Tulsa World: Video: Teenager learns on the fly

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Video: Teenager learns on the fly

Zach Bearden prepares to net a trout on the Lower Illinois River near Gore recently. Bearden, 16, qualified to be one of six traveling members of the United States Youth Fly Fishing Team and will represent the U.S. in competition in the Czech Republic in July. KELLY BOSTIAN / Tulsa World

By KELLY BOSTIAN World Outdoors Writer
Published: 6/29/2009 2:18 AM
Last Modified: 6/29/2009 8:15 AM

Focus, intensity and endurance are not the first words that spring to mind with visions of fly fishing, but typical American fly fishing is nothing like international fly fishing competition.

Consider the story Zach Bearden of Gore related from an international contest he participated in on the Colorado River last year. "We were looking at this huge river thinking, 'how do we fish this?' " he said. "And then this guy from Ireland peels off his waders. He has a wet suit on underneath and he starts swimming with his rod up in one hand. He's one of those guys who was a force to be reckoned with. He won that competition."

Bearden, 16, learned new techniques and has done some swimming of his own on his way to qualifying this year as one of the six traveling members of United States Youth Fly Fishing Team. The honor will have him representing his country at the International Federation of Sport Fly Fishing Championships. He leaves Tulsa on July 17 for the Czech Republic, a trip that is expected to cost more than $4,000.

"Zach is consistent, very intense and very focused," said John Ford, president of the United States Youth Fly Fishing Team organization, which is based at State College, Pa. "This is hard work. It is serious competition and it can be expensive," Ford said. There is no cash involved in this fishing competition, qualifiers compete for medals. "It is all done in the Olympic spirit," he said.

Bearden first learned about competitive fly fishing from a friend three years ago, he said. He learned more about it on the Internet and was intrigued with the European style of fishing sub-surface using nymphs, which are designed to imitate aquatic insects. He learned mostly by reading and trying things on his own. The rest came after he entered competitions and watched and learned from the U.S. coaches and others.

His mother, Donna Welin, is Bearden's greatest cheerleader and best fishin' buddy. "He said he wanted to do this, so I told him we would do whatever we could to make it happen," she said.

The pair lives in Gore, but Welin works as a nurse at Muskogee Regional Hospital and takes extra shifts through a temp agency at Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center at Poteau to cover fly fishing expenses. "It takes me away, but now that he's 16 he can get out and travel to fish whenever he needs to," she said.

Money for fishing continues to be a challenge. She afforded sending Zach to the team tryouts in Pennsylvania this year, "but once he made the team, that changed the score," she said. With team practice sessions and the Czech Republic trip coming up next month the cost will be "a little over $4,000," she said.

Local fly fishing clubs have helped with some expenses in the past. Clubs in Tahlequah, Fort Smith and Tulsa have been in touch and are considering ways to help. In Tulsa, the fly fishing shop D&B Outfitters, 5433-A S. Mingo Road, has a collection jar out on the sales counter for donations.

The fishing contests consist of five, three-hour sessions held over 2 1/2 days. In each three-hour session, an angler is presented with a different "beat," which is a section of a stream or a stretch of shoreline along a lake. Each beat has a controller who watches the angler and verifies the number of catches they make. Size of fish comes into play only for tie-breakers, and the anglers are not allowed to touch their catch. Only controllers may handle and measure fish before they are released, that's where the rush to show the controller a fish — and swimming rivers — sometimes comes into play.

"It's super intense fishing for three hours at a time," Bearden said. "If your controller is on the opposite side of the river and you catch a fish, yeah, sometimes it's faster if you swim to the controller. You're holding your rod and your fish in a net, or you're just sprinting along the bank to get where you need to be to fish that spot again as fast as you possibly can. You do that 16 or 17 times in three hours, and it can wear you out."

Bearden has been crazy about fly fishing since he was 10 years old and a Good Samaritan helped him buy a fly fishing combo at Walmart, Welin said. He had a few dollars and asked his mother to help buy it. "It was $15 on clearance but I really didn't have the money," she said. "He went to put it back where it belonged and a man came along and they started talking about it."

The man gave Bearden the extra money but asked the boy to make a promise in exchange. "He made him promise that he would always be a fly fisherman." Of course, that was just OK with Zach. "Zach just showed up with that package and the receipt and a big smile and I said, 'Oh no! How did you get that?' But he's been at it ever since."

Kelly Bostian 581-8357
kelly.bostian@tulsaworld.com By KELLY BOSTIAN World Outdoors Writer

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