These days there's almost no species of fish that fly fishermen won't take a shot at catching.
Not that there was any catching going on at Wentworth Falls Lake last week when a major fly casting instructor testing event was underway.
"No fishing, just casting," said Leura fly fisherman Peter Morse, 60, who organised the event "so they could come to me, instead of me having to travel".
Three dozen fly fishermen and women, plus two American examiners, cast their lines for most of the week in the man-made lake and also made use of nearby Pitt Park to craft their technique.
To become a great fly fisher you need to master slack lines, aerial mends, curves, fish fighting techniques and the wind, among other incidentals, said Mr Morse, who has been a master casting instructor with the International Federation of Fly Fishers - the peak body of world wide fly casting instruction, since 2009.
"If you want to become a better fly fisherman you need to become a better caster. If you can't get your fly to the fish, you simply won't catch them," said Mr Morse, who is one of only 220 master casting instructors worldwide.
Mr Morse had a TV show in the '90s called Wildfish and his grandfather, Basil Morse, managed a hatchery that provided the fingerlings to stock many of the streams of NSW. Basil Morse also provided the fingerlings that were used to stock the highland rivers of New Guinea "and their descendants are still there" his grandson said.
Those who had put in enough hours practising were lucky enough to pass the various certification levels set by international fly fishers last week. Others had just come along to learn from the best, he said.
Casting instructors Carl Zarelli from Washington State, and Mark Huber from Anchorage, Alaska, said they were impressed by the facilities, despite being told about a sewage leak at the lake.
Mr Zarelli, who is the head of the international testing division of fly fishers, said his sport had grown enormously in popularity since A River Runs Through It screened in the early '90s, a film about two brothers living an idyllic life in rural Montana, spent mostly fly fishing. It starred Hollywood's Brad Pitt.
"Sales skyrocketed in the shops of equipment ... Brad looks good with a rod, but he didn't do any fly fishing at all, it was our friend Jason Borger who did all the work."
Mr Zarelli oversees the casting program in 48 countries and said the duo had also tested fly fishers in New Zealand on the way over to make the most of the long trip.
"They [students] just soak it up," he said.
John Smith, a 47-year-old builder from Queensland, had made the journey to the Mountains to get the first level of certification so he could attract more students. "There's an awful lot involved [but] it would be nice to get off the tools," he said.
- A sewage leak at Wentworth Falls Lake on Tuesday, November 18 has been cleared. The leak source was a Sydney Water sewerage line about 100m away from the lake itself and near a picnic table. It did not enter the water body. Sydney Water responded to the overflow, clearing up and disinfecting the affected area. Nothing out of the ordinary was reported in water testing, but council routinely advises not to swim in the lake "because it doesn't meet guidelines".