Gaelforce Equalizer EED80 Lines take the top honours in both mens and ladies Spey O Rama competitions

"Brothers in Arms" A huge congratulations to the winner Travis Johnson Oregon (centre), Gerard Downey Ireland 2nd(left) and Tim Arsenault Canada 3rd (right)

GAELFORCE Flyfishing had a hugely successful 2017 Spey O Rama with the Equalizer EED80 taking the top seven places in the men's final and all seven places in the ladies final, cementing its reputation as the No1 distance casting line in the World. Gerard Downey also won the Knut Syrstad trophy for the longest cast in the final of 190ft.

A record number of competitors participated in the 14th annual Jimmy Green Spey O Rama with 50 entrants, huge congratulations to the GGACC and the Spey O Rama committee.

Top ten men's finalists

 The quality of casting on display in the finals was superb given the difficult conditions, all the hard work and training paid off for the guys who made the top 10 congratulations.

The casters in the top seven places all used the GAELFORCE Equalizer EED80 cut to various lengths and weights to suit their rods.

The ladies finals were superb with some great skills shown and bravery for the ladies who competed for the first time.
All seven ladies used the GAELFORCE Equalizer EED80 cut to various lengths to suit their rods.

Huge congratulations to Whitney Gould who was overall winner and scored a record cast of 150ft

Spey O Rama 2017 was a fantastic showcase for distance casting and genuine camaraderie, it is simply a marvellous purpose built facility, the best in the World with the greatest degree of difficulty for the caster, challenging you mentally and physically to your limits. I always enjoy the experience and where possible try to help others progress,none more so than the people attending for the first time or just having a hard time perfecting things.I must say it was great to see all the competitors helping each other to achieve their goals of doing their level best on the day, competition brings the absolute best out of most people, but I have to say in some isolated instances it brings out the worst, the envious type who is hell bent on copying your stuff for their own ends, these types can be spotted a mile away, they give you the warm handshake and look at their feet with a guilty conscience, luckily there are very few to spoil these marvellous events and on reading this the penny might drop. A particularly pleasing aspect about this years event was the number of entrants, with 50 in total and a record number of ladies entrants Spey O Rama is going from strength to strength.
Camraderie at its best Bruce and Travis having a good time discussing the Speycasting basics, to me this is what its all about.

Gerard Downey proudly holding the Knut Syrstad trophy for the longest cast in finals of 190ft

 Great fun as Gerard Downey gives us all a Masterclass

 My great friend Armando was still the best caster I saw during SOR and loves the company. God Bless.

I have met some wonderful friends, old and new during Spey O Rama, with a common interest in Speycasting, everyone to a man and women put themselves through some tough six minute sessions over the course of the weekend and should all be very proud of themselves as it take real courage and determination to enter those ponds under the pressure of the big crowds.I look forward to an even bigger and better Spey O Rama 2018 god willing and look forward to seeing everyone again with genuine smiles.A huge thank you to the GGACC for hosting this spectacular event and would like to thank all the volunteers, pond warriors and the judging officials. I would like to say an extra special thank you to Sandi Kushnir and Dmitry Kochetov for your sterling work over the years for keeping the world informed and in Sandi's case for keeping the whole gang in check and on time.
All photographs courtesy of Whitney Gould, Jen Gehr & Dmitry Kochetov