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Fishing championships coming to area

SARANAC LAKE – The Tri-Lakes is home to many championship competitions, like the Empire State Games, luge, bobsled and the upcoming snowshoe race next winter. But another championship is heading our way next week in the form of the U.S. National Fly Fishing Championships.

The fly fishing championship is an event that dozens of competitors from around the country are expected to attend. The championship will determine the make-up of the 15-member United States team that will go on to compete in the world championships, which are being held in Vail, Colorado this year in mid-September. Last year, the team took the silver medal during the world championship in Bosnia.

The national championship will be held June 1-4, and fishing will take place on five different bodies of water around the area.

Ken Crane, who lives in Syracuse, is the event organizer as well as being a member of the current national team. Crane said Lake Placid has hosted regional qualifiers in the past, and the volunteer base and plethora of fishing spots made the area a natural choice.

“Because they had the two regionals, the national team went with Lake Placid. So I have to be organizer and fish at the same time,” Crane laughed. “But at the end of the day someone had to step up and make sure this event happened. I’m on the current national team and am trying to earn my spot again.”

Team members who catch a spot on the national team are hooked in for two years, and then have to earn their spot again.

There are 55 registered participants, and there is a wait-list as well. Crane said that in addition to fishermen, there are also families, fans and volunteers who will travel to the region for the championship. There are volunteers coming from as far away as Georgia.

“If you’re in to fly fishing, then you want to go to the spot where all the guys you read about are going to be,” Crane said. “And they’re all going to be in one place.”

Crane said that they are still looking for volunteers for a number of jobs, including weighing and measuring fish and making sure that competitors stay in their designated areas.

“When you volunteer, you can actually work with these anglers for a three-hour session,” Crane said. “So it’s kind of like a free guide trip. Plus we give away a ton of stuff for volunteers.”

Crane said that volunteers can get hats, pins and T-shirts and they can enter to win rods, reels and other fishing equipment.

Crane said he got a spot in the championships in 2011 when a last-minute fill-in was needed.

“I was like, ‘This is kinda cool.’ It’s just kind of a fun trip, and there’s the competition side, but the people are a lot of fun,” Crane said.

Crane said the local economy will benefit from the influx of competitors and volunteers as well.

“It’s not like the Empire State Games, but that weekend after Memorial Day is kind of flat in Lake Placid,” he said. “We’re only 55 people. (But) we’re bringing in 55 guys and probably 30 volunteers who stay in hotels and are there the whole week. They’ll be shopping in stores and enjoying night life (too).”

The way the championship works is that certain sections of river are designated as fishing spots, with five areas in each location. Then fishermen do a random draw to see which section of the location they can fish from, and then move around until they have fished each section. The whole tournament is catch and release, and competitors are required to use barbless hooks to help limit the injury to any fish that are caught. If you get the biggest fish, you are awarded one point, and just like golf, the lowest score wins. Also, overall length of the biggest fish is used as tie-breaker. The anglers are only judged on trout and salmonid species like land-locked salmon.

“It’s really kind of ‘Catch as many fish as you can in three hours,'” Crane said.

The venues that the event will take place on are Mirror Lake, Lake Colby, the Saranac River near Redford, the Ausable River in Wilmington and the Salmon River near Malone. The rivers are split into chunks while the lakes are more of a free-for-all.

Crane said most fishermen will come into the area the Saturday before the competition, but aren’t allowed to fish the competition waters.

“They have five days (to practice). They’ll fish the rivers close to where the competition will be,” Crane said. “And a lot of the guys will rent boats and fish similar lakes nearby.”

Crane said that the competition still needs some volunteers, especially in the Malone area.

“For our closing ceremonies, we rented out the convention center and will have a catered dinner for all the competitors,” Crane said. “And more importantly, for all the volunteers.”

For more information on the championship or how to volunteer, visit www.flyfishingteamusa.com.

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