Geoff Hadley Takes Top Spot in ‘Fly for Coarse’ Competition

“We had the devil’s own job ranking the catches” remarked Dom Garnett. “It just shows what is possible, and it was the stories that captured the imagination, rather than just the size of the fish.”

Entries included two staggering thirty-pound plus pike, carp caught on everything from daddy longlegs to floating snails, as well as chub to over five pounds on dry flies. Few species were out of bounds, with even a tench and a grass carp featuring.

Geoff Hadley’s fish of dead on four pounds came from the River Sow:

“I could see several dark shapes holding in the current- which on closer inspection revealed a shoal of about 20 bream,” he recalls. “I crept towards the head of the group and started casting so that the fly landed well upstream of them, before sinking down to their level. It took me three or four casts to get it working right, and as nymph made its way through the shoal I saw one particular fish turn sideways to intercept it. I struck and it was on! It did a pretty good impression of a chub, diving for the weed. It gave a surprisingly good fight and I had to apply steady pressure to turn it several times.”

Geoff was using a 9ft 5wt set up with floating line and 5lb leader. He wins a leather bound, collector’s edition of ‘Flyfishing for Coarse Fish’, while the rest of the field get a copy of the DVD and a Turrall split cane fly box.

“It’s been a wonderful advert for trying something different,” said Dom. “I’d also like to hope it encourages an ethos where fun, skill and adventure are more important than mere pounds and ounces.”

“The competition has been really inspiring” added panelist John Bailey. “The boundaries between coarse and game fishing have to come down at some point- and this contest is a great way of doing it.”

A new competition is already underway for 2014, with more exclusive prizes including a deadly new range of “Flies for Coarse Fish” produced by fly fishing company Turrall.

For a gallery of catches, plus fishing tips and competition details, visit Fly for Coarse

2013 HIGHLY COMMENDED ENTRIES