Team USA Masters Flyfishing woke up in first place today after two sessions.  But we had two more sessions to go.  If we could perform well like on Day 1 then we’d likely take home the Gold for the first time in USA fly fishing history.

 

I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t feeling the pressure.  Perhaps I should have but that’s not the way I roll.  I was self-assured and confident in my teammates that no matter what, we’d do well.

 

The weather would challenge all teams.  The forecast for this time of year is usually, “uncomfortably hot”.  But it’s been perfectly cool instead of hot all trip.  And yesterday temps plummeted from cool to cold and we’ve had torrential rains for over 30 hours with no letup in sight.

 

Regardless of the weather however, the playing field is the same for every team and everyone.  While my teammates headed for their venues, I headed for my morning session on Belfast Dam.  It was 5 AM.

 

If there was one venue that scared me after my November visit to these waters, its Belfast Dam.  This little reservoir is low on trout and stacked on largemouth bass that don’t count.  I believe between myself, Daniel and Jerry, in a full day’s practice we only caught about six trout.  On sessions 1 and 2 Lauren and Mike each caught two fish and scored 4’s.  I suspected a couple of fish could win this session today.

 

When we arrived at Belfast the sector judge announced most of the boat motors weren’t working.  In which case the motors were removed from all boats to make things even and we paddled instead.  I drew Janina of the ladies South African team as my paddling competitor/partner.

 

I won’t get into a ton of details but paddling in the wind wasted a ton of time.  When we fished I casted relentlessly, fishing three flies.  A heavy brown woolly bugger on the point, a smaller black as my first dropper and my top dropper was a weightless damsel bugger.  Our drifts were short and paddle times long.  Janina hooked me three times.  Two and a half hours into the three hour session, neither Janina nor I had caught a trout.

 

I’d been observing the other boats most of the morning.  There were few fish caught but I saw Santi, the famous multiple times World Champ of Italy, catch a few.  With 15 minutes left we moved near where he was fishing and a miracle happened, with ten minutes left I landed a 45 cm rainbow.

 

That was the only fish from our boat.  Janina blanked as did two others of the eight anglers.  The Italian caught 4, Irish caught 2, Johann of South Africa caught 1 and the Spanish caught 1.  Of the five anglers that caught, I scored a 4.  If only I’d been in the correct spot all session.

 

A 4 wasn’t the end of the world.  I was so close to a blank it was unsettling yet I pulled it off.  Once everyone was packed up we headed for the Dullstroom Lodge for lunch.  There was Pete looking bleak.  He blanked on Dullstroom in the morning while the Spanish and Italian in his group each caught a fish.

 

As we ate lunch more reports came in.  It was amazing how many bad scores there were on all the lakes and even some blanks on the river.  Lauren scored a 5 on the Nooitgedacht but good news, Mike won his river session.  The team standings changed however, Spain overtook us for first place by two placing points and the Italian’s tied us.  Session 4 would tell the tale.

 

After a little art on a fly box for the Dullstroom Dam sector judge Maurice during the break, it was time to fish Dullstroom Dam for me – the final session.  Despite Dullstroom Dam blanking both Pete and Mike and a whole lot of others, I was feeling it.  I had a plan based on my teams observations and my experience on Dullstroom in November.  I was going to catch a fish and win Team USA the Gold.

 

When the clock kicked us off you could hardly see through the fog and drizzle.  But this didn’t hurt my confidence.  I knew I needed a fish or two and most importantly I had to beat Santi the Italian and my Spanish competitor.  If they beat me, Gold was out and perhaps even a Silver medal.  But if I caught one and they blanked, Gold was ours.  I live for this kind of pressure.

 

I was fishing directly against the Australian who kindly gave me full control of the boat.  He nor his team were doing well and he knew the USA’s predicament.  I explained him my plan and off we went to fish by the dam area.

 

One hour went by – not a strike.  Two hours went by – not a strike.  Santi was close so I could watch him and also – nothing.  And same for the Spaniard – nothing.  Every strip I made with my three train fly rig I expected to take USA to Gold.  But every time there was nothing.

 

Two hours in I saw the Italian captain wave to Santi to move.  I watched the move closely.  Off to the other side of the lake he went.  Shortly after the Spaniards boat moved as well.  Was I missing something?

 

With 30 minutes left to go and not a touch from a fish at the dam, I followed.  It was a brutally tough decision to make but something had to be done.  Just as me and the Australian arrived I could see a fish on from Santi’s boat.

 

At first my heart dropped.  But then I realized Santi’s opponent the Irish was the one hooked up.  He landed his fish and it was a beast.  Gold was still in my hands.

 

We were on fish. Or at least there was one.  Me, Santi and the Spaniard were fishing frantically, all knowing what was at stake.  With ten minutes to go, my Australian drove his hook deep into my nose.  Things weren’t going well for me.  I yanked it out and said, “No worries” and tossed it back over.  He made one strip and he had a fish on.  Are you serious?

 

Its been bred into me to do what’s right in everything.  Now was time to be a good sport.  I reeled in as fast as I could to get my line out of the Australians way.  Like the Irish’s fish, this was a beast.  For at least 3-4 minutes the fish dashed around.  Finally he netted it and I had the job of measuring it and logging it on the score sheet.  It was a monstrous rainbow of 48 cm.

 

I even released this fish.  Then with 5 minutes left I went back to my fishing.  I won’t lie – I was desperate.  I didn’t even have time to compute in my brain what just happened.  I was desperate.  And that 5 minutes went by in a blink of an eye.  The bell rang and the tourney was over.  I blanked.

 

I kid you not, after the bell rang, I made a long cast to clear and straighten my line like I always do before packing it in.  Then I reeled in as fast as I could to call it quits.  A huge rainbow attacked my point fly as I lifted the fly from the water to hook it to my hook keeper.  We missed each other.  I’m not sure how I’d have felt if I hooked and landed a beast the one cast 15 seconds after the closing bell rang.  But it didn’t happen anyway.  Incredible!

 

There is fun in all this.  All three of us, me, Santi and the Spaniard were blanked.  Not only that, the only two fish caught, one came from my opposing competitor and the other by Santi’s.  All we could do is laugh.  The medal standings were no longer on us but rather the rest of our team’s performance.

 

I don’t do shots.  I don’t drink hard alcohol.  But when the South African committee came to me, Santi and the Spaniard with shots, we drank them.  Then another.  We poured three of the tasty ******** down our throats.  Then we hugged and headed for the lodge to hear of the rest of our teams’ results.  This is such an awesome tournament and experience!

 

I’m not sure exactly how all the other scores broke down.  But I know that Pete and Mike each scored 2’s to buffer my blank and Laurens 5.  The result, Spain 1^st by two placing points.  Team USA 2^nd over Italy by 2 placing points.  We lost Gold by close margin but won Silver by a hair.  Silver is our best finish ever.  So as much as it hurt to be close to Gold, Silver is a-ok!

 

We have two more days here in South Africa before the long flight home.  Tomorrow we are being treated to a safari in Kruger National Park and then its the evening medal ceremony.   Then Saturday we have our flight home but its not until 9 PM so we’ll make a day of something.

 

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing