Scariff man nets silver medal at World Fly-casting Championships

WORLD champion fly caster and Scariff man, Ruairí Costello has netted another medal at the world championships, taking silver for his country at the World Championship in Fly-casting 2012 held in Fagernes, Norway over the weekend.

The Ballycorban angler has just returned from the championship, where he was competing alongside one other Irish angler, Martin Kiely from Limerick.

In 2010, at the inaugural world championship in fly-casting, Ruairí was crowned world champion but extremely windy weather conditions led to unpredictable results for Ruairí and his fellow competitors this year.

This is the second world championship fly-casting event to be held by The Norwegian Casting Federation and it saw 14 countries compete across the six different events. The championship drew 70 of the best fly-casters from around the world competing in competitions that included spey distance 15’1’’ competition, trout accuracy, trout distance, sea-trout distance, salmon distance, and spey distance 18’/16’, which saw Ruairí scoop second place.

Literally pipped at the post, Ruairí in the spey distance 18’/16’ competition, Erik Hernes Larsen of Norway had the same distance on their longest casts in the finals but Ruairí lost out on a gold medal by .5m on his second-longest cast.

“The qualifiers were on Friday and I qualified first in one event the 15ft spey-casting event and I qualified joint first in the 18ft spey-casting event and weather conditions were terrible both days – the wind was going up and down like a yoyo. In the 18ft spey casting I was beaten by a half metre. The guy who qualified first with me came last and the guy who qualified last came first, the wind just changed completely,” Ruairí said.

Ruairí also qualified for the final spey distance 15’1’’ competition, which yielded him fourth place. He missed out on a chance of competing in the sea-trout distance competition having ranked 21st in the qualifiers and also in the salmon-distance competition having ranked 22nd in the qualifiers.

Given the appalling weather conditions, Ruairí said he was delighted to return with his silver medal. 

“I’m really happy with the way it went. I’m not disappointed you can’t beat the weather. It’s like golf or anything, if you are trying to drive a ball into the wind, you’re not going to get the same distance,” he said. 

Last October, Ruairí picked up two gold medals and four silver medals in addition to setting a new trout six weight single-handed world record of 52m at the JCA Anglers Class Masters casting competition in Tokyo.
At the last world championships, the self-taught fly-caster scooped gold and three silver medals after competing in five main events in Fagernes, Norway.

Fly-casting is an art in itself requiring skilled fishing technique as it involves casting with an extremely lightweight artificial lure made of fur or hair as long a distance as possible.

With the hype of the Olympics having died down, Ruairí has his sights on the Olympics. Although it is not a recognised Olympic sport, Ruairí says there are efforts being made to have fly-casting included among the games. In the meantime, he will be waiting in the wings if and when that occurs.