The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Howard Croston | Episode 4

In Episode 4 of The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Signature Tyer Howard Croston we follow Team England to the opening ceremony. Then, the following morning we join Howard for the captains meeting, which is a discussion of the rules before the event begins. It's now time for the competition to begin. After some final preparation and a short night's sleep, day one begins. On this day we follow Howard to the Aude river, where he fishes two beats for both trout and grayling. The first is in a town center, and the second is well down a valley into some wild and overgrown terrain. Howard walks us through what gear he has, what rods he rigs up, and what flies he fishes—single nymph, double nymph, dry dropper, dry fly, big nymphs, small nymphs—and the puzzle as he tries to work it out. This is an amazing insight into all the variable these anglers are working with in such a short amount of time on new water. Even for anglers who don't see themselves competition fishing, this is a great lens into fly fishing at it's most technical limit.

What is this series? In this Fulling Mill original documentary production we follow Signature Tyer Howard Croston for 9 months as he prepares for and fishes in the 2024 World Fly Fishing Championships in France. We start with his life at home, preparation and team practice, then follow him to France where we cover every moment of the event. The World Fly Fishing Championships is the premier fly fishing competition of the calendar year, and it brings the best anglers from around the world together for 5 days of intense fishing. It is a game of fine margins, and historically it has been responsible for many of the innovations in fly fishing that most anglers take for granted today. This is a six part series, and this is episode one.

Howard Croston is a World Fly Fishing Champion (2019) and member of the English International Fly Fishing team. He’s also the Global Brand and Product Manager at Hardy. As one of our Signature Tyers Howard is constantly innovating new flies, and has many proven trout fly patterns in our collection. A brilliant angler and tyer, we're thrilled to have Howard and his expertise as part of the Fulling Mill team.

To purchase Howard's patterns, head to our website.
US: https://www.fullingmill.com/Products-...
UK: https://www.fullingmill.co.uk/Product...

Make sure to check out ‪@howardcrostonflyfisher9227‬'s channel!

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Video filming and editing by @patricktillard
A huge thank you to Patrick for the amazing work he put into this project.

A special thanks to FIPS Mouche for supporting us in getting access to film at this event: https://www.fips-mouche.com/

00:00 The World Fly Fishing Championships opening ceremony
02:22 The captains meeting
06:30 Competition day 1: The Aude River
08:51 Arriving at beat 1
11:23 What gear does Howard use?
13:53 Howard starts fishing beat 1
16:08 A recap of the first beat and the grayling in it
17:25 Beat number 2 on the Aude River
19:27 Howard starts fishing beat 2
21:50 A recap of beat 2 and the end of the first day