Happy Whitsun …

Hope you all enjoy the weekend as much as Ralf is enjoying life in the picture below …

Have a GREAT Whitsun everyone – your BFF-team

3 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medal for the BalticFlyFisher Team…

that was Silja and Lasse’s balance from the Ryd Open 2013. Here is a short story and a few pictures…

3 x Gold, 2 x Silver and 1 x Bronze

Well this year has started and is continuing to be really good for us at BalticFlyfisher. The Ryd Open Flycasting Competiton 2013 (Sweden) gave us some heavy metal to take home. 3 Gold, 2 silver and one bronze medal where handed over to Lasse Karlsson and Silja Longhurst.  The 2 silver medals where won in Trout Distance (Silja) and Seatrout Distance (Lasse); bronze in Seatrout Distance (Silja). Lasse went and took gold in Trout Precision and Silja  in the 15ft and the 18ft (with a 15ft rod) Spey Competition.

The lucky winners – Lasse and Silja

The Ryd Open Flycasting Competition 2013 is one of the 3 Swedish casting competition which are being used to select the Swedish national casting team for the World Championships in Fly casting with standard Flyfishing Tackle held every second year. There are 6 categories: Trout Distance (#5  long-belly line), Seatrout Distance (27 gram Shootinghead), Salmon Distance (15 footer 55 gram Shooting-head), Trout Precision, 15’1 and 18 foot Spey .

After this exciting weekend we are looking forward to our next Competitions- the Danish Championships in Fly-casting 2013 in June but until then it is time to grab a rod and get out there-fishing

Oh I nearly forgot we were using an ECHO 3 9’6″ #8 for the sea trout distance, an ECHO 3 9’0″ for the trout accuracy and a TR 15’0″ #10 for the Spey competitions.

Silja

EWF – Munich

We are off to the EWF this weekend, so if you are in the Munich area and you are feeling bored, come along have a look around, stop by our stand have a chat and buy us a beer or two … who knows we may even let you wiggle a rod .

Details of the fair and how to get to it can be found just here, it really is worth coming along it is one of the best events of its kind in Europe.

Hope to see you there.

EDGE Flycasting Competition

The Edge flycasting competitions is a series of three competitions held at the annual Sportsfiskamässan in Sweden. It’s a big fair this time with over 12000 people visiting over the three days it lasts.

The three competitions are held by the owner of Sweden’s largest online flyfishing forum edgeflyfishing.com in partnership with the Sportsfiskamässan.

Each day of the fair there’s a new competition.

Edge one shot distance

The first competition on opening day is the “Edge one shot distance” competition. It’s a pick up lay down competition where each competitior gets one shot to see how far they can cast. They get 1 minute to warm up and make their one shot. They can cast out the line before making their attempt as to get the desired amount of line ready for the pick up and deliver. A very fun competition that really is make or break. Qualifying rounds are held in the morning, and the top ten goes on to the final in the afternoon. This year it was won by Danish caster Lasse Karlsson with a cast of 31,44, Mikael Blomberg from Norway took second with a shot of 29,38 meters and Swedish Staffan Dahlbom took third with a cast of 28,25 meters. The casts where all measured by lazer measurement, hence the very accurate distances.

Edge Switch cast distance

Second day sees the “Edge Switch cast distance” competition. Each competitor gets 2 minutes to make the furthest switch cast possible. Longest cast counts. Switch is in this competition defined as making a cast that has a anchor in the water. Some competitiors this year tried the perry poke to get a better cast since we are lifting the line of from both water and the floor (pool isn’t long enough ). A traditionel switch (single spey witout direction change) was however the way the winners got their best distances. And as with one shot, qualifying is in the morning and finals with the best ten in the afternoon.  Winner was Swedish Staffan Dahlbom with 26,55 meters, Swedish Ronny Landin took second with 26,10 and Swedish Tellis Katsogiannos took third with 25,75. (4th was Mikael Blomberg and 5th was Lasse Karlsson)

Edge trout distance

Third and last day sees the “Edge trout distance” competition. Same as the switch each competitor gets 2 minutes to throw as far as possible, longest cast counts. Again qualifying rounds in the moring and best ten to the final. This year the distances where very good. It took a cast of 29,10 meters to get to the final, and there where 5 casters throwing further than 32 meters. In the final Mikael Blomberg won with a cast of 34,15 meters set in the last 4 seconds of his 2 minutes, before that his best cast was 32,35. Ronny Landin landed second place with a cast of 33,10 meters and Lasse Karlsson took third with a cast of 32,40 meters.
The gear used for all the competitions are the same, a sponsored rod and line (#5 weight) based on very normal fishing gear in these quarters.

