Well after 6 months the moment has finally come to bid farewell to a great contest that challenged both skill set and comfort level of our Central Texas Fly Fishermen. For those of you that were unfamiliar with the Texas Hill Country Mixed Bag Fly Fishing Tournament it began in April of this year and ended in October. The contestants were presented with the challenge of catch and release of up to 20 different species of fish in a 6 month long period, of course if that wasn’t challenging enough, the fishermen were to be corralled only within the river systems located within the Texas Hill Country. The intent was to get people to venture out of their usual haunts and have new experiences on rivers within Hill Country boundaries, targeting new species and learning the techniques for landing different types of fish. The competition has now ended and after tallying up all the points 3 victors have emerged from our assemblage of fly fishermen. Forgive me, but I must diverge from the unveiling of our champions for just a moment to say a quick thank you to our sponsors. To Diablo Paddlesports, Living Waters Fly Fishing, Action Angler, and Hill Country Fly Fishers thank you for your generous contributions, without which we would not have been able to lure anglers into participating in our friendly competition.
Now without further delay the champions of our Mixed Bag Fly Fishing Tournament…
Our third place winner Shawn Bichsel (on right) holding up his prize, Montana Fly Company Madison II Maddox’s “Brook Trout” fly reel spooled with backing and Airflo Ridge Line Supple Tactical WF5F fly line provided by Action Angler. Check out Shawn’s fly art at his website.
Shawn’s best catch of the tournament was a 17.2 in Large Mouth Bass caught using a Flying Cat on the Lower Guadalupe River
This exuberant second place contestant was Eric Feldkamp (aka Die Fische) who won a full day guided fly fishing trip with Chris Johnson (on right) of Living Waters Fly Fishing. In addition he also received a Ross Flystick 6wt Fly Rod, and Ross Flystart #3 Fly Reel loaded with 6wt Magnum Taper Sharkskin.
Here’s Eric’s trophy sized Long Nosed Gar caught during the tournament on the Blanco River using a custom tied rope fly
Our final contestant and first prize winner is Mike Schlimgen who brought home Diablo Paddlesport’s Chupacabra kayak decked out with paddle and extra accessories. Here David describes the difficulty the contestants had photographing the catches with Mike looking on.
Mike and his prize Carp measuring at 24in, caught on the Pedernales River while fishing an Olive Damsel
From left to right Thomas Flemons, Mike Schlimgen, Eric Feldkamp, Shawn Bichsel, and David Ellzey- A good time was had by all, congratulations to all our contestants.
Keep an eye out for next years tournament!