The Jimmy Green World Championship of Spey Casting

CASTING COMPETITION RULES

Qualifying for the Spey O Rama:

First time registered competitors to the Spey O Rama will be expected to demonstrate eligibility to a SoR judge in order to qualify for the event. The caster must achieve the minimum distance within two attempts per cast, in each of the four casts, up to eight cast total. The cast are the right single spey, right snake roll, left single spey and left snake roll. The minimum distances are as follows: Men 125 feet, Women 75 feet and Seniors 110 feet. 

Please contact us at speyorama.ggacc@gmail.com if you would like to know more. 

Qualifying Divisions:

Masters Division:

Any male or female meeting the age qualification 60 years of age or older on the date of this event can opt to compete in the Master Division. 

Any male meeting the age qualification of 60 years or older can opt to compete in the Senior Division or in the Men’s Division but not in both, and must register for one or the other of these divisions at the time of registration.  And likewise, any woman meeting the age qualification of 60 years or older can opt to compete in the Senior Division or in the Women’s Division but not in both, and must register for one of these two divisions at the time of registration.

Women who compete in the Masters Division will be governed by the same rules as the Women’s Division.

If there are 16 or more Masters Division registrants, a qualifying round for the Masters Division will be held on Friday morning with the top 10 Masters Division qualifiers (whether male or female) moving on to the finals round for the Masters Division on Sunday morning.

Men’s Division: 

Any male may choose to compete in the Men’s Division, assuming that he is not both eligible for and opting to compete in the Masters Division. If aged 18 or younger, he may compete with a signed release from his parent or guardian. A parent or guardian must also accompany him during the competition. 

Women’s Division:

Any female may choose to compete in the Women's Division, assuming that she is not both eligible for and opting to compete in the Masters Division. If aged 18 or younger, she may compete with a signed release from her parent or guardian. A parent or guardian must also accompany her during the competition. 

Spey Casting Equipment:

Rod:  Can be any make or manufacturer.  The rod shall not be longer than 15’1” in overall length.   Line:  Any floating synthetic line, either full line or shooting head.  There are no restrictions on the running line used.
Leader:  9 foot minimum length, and 15 foot maximum length.
Fly:  Will be supplied by the tournament officials.
Equipment checks will be performed prior to each competitor’s casting for both the qualifying and finals rounds.

Required casts:

Casters can use whatever cast they choose (except the Perry Poke) for the following four required casting situations (“categories”), with the line starting from either right or left of the respective right or left change of direction marker:

Line from the right:  over right shoulder and over left shoulder
Line from the left:  over right shoulder and over left shoulder

Casting rules:

Markers at about 40 degrees (both right and left of center) will set the required change of direction.  Caster will be in water about 3 feet deep.
There will be a barrier set 33 feet behind the caster (except for the Women’s Division).  No penalty for hitting the barrier, but this may affect the cast.
Fly must “anchor” on the water in front of the caster.
Once a cast is begun, it counts as a scoring cast.
An inadvertent “extra” cast in a required category will not be counted against the caster’s allowed casts in any other category, but will use the caster’s time.

The Competition:

Qualifying Men’s Division will be held on Saturday morning with the top 10 Men’s casters moving on to the finals round on Sunday morning.
Casting order is by random draw for both qualifying and finals rounds.
Casters (or their representative) must be present for the random draw.

Men’s and Masters Division Qualifying:

• 2-minute warm-up; time starts once the caster steps in the water
• 3 casts allowed for each of the 4 required casting categories
• Score is the total of the best (farthest) distances in each of the 4 required casting categories
• Time limit is 6 minutes for the 12 allowed casts
• All casts to be scored must reach the scoring grid. The grid is 70 feet for the Men’s and Masters Divisions. If a cast does not reach the grid, it is considered out of bounds.

Masters, Women’s, and Men’s Division Finals:

• 2-minute warm-up; time starts once caster steps in the water (except for Women’s Divison)
• Time limit is 6 minutes for the 12 allowed casts
• 3 casts allowed for each for the 4 required casting categories
• Score is the total of the best (farthest) distances in each of the 4 required casting categories
• All casts to be scored must reach the scoring grid. The grid is 70 feet for the Men’s and Masters Divisions.  If a cast does not reach the grid, it is considered out of bounds.

The Women’s Division will have the same rules as above with one exception: the casting station for women will be at the 50-foot mark in the pool, 20 feet farther forward than the casting station for Men’s and Masters Divisions. If a cast from there does not reach the grid, it is considered out of bounds. We will have separate markers for the line placement to start the casts so that the angle change will be the same as for men. The warm-up time allotted to women shall commence when they get to the casting station.

Note: The purpose and effect of this one rule difference is to make the water shallower (6-7") to compensate for the differences in height between men and women.

Tie-breakers:

In the event of a tie for any place, the tie will be broken by totaling each competitor’s second-best casts in each of the four casting categories.

Glen Nagumo
Head Judge 2024

For any questions, please contact Libby Wolfensperger or Steve Starke at speyorama.ggacc@gmail.com or Glen Nagumo at tryagainglen@sbcnet.com.