2025 World Fly Fishing Championships Review: Practice and Session 1
It’s that time of year again. My Fly Fishing Team USA mates and I just returned from the 44th FIPS Mouche World Fly Fishing Championship in the Czech Republic. The championship was based near Frymburk and featured three sessions on various stretches of the Vltava River, a boat session on Lipno II Reservoir, and a session on the Otava River near Susice. I felt especially old this year being surrounded by my young gun teammates again. At the opening ceremony I realized that I’ve fished in 15 of these championships, which means I’ve been to over 1/3 of the history of these championships.
Our team captain/coach was Glade Gunther, our starting anglers were Michael Bradley, Mike Komara, Jack Arnot, Cody Burgdorff, and myself, and our reserve angler was Austin Shoemaker.
Our team during practice for the 2025 World Fly Fishing Championship. Pictured from left to right are myself (Devin Olsen), our guide Antonin Pleskac, Mike Komara, Jack Arnot, Cody Burgdorff, Michael Bradley, and Austin Shoemaker. Our captain Glade Gunther is hiding behind the camera.
Back in 2014, we also had a world championship in the Czech Republic largely on the same venues, except that we fished a bank session on Kvetnov Reservoir instead of having a session on the Otava River in that championship. Mike Komara fished in the youth world fly fishing championships on the Vltava River back in 2019 as well. Some of the information from these championships was helpful and provided some guidance for flies and techniques that would be important at this championship. However, in the last three years, the wild brown trout population on the Vltava River has taken a nosedive. There were all sorts of opinions I heard as to why this was the case, but the most likely culprit has been the mix of extreme heat and floods over the last three years. As a result, we knew that we wouldn’t be able to rely on the brown trout as our main targets during our sessions. We also had to be ready to target stocked rainbow and brook trout and other species like chubs, roach, whitefish, and perch.
We had a very enjoyable practice week staying on the banks of the Vltava River in Rozmberk. Our hospitable hosts were Vlasta and Helena (sorry if I misspelled your names) who took good care of us and didn’t blink an eye when we turned Vlasta’s fishing storage room into a tornado of fly tying materials. Our guide was Antonin Pleskac who was very helpful as well as just a lot of fun to hang out with. I want to say thanks to Vlasta, Helena, and Antonin for a great week that made practice feel a little more like a vacation than it often can during the serious preparation time before a championship.
The team fly tying table during practice.
The fishing was fairly productive during the first 3-4 days of practice. It got progressively harder once the cumulative pressure from all the teams began to put the fish on higher alert. Giving ourselves a few extra days during practice was also a nice change this year. I felt more prepared with flies and equipment going into the first day than I usually do, though the nerves still hit as hard as they always do when the first session started.
My favorite part of practice was a couple of dry fly sessions we had on the Vltava where a mix of all sorts of mayflies and caddis were hatching. There was a large bright yellow mayfly that the fish were particularly keen on that was fun to imitate. I enjoyed several sessions of getting into the rhythm of searching out rising fish and watching my yellow CDC mayfly disappear in a boil. I never knew whether I was going to catch a chub, a brown trout, or a stocked rainbow or brook trout. Sadly, I saw a few of these mayflies during the championship but never had a session where there were enough of them for the fish to take much notice. Other hatches were important though, especially in my last session.
We also had a fun practice day in Susice on the Otava River where we came across quite a few European grayling. It’s always fun to have the chance to target these fish coming from the USA where we don’t have the opportunity to pursue them. However, we are typically at a disadvantage when they are the main target species during the tournament.
Going into session one we had a rough idea of things to be on the lookout for in each venue. We knew the fishing was going to be incredibly varied and that we would need a mix of traditional streamer fishing, nymph fishing, dry dropper, and dry fly techniques to stay competitive. We also had to form daily strategies to adapt to the changes that were likely to happen on the lake as the fish reacted to fishing pressure.
The Vltava River downstream of our practice house in Rozmberk.
With a massive field of 32 countries, we also knew that the luck of the beats we drew was going to be even more important than usual. There simply wasn’t enough water to provide 32 good beats on each venue. Given the recent downward trend in the brown trout population, the organizers had stocked a lot of trout to try and make up the difference. As a former fisheries biologist, I have a lot of objections to that decision, but I’ll save that rant. From the perspective of the competition, the stocked fish were likely to increase the disparity of the beats that we each drew. Some beats were going to have water types that stocked fish congregate in while other beats were going to have featureless flats where coarse fish were likely to be the main targets. We knew we had to accept that some of us were going to draw short straws each session which would kill our individual chances at a medal. However, we came in, like we always do, with the collective goal of backing up our team medal last year with another one this year.
