Steve Rajeff
Steve Rajeff’s tournament casting accomplishments to date (2017) include 45-time Grand All-Around Champion of the American Casting Association, and 14-time World Casting Champion.
Born in San Francisco in 1956, Rajeff grew up a few blocks from the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club. Caster and coach Mel Kreiger met Steve when he was 9 or 10 and saw promise in the boy’s casting. Within weeks, Steve beat Mel and all the men at GGACC in a casting tournament. Casting champion Jon Tarantino inspired Steve to compete and used him as a role model. GGACC sponsored Steve at age 13 to travel and compete in the 1971 ACA Nationals in St. Louis. Steve took third in the All-Around: two years later, at age 15, he took first.
During summers in the ‘70s, Rajeff guided in Alaska and taught at the Fenwick Fly Fishing Schools in California, Idaho and Montana. In 1979, he earned a BA in Marketing at San Francisco State. His first industry job was at Winslow Manufacturing, later renamed SAGE, thanks to Steve’s suggestion. Seeking an equity stake for the future, Steve left SAGE and took a job at the newly formed G. Loomis company, where he learned quickly from Gary Loomis and took over rod design. Steve is responsible for the actions of the first IMX and GLX rods.
In 1994, Rajeff designed the first single-foot fly-rod guides and introduced rods with them. This achieved a significant weight reduction since they used less metal, windings and epoxy. Steve designed all the rods the G.Loomis company offered from 1985 to the present.
Rajeff was inducted into the Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers Hall of Fame in 2006, and the California Outdoorsman Hall of Fame in 2009. He has served on the Board of Directors for the International Casting Sport Federation and the American Casting Association for over 10 years, and has also held the office of Vice-President of the American Casting Association, a 501(C)3 organization.
Steve’s tournament casting accomplishments to date (2017) include 45-time Grand All-Around Champion of the American Casting Association. He is also 14-time World Casting Champion. In competition in ICSF 2-Hand Fly Distance in Toronto, he cast 306 feet. In 2009 at the World Championships of Fly Casting in Ireland, Steve cast 165 feet with a floating line and 36 feet of backing. In the Sea Trout Event, the official line is an 8wt WF floating line measuring 120 ft.
Steve has been an integral part of the modern fly fishing age. For the future, he looks forward to new technology, good fishing and matching the casting longevity of one of his mentors, the late Dick Fujita, who participated in 52 ACA Nationals.