Lac de Rabais, November 5th 2016, eight o’clock in the morning; the parking area is a busy place because the top of the European competition reservoir flyfishermen are preparing for the 24th edition of the International Friendship CCF-Marathon Fly Fishing.
Like every year the organisation of the event left nothing to be desired, this was done by the Casting Club of Flanders, an enthusiastic club with a large number of volunteers. Next year they will organise their 25th IFM, a cause for celebration.
With participants from all corners of Western Europe, one could expect fireworks along the waterside and that is precisely what happened. After the first session one could see it would become a difficult match, very technical with the utmost in concentration because the rainbow and brown trout proved to be extremely careful in the ginclear waters of this beautiful reservoir. Long casts, fishing with thin tippets with Mini/Boobies and Buzzers were the most successful techniques. Despite two intense days of practising for many of the foreign anglers, the Belgium fly/fishers ended high in the ranking at the end+ this is no surprise, this is their water and they are firm favorites here. It was of great importance to have as few as possible blanks during the nine sessions on the day.
Right until the last second it was a close match, one fish more or less and one would rise or fall four to five places. Only one team had no blanks at all, the winners therefor were Tony Perin and Christian Bazan. Second place was for Patrick De Schutter (G.Loomis Prostaffer) and Christian Jadouille (member of the Belgium G.Loomis team); on third place ended Philippe Hardy and Chico di Marco, with G.Loomis Pro Staffer Guido Vinck and Fredo Charlier on fourth place right on their heels. In total 288 trout were caught, the biggest fish was 54 cm in length.
The sponsors of the beautiful table with prizes were: Predator Flyfishing, Drennan, Fasna Flyfishing, Beet, Lac de Rabais, Greys, G.Loomis, Shimano, Flybox and Trout Fishery De Ronde Bleek.
