Learn to cast the fun way.

THE British Fly Casting Club (BFCC) puts on a series of annual meetings around the UK – see: www.thebfcc.co.uk under Calendar, where any casters can expect a friendly welcome and to improve their casting.

At the meeting at Oswestry on June 15, member Nigel Rogers achieved a superb result by casting his 7wt outfit 87ft 8in from his wheelchair and won himself a 25-yard badge. But perhaps, more importantly, he vowed to return again to achieve the 30-yard badge he so nearly won.

Chairman Mike Marshall said: “This is an example of the BFCC working at its best and exactly as it was originally envisaged.”

Hi guys,

A situation has arisen where Mike Marshall will not be able to attend the Glasgow meeting on the 8th of September. As you all know Mike usually drives to each event bringing all the rods, reels and other equipment necessary. On this occasion it is proving difficult to make alternative arrangements, especially for the heavier tournament rods. If any of you can offer either help or a useful suggestion could you please email or phone Mike and let him know.

Many thanks,

Mike H

I have heard it’s quite grim up north but from what I saw as I drove up the A1 wasn’t grim at all, quite lovely in fact, and Alnwick is quite a picturesque little town. I normally turn left at Scotch Corner so when I didn’t I was in entirely new territory. This was the first BFCC event in the North East so it was a bit of a shame that all Peter Thains efforts to get a good turnout didn’t quite materialise but we had the benefit that because we were so far north we had the pleasure of a few of our Scots friends making a trip south so all in all we had quite a good event.

The wind might have been a bit kinder. The direction was steady but varied from zero to gusty  in the space of one false cast to another but generally blew  quite strongly all day, it was a real rhythm breaker, you thought you had set yourself up for a decent cast and then a gust would blow your back cast out or it dropped away just as you hit the delivery. Despite this there were still some creditable casts and Peter did increase the ST 27 record to a more respectable 161+ft. Not out of sight so still all to play for. In fact the only events Peter didn’t win was the #7 (me) and the B100 which was won by Mike Barrio, who seemed slightly disappointed he hadn’t come last. Better luck in Glasgow Mike.

That is the bare bones of the meeting but there is a slight sub text in that all the members who had driven up from down south were generally so busy that we didn’t have much of a chance to meet and socialise with the locals which is a great shame because we do pride ourselves on being a friendly club. Surprisingly one of the places we do get to know each other and can have a bit of banter is marking the lanes. The event can’t happen without markers and it’s a great place to look at how the different casters cope with the conditions, offer the odd word of encouragement or take the piss. At all our other events this isn’t normally an issue because everyone chips in but for some reason I can’t put my finger on it was an issue here. I appreciate this is a new area for us and this was the first event so no-one knew how we operated on the day. We do rely heavily on the people attending all mucking in and sharing the workload where they can. It makes the event come alive.

Well done Tracy for taking the five and seven women’s records and to Wendy for extending her S50 women’s record.

Really well done to Peter Thain for nearly getting a clean sweep and for getting us to Alnwick in the first place.

Mike H

Conditions were seemingly good for distance casting with a decent wind blowing for most of the day.  Unfortunately there was also an unpredictable cross wind on the casting field which skewed some backcasts and dumped some good forward casts.

Distances are in feet and inches:

#5F –  Peter Thain 125.05; James Evans 120.07; Mike Heritage 119.07; Ben Dixon 110.00; Kev Muir 106.06; Tracy Thomas 97.09; Wendy Bath 97.08; Alan Bath 95.00; Mike Barrio 92.05; Daniel Bruce 78.09

#7F – Mike Heritage 129.08; Peter Thain 127.01; James Evans 126.03; Ben Dixon 121.04; Mike Barrio 112.00; Kev Muir 107.11; Tracy Thomas 105.09; Alan Bath 98.10; Wendy Bath 98.03; Ian B 97.00; Daniel Bruce 86.01

B100 (#5 + #7): Mike Barrio 204.05; Tracy Thomas 203.06; Wendy Bath 195.11; Alan Bath 193.10; Daniel Bruce 164.10

ST27 – Peter Thain 151.02; Ben Dixon 147.04; James Evans 145.10; Kev Muir 145.02; Hugh Newton 142.07; Mike Heritage 142.00; Tracy Thomas 117.00; Mike Barrio 108.10; Ian B 104.07; Wendy Bath 101.02; Daniel Bruce 76.03

T38 – Peter Thain 197.03; Hugh Newton 167.04; James Evans 162.08; Ben Dixon 161.04; Kev Muir 158.02;
Mike Heritage 142.08; Tracy Thomas 120.10; Daniel Bruce 90.10

T120 – Peter Thain 208.06; Kev Muir 204.04; Ben Dixon 203.00; Hugh Newton 194.05; James Evans 177.09; Daniel Bruce 168.10; Mike Heritage 166.09; Ian B 139.00; Tracy Thomas 131.07

Overall Position (points) – Peter Thain 7; James Evans 17, Ben Dixon 18, Kev Muir 23; Mike Heritage 24; Hugh Newton 35; Tracy Thomas 37; Mike Barrio 42; Wendy Bath 46; Dan Bruce 47; Alan Bath 48; Ian B 48.

The following records were set:

Tracy Thomas takes the women’s overall #5 and #7 records

Wendy Bath extends her S50 #5 record

In a separate record attempt Peter Thain beat the men’s ST27 record