My name is Chris Haser and I am assisting the United States Youth Fly Fishing Team for the 2011 US Youth National Fly Fishing Championships June 21 – 23. Many of you have served as volunteers for the Youth or Adult Fishing Events in the past I am currently seeking volunteers to serve as a Controller for the event. If you want to serve as a volunteer in some other capacity, your assistance will also be appreciated.

The job of Controller is not hard and you get to spend time on the water with some of the top young anglers in the country. Each Controller is assigned to an angler, measuring and recording the trout. It’s an opportunity to watch and learn from the some of the best young fly fishermen in the country. We need daily Controllers and can promise a great time for all involved. Lunch & water as well as an Awards Luncheon will be provided to all Volunteers.

The Venues for this year’s event will be: Spring Creek (2 Sections between Benner Springs and the Stack House) and Bald Eagle Creek (2 Sessions below Milesburg).

Dates for Volunteering

Tuesday 06.21.11

8am – 12pm – morning session – lunch

1pm – 5pm – afternoon session

Wednesday 06.22.11

8am – 12pm – morning session – lunch

1pm – 5pm – afternoon session

Thursday 06.23.11

8am – 12pm – Skills Competition followed by the awards ceremony

If you (or anyone you know) want to volunteer to be a Controller for any of these sessions (or all) please register with the Central Pennsylvania Convention & Visitors Bureau and fill out the registration form at: http://www.visitpennstate.org/volunteer. Once we have a list of controllers, we will assign controllers to Sectors Judges and they will contact you regarding some minimal training as well as possibly conducting a walk along the streams to review the fishing beats.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at brookiebrown@comcast.net or call me at 814-235-5343. We would greatly appreciate any assistance that you could lend for this year’s Event! It will be a great time!!!

Thanks so much and I hope to be talking to each one of you very soon.

Chris Haser

The competition will be held on sections of the following rivers during the listed times and dates. Check in with TCO fly shop in State College late next week for exact locations and directions to the streamside competition http://www.tcoflyfishing.com

Rivers:
Penns Creek
The Little Juniata River
Spring Creek
Big Fishing Creek

Times/Dates:
9am-12pm, 2pm-5pm – - Sat 10/24 & Sun 10/25
9am-12pm – - Mon 10/26

Or if you’re of the mind, organizers may still need volunteers:
Volunteer Signup

You’re dedicated TroutLegend Reporter will be on the scene! Check back for quick updates as the competition rages on and hopefully many lush pictorial essays before and after the actual event.

Remember top 15 point totals will make Team USA. Point totals have been tallied from National Championship to National Championship. Next year’s point tally will include this year’s National so the only carry over is the National Championship points. The World Team competing in Poland will be determined by 3 top point getters and 2009 US National Champion. Pete Erickson and Mike Sexton have already been determined to be on the 2010 World Championship Team. These 6 individuals will make up the 5 starters and alternate for Team USA in Poland.

This year’s National Champion will receive 15,000 points and a spot going to the 2010 World Fly Fishing Championships in Poland! Good luck to everyone!

Regards,
Anthony Naranja
Fly Fishing Team USA – Captain

Fly Fishing Team USA Point Totals
(Heading into 2009 National Championship)

1. George Daniel 12,000
2. Josh Stephens 10,483
3. Devin Olsen 9,244
4. Lance Egan 9,109
5. Pete Erickson 8,744
6. Anthony Naranja 7,950
7. Mike Sexton 7,483
8. Loren Williams 5,084
9. Bret Bishop 4,880
10. Norman Maktima 4,557
11. Scott Robertson 3,551
12. Eddie Pinkston 3,500
13. Randy Hanner 3,300
14. Jim Hickey 2,700
15. Kurt Finlayson 1,910
16. Rob Kolanda 1,604
17. Brian Kimmel 1,438
18. Brian Capsay 1,250
19. Riley Cotter 1,200
20. Matt Powell 1,125
21. Jake Ricks 925
22. Dejon Hamann 913
23. Trevor Wine 900
24. Alec Gerbec 800
25. Chris Lee 800
26. John Roberts 701
27. Barney Naylor 700
28. Sandy Wright 693
29. Charles Kempe 600
30. David Woody 533
31. Merry Waugh 530
32. Spencer Higa 480
33. Leonard Sauers 467
34. Paul Colcord 400
35. Tom Smith 343
36. Wes Congdon 300
37. Tony Felicilda 300
38. Zach Herbel 300

