Devin Olsen: Inside the Mind of a World Champion

In 2026, Devin Olsen helped Fly Fishing Team USA accomplish something it had never done before: win a gold medal at the World Fly Fishing Championship. The victory capped more than two decades of competition against the world’s best anglers.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Devin about that historic achievement, his introduction to competitive fly fishing, and the experiences that have shaped his approach to catching trout.

Despite his accomplishments, I found him humble, approachable, and genuinely enthusiastic about sharing what he’s learned. We talked about everything from the demands of international competition to his background in fisheries science, reading water, nymphing techniques, and the origins of his famous Blowtorch pattern.

Fly Fishing at the Highest Level

For most of us, fly fishing is recreation. We want to improve, but we generally spend our time on the water doing something we enjoy. We don’t necessarily think of it as practice.

At the highest level, competitive fly fishing is a demanding sport. Devin approaches it with the dedication and discipline of an elite athlete. Much like a professional golfer preparing for a PGA Tour event, his success depends on countless hours of practice, careful preparation, technical precision, and the ability to perform under pressure.

Devin shares the same love of fishing that draws the rest of us to the water. The difference is what he’s preparing to do when he gets there. He must continually refine his techniques, address weaknesses, and prepare to compete against the world’s best anglers.

2026 World Fly Fishing Championship

Anglers from 21 countries competed in five three-hour sessions at the 2026 World Fly Fishing Championship. They were divided into “buses,” the anglers’ term for groups with one competitor per country. At the start of a session, anglers headed to their assigned stretches of water, known as beats. The fish they caught there determined their scores.

Competitors must quickly assess unfamiliar water, choose an approach, and make adjustments while the clock is running. The physical demands can be considerable, especially when anglers navigate difficult terrain and fish multiple sessions over several days.

As Devin explained, it’s “very different than going out on a Saturday and hitting your local river.”

The 2026 championship presented additional challenges. On the Henry’s Fork, flows were approximately three times what competitors might normally expect for that time of year. Devin believed the higher water and larger trout made it harder for some international competitors, while the Americans’ experience with similar conditions may have given them an advantage.

Team USA entered the championship after earning bronze medals in the previous two years. Devin credited part of their eventual success to the continuity among the five starting anglers. They had competed together long enough to understand one another’s strengths, communicate effectively, and develop trust.

Although each competitor fishes independently, the championship is a team effort.

I had assumed competitive fly fishing was largely a nymphing game. Devin explained that while nymphing often dominates early sessions, trout become increasingly pressured as the championship progresses. Successful anglers must be prepared to switch to dry flies, dry-dropper rigs, streamers, or whatever the conditions require.

“It was a big mix,” Devin explained, “and the guys who tended to do well late were the ones who effectively deployed all methods and all water types.”

That versatility is essential. Devin and his teammates cannot afford to specialize in one technique at the expense of others. They must be prepared to fish effectively across different water types and conditions.

In 2026, that preparation, versatility, and teamwork helped Fly Fishing Team USA win its first World Championship gold medal.

Devin Olsen talks with former teammate Lance Egan about what it meant to help Team USA win its first gold medal at the World Fly Fishing Championships.

Curiosity Led the Way

Devin caught his first trout on a fly rod at age nine during a family trip to Yellowstone National Park. Using a hand-me-down fiberglass rod, he landed a cutthroat trout on his own, beginning a lifelong fascination with fly fishing.

Growing up in Salt Lake County, Utah, Devin wanted to learn everything he could about catching trout. His mother took him to the public library, where he checked out fly-fishing books. When he’d read everything available, he’d request more from other branches throughout the county.

“If I wanted to get good, I had to go and chase information myself,” Devin recalled.

As a young teenager, he rode with older friends to trout streams and eventually began driving himself. On Utah’s popular trout rivers, he watched successful anglers, studied their techniques, and sometimes approached them with questions. He wanted to understand what they were doing differently and whether he could apply those lessons to his own fishing.

At 18, Devin discovered Fly Fishing Masters on the Outdoor Life Network, a television competition combining casting events with fishing rounds. Until then, his curiosity had largely been focused on learning how to catch more fish. Now he was intrigued by the idea of testing his skills against other anglers.

“Oh my gosh, that looks cool. I want to do it,” he remembered thinking.

The following year, Devin recruited a fishing friend he’d met on Montana’s Beaverhead River, and they entered a regional qualifier in Oregon.

