Devin Olsen's 2022 World Fly Fishing Championship Write up

BigJohnJohn

BigJohnJohn

Gone Fishing
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I didn't see this posted so thought I would put it out there. Devin Olsen is in the process of writing recaps from the 2022 World Fly Fishing Championship. I don't know that I would ever be interested in the competing part but his description of how he approaches and reads the rivers is really interesting.

Blog - Tactical Fly Fisher

www.tacticalflyfisher.com www.tacticalflyfisher.com
 
In the 2018 US Championship we fished the "little" Deschutes between Little Lava Lake and Crane. The deepest spot on my beat was maybe 3ft. Just a trickle. While I did land a massive whitey in my section it was tough sledding with 5X tippet. Probably needed to size down to 6x or 7x to get the numbers up but I didn't gain the level of appreciation deserved for tiny fish until recently ;) #@Irafly . If I remember right Devon pulled 63 fish the day before from a 50ft section a few beats up stream from where I was. More than a fish caught and measured every 4min... Best I've every seen at the Euro game.

Edited for accuracy (y)
 
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Yardus Maximus said:
In the 2018 US Championship we fished Little Deschutes between Little Lava Lake and Crane. The deepest spot on my beat was maybe 3ft. Just a trickle. While I did land a massive whitey in my section it was tough sledding with 5X tippet. Probably needed to size down to 6x or 7x to get the numbers up but I didn't gain the level of appreciation deserved for tiny fish until recently ;) #@Irafly . If I remember right Devon pulled 63 fish the day before from a 50ft section a few beats up stream from where I was. More than a fish caught and measured every 4min... Best I've every seen at the Euro game.
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Slight but important correction, you were in the "Deschutes River" (Upper Deschutes to be more specific) the "Little Deschutes" originates near Mule Peak in the Mount Thielsen Wilderness in Klamath County.

There are some mighty Whities in the the upper Deschutes, and some trophy-sized Brookies, and when lucky up to 20 inch RB, it is one of the best "small streams" around.

Cheers
 
Peyton00 said:
A slight but important correction to the correction.

The little Deschutes river is in washington State.


Carry on......
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I guess there's 2:

Little Deschutes River (Oregon) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

'Course Wikipedia leans left so trust at you own peril though I have fished the Oregon river, so I do know it's there, 'course I lean left also;).

Cheers
 
Very interesting. A couple of things stood out to me:
1. It looks like the rivers really get pounded at the practice stage. I wonder how that affects the competition days.
2. It sounds like success is driven by the luck of the draw, depending on which beat you get. Can you imagine a golf tournament where you everyone plays a different hole, selected at random?


Canuck from Kansas said:
Slight but important correction, you were in the "Deschutes River" (Upper Deschutes to be more specific) the "Little Deschutes" originates near Mule Peak in the Mount Thielsen Wilderness in Klamath County.

There are some mighty Whities in the the upper Deschutes, and some trophy-sized Brookies, and when lucky up to 20 inch RB, it is one of the best "small streams" around.

Cheers
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So now that you've moved, it's ok to talk about this on the internet? Filthy hotspotter ;)
I mean, if you're going to talk about the good fishing, you need to talk about the Texas-size rattlers up there, and the terrible mosquitos.
 
PhilR said:
Very interesting. A couple of things stood out to me:
1. It looks like the rivers really get pounded at the practice stage. I wonder how that affects the competition days.
2. It sounds like success is driven by the luck of the draw, depending on which beat you get. Can you imagine a golf tournament where you everyone plays a different hole, selected at random?




So now that you've moved, it's ok to talk about this on the internet? Filthy hotspotter ;)
I mean, if you're going to talk about the good fishing, you need to talk about the Texas-size rattlers up there, and the terrible mosquitos.
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Really spot on questions, Phil. The competition sections were closed though out the practice stage, so no issue there.

I agree that the success was driven by the luck of the draw as the same sections appeared to fish better day after day. Some guys get the 100yd par 3 and some guys get the par 5 over water :sneaky:
 
To anyone that likes this article, "Adaptive Fly Fishing" is the best video ever made. I recommend it to everyone; even those that I know will never get on the euro trash.
 
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