Idaho Falls hosting 21 nations for 45th World Fly Fishing Championship

IDAHO FALLS — Over 21 nations will compete in eastern Idaho this week for the 45th FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championship now underway.

The weeklong tournament began on Monday and will conclude on Friday evening.

With over 100 anglers fishing in rivers and lakes across the region, each will be assigned a “beat.” An independent controller will handle the fish to ensure safe handling.

Points are awarded based on the number and size of the fish, with points being taken away if a fish is injured.

This is the second year in a row the FIPS-Mouche, Fédération Internationale de la Pêche Sportive, has hosted the world championships for fly fishing in Idaho Falls. During the 2025 tournament, the U.S.A. Fly Fishing Women’s team scored gold in both team and individual events.

A grand opening parade of nations kicked off the tournament on Sunday. Participants walked along the Snake River Greenbelt and waved their country’s flag. The parade ended at the bandshell, where organizers, city government and conservation officials delivered opening remarks.

International organizer for the championship, Glade Gunther, welcomed each nation to eastern Idaho and said his only condition for managing the event was to hold it in this region.

“Welcome to the best fly fishing in the world,” Gunther said.

Anglers will be tested at the Henry’s Fork, Teton River and Sheridan Lake. Over in Montana, they will fish at Hebgen Lake and in Grey’s River in Wyoming.

Gunther referred to this area as the golden triangle of fly fishing because of its location and the waters flowing through the lakes and rivers.

Idaho Falls City Councilman Jim Freeman welcomed the anglers and echoed Gunther’s sentiments that eastern Idaho is truly the center of the fly-fishing world, and this event proves it.

“We’re very excited to share the beauty and grandeur of our area with you, and hope your experiences here are wonderful,” Freeman said.

Jack McLaren, Aquatic Ecology Program Manager for the Henry’s Fork Foundation, said the foundation is excited to have so many anglers, but wanted to remind them about its conservation efforts amid a tough water year.

Like the foundation and other fisheries in the area, McLaren said that with the record summer and driest winters on record, reservoirs and natural flows are at the lowest recorded levels.

“The conditions that sustain trout fishing are changing really fast, and we must start to think bigger when it comes to collaboration and conservation,” McLaren said. “It is tempting to hope that a couple of big winters are going to save us, but in the Henry’s Fork Foundation, we’ve been waiting for 25 years.”

Representing the U.S. at the World Fly Fishing Championship, Cody Burgdorff of Lafayette, Colorado, told EastIdahoNews.com that this will be his third time participating in the event.

He’s excited to compete in the U.S., and the team is looking for gold this year after winning bronze the year before. Despite this, Burgdorff said he won gold as an individual angler last year, despite the hurdle of losing his grandfather.

“My grandparents got me into fly fishing, and I was able to win the national championships to qualify to go represent our country here at the world,” Burgdorff said.

Gunther thanked each nation for traveling hundreds of miles to be here for this event, as paid tribute to the fish who will be caught this week.

“It’s the love of our sport that brings us together. There’s no money in this. At the end, we do it because we love the things that we see each day,” Gunther said.