MADISON, Wis. — John Wilson of Russellville, Ark., cast his way into the top qualifying spot for fly fishing Thursday at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.
He did it in record fashion, too.
Wilson scored 2,464.6 points in a series of four casting and skills tests to earn the first pick of fishing spots on Silver Creek at Fort McCoy, Wis. According to sport organizer John Davis, Wilson's total was the highest score from a fly fishing qualifying round in Great Outdoor Games history.
Jim Hickey of Jackson, Wyo., finished second with 1,998.3, and Rick Hartman of Harlingen, Texas, was third with 1,938.7.
Anglers competed for points in four skills tests — distance, tight loop, line management and accuracy — to determine the selection order for Friday's fly fishing final. A 3.7-mile stretch of Silver Creek was divided into six sections, and anglers selected one based on a walk-through of the stream on Thursday morning.
The longest fish of the day will determine the winner, but in a twist for the competition, anglers must decide whether to record a fish before casting for a longer one. Once an angler records an official catch, he or she must stop fishing.
"It came together for me in the end," Wilson said of Thursday's casting competition. "But it didn't start out that well."
Actually, it started out downright badly. Foster Hetherington, a fellow competitor and friend of Wilson's, broke Wilson's fly rod as anglers practiced prior to the casting tests.
"We're not sure exactly how it happened," Wilson said, "but apparently Foster was really trying to push a tight loop through the obstacle and the rod just snapped in two."
Wilson borrowed another rod — the same type of rod as the broken one — but got off to a shaky start in the distance-casting challenge.
He cast 88.2 feet, which was next-to-last place in the first of the four tests. Hartman laid down the longest cast at 112.9 feet.
Wilson surged ahead in the other three challenges to earn the right to make the first pick. He was first in tight loop test with 700 points, second in line management with 700 points and first in accuracy with 800 points.
In the distance test, anglers tried to make the longest fly cast. Tight loop forced anglers to cast a looping fly line through three hoops at spaced intervals. Line management was a test of anglers' ability to float their lines through a series of obstacles while maintaining a drag-free drift. The accuracy challenge tested the anglers' ability to place a fly in a series of concentric hoops floating in the water.
On Friday, anglers will take to the water for three-hour flights, one from 6-9 a.m. and the other from 5-8 p.m. They'll have to gamble on whether a landed fish is long enough to earn the gold medal. Anglers will be sequestered after leaving the water in order to keep their catches a secret.
Fly fishing is being contested at Fort McCoy, a U.S. Army installation about two hours northwest of the main Great Outdoor Games venue in Madison, Wis. Silver Creek, a tributary of the LaCrosse River, is a narrow, brush-lined stream with rook, brown and rainbow trout.
John Noble, a fisheries biologist for the Department of the Army who helps manage Silver Creek for recreational anglers, said wild brook trout are the most plentiful species, followed by wild brown trout and a small number of stocked rainbows.
"There will be some 14- to 17-inch browns that will break these guys' hearts," Noble said. "Anything over 17, and they'll feel pretty good."
Noble said Silver Creek produced a 24-inch brown earlier this year. Speculating on fly selection, Noble said caddisflies were the most predominant insect species. He said streamers, nymphs and terrestrial patterns also could come into play on Friday.
"Of course, they're going to need some luck, too," Noble said.
Fly Fishing - Qualifying results
1. John Wilson, Total: 2464.6
2. Jim Hickey, Total: 1998.3
3. Rick Hartman, Total: 1938.7
4. Foster Hetherington, Total: 1815.3
5. Chuck Farneth, Total: 1630.5
6. Lance Stanchfield, Total: 1580.5
7. Brian Capsay, Total: 1499.1
8. Ryan Barnes, Total: 1374.2
9. Lance Egan, Total: 1316.8
10. Steve Bechard, Total: 1115.6
11. Capt. Tom White, Total: 1015.9
12. Mike Dawes, Total: 974.5