The final two regionals of the season have been completed! The competitor stage has been set for this year’s National Championships in Pennsylvania. I want to congratulate those that qualified and also the medalists from those regions.
I especially want to thank Josh Stephens and Brian Kimmel for putting these together and all the volunteers that were able to help to make it happen!

Here are the results from the SE Regional

Top 3 Medalists:
Gold – Randy Hanner
Silver – Chris Lee
Bronze – David Woody

5 qualified competitiors:
Randy Hanner
Chris Lee
David Woody
Paul Colcord
Taylor Bussey

Here are the results from the Rocky Mountain Regional

Top 3 Medalists:
Gold Devin Olsen
Silver Lance Egan
Bronze Kurt Finlayson

5 qualified competitors:
Dan Oas
Glade Gunther
Jeremy Sides
Clint Losee
Eddie Pinkston (Team USA – Alternate)

We also have an alternate from the Northwest Regional. Sean Baker has made the qualifier list from this region.

Please remember to get your registration in asap! I look forward to seeing all the regional medalists and qualifiers in Central PA next month! There will be a presentation of medals to all medalists prior to the start of the National Championships so those medalists please plan on being at this award ceremony the day before it starts.

Congratulations again to all that participated in the National Qualifying system!

Regards,

Anthony Naranja
Fly Fishing Team USA – Captain

State College, PA-The United States Fly Fishing Championships will be held in the State College Region October 24th through October 26th, 2009. The event is sponsored by the United States Youth Fly Fishing Team and the Central PA Convention & Visitors Bureau. Fishing waters that will be utilized for the event include Spring Creek, Fishing Creek, Penn’s Creek and the Little Juniata River. Organizers of the event are looking for volunteers to help manage and judge the competition.

Some of the Criteria are as follows:

Sector Judges-Sector Judges are responsible for the proper conduct and record of the competition and supervising and training controllers.

Controllers-Controllers are responsible for recording details of each eligible fish per supervised competitor and enforcing competition rules during the event.

To volunteer to be either a Sector Judge or a Controller for the event, please log on to www.centralPACVB.org/volunteer to fill out an application.

Regards, Anthony Naranja”

Fly Fishing Team USA Point Totals

(As of July 09′)

1. George Daniel                                                                     12,000
2. Josh Stephens                                                                     10,163
3. Pete Erickson                                                                        8,744
4. Lance Egan                                                                            8,409
5. Anthony Naranja                                                                7,950
6. Devin Olsen                                                                          7,844
7. Mike Sexton                                                                          7,483
8. Loren Williams                                                                     5,084
9. Norman Maktima                                                               4,557
10. Bret Bishop                                                                             4,530
11. Scott Robertson                                                                  3,551
12. Eddie Pinkston                                                                    3,500
13. Jim Hickey                                                                           2,700
14. Rob Kolanda                                                                        1,604
15. Kurt Finlayson                                                                     1,443
16. Brian Kimmel                                                                       1,438
17. Brian Capsay                                                                        1,250
18. Riley Cotter                                                                           1,200
19. Randy Hanner                                                                     1,200
20. Matt Powell                                                                           1,125
21. Jake Ricks                                                                              925
22. Dejon Hammann                                                                  913
23. Trevor Wine                                                                           900
24. Alec Gerbec                                                                             800
25. John Roberts                                                                          701
26. Barney Naylor                                                                        700
27. Sandy Wright                                                                         693
28. Charles Kempe                                                                       600
29. Merry Waugh                                                                        530
30. Spencer Higa                                                                          480
31. Leonard Sauers                                                                      467
32. Tom Smith                                                                              343
33. Wes Congdon                                                                          300
34. Tony Felicilda                                                                         300
35. Zach Herbel                                                                              300