Devin recalled finishing second in the casting competition, behind Steve Rajeff, a legendary competitive fly caster and multiple-time world champion. That earned them a spot in the fishing rounds.

“We got our butts kicked,” Devin recalled.

Despite the disappointing finish, he loved the adrenaline of competing against the clock and having his skills measured against other anglers.

Competition provided “a measuring stick, I suppose, that I couldn’t get anywhere else through that competitive environment.”

It gave Devin another way to identify weaknesses, test his abilities, and continue improving.

About a year later, he began working at a fly shop alongside Lance Egan and Ryan Barnes, two anglers who had also competed in Fly Fishing Masters. Those relationships helped introduce him to international competitive fly fishing.

The Angler Before the Scientist

Going into my conversation with Devin, I assumed his scientific background provided an advantage in competition. With a bachelor’s degree in ecology, a master’s degree in fisheries science, and several years of professional experience as a fisheries biologist, surely he understood trout behavior in ways that gave him an edge over his competitors.

I asked him directly whether his education provided that advantage.

“It might be surprising, but very little.”

Devin explained that the relationship often worked the other way around. His curiosity about fly fishing had led him to study fish biology long before he pursued it academically. Years of reading, observing trout, and spending time on the water meant that many of the concepts he encountered in college were already familiar.

His experience as an angler had given him a head start in the classroom.

His formal education taught him how to conduct scientific studies, evaluate research, and sample fish populations. Those skills were valuable professionally, but they didn’t necessarily give him an advantage over other competitive anglers.

Sometimes, his scientific knowledge can even work against him.

Devin completed his master’s research on a lake, studying limnology, the science of inland freshwater ecosystems. That background gave him considerable knowledge about how lakes function.

But during lake competitions, that knowledge can become a distraction. Devin described an ongoing internal dialogue in which he analyzes conditions and considers what the fish should be doing. Meanwhile, other competitors may simply develop a plan and stick with it.

“The problem is sometimes the more you know, the more it can confuse you and make you second-guess things,” he explained.

Inside Devin’s Approach to Fishing

I could have ten more conversations with Devin Olsen and still only scratch the surface of his knowledge. Interviewing him felt like winning a shopping spree at my favorite fly shop. I wanted to explore so much, and I knew I couldn’t cover everything.

Rather than attempting to cover every aspect of his fishing, I wanted to understand how he puts that knowledge to work on the water.

I asked Devin to imagine approaching a stretch of pocket water on an ordinary day of fishing. Where would he expect trout to be holding? How would he decide what technique to use? And what would cause him to change his approach?

Reading the Water

Devin begins by considering water temperature, depth, current velocity, and surface turbulence. These factors help him identify where trout are most likely to hold.

When water temperatures are in the low to mid-40s, he expects trout to avoid the heaviest currents and hold in deeper pockets with slower water. As temperatures climb into the 50s and 60s, trout spread into more of the available water. He looks for current deflections where fish can hold in softer water while food passes nearby.

Devin explained that he can look at a pocket and, within about five seconds, identify where he expects a trout to be holding.

“I have so many years of fishing rivers and seeing the water and observing now that I don’t think about things very hard. I just try something that I think is going to work.”

Years of observing trout and their responses to changing conditions allow him to assess water quickly. Much of that process has become instinctive.

Watch Devin break down a stretch of pocket water to determine where the trout are holding.

Guessing and Checking

Devin doesn’t expect every decision to be correct. He makes an educated guess, puts it into practice, and evaluates what happens.

“My message is always: try something. If it doesn’t work, make an adjustment.”

He recommends having a handful of approaches that have worked in similar situations, whether different flies, techniques, or presentations. Start with the most promising option. If it doesn’t work, try something else.

Devin identified two mistakes that can prevent anglers from improving. The first is analysis paralysis, spending so much time considering options that you never commit to one. The second is continuing with an approach even when the results suggest it isn’t working.

He summarized his philosophy:

“If I had to go down to the root element of what fishing is for me, it’s guessing and checking, guessing and checking, guessing and checking. And after years or decades of fishing, your initial guesses get better.”

Watch Devin put his guessing-and-checking approach into practice as he searches for trout.

The Importance of Technique

Making the right decision is only part of catching trout. You still have to execute it.

Devin emphasized that fly fishing depends heavily on technique. Understanding what a good drift looks like and reproducing it consistently are essential skills.

