The notion of angling as a competition pretty much splits the tight little community of fly-fishers like a broiled trout dinner, with the two filets splayed according to age.
Younger fly-anglers generally seem to be down with tournaments; older guys tend to reject the concept as an intrusion upon the tranquility of the gentle sport of Walton and Cotton.
Just about everyone cringes at the mental image of fly-fishermen splashed out in the logos and hoopla you find at a bass event or a NASCAR race. But what happens when you tastefully dress the participants in red, white and blue, wrap them up in the American flag and send them out to do battle with a bunch of haughty Europeans, some of whom happen to be French?
That’s the issue of financial support facing Fly Fishing Team USA as it returns from Finland and a sixth-place finish in the World Fly Fishing Championship, its best result ever.
In a competition again won by France, the U.S. beat out traditional powers England, Italy and nearly 20 other teams. Under the arcane international scoring system, the U.S. achieved this without placing an individual in the top 25, manifestation of a true team effort.
The six-member team that represented the Stars and Stripes is unique in that it was the first selected under an elimination system culminating in a national championship last October in Colorado.
With a contract for a Colorado finale through 2010, the team has a strong connection to the state that includes four members on the expanded squad. Captain Anthony Naranja is a dentist in Grand Junction; Brian Capsay operates a fly shop and guide service in Durango; Mike Sexton directs operations at BootJack Ranch near Pagosa Springs, where a pre-world training camp was held; Riley Cotter of Vail works at Umpqua Feather Merchants in Louisville. Another member, Utah native Devin Olsen, works as a guide in Pagosa Springs.
The team also is notable in that it is the first to profit from a series of training camps and enjoy broad support from key members of the fly-fishing industry. But all is not sweetness and Stimulators.
To mount a truly effective challenge to a European establishment long schooled in tournament technique and regularly involved in competition, Team USA needs all that and considerably more.
Question is, can a relatively thin and static U.S. fly-fishing industry muster the money and resolve to provide the necessary boost? Current sponsors include Simms, Scott rods, Scientific Anglers, Nautilus reels and Clear Creek accessories – arrangements that provide swell gear and some cash, but not nearly enough to crack the nut.
The answer depends largely on whether the industry comes to view the team as a catalyst toward accelerated excitement for the sport, in much the same way that tournaments hype merchandising interest in bass fishing.
Whitney McDowell, marketing manager at Simms, values Team USA not only for the promotion of company products, but for the sport as a whole.
“It brings exposure that can do nothing but help,” McDowell said. “We’re dealing with a very impressive group of people.”
Robert Ramsay, president of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association agrees.
“When you look at all the activities in the outdoor arena, those that have mushroomed all include some sort of competitive element,” Ramsay said. “Competition is part of human nature. It’s what evolution is all about.”
Both conclude that it will require greater sums from outside the industry to make the leap to the next level, advertisements that use fly-fishing to sell automobiles or beer.
“The best starting point is to sell personalities,” McDowell suggests.
These heroes of the sport have yet to appear, certainly not at the international level. What we have thus far is a collection of fresh-faced fellows eager to do their best for the team and the sport.
That should be enough, at least for now. These tournament-trained veterans have much to teach about the nuances of difficult fish; the fly-fishing industry should discover ways to present them and their knowledge to the public.
Perhaps they can even avoid dressing them like clowns in the process.
Staff writer Charlie Meyers can be reached at 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com.
