THE HUTT VALLEY ANGLER - Christchurch Fishing and Casting Club

World Championships to be held in Norway.
Tony listed some of the differences between competition and ‘hobby’
angling.
In competition angling the following conditions apply:
Competitors use barbless hooks.
Anglers are assigned beats on the water.
There are multiple sessions, so competitors will follow others on a
beat.
Indicators are not allowed.
There are rules on spacing of flies and how many can be used etc.
Various local rules apply.
In New Zealand, team selection is based on accrued points from regional
competitions. The top twenty competitors form the basis of the teams
selected to represent New Zealand. The five highest scoring anglers will be
chosen to fish at the World championships and remaining fifteen will qualify
to fish in the Commonwealth and Oceania competitions.
Competing in Slovenia
In many European countries the competitors are not solely fishing for trout.
Grayling and some other coarse fish such as Dace and Chubb may also
count. The competitions in Slovenia were mainly fished on smaller but
beautiful, clear rivers running from the mountains. These were often
stocked waters and held Rainbow, Brown and Marble Trout as well as
Grayling. The championship comprised of one lake session and four river
sessions.
Another observation Tony made is that dry fly fishing was a predominant
style used in the competitions. There is generally a much larger population
of smaller fish in the rivers in Europe and these are free rising. Fishing a dry/
nymph combo downstream was another successful method.
Fishing to Grayling with a floating fly required a variation in technique to
achieve a successful hook-up due to the fact that grayling have small, soft
mouths which are set on the underside of their jaw.
There were twenty eight teams competing in the competition.
New Techniques
Tony talked about some of the techniques applied during the competition.
Czech Nymphing. Using heavy, sparsely dressed flies.
“Cleaning” where the wading angler shuffles his feet on the stony
10
Hutt Valley Angling Club Incorporated - September 2012