Tag fishing is a game involving 2 anglers fishing in series upstream on a river. Only one person fishes at any moment in time, and both fishermen are in close proximity of each other. The non-fisherman stays a few feet downstream of the caster, and the anglers take it in turns to cast, according to the tag rule.

One point is awarded for each fish landed. The angler with the greater points wins the match.

Anglers switch over casting when a taggable offence has been committed. It is up to the non-caster to spot a taggable offence and to call a tag. On a successful tag call, the tagged angler must reel his line in, stow the fly and cease fishing, whilst the new caster moves to the forefront casting area and starts fishing.

Taggable offences include the following:

A) Any snags in trees or other obstacle, in or out of the water. Attempts to recover the snagged line are limited to slow careful pressure to try to unsnag the fly, without making any potential fish scaring disturbance. Broken leaders / lost flies are punishable by deducted points. This rule attempts to stop anglers trying to cheat the snag rule.

B) Any tangle of line. A tangle also includes getting the flyline or leader tangled around the rod. Tangle is defined as any arrangement of the leader that may prohibit the leader being fully extended from one end to the other in a straight line, without modification by the angler.

C) Three missed rises or bites. This requires the non-caster to be vigilant.

D) One hooked fish (on for more than 2 seconds, as opposed to a missed rise or bite which is less than this duration)

E) Twenty minutes of angling.

1) The pace of fishing is dictated by the incumbent caster. "Marching" (i.e. moving up the river to get to top spots) is disallowed.

2) Obstruction is disallowed. The non-caster must not attempt to influence the caster's results, and should not try to assist with the fish's landing.

3) Fish scaring is not allowed by the non-caster, and clumsy wading is forbidden. The non-caster should remain downstream of the caster, yet not hinder the caster's backcast.

4) When a caster has committed a taggable offence, he must cease casting immediately and be sure to vacate the casting area with minimum disturbance. If the caster has been tagged due to a snag up on the fore cast, he must refrain from pulling at the line and making the snagging obstacle move in a fish scaring manner. (That means that if a caster gets snagged up in branches overhanging a pool with feeding fish in, he must not attempt to recover his line until after the pool has been fished by the new caster. This rule is intended to stop cheating by the tagged angler in yanking the line so as to wave the branches around as he tries to unsnag his line (and scare off as many fish as he can). So a snag on the forecast and the tagged angler must leave the line in the obstacle and allow the new caster to fish as best as possible.

5) Breaking the rules is punishable by the deduction of the cheating angler's points. Worst offences include excessive marching by the caster, and fish scaring/pool blighting by the non caster / tagged caster.

Wes & myself shall aim to have a trial match on the Mannifold last weekend of the season. The point being to test out the rules, and to search for weaknesses in the game that could otherwise be exploited.

The match should kick-off at around 10:30hrs at the downstream extreme of the 2 beats. A tossed coin should nominate the starter, although considering this venue to be a low scorer, the first off could have a one fish advantage, and ultimately win the match if no mistakes are made.

The match will be documented, and a commentary recorded, but unlikely to be done so on a live basis, as the surrounding hills block FTP transmission to the website. A match report will be displayed on the website a couple of days after the event.

Naturally, any spectators are welcome to come along to witness the good sport.

The match should be a good one, as neither fisherman has fished this river so far this year. The nature of the Mannifold, being relatively short in long axis, should be a low scoring match (i.e. 5 fish could be a winner), and each player will be concentrating hard on securing every fish that he gets to cast at. Choice of flies and tactics used should be very interesting. Does the angler go for the PT nymph technique, which gets more bites from the fish, but harder to set the hook? Or perhaps a black & peacock spider and fewer rises, but a greater hook-up ratio to rises?

Snags in the lower middle stretch should be a test for each angler, but the match should be won for the angler that gets the best out of this mixed water.

All in all, both players shall be aiming to get a good start and to build upon any early leads, without getting complacent, and losing the cast-lead through careless tags.

League will consist of individual players who must all play each other twice, one "home" leg, and the other "away" leg.

3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss. In the event of a points tie, fish differences are noted (for and against), and beyond that, "away" catches rule will be considered.

Venues must be agreed upon prior to each match.

Next season will be the first TT. Prospective entrants should follow the link here SSAC Tag Tournament Application Form to send in an application to SSAC HQ. All entries will be processed and the matches will be organised on a out-of-the-hat basis. The match programme will be displayed on this site prior to next season.