The rules for 2012 are unchanged from the 2011 rules below. 

Two important changes have been approved by the GGACC Board of Directors and will be in effect for SOR 2012:

A new division, Senior Men, has been established.

o Age qualification for the senior division is 55 years or older.
o Any male meeting the age qualification can opt to compete in either the Senior Division or the Men’s Division (not in both) and must register as such before competition begins.

o Three person teams (Fly Shops, Rod/Reel/Line Manufacturers, Clubs - team members may be recruited)
o Maximum 12.5 ft Rod Length (must be available off-the-shelf)
o Floating line required – any type (must be available off-the-shelf)
o Any type Spey cast technique, but must employ an anchor
o Three targets at 50, 65 & 80 ft, one cast at each target
o Casting order determined by draw
o Team with highest accuracy score wins

We will have additional officials on the banks to verify and record the scores.  This should make for more precise distance measurements, as suggested by the competitors.

Spey Casting Competition

Equipment
 Rod: Must be model that is or has been available for sale to the general public,  15’1” maximum length
 Line: Floating synthetic line, either full line or shooting head. No restrictions on running line.
 Leader: 9 foot minimum, 15 foot maximum.
 Fly: Will be supplied
** Equipment check will be performed prior to casting by the competitor for both the qualifying and final rounds.

Required casts
 Casters can use whatever cast they choose in four situations:

 Line from the right – over right shoulder and over left shoulder
 Line from the left – over right shoulder and over left shoulder

Casting rules
 Change of direction will be set by markers at about 40 degrees (same as 2010)
 Caster will be in water – about 3 feet deep
 There will be a barrier 33 feet behind the caster. No penalty for hitting it, but it will  affect the cast
 Fly must anchor in front of caster
 If Perry Poke used, only one “dump” allowed per cast and fly may not leave water on  “dump”.
 Perry Poke (or similar casts using a “dump” or “poke”) can only be used with lines  of head length up to 55’, measured from tip of line to start of level running line.
 Once a cast is begun, it counts as a scoring cast.
 An inadvertent “extra” cast in a required category will not be counted against the caster’s  allowed casts in any other category, but will use the caster’s time.

The Competition
 Qualifying will be held on Saturday morning with top 10 casters going to finals on Sunday morning.
Casting order by random draw for qualifying and final rounds.
Casters (or representative) must be present for the random draw.

Qualifying
 •3 casts each for the 4 required casts. Score is total of best distances for each of the 4 required casts.
•2 minute warm-up, time starts once caster steps in the water
•Time limit is 6 minutes for the 12 required casts

Finals
•3 casts each for the 4 required casts. Score is total of best distances
 for each of the 4 required casts.
•2 minute warm-up, time starts once caster steps in the water
•Time limit is 6 minutes for the 12 required casts

Friday practice time (20 min) at official casting station can be reserved by signup.

Women's Division

 The Women's Division will have the same rules as the Men's Division, with one exception:

 The casting station for women will be at the 50 foot mark in the pool, 20 feet farther forward than the casting station for men.
We will have separate markers for line placement to start the casts, so the angle change will be exactly the same as for men.

Note: The purpose and effect of this one rule difference is to make the water shallower (6-7") to compensate for the differences in height between men and women.

Tie-breakers

 In the event of a tie for any place, the tie will broken by totaling each competitor’s second best casts in each of the four categories.

Perry Poke

 We want to include all styles of casting as they continue to evolve through the efforts of innovative casters. Jimmy Green was not a traditionalist, but an innovator who encouraged and invented better equipment, casting techniques and fishing methods. Skagit casting, using compact heavy heads, is not only an effective casting and fishing style, but was developed with help from Jimmy over a decade ago. We are therefore deliberately including Skagit-style casts and equipment in this competition.

 We will allow the Perry Poke (or similar casts involving a “dump” or “poke” of line to the water) to be used only with Skagit-type equipment, which means short heads, 55’ or under. This will not allow a “poke” with longer headed lines, which could distort the competition to emphasize switch casts over all others.

Glen Nagumo
Chief Judge