2009 Pisgah Fly Masters

If you are the competitive fly fishing type and would like to test your metal against some of the nations best fly anglers, there is still time to register for the 2009 Pisgah Fly Masters which will be held March 21st and 22nd. More details are revealed in today's Asheville Citizen times.

The event, in its second year, takes place March 21-22. The late registration fee is $75.
The Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, a free-to-the-public learning facility operated by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission near Brevard, hosts the event. Davidson River Outfitters sponsors it.
“We’ll take registrations up until the competition starts,” said Emilie Johnson with the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education and a tournament organizer.
The Pisgah Fly Masters challenges anglers’ casting skills off-stream on Saturday, March 21, with the 10 finalists moving on to a catch and release competition on the river on Sunday, March 22.

Our money is on the anglers from the North Carolina Fly Fishing Team.

Michael Mauri: Rodless Fly Casting

This might just start a whole new revolution in the world of fly fishing.

Now we all have an excuse...

This article and photo from the Daily Mail explains the reason you see so many fly anglers hung up in the trees:

It's one of the golden rules of the natural world – birds live in trees, fish live in water.
The trouble is, no one bothered to tell the mangrove killifish.
Scientists have discovered that it spends several months of every year out of the water and living inside trees.

The Science of Knots

Ever wonder why your tippet can turn from a sleek aerodynamic length of fluorocarbon into a hopeless bird's nest in two shakes of a fly rod? LiveScience.com explains how easily this can happen to even the best caster:

"Surprisingly little disturbance or motion is even needed," Smith said. "It's quite easy for something to get knotted." Even the act of picking up the phone and placing it back down could be enough jostling to trigger knot formation.

Fly Casting with Howell Morgan

The Bow and Arrow Cast

The blue line fly fisher's best friend!

Do they really fly fish in New England?

From another article in the Providence Journal about the future construction of a Bass Pro Shop across from Gillette Stadium comes this photo with a telling caption:

Former Patriots linebacker Andre Tippett tries his hand fly-fish casting in front of what will be the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, to open at Gillette Stadium on Nov. 15. Tippett, Matt Light and some former players were on site.

When people write about "fly-fish casting" with those new fangled open face salt water "fly fish casting reels" they might end up being blogged about on the series of tubes that are the internets.

The Fly Caster Who Tried To Make Peace with the World

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that my day job has been keeping me pretty busy lately. I have spent far too much time on planes and in hotels and not nearly enough time fishing. One good thing has come of all my business travel, I am managing to get somewhat caught up on my reading. It was on one of these recent trips that I dove headlong into outdoor writer Randy Kadish's book "The Fly Caster Who Tried to Make Peace With the World."

I wasn't sure what to think when I picked up my copy of the book and realized that this was a novel, set in the early 1900's, about a young man who aspired to be a long distance fly caster. I must admit at first glance the concept didn't really speak to me. I am not big on novels and I couldn't see how someone could write an entertaining one about fly casting. However, once inside the book what I found was an engaging tale of a young man coming of age in an era marred by the cruelty of World War I. All the while dealing with his own personal choices, tragedies and successes.

The author uses fly fishing on the Beaverkill River along with competitive long distance casting as the thread that leads us as we follow the book's main character, Ian Mac Bride, from boyhood through adulthood. Along the way Ian meets up with several fellow anglers some famous (Theodore Gordon and George M. L. La Branche) and some not so famous, with all being factors in his quest to make peace with the world.

The story is well told and has just the right mix of fly fishing prose and philosophy to make the point without one getting in the way of the other. A hidden gem in the book is found in the appendix in the form of a primer on long distance casting under the by line of the book's main character, Ian Mac Bride. Anglers who are looking to be entertained with a good read while getting real world casting tips should consider this book.

The Fly Caster Who Tried to Make Peace With The World is available from Keokeebooks.com. It is published by Saw Mill River Press, 255 pages, ISBN 1-879628-26-0. It is also available via Amazon.com

But can he catch fish?