hour and a half and covered the entire 70m length of my beat. It was just like walking in shallow salt water. There was one small depression in which I stood and actually asked my controller to take a photo of me so that I had it on record! The beats above me and the buffer zone below me looked exactly the same so the hope of a fish moving into my water or being scared down from above, was zero.

After an hour and a half, my tactic was the most unusual I have tried. I sat down on the bank with my controller and had a cup of coffee! He didn’t have any milk but it didn’t matter to me at the time. The mosquitos destroyed me but even that didn’t worry me. I hoped that if I rested the water and went and fished it, I might find one somehow. I didn’t! At snails pace, it was easy to cover the beat in a very short time. Another blank!

Of the 25 fishermen on the river, 23 blanked. One guy managed 7 and another, 3. They were on beats way down stream and had fish rising in big deep pools. The beat on which 7 were caught has won every single session on that river, no matter who was fishing it. The Czech and Frenchman in my group both blanked and said they did not have a fish in their beat. I believe them!

When you have a blank, you expect to fall maybe thirty places in the rankings but with everyone else blanking, it has not made that much difference.

The rankings are now as follows:

Chris D. 93
Craig 88
Me 66
Joe 65
and Staggy is currently in 7th place!!!

At the moment, the results are a fraction misleading as those who have not fished the Desilva or the Lake Shore venue may be placed higher than they will at the end. These venues are death for those who draw any beats apart from about three. There will be plenty of blanks again tomorrow on these. Although the same can be said for the boat venue, we know there is plenty of fish there and persistence could pay off. You always feel like you may get that chance.

The Austervefsna and the Vefsna have produced the fewest blanks (but still at least half the field every session) and therefore you have more of a chance to draw a beat with a fish in it. The best beast in these rivers can produce more than ten each session. Joe has the Vefsna in the morning before going to the bank lake, Chris has the Desilva followed by the Austervefsna (not ideal in the morning), Craig has the Bank Lake and then the Boat Lake, I have the Austervefsna and then the Vefsna and Staggy has the Boat lake followed by the Desilva.

Two sessions is a lot in any competition but particularly this one. He is fishing very, very well and with confidence. Confidence is everything when the fishing is like this. I would have my money on him catching a fish in the lake, which will probably put him in the top four. F he gets another, he may well win the session. It is very unfortunate but he is on the Desilva last. The River of Death! The Aussies have not drawn beats 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 in this river and that is where all of the fish are being caught. If he manages to draw one of those beats, he will certainly finish in the top three or four as others currently above him also have to fish the same river. If he does not draw one of those beats…. Divine intervention is required. If anyone has some contacts in this area, now would be a good time to make the call.

The team realize that although we are currently out of the top ten, we are well aware that good beats tomorrow could actually catapult us into the top four very easily. Bad beats would send us the other way. Every team here is saying the same thing though!

Two Italians are leading with Martin Droz (refer to my earlier emails) in third spot but Martin has already fished the Desilva! For those involved with the Commonwealth Championships in Tassie, our good friend, John Nishi from Canada is one place below Staggy in 8th!

The Czechs are winning over all in an extremely tight battle with the French. The worst ranked Czech is in 25th spot!

Surprisingly, there was not much controversy today. I am sure tomorrow will make up for it.

Of all the world fly-fishing championships ever held, this is the first to be televised. Why this one? It will probably go down as the worst world championships ever in terms of fish caught. The people, scenery, accommodation and organization are all excellent but as we all keep saying, we would rather be sleeping in the bush on a hammock feeding on small insects and have great fishing than stay in a good hotel and eat good food but experience the sort of fishing we are.

This time tomorrow, it will be run and won. For the entire afternoon and night, we have been trying to make sure that Staggy has everything he needs. Every piece of info and every fly. He is in bed early and ready to go. Although this is a team event and always will be for Australia, the team are going to have to rely on others to fall down if we are to get anywhere near the podium. Staggy is very close. For that reason, we have turned our attention to getting him over the line if at all possible without it affecting our preparation and desire. We will all be thinking of him if we get a moment during our sessions. Perhaps when we are taking a fish to our controller for measuring? The draw will occur on his bus just as they arrive at the venue to tell him his beat number in the afternoon and his boat partner in the morning. Let’s hope he gets all of the luck that he deserves and that we are celebrating with him tomorrow night.

Go Staggy!

Norway, August 16th – Final Day

There was a different feel to the final day. Our attention and thoughts were well and truly with Staggy. Sitting in 7th position, he was a very good chance to medal, knowing that most people in front of him also had to fish the “Desilva”. But first, he had to fish the boat lake in calm and bright weather with fishing becoming scarcer. He drew the Italian as his boat partner, with whom he would be having a battle Royal.