We arrived into Scotland with the understanding that the wild brown trout native to Scotland were different than our “German” brown trout introduced into our country, and all the countries soon found out how difficult these natives were going to be.  The normal Scottish weather was also nowhere to be found.  The typical cold, windy, rainy Scottish day was only there for the opening ceremonies with torrential downpouring rain and the wary brown trout were as common as the much needed cold, windy, rainy day!  All the days of competition were like a day you wish you had at the beach.  Sunny, warm with very little wind.  This type of weather not very conducive to catching wild loch brown trout.   As you can see through the daily results, not many fish were caught and in fact in most cases if you caught one fish in a particular venue you had a great chance of winning that venue.  Overall, if you got through this championship by catching 1 fish at each venue, you would have gotten into the top 5 and most likely received a medal.  The top individual medalist were the only competitors to have caught at least one fish in each venue.  Even the top Frenchman that finished 4th blanked 1 venue.  All in all a very difficult championship for all competitors.

In the end Team USA finished with a very big comeback coming from 13th place on the final day to finishing 8th in the World, 1 possibly 2 fish from a medal.  In a stillwater championships where Team USA historically has not faired well, I am extremely proud of our team!  I know that we fished as well as we could and we utilized all the resources we could by fishing all of our competitors.  A big congratulations goes to top Team USA finisher, Pete Erickson who finished 13th overall and had a great chance at an individual medal!

We now prepare for the rest of the qualifiers and National Championships in Oct 2009 as well as for the 2010 World Championships in Poland.  Team selection for the Poland championships will be as follows:  Two individuals from this year’s World Championships qualified by their individual finish in Scotland.  Those two are Pete Erickson and Mike Sexton.  The top 3 Point System individuals since the last National Championship will be going to Poland.  Finally, the 2009 individual National Champion will have a spot on this team.  Once we have those spots filled, we will determine the starting lineup and the alternate.  The 3 point system qualifers will be determined from the accumulated points achieved since the 2007 National Fly Fishing Championships through the qualifiers at the end of July.  We are doing this to be able to send this team to Poland 1 year prior to the championships to get prepared for the 2010 World event.  So the only individual we will not know will be the 2010 National Champion which will be crowned in Oct.

The events that qualify for the point system to determine the Poland Team are as follows:

2007 National Championships – Boulder, CO
2008 World Fly Fishing Championships – New Zealand
2008 Pagosa Springs, CO
2008 Salt Lake City, UT
2008 America Cup – Frisco, CO
2008 Canadian National Championship – Mont Tremblant, CA
2009 Santa Fe, NM
2009 Michigan
2009 Bend, OR
2009 World Fly Fishing Championships – Scotland

The following events will also be included for the point total to make the roster for Team USA.  Team USA will be selected at this year’s National Championships by the Top 15 accumulated points from the 2007 National Championships to the 2009 National Championships.
*2009 SE qualifier
*2009 Bozeman, MT
*2009 America Cup
*2009 Canadian National Championship – BC
*2009 Boise, ID
*2009 US National Championship

Points are achieved through any of these events by finishing in the top 30% of the total competitors at any of these events.  For example, at any regional qualifier, there has typically been 24 competitors.  In order to get into the points one must finish in the the top 8 out of the 24 competitiors.  Obviously, the higher the finish the more points accumulated.
In this example:
1st place = 2400 points
2nd place = 1200 points
3rd place = 800 points
4th place = 600 points
5th place = 480 points
6th place = 400 points
7th place = 343 points
8th place = 300 points

Competitions that are considered International (excluding the World Championships) have a mulitiplier of 3.  World Championships have a multiplier of 5.  Thus the harder the competition the more points it is worth to finish in the top 30%.  Also the more the competitor numbers the more points available.

