The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Howard Croston | Official Trailer
Follow Howard Croston and the rest of the AT TEFF World Championship team as they compete in the 2024 World Championships in France. Details on Fulling Mill Fly Fishing’s YouTube channel here>>
Fulling Mill Fly Fishing: ‘In this Fulling Mill original documentary series 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 the first episode will premier February 1 on YouTube.
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.
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Video by @patricktillard’
The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Howard Croston | Episode 1
Episode 1 of The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Signature Tyer Howard Croston dives into his life, how he got into the world of competition fly fishing, what his life looks like these days, practice for competition and some stories about his life. Additionally, Howard address myths about what fishing at this level is—whether that be euro nymphing, dry fly fishing, streamer fishing, or something inbetween— and what it isn’t. When you compete at this level in fly fishing, it’s an all consuming pursuit that becomes a centerpiece of your life. If you want to be truly competitive, and to have a shot at winning, Howard will show you what it takes.
The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Howard Croston | Episode 2
In Episode 2 of The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Signature Tyer Howard Croston joins the rest of the members of Fly Fishing Team England for a day of practice a few months before the competition. Here, we dive into the team component of competitive fly fishing, and how this group of anglers works together to get not only the best team result, but to improve their personal standings as well. Howard is both Captain and Manager of the English team, and he has over 20 years of competition experience to pass on to the other members. In this video you’ll see the teammates not only working on their nymphing skills, but some advanced dry fly fishing as well.
The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Howard Croston | Episode 3
In Episode 3 of The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Signature Tyer Howard Croston he completes his final practice in the UK, packs an absolutely massive pile of gear, and then heads off to France with the team. Howard dives into the little details in fly fishing that can be magnified to make a huge difference when you’re at the highest level of competitive fly fishing. They then spend a week practicing at various lakes and rivers around France in advance of the World Fly Fishing Championships, before we joined up with them a few days before the competition started. They do some fly tying, gear prep and Howard walks us through some of the things they learned in their week practicing there, what their nightly fly tying looks like and how they’re feeling in advance of the competition.
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.
The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Howard Croston | Episode 5
In Episode 5 of The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Signature Tyer Howard Croston we cover sessions 2 and 3 of the World Fly Fishing Championships in France. First, we head to the Vicdessos river. There, Howard fishes what looks to be two lovely pieces of this small, paced river. What he finds are an extremely low number of fish and lots of great looking water that doesn’t appear to have anything in it. This makes for extremely thin margins where every single trout is critical, and mistakes are amplified. On this river you’ll see Howard fish both single and double nymphing setups, as well as a dry dropper setup to cover the calmer water and fish at greater distance.
On day 3 the venue changes drastically when Howard heads to the Carlit Lakes, which are a series of alpine lakes in the French Pyrenees. There he finds incredibly clear water, technical fish, but extremely fun and rewarding fishing. This sector, in contrast to the rivers, is almost all dry fly fishing with long leaders and light tippet. There’s also some sight nymphing as well. Howard breaks out decades of UK stillwater trout fishing wizardry for this one!
The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Howard Croston | Episode 6
In Episode 6 of The World Fly Fishing Championships ft. Signature Tyer Howard Croston we cover sessions 4 and 5 of the World Fly Fishing Championships in France. This is the final installment of our six-part series. In this episode we head first to the Têt river and watch as Howard has some serious breakthroughs in his understanding of how the French rivers and trout work. Then, on the final day we head to the Camporells lakes, which are a series of alpine lakes in the French Pyrenees. They’re much like the Carlit lakes, and Howard again shows us what decades of stillwater fly fishing experience can do for you in these technical fisheries. In this final day of competition Howard really gets in his stride and shows us how you have to take every day as a new one, and fight to the last second. As with the first series of lakes, Howard fishes a lot of dry flies and shows us an advanced understanding of how stillwater trout feed.
Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing 