Competition

2012 Wasatch Fly Casting Competition

The 3rd Annual Wasatch Fly Casting Competition will be held during the Expo on Friday and Saturday, April 6-7, 2012 at the South Towne Expo Center. The competition will comprise of a short distance accuracy course as well as a long distance cast. The top 3 casters in each category will be invited back to the finals in which each finalist will have a chance to score. The top scores win. The rules and scoring are listed below. Overall we think this will be a great event and a chance to see some great casting. The winners will receive some great prizes. Questions can be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

2011 Official Results and Summary:

Congrats to the 2011 Winners and runner-ups.

Rods used:
Overall competition
Hardy Zenith Sintrex 9' 5wt 4pc
R.L. Winston BIIMX 9' 5wt 4pc

Bamboo competition
R.A. Smith 7'6" 5wt Tri-hex bamboo rod

Results:
Overall Competition
Mens Division-
1st place- Travis Ruiz 1474 points- Won a Greys XF2 Streamflex 590 fly rod, S.A. Mastery Textured fly line, and a $50 Fishwest gift certificate.
2nd place- Cary Asper 1058 points- Won a Greys 700 cassette fly reel, S.A. Mastery fly line, and a $25 Fishwest gift certificate.
3rd place- Allen Schaugaard 862 points- Won a S.A. fly box and a $25 Fishwest gift certificate.

Womens Division-(only 2 qualifiers were present to compete in the finals)
1st place- Danita Ritter 818 points- Won a Greys GRXi+ 590 fly rod, S.A. Mastery Textured fly line and a $35 Fishwest gift certificate.
2nd place- Maria Bodkin 638 points- Won a Greys 500 cassette fly reel. S.A. Mastery fly line and a $25 Fishwest gift certificate.
3rd place by default- Emily Jensen* (had highest qualifying score, 1492 points, but unable to make the finals)- Won a S.A. fly box and a $15 Fishwest gift certificate.

Youth Division-
1st place- Angelo Bertagnole 804 points- Won a Greys GS fly rod and reel combo and a $25 Fishwest gift certificate.
2nd place- Alex Gallo 760 points- Won a S.A. Mastery fly line and a $15 Fishwest gift certificate.
3rd place- Drake Troxel 752 points- Won a S.A. fly box and a $10 Fishwest gift certificate.

Distance Competition
1st place- David Serdar 92' 3" - Won a S.A. Sharkskin fly line and a $50 Fishwest gift certificate.
2nd place- Travis Ruiz 91' 6"
3rd place- Jason Arave 88'

Bamboo Competition
1st place- Jason Morrison 1730 points- Won a R.A. Smith Tri-hex 6'9" 4wt Bamboo fly rod and a S.A. XPS fly line
2nd place- Travis Ruiz 1640 points
3rd place- Casey Berkholz 1636 points

12 Weight "TERMINATOR MAGNUM" competition
1st place- John Malovich 64'
2nd place (tie)- Nick Granato and D-Bone 61'

Highlights:
-David Serdar was the first competitor, and threw the longest cast of the competition. He also put to rest the doubts that no one would be able to make the "thru the hoop at 65 feet" standing hoop cast by DRILLING it on the first attempt of the competition.
- Allen Schaugaard and Travis Ruiz (TWICE) also made the bonus "thru the hoop cast"
- Cary left 2' of leader outside of the hoop, and was the closest to make the "thru the hoop" cast with the BAMBOO rod.
- Almost everyone that posted a low score with the modern rods, scored HIGHER with the bamboo rod (Jason Haslam, Cary Asper, Jason Morrison, Bobby Lang, Jason Haslam again, Casey Birkholz to name a few).
-There were some surprising distances thrown with the BAMBOO rod (Dustin Carlson 81', Greg Pearson 77', Bobby Lang 75', Mikey Wier 73').
- ALL finalists scored lower in the finals than they did in qualifying.
-The winners chose the HARDY ZENITH SINTREX rod.
-The pond sprung a leak on Thursday night, was taped with duct tape, and surprisingly held water for the rest of the expo.

Overall, we had a good time, did some heckling, and raised some money for good causes.

Thank you to the sponsors of the competitions, FISHWEST, HARDY/GREYS and SCIENTIFIC ANGLERS

Thank you Fishwest for sponsoring the competition.

The Bonneville Fly Fishers, Federation of Fly Fishers chapter of Utah, will be running the competition.

