Congrat's to Mike, and thanks for the report.

And, to be clear, you gave the rod back?

Way to go Mike!

Congratulations Mike.
Apparently the strategy that you had worked out and explained to me in our conversation at the Michi-Glass gathering paid off. It's great to map out a plan and then execute it!
KUDOS!
Mark McKellip.

Congratulations Mike.

What rod?

Thanks everyone. Duff and Kinzua, I was hoping to build my own rod but just didn't have time this year, so Chris Bogart built a blank for me to finish out and use in the competition. It was a 6' 10 3/4" 7wt hollow built. He designed the rod specifically for the competition (although it will make a great rod for BIG trout in small streams). You get a handicap for using a shorter rod. So just for the record, my casts included a 15 bonus. So the length of my two casts (106' and 104') were actually only 91' and 89'. The original rod that I had practiced with actually broke the morning of the competition (due to no fault of the maker), so I had to frantically try to find a replacement rod to cast. Chris luckily had a similar rod available, but I ended up using a different fly line than I had practiced with. With no practice with the line or rod I was a little nervous. You only get two attempts, so if you do something stupid like stand on the line or get a tailing loop your cast still counts. I was happy to get two conservative casts off with no mistakes.

Hardy certainly has a great event. It has a lot of guys (myself included) putting a lot of thought into casting technique and rod design. I think it is great for the sport. Already looking forward to next year.

Mike congrats, glad you made Chris proud. It is on my calendar for next year.
Well worth the 12 hour drive from Mi.
Glen

Congrats Mike, that's some fancy casting!

Not really familiar with distance casting other than my late FF mentor/casting instructor used to compete in them in the 50's & 60's. Do you have to use a reel? Any falsecasts or limit to the number of them? What lines are allowed? I imagine hauling is allowed, but don't know. How does it work?

Again, nice job Mike!

Nice work Mike.

Way to go Mike. Congrats!

The rules for this event allow any cane rod up to 9' in length. For rods 7'6" to 7'11" you get a 5' handicap. Rods 7' to 7'5" receive a 10' handicap. Rods 6'11" and under get a 15' handicap. I think Hardy did a great job of setting the handicaps for rod length. I have run all the possible configurations through my head and find it hard to see where there is an actual advantage as far as length. Last year I built a 7'11" rod and got the 5 feet. This year we decided to go short and get the full 15'. Not sure about next year yet.

When you are called to the line, you can have up to 6 practice casts. When you say you are ready to score your casts, you get two distance casts. Both of these casts are totaled together and both casts count. Even if you stand on the line, lose your grip during a haul, etc. This is the hardest part of the event, not screwing up. After your two distance casts, you get one accuracy casts that can total up to 15 points. It is amazing how hard it is to hit the accuracy target. I think of the 75 or so casters, maybe 5 hit the target. And no, I was not one of them.

I don't think there are any rules that say the reel needs to be mounted. You can take as many false casts as you want. I would encourage anyone who is interested to try it next year. It is a great time and there were casters ranging from I think 7 years old to 95 years old. Everyone who cast received a raffle ticket for a chance to win a Hardy Bougle reel. It is a great event that is fun for everyone.