Baseball - A Fly Fishing game

For those of you who know me personally, you are aware of my love of games. Games of all sorts. I have a child-like love of games. So, when Anthony (of FCFT) and I were walking back to the Bell Crossing access and he proposed that we play a little baseball, my ears perked up and my eyes opened wide. "A game, what game?" My attention was now solely focused on games. Anthony proceeded to explain to me the game of Fly Fishing Baseball. A little hat tip to Brendan Bannigan of the Grizzly Hackle, who taught Anthony this game sometime ago.

Not my fish. Anthony just wanted to take photos. Photo courtesy of Anthony at False Casts and Flat Tires.

Pre-spawn colors...perhaps.
Photo courtesy of Anthony at False Casts and Flat Tires

Like real-life Baseball, Fly Fishing Baseball has nine innings. Each player gets three outs (fish-less drifts per inning) and different fish are worth a different amount of "runs" ((based on species and size).

So, as we walked back to the car, Anthony and I played a time-shortened 7-inning game of Fly Fishing Baseball (FFB). Anthony had home-field advantage and it showed early. In the top of the 1st, I nymphed a long deep run. The fish were stacked up on the softer, inside water on the downstream portion of the run. After two fish-less drifts, my Pat's stone connected with what seemed like a decent fish. I horsed it. With a late hookset, my inning was over.

Wanting to catch fish and putting the game aside, I fished the same portion of the run as Anthony started the bottom of the 1st inning higher up in the run. I promptly stuck a 14" cutbow and my clinch knot failed. That lost fish wouldn't have counted as it was not my time at the plate. But, my recon paid off for Anthony, as I had found the fish for him. In the bottom of the 1st, Anthony landed a rainbow and a cutthroat and quickly took a 6 run lead on YGF.

I followed up with a small whitefish in the 2nd inning and brought the score to 6-1, in favor of Anthony. I spent the rest of the game trying to hit grand slams, as the sun was setting and the deficit was significant. No more scoring happened in the remainder of the 7-inning game. Final Score: Anthony 6 Ivan 1.

Here is my post-game interview:

"The ball just didn’t bounce my way. I don’t want to point fingers, but this loss was my fault. I came out flat. I didn’t get the job done. Anthony just made the plays when it mattered. I had my chances, but I just let them swim away."

A solid whooping.

So, I like games and stats. I have decided to make this a feature of YGF going forward. Games will be played. Standings and statistics will be "recorded." A page will be dedicated to it. I like games.

Looking at the fish I didn't catch in the first game of the season.
Photo courtesy of Anthony at False Casts and Flat Tires

Here are the official Fly Fishing Baseball (FFB) rules that Anthony and I have agreed upon.

Number of Players - Unlimited (more than one is recommended, unless you like playing with yourself)

Equipment - A player may put on whatever setup he wants to start the game but may only change his rig if he breaks it off.

Drift - A drift is defined as the time between the line entering the water and leaving the water, you can mend it as many times as you want and can drift it as far as you like as long as you don't move your feet.

Ball - If you decide you don't like where your rig landed you can immediately pick it back up and recast. This MUST be done within the first two seconds of the line hitting the water. You get four balls per inning.

Strike - Failure to land a fish on a drift results in a strike. If you hook but do not land a fish on your third strike it is considered a foul ball and you get to repeat your last strike.

Using a catcher - You can use a buddy to help you land your fish but he/she is then entitled to half of your points from that fish, rounded down to the nearest whole number.

Landing a fish - Landing a fish does not against your strike total. You are then awarded points based on size and species. See points chart below.

Strikes, Outs, and Innings -  A strike is equal to an out. Three outs per inning, nine innings per game. Theoretically each player would get a minimum of twenty seven drifts plus whatever extra drifts they get for landing a fish.

Playing the game

A player must declare that he is stepping to the plate, this begins his three strike inning. He must take all three strikes from the same general location, i.e run, riffle, pool.

Players must maintain the same player order that was established prior to the game starting. Any fish caught out of order are not counted towards the players score.

Games cannot be carried over from day to day. If the game has to be cut short the person with the most points is the winner. If the players are tied go to a tiebreaker, biggest fish wins.

Scoring - (Subject to change)

Whitefish = 1 run
Squawfish/Pikeminnow = 2 runs
Sucker = 2 runs
Pike = 2 runs
Bass = 2 runs
Trout = 3 runs
Trout over 16" = 4 runs
Trout over 18" = 5 runs
Pike over 30" = 5 runs
Bass over 18" = 5 runs
Carp = 5 runs
Trout over 20" = 10 runs
Bull Trout = 15 runs
Trout over 24" = 50 runs
Bull Trout over 30" = 100 runs