# Casting Contest For Fishermen



## BillH (Feb 7, 2001)

Sportcast USA is hosting its second New Jersey Fishermen’s Contest at the Marlton NJ field on July 21, 2007. There will be three events: large bait and weight, small bait and weight, and lure. Contestants can use any weight for the bait events and any lure for the lure events. Rigs and shock leaders must high visibility and strong enough to satisfy the 10 to 1 rule. Mono line must be a minimum of 0.31 mm (12 lb test) and braid 14 lb test. Shock leader and artificial baits will be provided. Contestants must provide their own lures. There are no restrictions rods and reel except the reel must be mounted at least twenty eight inches up from the butt during the cast. Casting styles will be restricted to: overhead casts, hatteras casts, and unitek casts. There will be prizes for first place in the men, woman, and juniors (under 18) categories. Winners will be determined by adding the scores in all three events. The entry fee is $15.00 for adults and $5.00 for juniors and includes coffee, donuts, and lunch. Registration starts at 7 A.M. and casting starts around 9 A.M.


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## mantriumph (Sep 12, 2006)

"the reel must be mounted at least twenty eight inches up from the butt during the cast.".............Are you saying that factory rods are not permitted?


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## Tippet (Jul 3, 2007)

yes that caught my eye too- seems a bit restrictive?


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## lunartic (Jul 16, 2006)

28 inches restricts it all to 'heavers,' basically. Counts out my spinners, low real seat Purglas that I plug with. . .


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

*let's give*

Bill a chance to respond. I think the minimum is designed to keep tourny casters who utilize "low"
reel seat positions from taking advantage. 

Which I could make it but the rest of the family is going to hatteras and I'm stuck with "pet" duty that weekend.


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## Tippet (Jul 3, 2007)

Wish I could make it too, not that I've learned to cast well enough to compete yet.

But it's a long drive from San Diego, and I have pet duty too!


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## toejam (Jan 28, 2005)

Since this is for the Fishers,,,, I would like to see the ability to long cast accurately ( an important part of fishing) tested in the tourney.... Hows about a big 30 yard bulleye with a five yard center,,,start casting at 100 yards, eliminate half the contestants ,,, back up to 125 yards ,,,, eliminate half the contestants,,,,and so on until you have a winner!


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## BillH (Feb 7, 2001)

Thanks for the feedback on the reel position.

We changed the reel mount rule from "28 inches from the butt" to anywhere on the butt so long the outfit can be used for fishing. The focus on this tournament is on the surf fishermen and fisherwomen who want to see how far they can cast and maybe increase their casting distance. This should be a fun event for all and we want to make it as easy as possible to participate.

Toejam
Interesting idea about the accuracy. We will take it into consideration for next year.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

toejam said:


> Since this is for the Fishers,,,, I would like to see the ability to long cast accurately ( an important part of fishing) tested in the tourney.... Hows about a big 30 yard bulleye with a five yard center,,,start casting at 100 yards, eliminate half the contestants ,,, back up to 125 yards ,,,, eliminate half the contestants,,,,and so on until you have a winner!


That sounds like it would be a lot of fun. I used to practice in my yard when I was a kid trying to cast into a 5 gallon bucket. I got to the point where I could get it in the bucket consistently from about 30-40 yards. This was with a 7' spinning rod and 1 oz sinker. Not bad for a 12 year old I always thought.


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## Stevie Wonder (Apr 20, 2007)

*Marlton,N.J.?*

Hi All; I would like to come down to this event. It would be my first tournament. Can you help me as to the fields location so I can do a search on Map Quest? Maybe there is a train station closeby to the field? I would be traveling from N.Y. Penn Station.. Or drive. Depending on distance & time.
thanks in advance, stevie:fishing:


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

*here ya go*

For directions use mapquest.com. The field is located at 1047 Tuckerton Road, Marlton NJ 08053.


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## RockhopperUK (Jul 13, 2005)

BillH said:


> Toejam
> Interesting idea about the accuracy. We will take it into consideration for next year.


Bill,

CIPS held the world championships in Ireland last September. Watching all the different events was something else...the Japanese had the accuracy off to an art...IMHO it would be well worth while picking up on, as they are all directly related to fishing.....Andy Miller ( aka Led) would be the man to keep you informed, I'm sure you have contact details for him through the UKSF.

BTW...here in Ireland lots of the guys fish with the reel in the "Low" possition (about 10"-14" up from the butt)

Tom.


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## Stevie Wonder (Apr 20, 2007)

Surf Cat said:


> For directions use mapquest.com. The field is located at 1047 Tuckerton Road, Marlton NJ 08053.


Surf Cat... Many thanks! Stevie


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## BillH (Feb 7, 2001)

RockhopperUK said:


> Bill,
> 
> CIPS held the world championships in Ireland last September. Watching all the different events was something else...the Japanese had the accuracy off to an art...IMHO it would be well worth while picking up on, as they are all directly related to fishing.....Andy Miller ( aka Led) would be the man to keep you informed, I'm sure you have contact details for him through the UKSF.
> 
> ...


