“Snapped up, hook straightened, stuck me in the weeds” are common overtures that you hear at any pub on a typical fishing weekend. “ The
pressure bottomed out and that darn Easterly blowing” can compliment these commiserations over a wee dram.
There is no shortage of excuses when it comes to not catching fish! In fact a great idea for a Fishing smart phone App would be to produce
original explanations for why we failed on the water………’if it wasn’t for those $%@&* low flying birds’ is one that might hold water.
But not this last weekend…..yes there were tales of the one that got away, after all a fishing trip just isn’t the same without a good yarn,
but 526 specimens made it safely to and from the net, bringing the tally to an impressive 1 699 trout in the TOPS at SPAR Corporate Trophy
Challenge. It’s a format that has been improved on every year since the inaugural event in 2002. There are 3 legs, limited to 15 teams of
four anglers in each leg, with the top 5 teams qualifying for the sought after final. The 180 anglers are whittled down to the top 60 through
this process, with the accumulative points of each team counting.
But here’s the kicker, only your top 4 fish count in session 1, Three fish in the 2nd session, Two fish in session 3 and a single specimen is measured
in the last session. So, over four sessions of festive fly fishing a total of 10 fish to count per team member.
This wonderful handicap system, prevents ‘stocky bashing’ and targeting of juvenile fish, which let’s face it, isn’t a mark of angling skill. It also stops
the fishing pros from walking away with it…..as it’s all about that last session and with only one fish required, it boils down to size and good old
Lady Luck.
With each team guaranteed to fish 8 of the 15 exclusive trout waters, the bias of a dam draw is also negated. Bottom line is that to a large extent you take out the highly competitive nature of the event, as every fisherman realizes that this festival has a lot more to do with than just fishing.
Obviously the chance of winning a brand new boat, compliments of Yamaha or international fly fishing trips to the renowned Ichingo lodge on the
Chobe or Guma Lagoon in Botswana, gives the lads some incentive to fish. In fact with a Million Rand’s worth of prizes up for grabs it’s a wonder
that they don’t take it a little more seriously. But as all those that have enjoyed the event will attest to, incredible prizes are bestowed for the most outlandish behavior off the field.
The Hannibal Lecter and Vladamir Putin Award will give you an inkling of tongue and cheek prize giving.
This event continues to be sold out every year because it happens to be the most fun that you can have with a fly rod. This is the essence of any
festive gathering of fly fishers and it is an ethos that I hope continues to infect the masses.
The winners of the 2014 TOPS at SPAR Corporate Trophy Challenge were ‘The Finance Team’, with Leads 2 Business as runners up and
Notties Fly Fishing Club coming a close third.
To enter your team for the 2015 event, go to www.wildfly.co.za
As such, he is included not as a Guide in terms of the someone who can give you any indispensable tuition or direction, but to provide us with some fishing tales from the events that WildFly hosts and of course from the locations that the the WildFly team happen to be filming.
The real account from a social fisherman's perspective...
- The Trout Report - November 15, 2022
- It’s not a Competition - August 10, 2022
- Fixated Fish – TCC Leg 3 - July 14, 2022