Rocketroy
08-20-07, 12:01 PM
It was my pleasure,Sat/Sun., to be invited to act as a judge, for the above regionals.......leading to the fall national "Fish- Off.", that will determine the US Team,that will compete against other countries, this fall in New Zealand! The competition was held on the drought and heat impaired Nantahala D/H, the Oconaluftee,and the Ravensfork rivers....... in Cherokee, N.C.. I am not at liberty to disclose the winners, but was fortunate to judge a guide/tyer /outfitter, down from Syracuse, N.Y., who was the 2005 team USA official tyer,and a deadly short-line nympher,on the Nan D/H,catching the largest {a 17 in. carryover R/B }, while totaling the most inches {10 trout},over the 3 hour morning session! His name: Loren Williams, who scored well using dual nymphs,with the most productive in the moving pocket water......a Green weenie,dropped off of 12 ft. of 5x/w/ bead headed sparkle emerger ,or similar! The technique involved staying low{on his knees}, and dragging holes/deeper runs multiple times{as many as twenty, before moving on!} A display of patience and perseverence! An outstanding individual production!.......all, while the stream was open and populated with all types of local catch/keep anglers! The catch proved to be mostly Browns,with one brookie,and several stream born Rainbows! An interesting sportsman, Loren also serves as youth coach to the Pa. Youth FF Team,that had an 18 year old young lady in the competition........who placed 20th in the US World FF competition! She was Heather Seitz, and used virtually the same nymphing/ fly/rig, to score 2 fish on an adjoining beat! In the afternoon, I was tasked to judge a different angler, on the Ravensfork......one Chris Rowland ,out of Roanoke, Va,,whose 5-8 p.m. shift was unproductive, until well into the final hour{7-8 p.m.}, when he finally got on the board,with an 8 in. R/B,that took an afternoon caddis.........after suffering an earlier refusal, from a 15 in. brown, in the skinny and hot water! Since there was more than one session, that saw several anglers draw blanks,you would have thought Chris had landed a wall hanger...............such was the challenge, this day! As a side note,I asked ea. to write down a little bio.,for my write up..........While Loren did not show his Fishing experience,Both Chris and Heather did.......with both posting experience back to when they were 4 YEARS OLD! WOW!, Does that show how memorable your early outdoor experiences are? All in all, a nice weekend,capped by seeing 2 Smoky mountain Elk,practically in downtown Cherokee! Regards, Rocketroy Lowe