2006 Portugal World Fly Fishing Championships

In 2006 Fly Fishing Team USA traveled to Portugal for the annual World Fly Fishing Championships. In the heart of this region is the Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain range in Portugal. The mountain range is about 100 km long and is 30 km at its widest point. It is formed from a granite ridge that once formed the southern frontier of the country. The area ranks among Portugal’s outstanding scenic attractions which will undergo important improvement work to the tune of €75 million over the next ten years, including the extension of the ski run.

Anglers from all over the world fly came to fish the waters in the Serra da Estrela National Park and the World Fly Fishing Championship 2006 is being held on the Rivers Alva, Mondego and Ceiria. . Ocean fishing does not require a permit, but fishing in freshwater streams and rivers does. The Mondego river which is the biggest river of Portugal, rises in the Serra da Estrela.

You can download the 2005 individual and team scores here in the Adobe Acrobat format.

2006 Team Scores
2006 Individual Scores

The following is a report issued by Team Captain, Jack Dennis of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, shortly after his return from the event.

2006 World Fly Fishing Championships
Fishing tough on the Alva River, Americans score big on the lakes
Sept. 15, 2006
By Jack Dennis

The final round is in. Fly Fishing Team USA scored no blanks on session 5 and George scores on Mondego River with two fish and team USA doesn't blank. We have made it to 10th position and only a few points separated us from the 6th place.

George Daniels captured 5th place overall--just barely out of the medals with a photo finish. A couple of fish more and he would have had a medal. Lance Egan from Utah finished 24th with a strong finish on the lakes.

For the first time ever we beat the British and we did it by fishing lakes well, the team winners were Czech Republic followed by France then Spain, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Belgium, Ireland, Croatia, then the United States. We beat all the Scandinavian countries and many other European countries that were considered strong contenders such as Poland, and the Netherlands. Lance, George, and Brett all realized they could beat French anglers and did so, even though the French won second-place overall, George Daniels finished individually ahead of all them. The French team didn't get any indivudal medals this year, probably the first time since '97.

It is really a shame that we dug such a deep hole on the first day, the multiple blanks put us in 17th place after the first two sessions. Considering the team was made up of five rookie fishermen that never had fished in a world championship and were the winners of the trial system, is something that all the organizers and volunteers should be proud. Especially strong finish of George and Lance.

After the first day I have to admit I was concerned that now I'm further convinced that we are on the right path to making the US fly fishers a contender. I am very proud of how well this team performed under the most difficult conditions I have ever seen a world championship. I know a lot of you hoped for some immediate results from our new system, but as I warned you in the past it may pay some time, yes I thought we really had a chance at this venue but it did not turn out to be the wild fishery it had been sold to us as or to the organizers. The introduction of hatchery fish to a river almost the size of the Snake River [was problematic] considering they stocked 700 fish in 12 miles, and only five beats produced any fish out of 21. George was the only one on our team to catch fish in this river.

While I give you my feelings that we easily could have been next-to-last, the good news is how well these individuals fish as a team and how well they represented the United States. All I can say is there a lot of teams in Europe are not looking forward to Fly Fishing Team USA coming back to Finland in 2007 as we are finally a contender thanks to all the support from all if you.