Session 1:
I drew group D during the captain’s meeting before the championship. This draw meant I would start my first session on sector 4, which was the lowest section of the Vltava River downstream of Rozmberk. This sector received the most stocked fish before the championship, and it had the lowest population of wild brown trout. It also had the highest density of chubs and other coarse fish which might factor into the fishing.
One variable that affected my decisions during the first session was the weather. Chubs prefer warmer water than trout and their activity tends to be reduced when the water is cold. The weather during our entire time in the Czech Republic was fairly unsettled and often cool. My first session started cloudy and cool and there was even a 10-minute downpour. Our sessions also started at 8 am on the Vltava to try and get most of the session over with before the constant armada of canoes and rafts started entering our beats. Given the cool weather and the early start, I knew I might catch some chubs if I had water for them, but I did not think I would be able to rely on them to make up the difference if the trout fishing was slow.
At first glance, my beat (number 21) was mainly one long run with a small island at the top. It had a fairly fast center tongue of current with slow edges on both sides. Upon closer inspection, there were also three shelves that divided the run into three identifiable parts. The lower border of my beat slowed down before spilling over a line of submerged rocks and into the beat below. This lowest part seemed like the most likely place for me to find some stocked trout. I planned to fish it at the beginning of my session for 30-45 minutes with a few techniques to see what it held. Afterward I would cycle to the faster parts of the run upstream.
I set up five rods for each of my river sessions, except for the Devil’s Stones where I didn’t expect to need the streamer rod. I had a dedicated dry fly rod, two nymph rods which I could swap between single or double nymph and dry dropper rigs, and a heavier nymph rod for jigging streamers or nymphing “junk” for stocked trout I also had a dedicated streamer rod with several lake lines I had packed in my bag to adjust for various depths and speeds of water.
I started at the lowest part of my beat with a dry dropper rig on a micro Euro nymph leader. I wanted to work the softer edge near the bank before wading through it into my better holding water. On my first cast I broke off my nymph setting the hook on a rock. What a way to start a world championship! I quickly retied and two casts in my dry fly sank, and I set the hook into a chub for my first fish of the championship.
I continued working the softer edge with the dry dropper rig for a number of drifts, but no more fish materialized. I switched rods to a double nymph rig with a large egg on the point and pheasant tail on the dropper tag. I worked my way into the run with a number of drifts. It became clear that the water was faster than it looked at first glance and the slow sink rate of the egg meant I needed a bit more weight. After switching to a larger bead on the dropper tag, I set the hook and a rainbow came to the surface briefly with the egg in its mouth before it spat the fly. A few casts later I hooked another fish which had taken the pheasant tail.
I worked this area quickly but thoroughly with the nymph rig. I ended up getting two more rainbows on the pheasant tail, but I was expecting more fish than I was catching, especially on the egg. I swapped to a mop on the point and got a quick fish. I was already half an hour into the session though and I didn’t have any responses in the next few minutes. I also watched the Italian below me hook a few fish on a streamer rig and decided it was time for a switch myself.
I ran to the bank and grabbed my streamer rod. It was rigged with a fast intermediate line. It had a sparkler on the top dropper and simple black leech with a fl orange bead on the point. I stepped into the run upstream of the shelf I had been fishing below with the nymph rig. I started making casts diagonally to the river right side of the run and seesaw swinging my flies into the water just below the shelf. I gradually added line until I had about 50-55 feet of fly line. This was an amount that would let me cover water, but I could also get my flies back in the river after a single false cast. The basic approach was to seesaw my flies with my rod tip near the bottom of the river during the swing. This helped get and keep my flies deep but also kept my flies active during the retrieve. After the flies were directly downstream, I let them seesaw a few more times before retrieving them.
After a couple of casts, I locked into a rainbow on my point fly. The next 20 minutes were fairly fast and furious with a lot of fish coming to the net, some missed takes, and some fish hooking up before coming unpinned. I got repeated takes during different parts of my retrieve. I experimented with various strips and found that I often had fish follow the flies to the end of the retrieve before committing. I ended up working the flies at the end of my retrieve with the rod tip almost like pike and musky anglers finish their retrieves with a figure eight at the boat.
The water near the bottom of my beat. The slight riffle you can see just above the middle of the frame was a shallow shelf that divided this section of water from the next piece above.
The rain started pouring and I was getting soaked. I didn’t want to take a break to put on my rain jacket, so I kept at it. A few minutes into the deluge I hooked a double. The fish on the point fly broke off and left me with the top fish on the dropper. At this point I ran and got my rain jacket and rerigged. I hadn’t been getting many fish on the sparkler so I rerigged with an orange blob bugger up top and the same black leech on the point. I finished the remainder of my swing through the lowest portion of my beat. The orange blob bugger quickly became the better producer, and I landed several more fish before reaching the dividing line between my beat and Morgan Bertruzzi’s beat below.