Even after more than twenty years of Euro nymphing, he continues to discover small adjustments that improve his presentations. Differences in fly weight, casting angles, tippet length and diameter, and leader construction can all influence what happens beneath the surface.

The objective is to make the rig behave as intended and consistently reproduce an effective presentation.

Experience Isn’t Enough

Devin also distinguished between spending time on the water and actually improving.

Casting, managing line, controlling a drift, reading currents, and recognizing changes in fish behavior all develop through practice. But simply fishing more days doesn’t guarantee improvement.

Devin acknowledged knowing anglers who fish a hundred days a year without becoming particularly proficient. They’re spending time on the water, but they aren’t necessarily learning from their experiences.

Time on the water creates opportunities to learn, but improvement requires attention and adjustment. Devin has spent decades refining both his judgment and his ability to execute the techniques he chooses.

His decisions may happen quickly, but they rest on considerable observation, practice, and accumulated knowledge.

Devin’s book Tactical Fly Fishing provides a much more comprehensive look at his techniques, strategies, and approach to catching trout.

The Blowtorch and the Thinking Behind the Fly

As someone who ties and sells flies, I couldn’t let my conversation with Devin end without asking about the Blowtorch. It’s one of the most recognizable patterns associated with his name, and one I’ve tied and fished myself.

I had a chicken-or-the-egg question. Did the Blowtorch help establish the popularity of tag nymphs, or was it Devin’s interpretation of a pattern that already existed?

Devin explained that tag nymphs had been around long before he developed the Blowtorch. His pattern evolved from an existing idea, and its origins trace back to the 2014 World Fly Fishing Championship in the Czech Republic.

A local guide introduced the American team to a tag nymph he used to catch chubs in the Vltava River. Depending on the venue and competition rules, international competitive fly fishing can involve species other than trout or salmon.

The guide’s fly was effective, but its materials began falling apart after only a few fish. Devin started experimenting with more durable materials, greater contrast, and fluorescence, particularly useful in the Vltava’s tannin-stained water.

He continued refining the tag, body, and collar until the pattern became the Peacock Blowtorch.

The fly proved successful during the championship, and Devin continued catching trout with it in Colorado and California. More than a decade later, it remains one of his favorite patterns.

The Blowtorch’s history also provides some insight into how Devin thinks about flies in general.

I’ve written before about the importance of nymph construction and weight. A slim Perdigon sinks differently than a nymph with a CDC collar, even when both have identical bead weights. Devin approaches fly selection in much the same way.

He organizes his nymphs into four broad categories based on their construction and surface area: slim Perdigons, dubbed-body nymphs, dubbed-body nymphs with CDC soft hackles, and bulkier patterns such as mops or rubber-legged stoneflies.

“The sink rate is one of the number one variables that you can change that will make your nymph more or less effective,” Devin explained.

Fly construction affects how quickly a nymph sinks and how it behaves in the current. A slim Perdigon generally sinks faster than a bulkier pattern of similar weight because it creates less resistance. A fly with more surface area may descend more slowly and behave differently during the drift.

Devin also adjusts bead weight and tippet diameter to control how his flies reach depth and move through the water.

That doesn’t mean patterns are interchangeable. Devin has experienced situations where changing flies made a huge difference, especially when pressured trout responded to something different.

But he doesn’t believe anglers need an endless collection of patterns.

Devin told me he could confidently fish most trout waters in the world with just four nymph patterns, as long as he could vary their sizes, bead weights, and perhaps bead colors.

The Blowtorch is a fitting example. Devin took an existing pattern, recognized its limitations, and refined it to meet the demands of a particular fishing situation. The result was a fly that has remained effective for more than a decade.

Beyond the Competition

For all of Devin’s accomplishments, I enjoyed hearing how much he still loves simply going fishing.

“You could toss the competition aside, and I would still be out there constantly. I love the game.”

Devin particularly enjoys sight fishing, where he can locate an individual trout, study its behavior, and figure out how to catch it. It’s one reason he travels to New Zealand each year. Even after decades of competing at the highest level, he still finds plenty of challenges that keep him interested.

I’m grateful to Devin for taking the time to share his experiences and knowledge with me. His willingness to discuss everything from international competition to the finer details of nymphing made for a fascinating conversation.

If you’d like to learn more from Devin, I encourage you to visit Tactical Fly Fisher, where you’ll find his books, fly patterns, instructional resources, and fishing equipment.

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