CHOOSING A TEAM ON THE FLY; COMPETITIVE FLY-FISHING HASN'T CAUGHT ON IN U.S.

Byline: BRETT PAULY Angling

In our sports-obsessed nation, few activities - no matter how recreational in nature - are free from being saddled with the ``competition'' label. One only has to look as far as professional bowling to get my drift.

Of course, there are holy events like the World Series. But even tossing a wad of paper at a trash bucket can take on a wholly challenging tone between workplace rivals when phrases like ``two out of three'' are uttered.

Still, the words ``competitive'' and ``fly-fishing'' have rarely been strung together.

``There are people who are ambivalent about it and hell-bent against it,'' said Simi Valley's Ken Holder of Team USA Flyfishing, a six-member squad selected more or less by default to contend starting Wednesday at the 18th annual World Flyfishing Championships, in Zakopane, Poland. ``Fly-fishing is not to be raped and pillaged, they say; it's a solitary affair.''

That's why the U.S. has never held elimination-type contests to select its representatives for the international playing field, the way the other 23 countries vying for the crown over five days in Poland traditionally have done.

There is not enough interest in competitive fly-fishing to hold state championships or some other process to determine our top fly-anglers, said Holder. The 41-year-old Holder balances his zeal for dry flies and cutthroat trout with his job as operating manager of aircraft maintenance services for United Airlines-Los Angeles.

``We could even field a better team by some sort of elimination. I think we lack the desire,'' Holder said. ``The people we will be fishing against will be the best fishermen these countries have to offer.''

That might explain Team USA Flyfishing's dismal record; it has yet to crack the top 15 at any world championships. Even last year on its home field of Jackson Hole, Wyo. - the first time America hosted the event - Team USA finished in the bottom three.

Hardy a stellar reputation to uphold in Poland, but, Holder said, ``This is, believe it or not, our best opportunity we've had in a long time because our anchors on the team are three professional fly-fishermen who live, breathe, eat, think and sleep fly-fishing.''

They are Wyoming guides Jay Buchner, Jeff Currier and Gary Willmott, ``guys who have dedicated their lives to the sport,'' Holder noted.

Saltwater guide and skipper Walter Ungermann of Barnstable, Mass., also made the cut. Rounding out the squad are Holder and Dick Recchia of Long Beach, vice chairman for Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America.

Holder and Recchia might not be as well-qualified for the team. In fact, Holder said, Team USA is using the Poland championships to thank the people who played key roles in organizing last year's event in Jackson Hole. Holder said Recchia's signature was on the $275,000 check Mitsubishi wrote as title sponsor for the contest. Holder, a Team USA board member, volunteered to manage a ``sponsors tournament'' that was staged separately from the championships but played by the same rules.

Holder, whose 250-pound, 6-foot-5 frame gives him the ability to ``cast farther because I'm higher out the water and get fish others can't because I wade deeper,'' and Recchia, whose team won the sponsors tournament last year and who regularly competes in Jackson Hole's famous One Fly Tournament, promise to hold their own.

Recchia, 59, was flattered and more than a tad anxious when asked by Team USA to be on the squad.

``I couldn't believe it when they called,'' he said. ``When fly-fishing is a passion, it's like an amateur golfer being told, `We want you to play in the Masters.' The excitement gave way to a little bit of panic and terror, because everybody in the fly-fishing world knows what happened to us last year and is looking for some improvement this year.''

Fishing technique is strong for the team as it prepares to tackle Poland's wild brown trout, rainbow trout, grayling and huchen (Eurasian landlocked salmon), Recchia said. ``The disadvantage is the strange water, strange flies and strange fish,'' he explained.

Ungermann has already been in Poland for a few weeks studying the waters to give the team as much of an edge as possible. The other members, all of whom are paying their own expenses, will have been there at least a week before the tournament to do the same.

``The difference between winning and losing this event is the amount of research you do,'' Recchia said. ``And, most important of all, be lucky.''

Holder, who is managing the team, detests the phrase ``old boys club'' to describe Team USA's selection committee, but he doesn't necessarily dispute it, either. He prefers ``network of people.'' Either way, there is no organized process to pick team members, he said.

Since ``no one stepped to the plate,'' Holder said, to field a squad for the first couple of world championships, a group of fly-fishermen with good-size wallets in the early 1980s formed Team USA Inc. in Ventura County. A board of directors was created and funds were set aside for administrative costs and to assure the team's future in international competition. Today, not altogether coincidentally, Ungermann is president and a team member.

Holder said Team USA Flyfishing is considering expanding its search for competitors by taking out ads in national angling magazines and requesting ``fishing resumes'' before the 1999 world championships in Australia. For now, its arbitrary selections are all we have.

And until we get passionate about ``competitive fly-fishing,'' it's unlikely that fans will be lining the banks of such places as Poland's Dunajec River and Czorstyn Reservoir chanting ``U.S.A., U.S.A.''

For more information, write to: Team USA Inc., P.O. Box 90775, Los Angeles, Calif. 90009-0775.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Simi Valley's Ken Holder, the operating manager of aircraft maintenance services for United Airlines, is part of a U.S. team for the World Flyfishing Championships.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News

(2--Color) RECCHIA