Chris_in_Louisiana 0 Report post Posted April 11, 2023 Good morning guys, Just wanted to extend an invite to a new event the Gulf Coast Council of Fly Fishers International will be hosting in Gulf Shores, AL. Dubbed the Gulf Coast Classic, the event is slated for May 5-6, 2023 and will be hosted at the Learning Campus of Gulf State Park (Gulf Shores, AL). As part of the festivities, we'll have 20-30 demonstration tyers, exhibitors from local and national brands, FFI Casting instruction and a series of free and paid seminars. There will also be a multi-day Mixed Bag CPR tournament as part of the festivities, and the festival will culminate with a showing of the 2023 Fly Fishing Film Tour. Regarding the Mixed Bag tournament, I'd highly recommend everyone in attendance participate. There's no entry fee (simply purchase admission to the Classic and you're eligible), and we'll be giving away some great prize packages from sponsors like Orvis & Bajio. While we're still working on adding to the prize package, the current 1st place package in our adult division includes an 8wt Orvis Recon and pair of Bajio Sunglasses. Not bad for a free tournament... We'll also be raffling off a number of prizes as part of the F3T showing on Saturday afternoon including an 8wt Sage R8 Salt fly rod. Tickets to the showing are $25 and will be limited to 200-max. Additionally, we'll have a few events of particular interest to the Fly Tying community. These include two tying contests "The Iron Fly" and "The One Feather Challenge" hosted by Fred Hannie as well as a series of paid workshops with Fred, Ed Lash and others. More info regarding the event can be found at the link below: https://ffigulfcoastclassic.com/ Hope to see many of you there. Chris Williams Director-at-Large --- Gulf Coast Council of FFI Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted April 11, 2023 Is the fishing tourney done with Kayaks or people launching bay boats, skiffs and limited to ShelbyLakes and or the beach part of the park? Start, weigh in, details? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris_in_Louisiana 0 Report post Posted April 11, 2023 3 hours ago, denduke said: Is the fishing tourney done with Kayaks or people launching bay boats, skiffs and limited to ShelbyLakes and or the beach part of the park? Start, weigh in, details? The fishing tournament will run from sunrise Thursday, May 4, until noon on Saturday, May 6. You must be registered for the Classic to compete, and you can either pre-register online or begin fishing after registering at the event on Friday morning. We're sticking with two divisions this year; Adult and Youth (under 18). Anglers in either division may fish out of kayak, motorized boat or from shore. The tournament is a catch, photo, release (CPR) mixed bag format, so anglers will be submitting photos of eligible species (25 in total ranging from Bluegill to Tarpon, plus 5 wild card slots for unique catches) in lieu of a traditional weigh in. I'm serving a tournament director, so I'll be reviewing and approving entries throughout the weekend and keeping a leader board updated online and at the Classic site. The angler in each division who submits the most species wins. The tournament awards will take place at 1 PM on Saturday at the Festival site (Gulf State Park). Regarding geographic limitations, we'd love to see people fishing the park, but have expanded the boundaries from Mobile Bay to Pensacola Bay. This means any fresh or saltwater between these locations is fair game. As a bluegill is worth the same 1 point as a Tarpon though, anglers will have to decide whether its more beneficial to make a run in the boat or stick Lake Shelby or the beaches on site. PDFs of both the rules/species list and fishing boundaries can be found at this link: https://ffigulfcoastclassic.com/fly-fishing-tournament/ I'll be hosting a Zoom/Youtube Live Captains Meeting a few days prior to the event. I'll be sure to provide a link in this thread once it is scheduled. Let me know if you have any other questions. Chris Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