Tom

I would love to go to one of the CIPS Tournaments someday. Maybe something like the CIPS Tournament can be held in the USA. The American Casting Association is our CIPS representative. I'll contact them to see what they can do.

Low mount reels for fishing are slowly catching on here . Most surf fishermen that cast low use a sliding reel seat or a butt extension to put the reel in the "fighting" position (24 to 30 inches from the butt) when reeling in. How do you reel in a big fish if you are using a non-level wind multiplier reel mounted 10 to 14 inches from the butt?

Thanks for the info.

Bill Sr


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## RockhopperUK (Jul 13, 2005)

Bill,

This will probably cause an argument   

I fished reel high as far back as I can remember until I discussed it one day with none other than Terry Carroll. He told me this....He said he always fished reel low and explained how it gives you more control over the rod not less, he said (and it made sense to me) place the butt cap in your right or left hip, that's your anchor point, the fulcrum point is where ever you have your right hand, that's your lever. Fishing with the reel high the butt cap point is somewhere between your legs and its not anchored, your fulcrum point may look higher but its not and you butt cap point is not secure, with no point to help the holding hand to lever the rod.....after thinking about it, that sold me on reel low.

Some say that the above makes the rod longer and that works against the angler...and it probably does, it is also a fact that a shorter rod makes for a better lever to assist the angler, a point here is, we are "sports fishermen" and as such should give the fish a good sporting chance. You only need look at the Salmon anglers who use the long 16ft slim double handed fly rods, their reels are low, they seam to manage to land big fast moving fish in very fast moving rivers

We don't get big fast fighting fish over here like your guys get, but my son took his new Zziplex M4 out a couple of weeks ago for the first time, first cast (reel about 14" from butt) and he hit into a Tope (est. 35lb) from the shore, he landed that shark in about 15 minutes, he said it took a couple of runs, stripping 15 lb line from his 6500 MagElite but the rod felt good and very pleasing (no mention of a struggle) Most of the time over here we never get fish that test the angler, least of all test our gear.

The biggest problem with a low reel is the crap that gets into the works, sometimes we don't put the butt in the tripod cup holder, that's when you get lots of sand and crap in your reel. I would imagine a low set reel would be difficult in the sand spikes you guys use...would that be right? I don't think it would balance right, do you?

Line lay.....To lay the line on a CT has never been a problem to me in the low position, even if my left hand is sometimes further away from the reel, it still feels kind of natural IMHO.

Tom.


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## Lip Ripper (Dec 8, 2003)

i dont know if ill change to a low reel, but i must admit that you make a good argument for it.
and i absolutly will try it.


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

> This will probably cause an argument


Well not an argument per se, but a counterpoint to the theory at any rate. I cast low reel for tournies, and when I am practicing my casting at the lake. It is ok to retrieve a sinker with the rod butt anchored in that spot (your hip bone) but after many retrieves, I find I have to switch back and forth between hips, the constant pressure of the butt wears on the skin and bone and becomes uncomfortable, and this is just from constantly retrieveing the weight through the water. I can't imagine trying to fight a large red drum without better leverage than this method provides. I think you actually get better leverage with high reel, as you hook the butt of the rod against the back side of one of your uppper legs (careful  ), and use the upper hand for leverage. 

Being sporting is all good and fine- but I suspect fighting a large fish on low reel position would change your mind after one or two long battles with big fish


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

*addt'l thought*

I think we could come up with sand spikes that would work for low reel, and I have used one of the small rubberized rod butt supports that goes over a belt, (provides some of the same support for the rod butt as a fighting belt) (back casters sometimes use them). this gives better leverage with less wear and tear on the hip points.

I do find it to be an issue when the reel is low to have the upper hand too far away from the reel- (when trying to maintain leverage) because at least for me it makes line leveling for a conventional more difficult. It also helps to keep the rod from twisting over if the hand doing the levelling is in contact with the reel, the reel is wider than rod and can be palmed from the back side to provide support against rod twist. 

hope this makes sense- and I welcome any counterpoints/add'tl thoughts on the subject


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## BillH (Feb 7, 2001)

*Prizes*

I have some great new about the prizes. Thanks to the generosity of RollingTackleBox and Backlash Sportfishing we have the following prizes for the contestants.

First Place Men – 13 foot Breakaway HDX surf rod

First Place Women – 10 foot Lamiglas Surf King surf rod.

First Place Junior – 3 piece Daiwa surf rod.

Second Place Junior – Cabelas Salt Striker medium weight surf reel loaded with Power Pro line.

Third Place Junior – 4 foot aluminum sand spike.

Fourth thru Eighth Place Junior– a bag of assorted fishing rigs, breakaway wire and impact sinkers, Gemini Genie Link Clips and a LED Rod Tip Light.

Wow, these are really great prizes and Sportcast USA is very grateful to the sponsors for all their support.


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