With almost no fish being caught, Staggy lost a fish that would have measured after it leapt clear of the water and threw the hook. Valerio then hooked a fish and as he was about to net it, Staggy also tightened into one. Both fish were landed and would you believe it, they were exactly the same size at 18.2 cm!

Going into the last session, Staggy was in 4th position with Valerio first. Whichever of the two drew a beat between 20 and 25 would win the world championships. It was Valerio! He drew the best beat on the entire river and won the session (as almost everyone did who drew that beat) and in doing so, secured the title. Staggy’s blank on Beat 4 dropped him down to 11th position over all which shows the tightness of these comps.

Although we are all very disappointed for him, we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that an 11th place finish is an extraordinary effort. He fished very well throughout and I am sure that when finish the analysis of each beat in the competition, I am sure that we will find that he has caught close to the most fish on each of his beats.

Craig fished the bank leg in the morning and unfortunately, did not manage to catch a fish. He then went onto the boat lake and secured a fish with the very last cast of the session as the controller called ‘time’. Saving the blank was a huge effort and shows the importance of concentrating for the entire three hours of a session.

Chris was to fish the ‘Desilva’ but the team captain made the decision to give Mark Bulley a chance to fish a session in the world championships. Chris was subbed out for this session and Mark stepped in. As was the case with river, Mark drew a beat which had only produced one fish in the entire competition and did not get an opportunity to catch a fish. Nonetheless, he loved the experience and relished the challenge. Chris then stepped back in for the last session on the Austnervefsna and under the watchful eyes of the captain and manager, was unlucky to catch only one fish that was undersize. This meant another blank.

Joe started the day on the Vefsna and caught three fish. One was a large grayling and another a big trout. Both ate a dry fly fished on a DI 5 line!!! I will tell you all about the tactics employed in my final report tomorrow.

He then went onto the bank lake and could not raise a fish. Another blank for the Aussies!

I was on the Austnervefsna in the morning. Conditions were very bright and flat calm. Beat 13 was my beat and was positioned two beats above a road bridge. While rigging up, a hatch was happening below the bridge and fish could be seen rising everywhere. Unfortunately, from the beat below me and up another six beats, there was no surface activity at all. I was lucky enough to pull one fish off the beat and avoid the blank. I did have another one come up and refuse my fly after about half an hour of fishing. I spent another forty minutes trying to get that fish to come back up and look at my flies but I did not see it again. When you know you have left a fish on the beat, it doesn’t sit well in your stomach. My one fish was quite large and therefore I was able to place well.

The final session for me was on the Vefsna. Once again, I drew a beat that had only one fish come off it for the competition. Luckily, I caught one second cast but to too did not measure. After about an hour and a half I managed to catch a 45 cm brown trout and half an hour later, another came to the net. They were the only chances I managed to manufacture.

The overall standings saw Australia finish 9th over all. We were one blank from sixth and two blanks from fourth. As I write that, you should be aware that many other teams could say the same thing!

The Czechs won it again, followed by the Italians and the French in third. The Czechs are good but again, this will be contained my final, long report.

Staggy won the Chris Hole Trophy for the highest placed Australian at the World Championships by coming 11th. A massive congratulations once again!

Joe Riley finished in 53rd position.

Craig Carey was 67th.

Chris Dawson was 106th.

I finished in 32nd.

I will leave all of the real nuts and bolts analysis and opinions to my last report. For those who are not keen on the technical side of it, it may not be worth reading.

The feeling we are left with is rather hollow. We did not do as well as we would have liked. It is easy to say that we had bad beats. This seems to be the excuse every time. The full beat analysis will be very interesting and will tell us for sure if we did get bad beats or simply fished poorly. We will not improve by burying our heads in the sand. That will be finalised in the next few hours and this will give us the opportunity to talk to others who have fished our beats and work out where we went wrong if the numbers show that we did.

Next year the team goes to the Czech Republic for the world championships and it is a totally different side. Hopefully we are able to pass on some lessons learned to them so as that Australia can continue to rise in the overall standings. Jonathon has earned the right to automatic selection for the Czech Republic (by finishing in the top 20) if he wants to go. With next years comp being in May, time and money could prevent him from taking his place after such a long campaign. We will find out from him in due course.

Last night we headed out into the town of Mosjoen. There are two bars and one nightclub. The Poms were out in force and as is always the case, the stories and lies flowed thick and fast. I am still laughing at some things we heard.

Everyone heads off tomorrow after three weeks away from home. One night will be spent in Singapore to help with jet lag. I am staying on for another two days in order to revisit one of my beats and try and catch more fish out of it. I should get the opportunity to fish some of the other beats to help analyse things a little more thoroughly. I will be hunting down the Czechs and Italians as well as the French to attempt to gain as much info as possible about techniques, approaches and flies. Once the comp is over, everyone is generally very free with information and the learning process intensifies.

The technical stuff will follow!