NEWS & STORIES
And the winners of the 11th Annual 2-Fly Tournament are…
The 11th Annual 2-Fly Tournament was a remarkable weekend of community, fellowship, remembrance and inspiration. New friends and old soaked in the warm weather, bountiful sunshine, and great tournament action this past weekend in support of our cause at Rose River Farm. The 2-Fly Tournament continues to provide vital support for our cause and to both celebrate and raise awareness for the remarkable contributions made by our supporters and volunteers towards the recovery and rehabilitation of those who have made great sacrifices in the service of our nation. We’ll be bringing you more highlights, stories, and photos from this special weekend here on our blog in the upcoming days. In the meantime, you can visit our Twitter account @PHWFF or search #PHWFF2Fly (on both Twitter and Instagram) to see incredible real-time highlights, stories, and photos from both Saturday and Sunday.
The 2-Fly Tournament action took place on Sunday with 12 PHWFF veteran participants paired with top industry guides for a fun, competitive day of angling (the guides focus on assisting their veteran team members and do not fish). Thanks to some recent rains, the Rose River was in excellent shape for a great day of fly fishing and it did not disappoint. As the tournament name implies, only two barbless flies (of any convention pattern) per competitor were allowed to be fished throughout the duration of the tournament. That makes for a total of only 4 flies to be used by each team! Despite this fun challenge, bent rods accompanied by celebratory hollers echoed up-and-downstream throughout the day as the veterans competitors connected with countless rainbow and brook trout. But there’s a twist in the tournament, it’s not the number of fish caught but rather the number of fish selected by each team to be tallied for the score board. The scoring rules allow for each team to select three (3) trout to measure during the day (with all trout not selected for measurement/scoring to be released immediately, preferably without removing them from the water) adding a fun twist to the competition. Great fun and fishing was had by all 12 teams as guide and veteran worked in-tandem to fool and battle the watery inhabitants of the Rose River. And now, we are delighted to introduce the winners of the 11th Annual #PHWFF2Fly Tournament to you:
3rd Place
SFC (ret) Rick Warrington, U.S. Army and Guide Gavin Robinson
PO2 (ret) Daphne Zencey, U.S. Coast Guard and Guide William Heresniak
SFC (ret) Rick Warrington, U.S. Army and Guide Gavin Robinson with a beautiful Rose River Brook Trout
2nd Place
SPC Lee Barbee, U.S. Army and Guide Rob Snowhite
CPT (ret) Beth Steinberger, U.S. Army and Guide Joel Thompson
SPC Lee Barbee, U.S. Army
1st Place
CPL (ret) Jim Graham, U.S. Army and Guide Ira Strouse
SGT (ret) Rob McKennan, U.S. Army and Guide Jimmy Aliff
Guide Ira Strouse and CPL (ret) Jim Graham, U.S. Army with a huge Rose River brook trout
Our congrats to all of the veteran competitors for their angling prowess and the many incredible trout caught throughout the weekend. Many thanks to all of the guides who donated their time and talents towards making this incredible tournament so special and such fun.
None of this would have been possible if not for the tremendous support of the PHWFF family and our many generous sponsors. We extend our deepest thanks to all those who made it such a wonderful weekend and event — your support, donations, and volunteerism have directly contributed to bringing our unique form of therapy to thousands of injured and disabled veterans nationwide each year. We are pleased to announce that over $175,000 was raised to support our 210 Programs nationwide and the veterans they serve within their communities.
Special thanks to: Allegany Hearing & Balance/Spring Creek Outfitters, CACI, Rose River Farm, Silent Maid, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, Paul Aanonsen, BecTech, Friends of PHWFF, Public Safety Corporation, Dave and Pam Rives, Temple Fork Outfitters, Carol Dear, Douglas and Jennifer Dear, Ed and Leslie Nicholson, Orvis, Salus Analytics, Chris Brown, Community Bank of the Chesapeake, James and Diane Morales Glerum, Harmon Foundation, Healing Towers, David and Barbara Roux, Tim Timer LLC, Judge Thomas Hogan, and Tara Wheeler.