Competition Rules and Scoring 2011:

1. Fishwest will provide 2 different 9ft 5wt rods, reels, and lines, leaders for all casters to choose from and use in the “Overall” and “Distance” competitions. R.A. Smith Custom Bamboo Fly Rods will provide the Bamboo Rod for the “Bamboo Competition”. No personal equipment is allowed.

2. Entry to the competition will be $10 for each qualifying score in the “Overall Competition”, $5 for each qualifying score in the “Distance Competition”, and $20 for the “Bamboo Competition”. If you wish to participate in all three competitions, it will be $30. You must enter the “Overall Competition” to enter the “Distance Competition”. You may enter the “Bamboo Competition” without entering the others. Participants may qualify and score as many times as they wish, paying entry fees for each time participating.

The entry for Youth (17 & under) will be $5 for the “Overall competition”, $5 for the “Distance competition”, $20 for the “Bamboo competition” and $25 for all competitions.

3. Participants will pay for a score sheet at the Expo registration desk for each time they would like to qualify and score. Again, participants may qualify and score as many times as they wish, paying entry fees for each time participating.

4. For each $10 “Overall Competition” entry, the participant will receive 5 red general drawing tickets to use at the Expo bucket drawings. For the $5 entry in the “Distance Competition”, each participant will receive 3 additional red general drawing tickets to use at the Expo bucket drawings. For each $20 “Bamboo Competition” entry, the participant will receive 10 red general drawing tickets to use at the Expo bucket drawings. For each $30 “All Competitions” entry, the participant will receive 20 red general drawing tickets to use at the Expo bucket drawings.

5. Overall and Distance Competitions have Three divisions: Men’s, Women’s, and Youth (17 and under). The “Bamboo Competition” has only one division.

6. Preparation time: each caster will have 1 minute of practice time on the course.

7. Caster Ready: each caster must be standing on the casting platform with only two feet of fly line out from the rod tip and fly in hand. The caster can have as much fly line off the reel and laid out on the platform.

8. Casting Time: After the judge says begin, each caster will have 5 minutes to complete the course and no timeouts.

9. Target Order: each caster has one cast per target as designated below.

a. 25 feet

b. 40 feet

c. 50 feet

The participant will then return the fly to “caster ready” position, and continue as follows:

d. 25 feet

e. 30 feet around obstacle

f. 40 feet

g. 50 feet

h. 60 feet-“through the hoop” bonus

10. Scoring: each score will be awarded where the fly first touches the ground

a. Inner circle- 300 points

b. Outer circle- 200 points

c. Outside outer circle within course boundaries (in the water)- 100 points

d. Bonus (cast “h” from above) - 300 points. The leader and fly must go completely through the standing hoop target to score.

e. Long Distance: 3 total casts; judges will take the longest qualifying cast of the three and multiply it by 2 (i.e., 92 feet x 2 = 184 points). The length of this longest cast will qualify in the “Distance Competition” if the contestant entered that competition. See “g” below.

f. The total score will be the sum of all the points achieved, minus any penalties. The top three scores in each division advance to the finals of the “Overall Competition”.

g. Each contestant who has entered the “Distance Competition” will have there longest qualifying distance cast from the “Overall Competition” placed in the “Distance Competition”. There will be no finals for the “Distance Competition”. The longest three qualifying distance casts will be awarded.

h. The “Bamboo Competition” will be scored the same as the “Overall Competition”.

i. In the event of a “tie”, the contestants will have a “cast-off”. They will cast at targets 3, 4 and 5. Highest score wins.

11. Penalties:

a. The caster’s fly cannot “tick” the water during their false casts or they receive a 100 point deduction.

b. Illegal strip of the line (“measuring” a cast) will result in 100 point deduction.

c. If the fly lands out of the casting course boundaries the caster will receive no deduction.

d. On the “obstacle cast” (cast “e” from above), the participant’s line must not cross the obstacle at any point or they will be penalized as follows: If the participant’s line crosses the inner ring they will be penalized 200 points. If the participant’s line crosses the outer ring, but NOT the inner ring, they will be penalized 100 points.

12. Lost flies: if a fly falls off the leader, time will be stopped to retie and no penalty will be assessed. The caster must restart at “caster ready” and proceed to the next target in order.

13. Casting schedule: general qualification for finals will be Friday from 12pm-6pm and Sat from 8am-2pm, pond schedule allowing. The top three scores in each division will advance to the Finals at 2:30pm. Youth will go first, then women, then men’s division. Competition must be completed by 4pm on Saturday and prizes awarded.

After the finals have been held and prizes have been awarded, as time allows, we will have the final casting game fundraiser of the event. This is sure to be a lot of fun with prizes available until we run out of prizes or run out of time!!!