It has concluded, the much anticipated event after a long hiatus since the last big event here in 2012.
The Malaysia International Fly Fishing Festival (MIFFF) 2018 event took place at Camar Rimba, Taman Botani Malaysia in Shan Alam, same venue but at a different location as the one in 2012.
This event is organised by the Fly-Fishing Association of Selangor.
The weather was wet and overcast throughout. Luckily, the testing events went mostly uninterrupted.
FFI casting instructor certification tests were also held concurrently with the MIFFF.
16 CCI, 1 THCI, 3 MCI signed up for the test. CCI = Certified Casting Instructor, THCI = Two Handed Casting Instructor, MCI = Master Casting Instructor.
Examiners came from America, Sweden, England, and Australia plus local examiner, CK Ling.
Many fly tiers showcased their skills including local fly tiers Aznir Malek, Dron Lee, Md Johar, Naveen, and Tim Nati.
Guest fly tiers include Antonius from Indonesia, Hans Van Klinken from Denmark, Martyn Whit from Scotland and Wang Yong from China.
Casting games were held with some attractive prizes going to the winners.
Among the booths set up at the event are by Fly Tie Cast, Pure Fishing showcasing Hardy, Pflueger and Fenwick fly fishing products, and Tacklebox Adventures displaying Sage, RIO, RL Winston, Waterworks Lamson, Nautilus, Hatch and more.
Guest speakers also gave some fly casting and fly fishing tips and demos to the audiences including two-handed casting by Thomas Berggren, mends and their uses by Bryan Martin, how to hook and fight big fish on the fly by Peter Morse, and distance casting tips by Jimmy LeMert.
Related: Video – How to hook and fight big fish on the fly with Peter Morse
After the event ended, many of the overseas participants and guests took a trip to the jungles of Royal Belum for a break and fishing for giant snakehead and hampala barb aka jungle perch.
See this post of my trip with our guests fishing in Royal Belum.
Some photos from the event…
Martyn Whit aka FlickinFeathers from Scotland showing off his ties
The opening ceremony of the event was held in an amphitheater
Outside the amphitheater
Martyn and Hans Van Klinken at their station
A test candidate undergoing his casting instructor certification on water cast
Kok Ming from Pure Fishing Malaysia with their Pflueger fly reels
Hardy reels at the Pure Fishing Malaysia booth
View of the event venue from the pool side
Ganba practicing his roll casts
Running through some test questions before the test
Visitors having a cast with some of the fly fishing gear on offer
JW catching up with Affendi
Some of the flies tied by Wang Yong from China
Wang Yong from China shows off his realistic fly tying skills and products
Antti Vappula from Vision Fly fishing giving a talk about nymphping and river fishing tactics
A spectator watching a casting workshop
Thomas Berggren from Sweden conducting his spey/two-handed casting demonstration
Some of the visitors watching the going-ons
David and Nick with Peter Morse
The grand lucky draw prize
Wood carved event fly boxes for sale
Jimmy LeMert form USA conducting a distance cast demonstration
Peter Morse gives a demonstration and talk on how to hook and fight fish on the fly
Malaysia’s premier fly shop Tacklebox Adventures’ booth
Nick manning his booth
Sit-down casting challenge
Some of the lucky draw and casting challenge winners receiving their prizes
Leave a comment below if you were there, or would like to be informed of future fly fishing events.
I see the team had fun. Too bad that we could not come as planned. Greetings to all who remember from the 1995 to 1997 days. Matthias