Karen Brooks – Speaking at our Annual Dinner in August
Good evening, and thank you for inviting me to speak to you this evening.
Having recently returned from the US, I would like to share with you some of my experiences from the Fourth Ladies’ World Fly Fishing Championships based in Idaho.
It was a bittersweet experience for our Team. I am guessing that many of you have heard that at the last minute we were unable to compete, and you must be wondering what happened.
In brief – four days prior to the start of the Championships we were given a Waiver to sign which released US Angling (the event organiser) from all liability.
We refused to sign the Waiver because we had concerns with how it would affect our Travel Insurance. Several meetings followed with representatives of FIPS Mouche (the world body that organises Competition Fly Fishing) and US Angling (the hosts of the event). What was revealed through these meetings was that US Angling had failed to take out Accident Insurance, as agreed upon under Article 16 of the Inspection Agreement, so signing the Waiver meant we would be fishing without any insurance protection in a Country where medical costs are staggeringly high.
We were not prepared to take that risk, and thus were totally devastated. After all the hours of preparation, practice, fly tying, and not to mention the cost of getting there – we had lost the opportunity to compete and to defend our Bronze Medal from the previous year.
Enough said about this for now. I would like to share with you the journey to a World Championship.
Our teams are selected by Fly Fish Australia from ranking points gained at State and National Competitions over the previous three years. Our team consisted of Jules Stevens (Manager) from Tasmania, Di Richards also from Tasmania, Jane Forster from the ACT, Jo Starling from NSW, and myself (Captain) from Victoria.
Our preparations began. The Fourth Ladies’ World Fly Fishing Championship was to be held in conjunction with the 22nd World Youth Championships. There were five sectors in the events – three river sectors and two lake sectors. Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, Warm River and Sheridan Lake in Idaho, Hebgen Lake in Montana and Greys River in Wyoming.
A lot of research was undertaken prior to our leaving Australia.
As Captain I researched the sectors we would be fishing, gathering information from various sources. Some was supplied by the host country, but more detailed information came from selected competitions and recreational anglers to build comprehensive data that would assist us with our training. Information was gathered from Devin Olsen (a member of Team USA who had competed in 13 consecutive World Championships), Jeff Currier (another Team USA Member), and others who knew and had fished the competition waters. The network of competition anglers are in general very helpful in sharing their information and knowledge.
The information I collected was compiled and shared with each of the team members, along with specific lists of flies to tie suitable for the competition waters.
Normally we would engage a guide for our practice period of 8 – 9 days before the start of the competition, but unfortunately, due to the restrictive nature of guiding outfits in the USA, it was impossible to book a guide as they are licenced to guide only on a particular stretch of river. This is very different to most other countries where it is generally quite easy to secure an experienced competition angler as a guide.
Our solution – we booked and paid Tom Jarman as our Coach for three days in January of this year, and based ourselves in Mount Beauty. The Kiewa River was the water we found most similar to the rivers we would be competing on in the US.
Tom assisted us enormously with his overall knowledge, and specific knowledge relating to fishing in the US, the varieties of fish we would be targeting, and the techniques required. He was also able to help with individual fine-tuning and more specific assistance for the newer member of our team.
We each prepared independently in the months that followed – practicing, refining our techniques and decision-making, preparing our gear, and tying flies as listed.
We also researched the two lake sectors via YouTube videos, Podcasts, downloading Bathymetric maps – anything to learn more about fishing those waters at that time of year.
We were also fortunate to have the help of Glenn Eggleton, a very experienced competition angler who has represented Australia on numerous occasions. Glenn is a master of lake fishing, and has been hugely supportive of the ladies’ teams since we began competing in 2016. Glenn has fished Hebgen multiple times and had other contacts who were also generous with information. Glenn generously spent many hours tying up fly boxes for the team for the various techniques we expected to use on both Hebgen and Sheridan Lakes.
Our plan for the practice period in the US was to fish the practice waters set aside for the event to ascertain which techniques would work best for us in each sector, and thus narrow down the flies to those we were confident to use.
Sector 1 – Henrys Fork of the Snake River
The Henrys Fork is one of the most storied and scenic rivers in the US. At 175 kms long it is very diverse, with good numbers of trout and whitefish. Some sections contain as many as 4,000 trout per kilometre. (Our rivers here hold on average 250 trout per kilometre!)
The competition sector was in Cardiac Canyon, access to which was down a 50% steep gravel and rock slide, called ‘Grandview Boat Slide’, which was used to slide boats attached to a rope down to the river. It was very steep access.
The river is approximately 40 – 50 metres wide, and the length of our beats was about 200 metres. The shallow calm edges were perfect holding water for brown trout, but our practice revealed that the faster, more turbulent and deeper waters were preferred by the Rainbows and Whitefish.
Technique for Henrys Fork included nymphing using two nymphs to thus allow enough weight to get the nymphs down in the strong current. Our plan was to use a nymph under a dry fly along the edges using a nymphing rod to target the browns, and then swinging streamers to finish the session.
Sector 2 – Hebgen Lake
Fed primarily by the Madison River as it leaves Yellowstone National Park, the competition sector was the Madison Arm.
The Madison Arm is generally quite shallow and weedy, being mostly 3 – 4 feet deep, with some parts up to 13 feet deep.
