Locals excited for 2019 World Fly Fishing Championships

Fly fishing guide Christopher Bassano won the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships when they were last held in Tasmania in 2012, but said his local knowledge might not necessarily translate into success if he makes the team for the 2019 competition. 

“Competing here all the time does give you some good insight and level of local knowledge that other people won’t have, but having said that, competitions work on a different set of rules and you have to alter things and change things,” he said. 

“Knowing the way things run in Australia though everyone who comes over here will have all the information they need to win so it will be a tightly fought contest.”

National Australian fly fishing team member Jonothan Stagg said Tasmania was a unique location for fly fishing competitions because all river trout and most lake trout were wild rather than stock fish. 

“It’s wild fish, and that’s something different to what a lot of the Europeans are used to,” he said. 

“It’s a place I’ve fished all my life, so I think it’s exciting to be able to showcase what we’ve got here to the rest of the world.”

Mr Bassano said securing the championships would have a number of benefits for the state aside from the fishing itself. 

“It’s going to be wonderful for everyone, it’s going to bring so much money into the area – restaurants, wine, all the things that Tassie is well known for, “ he said. 

Mr Stagg said the competition would run over three days, but competitors and their entourages – expected to be from between 25 and 30 countries – would arrive in the state up to two weeks before the official start. 

He said there would be five sessions over the three days, with each fish caught worth a certain number of points depending on size. 

Both men will represent Australia at the World Fly Fishing Championships in Colorado later this year.