Tournament
While I've typically done well in the few fishing tournaments I've been part of, I really don't care much for them, and typically avoid them and do not follow them.
However...a friend asked me to be his partner in a 2-man, 2 day, multispecies flyfishing tournament that was held this past weekend. It sounded fun. So, we did it.
This was one of Dally's Ozark Fly Fisher fly shop's annual tournaments, held out of Cotter, Arkansas.
Some really fishy guys (y'know, those guys that are able to catch fish anywhere and everywhere) and guides took part in it. One guy is on the USA flyfishing team!
The format is...there is a list of 33 species...each team tries to catch as many species as possible, in what amounts to about 2 half-days (Saturday 12-8pm, Sunday 6am-Noon). Most species wins. In the event of any ties, each species is assigned a certain number of points, generally based on how difficult or unusual they are to catch. Most total points wins the tiebreaker.
At the end of Day 1, my team was in a 4-way tie for 1st Place with 9 species, even though we spend about 3 hours driving to a couple different spots.
At the end of Day 2, we ended up tied with another team for 2nd Place, with a total of 12 species. We lost the tiebreaker by the smallest possible difference of 5 points...So, we took 3rd Place.
The winning team did great, landing a tournament record 16 species!
My team landed the first Bowfin and Pickerel (Grass) ever submitted, plus Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Redear Sunfish, Ozark Bass, Crappie (black), Green Sunfish, and Longear Sunfish.
The merchandise in the swag bag each participant received was great stuff, and pretty much equal in value to the cost to enter. The door prizes and top 5 places earned great items as well. (Lots of great sponsors!) For our 3rd place finish, my partner and I each won a Nautilus XM fly reel in a custom color.
Pretty fun event. Might do it again.
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