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LOGAN — An Oregon man who grew up in Utah won the bronze medal at the World Fly Fishing Championship while his team, including a Lehi man, took home the silver.
Lehi resident Lance Egan began fly fishing at 14 years old after a friend introduced him to the sport. His friend got a fly tying kit for Christmas and Egan said the two boys were "enamored" with it, prompting his mother to buy him one as well.
"I ended up actually tying flies before I ever learned to fly fish," Egan said.
Egan said no one in hs family fished, so he tagged along with a neighbor and taught himself to fly fish. While it seems like a harder approach to learning the sport, Egan said there were benefits to figuring it out himself.
"I think, looking back on it, actually that was an advantage to not have someone show me how to do things," he said. "Fishing is so much a process of elimination and learning from experience. You really have to put the time in and learn what not to do before you learn what to do."
Egan said fly fishing became a lifelong hobby, and he has worked in fly fishing shops since high school. While working at one of his jobs, Egan met Midvale resident Devin Olsen, who was a member of the Hillcrest High School Fly Fishing Club at the time. Egan said he could tell Olsen was a natural angler.
"Of all of them, Devin was the best caster there, knew the most about fishing, was fishing the most of everybody there and was a real standout amongst his peers," Egan said.
Egan began competing in fly fishing competitions, and after competing in the ESPN Great Outdoors Games, he was recruited to Fly Fishing Team USA in 2003. He kept in contact with Olsen, who also began competing as a fly fishermen.
Olsen, who now lives in Enterprise, Oregon, did well enough at several national competitions to land him a spot on Team USA in 2006.
Courtesy of Devin Olsen
Egan has competed in nine World Fly Fishing Championships, and Olsen has competed in seven. However, Team USA had never finished higher than fifth place in the international competition until the 35th World Fly Fishing Championship held in Jajce, Bosnia, June 16-21.
Team USA competed against 28 teams from countries around the world and fished in four rivers and one lake in Bosnia, Olsen said. During the competition, the teams split up and rotated at each body of water where they would fish for five three-hour sessions. Brown trout, European graylings and a few stocked rainbow trout made up the majority of the fish in the area and Olsen felt their team was at a disadvantage since they didn't have much experience fishing for European graylings.
"Graylings, in a lot of ways, behave very differently," Olsen said. "So, all those factors going in, I kind of felt like the cards were stacked against us a ton."
Both men said they were surprised when their team won the silver medal.
"I was the least nervous than I've probably ever been for a world championship this year," Olsen said. "And frankly, that was probably because I had the lowest expectations I've ever had for a world championship. … So, it was amazing to finally have a breakthrough and have it happen. It was kind of our own little underdog story."
Individually, Olsen earned the bronze medal.
"As a close friend and teammate, I couldn't be any more proud of what he's accomplished," Egan said. "It's a real treat to see a friend succeed like that, for sure."
Both men plan to continue competing on Team USA.
Courtesy of Lance Egan