The competitions are open to anyone visiting the show, walk to the pond sign up and cast. It very good fun, and each year new people get their first taste of the casting bug in friendly competition.

Thanks to the organisers for a great event and well done to all competitors, particulatily to Lasse Karlsson of course.

The AirFlo Story

This is another good film produced by Todd Moen – enjoy it …

ECHO Skagit Compact

Try casting 15ft of lead core on the end of your regular Spey line and you’ll quickly find its not up to the job – enter the ECHO Compact Skagit . Skagit lines were originally developed by the Steelhead freaks of the Pacific North West to get flies in front of fish regardless of environment. These short high power heads have the ability to make a cast in tight confined spaces, which often means the difference between success and failure.

Tim Rajeff’s good friend Tom Larimer guides the mighty rivers of Oregon and Washington and as a pro steelhead and king salmon guide he needed a series of lines that allowed his clients to quickly get the hang of fishing heavy level sink tips and BIG flies. So he spoke to Tim about his needs and together they came up with the ECHO Skagit Compact.

As with any line the shorter the head the more critical the weight; by refining the taper and length of the ECHO Skagit Compact from 23ft/7m to 27ft/8.2m depending on head weight, they’ve created 15 models from: 360grains/25g to 810grains/53g in 30grain/2g increments that ensure you’ll be able to find the perfect match for your favourite rod.

As with all ECHO Spey-Lines the front loop has the line size and line type printed on it for easy recognition. ECHO Spey-lines do not contain softener’s and are environmentally friendly.

Designed by ECHO’s Tim Rajeff with Tom Larimer
Manufactured by AirFlo in the UK
Distributed exclusively by BalticFlyFisher

ECHO Skagit Compact Intermediate

The ECHO Skagit [Compact] Intermediate gets you below the surface into even flowing water, allowing for a smoother more direct fly presentation. Two tone in colour, the front taper and belly section are transparent blue intermediate, and the floating back taper is Heron grey. Featuring power core for direct contact and solid hook set, with Flexi-loops at both ends, and easy to read head size designation.

The ECHO Skagit Intermediate is available in eleven sizes from 390grains/25g to 720grains/47g and lengths of 21ft/6.4m to 24ft/7.3m.

In keeping with all other ECHO Spey-Lines, the Skagit Intermediate also has weight increments of 30grains/2g, enabling you to fine tune the line to your rod with ease and the front loop has the line size and line type printed on it for easy recognition. ECHO Spey-lines do not contain softener’s and are environmentally friendly.

Designed by ECHO’s Tim Rajeff, with Tom Larimer.
Manufactured by AirFlo in the UK.
Distributed exculsively by BalticFlyFisher.

ECHO Skagit Switch

Switch rods are designed more like a traditional single hand rod taper… they’re fast in the butt section and flex progressively through the tip giving the caster the ability to overhead cast them.  However, a Spey rod taper is typically slower in the butt section and faster through the tip section.  This allows the caster to form the D-Loop and change the direction of the cast without the rod wanting to unload too quickly. The load is sustained through the whole casting cycle until the cast goes outbound.  It’s the reason why Spey casting feels so good!

Designed by ECHO’s Tim Rajeff with Tom Larimer

Manufactured by AirFlo in the UK
Distributed exclusively by BalticFlyFisher

ECHO Rage Compact Float

The ECHO Rage is probably best described as a “scandit” line (!), part scandi part skagit. Its aggressive front taper gives ultimate power for driving casts into the strongest winds, the rear taper helps load quickly, giving you incredible control in tight casting conditions.

The ECHO Rage comes in nine sizes from 360grains/23g to 600grains/39g and lengths of 27ft/8.5m to 32ft/9.7m which makes matching the proper size to almost any two-hander a piece of cake. As with all ECHO Spey-Lines the front loop has the line size and line type printed on it for easy recognition. ECHO Spey-lines do not contain softener’s and are environmentally friendly.

Although originally designed for throwing monster dry-flies to steelhead in the Pacific North West, the Rage is a fantastic line for North Atlantic Salmon – we normally use it with a 10ft intermediate poly-leader on the front, but it is equally at home with a sinker or fast sinker. If you feel you need a little more delicacy, or you are a spey-beginner and you have the tendency to “blow your anchor”, then just hook a 14ft poly on the front.

Great line.

Designed by ECHO’s Tim Rajeff with Tom Larimer
Manufactured by AirFlo in the UK
Distributed exclusively by BalticFlyFisher

Much Ado About Nothing …

Not only have the ECHO Spey Lines arrived but we are also allowed to use the old names …

the lines are now called:

ECHO Scandi Compact
ECHO Skagit Compact
ECHO Skagit Compact Intermediate
ECHO Skagit Switch
ECHO Rage Compact Float