by Karel Křivanec

In the middle of April 2015, FIPS-Mouche General Assembly was held in Cancun, Mexico and we expected its results impatiently. It took a long time before we received the minutes, but now we have got them at disposal and all seems to be clear. We can assume why also the ex-president J. Kowalski was present in the Board (he submitted a proposal to update the draw program), however, the trip to Mexico he probably did not pay from his own pocket. There were three applicants for a vacant position of the General Secretary and an expected winner was Paul Bourqe from the US. His presence in the Board must be welcomed, because his minutes are of a high quality compared to nothing-to-say minutes from the past. Hopefully, he will be brave enough and will find courage to publish also a “secret” financial report, which is traditionally mentioned in the only line.

We were really eager to see which changes will appear, because on social networks leaked various information about what was and was not approved. After a month it is now clear. The use of micro-rings of the diameter up to 3mm and 3 micro-rings on a leader have been approved. A ten-year long fight for this useful tool was finally won despite the long-term resistance of the Presidential Board. Polyleaders, which were arbitrarily prohibited at the Youth Championship in Ireland and since that time their use has been challenged, are now allowed. Also the ban on use of attractor chemicals, which were not probably used by anybody and also the ban on use of light emitters without detailed explanation what it is appeared in the new rules. And the last ban is on the use of tandem flies, which were not also used by anybody, because it would be in contradiction with other provisions of the rules.

The most important was how the fight regarding the ban of the hot news of the last year season called squirmy worms will finish. I personally was always against all bans and as well as in this case, because the use of various imitations of worms has had a long tradition and nobody protested against them. But after using a new material made of a softer rubber caused an incredible fight regarding the ban on the use of squirmy warms. This new bait definitely is not a cure-all and I expect that it is only a question of time when its efficiency will be on the same level like of other baits as it often happened with all miraculous news. As there was not enough time to solve this difficult question in Cancun, the decision about the final wording of this paragraph was left on the Board of the International Fly Fishing Federation which finalized this issue in the following way:

“Appendages that alter the original concept of an artificial fly or bodies made of moulded/shaped plastic, moulded/shaped silicone or moulded/ shaped rubber are banned (moulded/shaped imitations of worms, eggs, baitfish, maggots, twisters…). Round material is acceptable, as it is extruded.”

From the aforementioned article 29.11 is clear that all moulded imitations are banned, but squirmy worm materials are legal. The aforementioned definition shall apply at least this year, however, we can expect that in the future there might be some changes. From my point of view, it seems to me that this compromise is reasonable. Furthermore, tungsten bodies were discussed and the result is that this weight must be hidden in the nymph´s body and may not exceed the hook. Besides this, also several small changes have been approved, but they are not so important.

Also, other venues of future championships were discussed and newly have been approved Senior World Championships in 2017 in Slovakia and 2018 in Wales. Regarding the Slovak championship, it does not seem reasonable to me that one competition on the Bela River shall be only with a Dry Fly method, with which there were some problems everywhere. The Belá flows from high mountains and even a short rain can completely destroy regularity of such a dry fly contest completely. Furthermore, it was approved that the European Championship 2017 will be in Portugal and the Youth Championship 2016 in Spain and 2017 in Slovenia. The Masters Championship should be held in 2016 in Ireland and for 2017 applied Portugal (not approved yet). The French motion to organize the championship every two years failed to be approved and this might have been due to the fact that nobody from this country arrived to the Congress. Altogether, 21 countries including proxy attended.