Competitive fly fishing has rapidly become a bigger part of mainstream fly fishing culture in the United States over the last decade or so. Not that long ago many anglers had no idea there was a Team USA fly fishing, or that there was any sort of organized competitive fishing in the US at all. Now, even though only a small fraction of anglers compete, the industry is flooded with competition-style equipment and tactics. Despite this, a large portion of the angling community still only has a surface-level understanding of competition angling and how it all works.
History
Though anglers have likely been competing in one way or another since the inception of the sport, modern competitive fly fishing came around in the early 1980s with the first World Fly Fishing Championship held in Luxembourg. Shortly after, the governing body of competitive fly fishing, FIPS-Mouche, was formed to oversee the continuation of these international events.
The U.S. has been competing on the world stage since nearly the beginning, with a number of notable anglers serving on its earlier teams. American anglers began to take note of competition angling and its related tactics by the mid-2000s. Small competitions following some of the rules set by FIPS began popping up in the U.S. and gained a sizable following by the early twenties. These laid the groundwork for the more organized competition system in place today.
Joe Humphries, who represented the U.S. in some of the earliest World Fly Fishing Championships, spending the day with the U.S. Youth Fly Fishing team days before they left for youth worlds in 2019. Sharing knowledge like this is a big part of what makes competitive fly fishing special.
The U.S. team grew through the years, becoming more competitive around 2010. This resulted from the more widespread adoption of tight line techniques, as well as having more well-practiced anglers from the local competitions. The U.S. Youth Fly Fishing Team entered the stage around this time as well, giving the younger generation of anglers a chance to fish on the world level.
Today, there are a number of competitive angling organizations that run competitions across the country. Team USA works with a more organized structure, holding local, regional, and national qualifying competitions. The U.S. now has four world teams; a men’s, youth, master’s, and most recently women’s team.
How They Work
There is usually a good bit of confusion around how fly fishing competitions run. Unlike most sports, not every angler competes directly against one another. The field is broken into groups with only the anglers in the same group directly comparing numbers throughout the comp.
An example of a draw for a one day, four session mini competition. It was held on only one venue, the Pequest River, and had 6 beats. Anglers in group A fish first (session 1-1), while group B judges. Then then swap the next session (1-2), with group A judging the beat they just fished and group B fishing new beats they didn’t see yet. After a break for lunch, the next two sessions (2-1, 2-2) run in the same way. Anglers only compare numbers directly with those in their group.
Each day, every competitor fishes two, two to three-hour sessions with their group. They are randomly assigned a new fifty to three-hundred-yard beat to fish each session. Whoever lands the most fish in a session takes one placing point from their group, second, most takes two, and so on. In the end, anglers from all the groups compare total placing points, and the lowest number wins.
Those fishing are controlled (judged) by someone from the opposite group. The controller’s main job is to make sure their angler is following the rules, confirm they are landing each fish, and record the number of fish caught. Judging each other provides a pretty interesting learning opportunity, giving everyone the chance to watch a few great anglers fish as hard as they can. After each session, the group that just fished controls the next and vice versa. The beat draw is set up in a way that no one fishes a beat they controlled to avoid any unfair advantages.
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