With all the medals flying around this summer at the Olympics, a local champion fly fisherman got in on the action too. It was Springfield resident Justin Hardee who won a gold medal as part of the U.S. Team, and a bronze medal for the individual competition at the Youth Fly Fishing World Championships in the Czech Republic.

This past summer in the Czech Republic, Justin researched fly fishing methods and got skilled with a technique called "euro nymphing." 

“I wanted to learn a new tactic that would help catch more trout,” he said, and his research worked out for the best.

Medal winners from left, Kossler Kage, Logan Max and Justin Hardie. 

 

For Hardee, who is now a freshman at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, it all started at Burke Lake fishing for bluegills. His father taught him how to fish with worms and a bobber, but fly fishing is a little more involved. 

“I was 9 when I got my first fly rod,” he said.

After the bluegills, he moved on to fly fishing in Accotink Creek when they used to stock it with Rainbow and Brown Trout, but these experiences weren’t “big league” fly fishing experiences so he broadened his horizons, “I did a lot of my fishing in Pennsylvania,” he said.

One important step in his fly fishing career began with Orvis 101, an organization that offers free fly fishing classes. “We learned the basics of casting and tying flies,” he said. The next step for Hardee was “Fips-Mouche,” International Sport Fly Fishing Federation that encourages the practice of sport fly fishing throughout the world. So with that experience under his belt, he found himself fly fishing down in the Bahamas catching bonefish and barracuda.

Throughout his fly fishing years, he’s met all kinds of fellow students in various settings. “We’re all fishy people,” he joked.

In West Springfield last year, there was not much emphasis on fly fishing because the Fairfax County Schools don’t offer any classes in that category. Hardee spent most of the time as captain of the tennis team. His coach Jeff Toomer noted the way he excelled on the court. “He’s personable, well-liked, smart, athletically gifted and could likely play any sport he wanted and excel,” Toomer said.

In college, he’s focusing on tennis and majoring in industrial design and physics at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

https://usangling.org/youth-fly-fishing/