These selection criteria as well as the Point system will be posted on the Team USA website.  Updates to the website will be occurring on a consistent basis.

With this year’s Championship finished, Team USA has established itself as a Top 8 team in the World.  Over the last 4 championships we have consistently finished in the top 8 and we are quickly approaching the top 5.  Thank you for your continued support of Team USA Fly fishing!

Best Regards,

Anthony Naranja

With my buddy Todd Wright running co-pilot again this time we made a b-line for Big Fishing Creek (BFC). Despite many reports of BFC being a creek that would humble even the most proficient angler we got into fish on our first few drifts. Later on, as we proceeded up river to more popular sections the fishing got tougher.

Oddly enough there was some sort of “fishing contest” being held at one of the local hatcheries on BFC… which half scared us to death as we rounded the corner. Our first thought at seeing nearly 125 cars parked at the first access point was: “if it’s this freaking crowded I’m packing it up till Steelhead season!”

All prodigy of stream born insects were taking flight the first evening on BFC. Among a smorgasbord of the usual suspects like Sulphurs and many forms of Caddis we saw some giant black stones and a nice, but sporadic hatch of the famous Green Drakes. Most anglers, including those being guided kept in tight little pods in the slow water trying to coerce picky fish with picky patterns. We ran jubilantly for the fast, gradient falling riffle sections and spooned out a few butter orange wild browns with character to boot.

As evening fell we settled down to some slow water and started to figure out a few pieces of the puzzle. Heading back to the car we stopped to chat with a really friendly father and son team. Chris Hazer and his father turned out to be active with the Youth Team USA and we shot the proverbial manure for some time about cripples, comparduns, Humphries, and the joy of retiring to this fly fishing paradise.

Copious amounts of various micro brews, homemade roasted almonds, and a moon laden night capped off the first day.

Next morning we broke camp and meandered our way, with directions from a streamside guide near Colburn, up over and into the mountain Campground of Poe Paddy State Park. This is a picturesque campground nestled away from any main roads or towns and set right on the bank of the mighty Penns Creek. Our timing was merely happenstance, but that was unique as every other angler in the park had driven from far and wide to fish the well publicized and fantasized Green Drake’s of Penns Creek. It’s a funny thing seeing so many cigar smoking fisherman with plastic wrap still on their rod handles sitting around on the banks just waiting. And when I say funny I mean odd. As in one of the oddest things I’ve ever seen streamside.

Literally every 50 feet of the river for the last 2 hours of daylight had an angler sitting on the bank just scanning, waiting for a rise. Then friends would give the heads-up or flip a coin and one angler would wade out to take a few casts at the rise form, possibly hook a fish… or not, and then settle back to his perch on the bank. So odd. Again, we worked what most would call “B” water during the day and found some very enthusiastic wild trout.

Later on that evening we decided to play the “Penn Drake Sitting Game,” and found a nice stretch, and waited. I must say it does have a certain sort of appeal to it – concentrating more on conversation and waiting rather than fishing. And my devilishly favorite moment was catching a gorgeous rising brown after laying out an 80 foot cast on a dime!! Sometimes it’s fun to have an audience.

After a dinner of Venison Ragu, Venison Breaded Cutlets, and a bit too much Cab we packed up a backpack full of beers and headed out into the 11 o’clock hour to find some midnight risers. Story has it that some of the best Green Drake surface fishing happens just after midnight. Unfortunately, we spent more time pissing in the bushes and stumbling over rocks then fishing. The moon never quite made it’s way over the streamside trees to give the fish a visible backdrop. Still, we did manage to go 3 for about 12 swinging stimmies across the surface. Night time fishing is exhilarating… as long as you don’t kill yourself.

The next day we decided to skip that scene and headed toward “Fisherman’s Paradise” on Spring Creek. Much to our surprise we found a whole section of extremely willing fish coming with ease to size 18 black Caddis. Alas, every trip has it’s end and so does this story. I have to go now and see if there might be a cheap little property available sitting on the banks of Big Fishing Creek.