Large brown and rainbow trout populate the lake, with many exceeding 40 cm. Mountain whitefish, grayling and cutthroat trout can also be caught there. Our sessions were to be held between 9am and midday, with conditions at this time generally being very calm, with no breeze at all.
In fishing Hebgen in practice we worked out which flies and techniques worked really well. So we were confident! Static nymphing with either a Twist Nymph, Crystal Flash Nymph, or Driscoll’s Midge on the top dropper, with a small orange beaded Olive Streamer on the point worked well.
Similarly, fishing a nymph under a dry, or plonking with an indicator dry on the top and an Orange Beaded Olive Streamer or Orange Beaded nymph on the point, were also successful.
Sector 3 – Warm River, Idaho
The Warm is a tributary of the Henrys Fork. Our sector was in the upper reaches, which had a low gradient and clean gravelly bottom with flat glides and pool sections. Target species for this river were brook trout, brown trout, cutthroat trout, cutbows and mountain whitefish. Access to the Warm was also very steep and slippery down an old railroad track.
Our practice revealed that the shallow crystal clear waters required very stealthy approaches and definite dry fly opportunities. For this sector I planned to have four rods set up – a dry fly rod, a nymph under a dry on a floating line, and two Euro-nymph rods – one of these set up for fishing a single nymph, and the other for nymph under a dry – a great technique to use in some of the deeper depressions.
Sector 4 – Sheridan Lake, Idaho
Sheridan is a private lake covering about 250 acres. It has an average depth of three metres with some areas as deep as eight metres. The lake is stocked with Kamloops rainbow trout, which are known for being the largest non-migratory rainbows.
There was no practice water available – which was a challenge. But we were able to view the lake, and a chance meeting with two anglers coming off the water led to some useful information about locations, technique, depth and flies.
We planned to use either static nymphing or plonking at a depth of five feet. Flies would be either a red Zebra Midge, Black Squirmy, or Orange-beaded nymph on the point.
Sector 5 – Greys River, Wyoming
The Greys is the primary drainage river of the Western Range in Wyoming. It is made up of small snow melt creeks, and experiences high spring and early summer flows. It holds Snake River Fine Spotted Cutthroat Trout and Mountain Whitefish in good numbers, as well as brook, brown and rainbow trout and cutbows.
The Greys was fast flowing, with milky greyish-looking water. There were faster and deeper sections which were prime holding water for whitefish, and many drop-offs and deeper sections held the beautiful fine-spotted cutthroat trout.
The technique for Greys – I planned to have a minimum of four rods set up for this sector, these being rods for a dry, nymph under a dry, and two Euro nymph rods – one with a single nymph, the other with a nymph under a dry, or two nymphs in the deeper, faster sections.
River Flies
We went there well prepared with a large selection of flies and were able to reduce the number during practice sessions to the five or six which proved to be the most successful, thus becoming our “confidence flies”.
For me the nymphs were a Rose Gold Squirrel (also a Pink Squirrel and Copper Squirrel). The Italy Fly worked well as top dropper. Also effective were a Hot Spot Pheasant Tail Nymph (Frenchie), a Cody’s Caddis, Walts Worm, and a Mop Fly to run through deep pockets after nymphing.
Dries were a CDC Split Wing Mayfly with a pale shuck of white Antron (which was a standout) along with Tom Jarman’s CDC Caddis.
The Rockerka also worked well in more boisterous water for suspending a nymph.
We were well prepared for the competition!
But then, being unable to fish in the competition, we turned that negative into a positive by fishing some exceptional waters in the days that followed – and having a heap of fun!
We explored the Gros Ventre River in Wyoming (which had stunning views of the Grand Teton Range), and the Madison River in Montana at Three Dollar Bridge and Raynolds Pass – all providing fantastic fishing!
The Red Rock Creek in Montana was a beautiful spring-like creek which held West Slope Cutthroat and Grayling, and the Lamar and Soda Butte Creek in Yellowstone National Park were great for fishing for Yellowstone Cutthroat – whilst Bison wandered by.
The outcome of this World Championship was far from what we had expected. We had been on a positive roll after finishing fifth in the First Championship in Norway, fourth in the Second Championship in Canada, and then taking out the Bronze last year in the third Ladies’ World Championship in the Czech Republic.
This year we were aiming for Silver!!
We have hugely positive memories of our fantastic experience in the Southern Bohemia area of Czech Republic – a very beautiful part of the world with exceptional fishing on the Vltava River, the Malse River, Kvetenov Lake and Lipno Lake.
In contrast to the US we were able to hire a guide there for our practice period – Vojtech Ungr, who had been a highly skilled member of the Czech Team for many years. He was an excellent guide and gave us a good understanding of the waters we were to fish.
We caught brown and rainbow trout, chub, whitefish and grayling. Each of the river sectors were quite different, thus requiring different skills and techniques, as did the different species which feed in quite different water types.
The lakes offered their own challenges with one being fished from a drifting boat, the other from an anchored boat. The lakes were stocked with trout just prior to the competition, which required different techniques and flies to what we were used to fishing in Australia.
All the girls in our Team fished incredibly well, with fabulous results. We had been in second place for the whole competition until the last session when we were overtaken by the French Team by a small margin. The overall winners were the Czech Ladies’ Team who are exceptionally talented anglers.A great result for us in a field of nine teams.