JON E. TARANTINO (1937–1973), the “Babe Ruth of Casting”, was a master tournament fly caster, who was a legend in his own time. Born and raised in San Francisco, he attended St. Ignatius High School and the University of California, Berkeley. He began flycasting at age 10 in 1948. Under the tutelage of locals at the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club (GGACC), Tarantino won his first tournament, the Western States Junior dry-fly accuracy title, two months later. He won the Junior Nationals in the same event just two months after that.
It seemed he was a phenom, a natural, but Tarantino always disagreed, arguing, “I’ve put in an awful lot of hours. I could have taught a monkey in a shorter time than I taught myself.” He was big guy, 6’2” and 225lbs, and trained hard, wielding sledgehammers like rods to strengthen his wrists. He spent untold hours practicing his accuracy at the ponds in Golden Gate Park.
In 1952 at age 15, he entered his first national senior tournament; against the older competition, he won the “skill in fishing” (skish) all-around title and came in third in the overall competition. At age 17 he won his first national All-Around title (featuring eight specialized events), and went on to win five more national all-around titles and tie for another by 1963.
He set at least three world and eight national casting records, garnering unheard of perfect scores of 100pts in accuracy events: dry, wet and skish. The targets could be 55 feet away and only 30 inches in diameter. For skish, he hit the target 30 times perfectly in succession. In his career, he was awarded the International Fario Club’s Medal of Honor, was a tentime National All-around champion, seven-time World’s Amateur Casting champion, and a four-time World’s Professional Casting Champion. Tarantino is the only fly caster and Olympian to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated (July 8, 1963) and be featured in an eight page article about his accomplishments.
But he was more than just a champion caster, he was also very involved with improving the technology for rods, lines, and reels used by novice and experienced fly casters. He collaborated with fellow Olympian and renowned rodmaker Doug Merrick, as well as others to create the next generation of fly casting equipment.
He also began passing his knowledge to the next generation, helping train Steve Rajeff, who is still winning national and international events and setting records forty years later. Tarantino was posthumously inducted into the American Casting Association (ACA) Hall of Fame. He is fondly remembered by all in the sport, and the Jon E. Tarantino Memorial Award is given out every year by the ACA.
