Olympiad Fly Masters Tournament

Staff Reports

The Second Annual Olympiad Fly Masters Tournament will be held on April 24-25 in Lake Lure, NC, to benefit the new Lake Lure Classical Academy, a charter school open to students in multiple counties including Rutherford, Polk, and Henderson counties.

Day one of the fly-fishing tournament begins on April 24 at 9 a.m., with distance and accuracy casting for both youth and adults. The top ten adult finishers will advance to day two’s fishing rounds where the winner is judged on the combined length of five fish caught in a two-hour timeframe. 

As a subsidiary event of the Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad, an
annual summer sports festival, funds raised from the fly-fishing
tournament will benefit athletic programs of the Lake Lure Classical
Academy. Full funding for the school building itself has already been
secured; money is still needed for auxiliary items such as athletic and
playground equipment.

Last year’s tournament brought out Team USA Fly Fishing member
Josh Stephens of Robbinsville, NC. And three-time “Field & Stream
Total Outdoorsman” national champion Paul Thompson of Marion, N.C.
Tournament winner Gordon Vanderpool of Franklin, NC, took home $500 and a
free weekend stay at Firefly Cove, a luxury lakefront development in
Lake Lure.

The 2010 tournament winner will take home a cash prize plus a
3-day/2-night stay at Firefly Cove and original artwork from angler Paul
Thompson. Registration is $50/adults and $25/youth and is open through 9
a.m. On Saturday, April 24. Additional sponsors include Chimney Rock
State Park, Team Stonefly Competitive Fly Fishing, Alyssa’s Restaurant
& Bar, Larkin’s on the Lake Restaurant, The Geneva Riverside Motel,
and Mountain 1st Bank.

For more information on the 2010 Olympiad Fly Masters, visit
www.granddaddyflyfishing.com or call (828) 288-1221. For more
information on the 2010 Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad Sports Festival on
August 26-29, please visit www.hickorynutolympiad.com .