The other weekend I joined up with some good folks to fish for a good cause. Everybody wins… Well, not our team. I broke off early and was of little help for the rest of the day unless you could holding my teammate’s beer being helpful.
The Cozad’s One Fly Tournament raises money or youth-related fishing program
s in the Viroqua, Wisconsin area. This is a central location in the Driftless Area fishery of Wisconsin. The tournament had about 10-12 teams of four fly fishers. Points are scored based on the size of fish. All flies are tied by a teammate and once your fly breaks off, you’re done for the day.
I caught about 12 fish in the first hour and a half and was on track for a nice score for the day until I broke off in a surprisingly simple situation. I presume my line cut on a rock or sharp piece of debris I couldn’t see.
The rest of the team fished well and we met a lot of great people.
I think we had just as much fun planning strategy, scouting streams and talking flies/smack before the day than the actual event.
Will fished well all day. He was an alternate for another teammate who ended up having neck surgery two weeks before tourney. Eric and Justin fished their top secret water and managed to keep their flies and cat a few fish as well.
It probably wasn’t twenty minutes after the tournament was over and we were already scheming for next year.
Fishing can be a very solo sport. For most of us on the team, the solitude of fishing is part of the attraction.
But I think it is fair to say we all had an awesome time climbing out of our antisocial shells to spend a day on the water with friends.
One thing is for sure, I’ll be working on next year’s fly choice for the next year.
My Leaky Waders 