Saltwater angler Tom Rowland made a splash at last year's Great Outdoor Games

Tom Rowland wasn't considered a favorite to win the gold in the One Fish Fly Fishing competition in the 2000 ESPN Great Outdoor Games.

Rowland had an obvious weakness.

The majority of his fishing takes place in Florida, wading saltwater flats for permit, tarpon and bonefish. It's a totally different game than slipping up a mountain stream for rainbow trout.

Rowland, however, had a not-so obvious strength.

"I relied heavily on my saltwater flats tournament experience in this tournament," Rowland said. "Most thought I was at a disadvantage because I had spent so much time in saltwater. "What was obvious to me in hindsight was that I had competed in fishing tournaments more than anyone else in the field."

"My tournament experience has shown me that you need to formulate a plan that you are comfortable with and stick to it. Any deviation from that plan usually results in floundering and wasting time. Time in a three hour fishing event is the most valuable commodity."

In the saltwater flats tournaments Rowland competes in, anglers often have a set amount of time to catch one of two or more species, and the angler who catches the largest of each of those wins. The nature of the tournament creates some interesting scenarios. For instance, an angler may have to catch a permit, followed by a bonefish and then a redfish.

"When you approach a tournament like that you have to have a plan and stick with it," Rowland said. "You could go out and be sitting on the best permit water in the world, catching them on every cast, but you're not going to win if you don't know when to stop and move on to the next species."

In that scenario, Rowland sets limits for himself. It might be a length limit where once he catches a fish that measures a certain length, he moves on. Or he may have a set number where after he catches a 10th or 20th fish, he stops and moves on.

	Rowland unleashes a monstrous double-haul in the distance competition last year.

Those scenarios have taught him the importance of using time wisely. He relied heavily on that experience in the Great Outdoor Games. And it proved to be the difference in Rowland's victory. How he approached the tournament is a lesson to any fly fisherman who needs to make the most of his time in unfamiliar water.

"When I chose the stretch (of water) I tried to choose with my gut on what stretch would hold the most and biggest fish," Rowland said. "My strategy, once there, was to utilize every inch of the water that I had to work with. I came with five rods rigged with different flies. My strategy was to use a very long leader and a small hatch-matching fly to start, then go to a large attractor and then to a nymph."

In addition, he set an 18-inch minimum length limit. Rowland made up his mind that once a fish that size was caught his fishing would be over.

"After working the water dead-drifting a nymph I had decided to give myself at least an hour to fish a streamer for the biggest fish in the river," Rowland said.

Rowland's progression up the river was designed to start with the least-obtrusive method and progressively work to the most.

"If I would have started with a streamer, or a larger fly, then I was taking the chance of missing or spooking the fish that were there," Rowland said. "I have used this strategy for years on the western spring creeks and feel that it is sound if you have a small amount of water to work with and want to take full advantage."

"I knew that if I did not hook a big fish on the dry that it might show itself and I could concentrate on the area with a nymph or streamer."

The strategy worked perfectly. After 45 minutes of fishing, Rowland watched as a large fish missed his small dry fly. With the fish located, he switched flies and concentrated on that small area.

"By the way the fish went down, I knew he had simply missed it and would come back again," he said. "I waited about five minutes, cast to it, it actually missed the fly the first time, but I twitched it a couple of times and he ate it."

The brown trout measured 18 1/2 inches, with a 10 1/2-inch girth, just narrowly edging Doug Swisher of Corvallis, Mont., who caught an 18 1/2-inch brown with a 10-inch girth. Ironically, after Rowland caught that fish, he had strong feelings that he should release it and go for a bigger fish. But he stuck with his original strategy, remembering the lessons of sticking with the plan from previous saltwater tournaments.

"Had I released it, I doubt that I would have caught one bigger and I probably would not have even placed," Rowland said.

"It is funny that what was considered my weakness in this competition actually turned out to be the largest advantage I had."