Devon Olsen - Member, Fly Fishing Team USA 2008

The first time Devin Olsen reeled in a fish was at eighteen months old. Though that trout was obviously caught with methods other than fly fishing, it was the beginning of a passion that has been a lifelong pursuit to this point, and will no doubt continue to be for Devin.

As a young child growing up south of Salt Lake City, Devin’s family was heavily oriented with the outdoors. Vacations surrounding fishing and hunting were the only kind ever thought of in the Olsen household. Devin watched his father fly fish as a child until one fateful day while enjoying
one such family vacation in Yellowstone, he caught his first fish on a fly. Though only nine years old at the time, that cutthroat trout, and it’s rise to an ant pattern, are vividly etched in his memory. That day has shaped his life ever since as Devin has focused his life around his first love of fly fishing.

As Devin grew up he continued to fish whenever and wherever he could. Bumming rides from his parents and friends to the local streams and ponds surrounding his Utah home, was a regular occurrence. If he got desperate, there was always the canal in his backyard with white bass and bullhead catfish in it. At age 14 when Devin’s older twin friends received driver’s licenses, he was able to feed his addiction to catching fish on a fly more readily which continued throughout high school. Most kids take a senior trip with their friends after graduating, but Devin decided to take it to a new extreme. Wanting to fish some new water he set out on a full senior summer where he lived alone with a dog and a cat in a cabin on Lolo Creek outside of Missoula, MT. Instead of earning money for the next year at school, he spent his summer working a couple of days a week so that he could try to pay for the other 4-5 he fished.

Devin has spent the three years since attending school and guiding the waters of the Provo River. He also began work at the Cabela’s fly shop with Lance Egan and Ryan Barnes in August 2005. “It’s been great to work with Ryan and Lance. They’ve taught me about European nymphing techniques and they got me all too excited to try and get on the team. I can’t thank them enough” says Devin. In October 2005 Devin married his second love Julia. She is now catching fish on a fly with an ease that would make any husband envious. “She’s the love of my life. No one has been more supportive of me striving to be on the team than she has. I’m the luckiest fly fisherman alive” says Devin. As the team’s youngest member at age 21, Devin is looking forward to continuing to better his skills with a fly rod and contributing to the team in anyway he can.