Strong start for NZ fly fishing team at World Champs

New Zealand's started strongly as the winning team after the first session on Day 1 of the World Fly Fishing Champs yesterday, but were edged into second place at the end of the day after the second session, by the Czech team.

The first two sessions were very successful with a large number of fish caught, measured and released. After two sessions on the Waihou, one controller measured 61 fish on one beat. The most fish caught in a 3-hour session was 37 on the Waimakariri River (by Ivica Magdic of Croatia in session 1 and Yann Caleri of France in session 2) while Donald Thom of Canada caught the longest fish at 624mm.

Competitors are saying it's the most fantastic tournament they've been to and John Horsey of the English team is already planning his next trip back to New Zealand. Competitors, controllers and drivers are getting used to early starts as their transport leaves for the some of the fishing waters at 6am each morning for the 9am start time.

New Zealand's highest individual placings at the end of Day 1 were Lloyd Struthers at 11th and Aaron West at 12th, with Craig Farrar not far behind at 15th.

 

For more information:

Full team and individual results for each session, including placings, points, number of fish, and longest fish are at the 2008 World Fly Fishing Championship website: http://www.2008worldflyfishingchamps.com