Casting tournaments date to the Civil War era, but at that time, they were mostly entered by upper-class fly fishermen. In 1985, Joe Moore changed the rules. The Hatteras Island resident formed Sportcast USA, organizing classes for different skill levels, using a laser to measure distances and allowing pendulum casts that travel even farther than the traditional pitch-back method. When Moore first ran tournaments, a dozen people competed. At the world championships this year, he expects more than 100 competitors from as far away as England, Japan and South Africa.
More people are aware of the fact that there is such a thing that exists.
Reeling in the Olympics, however, is considered a long shot. The International Olympic Committee's bureaucracy has toughened its requirements to limit the number of sports and athletes. And countries would have to standardize their rules, using the same size sinkers and fishing line. But that hasn't stopped the fishermen from bringing windsocks and barometers to tournaments, hoping to find an edge in the direction of the wind or how the humidity might affect the oil in their reels. Each gets five or six casts, depending on time, and the best one counts.