By Michael Yelton
The National Fly Fishing Championships (NFFC), were held in Bend, Oregon on May 30th through June 2nd, 2018. 56 anglers from across the country competed this year. Anglers are selected to compete by competing in Regional events throughout the country over a 2-year cycle dating back to 2016. At Regional events competitors are awarded points based on their individual results. Competitors can compete as much as they want but can only use their 3 best finishes plus the National Championship to compile points for that 2-year cycle. From there, the USA Fly Fishing Team selects their 2018 20-man roster based on the top 20 points earners.
At this year’s National Championship, there were 5 venues used during the competition. Lava Lake, Crane Prarie Lake, South Twin Lake, North Twin Lake and the Upper Deschutes River were the venues. The 56-angler field is broken up into 5 man teams. Each competitor, fishes five 3-hour sessions at each venue. Before the competition starts there is a draw, which determines which group each angler is in and where they will be fishing during each session. After each session, results are compiled based on the number and size of each fish caught during that session. Competitors are rewarded by placing points after each session based off the number of fish they caught during that session. So the competitor that catches the most fish during a session get 1 placing point, the angler that catches the 2nd most fish gets 2 placing points and so on. If you don’t catch any fish, you receive the maximum placing points based on the number of anglers in your group, so if your group has 10 anglers, you’ll receive 10 placing points. In the event that two anglers catch the same amount of fish, the tiebreaker is based on fish points, which is based on the size of each fish caught. The angler with the least amount of placing points at the end of the competitions wins the tournament.
New Mexico’s Norm Maktima finished first place, Pat Weiss of Pennsylvania was 2nd place and Michael Bradley from North Carolina took 3rd place. The 2018 Team USA Fly Fishing is as follows:
2018-2020 Fly Fishing Team USA:
# Name
1 Pat Weiss
2 Lance Egan
3 Devin Olsen
4 Josh Graffam
5 Michael Bradley
6 Cody Burgdorff
7 Russell Miller
8 Norman Maktima – Retired
9 Mason Sims
10 Josh Miller
11 Sean Crocker
12 Jeremy Sides
13 Dzifa Glymin
14 Ken Crane
15 Glade Gunther
16 Nick Bell
Alternates:
17 Robert Humston
18 Laramie Smith
19 Chris Eussen
20 Michael Yelton
21 Kirk Lewis
Please note: Norman Maktima retired after Nationals. Nick Bell was moved up from first alternate. Kirk Lewis was moved up to 5th alternate.
The 2020-point cycle has already started with 2 events already completed. For more information on competing in Fly Fishing Team USA events go to http://flyfishingteamusa.com or www.flycomps.com for more information.
Michael L. Yelton can be reached at The Granddaddy Fly Fishing Experience, LLC located in Lake Lure, NC by email at info@granddaddyflyfishing.com, by phone at (828) 980-3554, or at his website at www.granddaddyflyfishing.com.