While I was fishing streamers I noticed a couple of very sporadic rises on the far bank. I kept the location in my mind to try and return to it. After streamer fishing to the bottom of my beat I grabbed my dry dropper rod and waded across the river to the bank where I had seen the rises. I started making casts along the bank. However, I quickly found out that with my 2.3 mm bead nymph about 20-24” below my dry, I could only get a short drift before ticking bottom. The tannin-stained water looked deeper than it was from my perspective in the middle of the river when I had seen the rises. I should have grabbed my single dry fly rod instead, but the mistake was made, and I was just wasting time. I probably could have made some changes and caught a fish or two, but the streamer fishing was more productive in the center flow.
I crossed back across the river and ran to the middle part of the run where there was another elongated depression between two shelves. This water was not as deep as the bottom of my beat and the current was even faster. I wasn’t expecting many fish as a result. I started with nymphs since the water type seemed to call for a good nymph drift. After a few minutes I didn’t have any takes though. I swapped to the streamer rod and began the cast, swing, and step downstream process again. I quickly started catching fish and landed several more in this area over the next 25-30 minutes.
Once I had reached the shelf dividing where I was fishing from the downstream part of the run I had previously fished, I ran to the bank. I grabbed my nymph and dry dropper rod and hustled to the top of my beat. I dropped my streamer rod mid-way between in case I wanted to swing some water above where I had just left off.
I started making drifts with the dry dropper rod along the soft edge at the top of my beat. After a few casts a fish rose and sucked in my CDC dry. I set the hook and quickly landed a smallish chub. I rinsed the dry, plucked it on my Fly Banjo, and spruced it back up with some Top Ride from my finger. A few casts later I caught another chub that took my nymph.
I finished working the soft edge until the riffle spilled in from shallower water at the top. I felt like there might be another fish or two along the faster and deeper seam adjacent to where I caught the last two fish. This water was too swift and deep for the dry dropper, so I grabbed my nymph rod. Halfway up the current seam my sighter hesitated during the drift, and I set the hook into a heavier fish. It ended up being a 38 cm chub, which was a large chub compared to most I caught during practice.
I worked the rest of the way up the seam without any further fish. I was hoping for some trout in this location, but it wasn’t the type of water stocked trout like to sit in and there didn’t seem to be any wild brown that were holding there either.
The water at the top of my beat. The soft edge and the seam along this edge produced three chubs for me. The water in the center was deceivingly fast.
I had a decision to make with 45 minutes left in my session. There was still the bit of the run below where I had just been fishing that might hold some fish. It was deep but was the swiftest water in my beat and I wasn’t sure how many fish it might hold or if I could streamer fish it well without changing to a faster sinking line. There was also the soft water below the island on the far bank. This area would have been ideal if there had been a lot of wild browns around and it likely held chubs as well. I could fish either of these two areas or I could return to the portions of the run downstream where I had caught fish on streamers previously. I had rested the bottom of my beat for over an hour and the middle part for about 30 minutes.
The water near the middle of my beat. This part of the run was much faster than it looks. I didn't feel like I could fish it with my streamer rod without some time-consuming changes so I went back to the bottom of my beat for the last 45 minutes.
I opted for what seemed like the most reliable bet and went down to the bottom of my beat again. I grabbed my streamer rod and began the same cast, swing, step process again. The fishing was almost as good as on the first pass. I also had two rainbows rise in the fastest water to my right. I made short casts and simply used the rod tip to work the streamers past their locations. Both fish took aggressively. The first was a 50 cm rainbow.
I finished my pass through the bottom of my beat with 15 minutes left. I sprinted to the faster part of the run just above it to finish my time. I landed three more fish in the last ten minutes to end the session. This gave me a total of 25 fish which earned me 4th place in the session. The anglers on this beat finished 8th, 8th, 13th, and 9th place respectively in the following sessions.
I feel I fished the beat pretty well overall. I did lose and miss quite a few fish but unfortunately this is simply more common when streamer fishing than it is when dry fly fishing or nymph fishing in my experience. If I were to fish the beat again knowing what I knew afterward, I probably would have ditched the nymph and dry dropper fishing altogether and fished the faster water in the upper 1/3 of my beat to see if the streamer produced there as well.
The rest of the team did very well on day one with Michael Bradley finishing 2nd on the Devil’s Stones, Mike Komara finishing 7th on the lake, Cody Burgdorff finishing 18th on the Otava, and Jack Arnot finishing 4th on the Vyssi Brod stretch of the Vltava. This landed the team in a strong 1st place after session one with 34 placing points. Slovakia was in 2nd place with 47 points and England in 3rd place with 49 points.
My controllers during session one.
