New Mexico's Drew Bone wins double-gold at World Youth Fly Fishing Championship

Drew Bone first learned to fish on his father’s shoulders when he was 2 years old. Now he’s a world champion of the sport.

The 19-year-old New Mexico resident earned an individual gold medal — and helped the United States take team gold — at the 2023 World Youth Fly Fishing Championship in Bosnia and Herzegovina last month. Bone caught 98 fish over the course of the competition, while the six-member U.S. squad surpassed 10 other countries in the team category — including second-place South Africa and third-place France.

While Bone may have been casting nearly 6,000 miles away from home, any feeling of unfamiliarity dissolved on the water.

“The landscape was really pretty. There were some places higher up in some mountains. Then there was a little more high desert area where the competition took place,” Bone said. “I don’t know if there were necessarily any challenges as far as the fishing went compared to home. It’s still trout fishing, and trout still behave mostly the same, regardless of where you are in the world. You use a lot of the same techniques and methods to approach those fisheries.”

It was Bone’s second time competing internationally: Last year, he placed 10th individually and the U.S. took fourth at the World Youth Championships in Italy. That provided added motivation the second time around.

“The prior teams years back did really well,” he said. “I think after we took fourth last year in Italy, we all worked extra hard as a team and were all able to come together and really were able to dominate this year at the world championship in Bosnia. That felt good for it to all come together like that.”

There was also the chance to swap stories with people from other countries who share a similar passion.

“Especially after the competition was over, we would all hang out,” Bone said. “It was really cool to talk to a lot of those kids from all over the world about the fishing opportunities they have where they live. It was definitely cool to connect with people and share experiences.”

Thus marks the end of Bone’s time on the youth fly fishing team. That success has bolstered business for Bone Fly Fishing, a guide service based in San Juan County that he launched at the beginning of this year.

“I definitely had an increase in interest as far as my guiding business goes, which has been really awesome,” he said. “It’s just a cool thing to be able to experience and accomplish.”

For the time being, running that business will be Bone’s focus. There’s the possibility of competing for the men’s national team in fly fishing down the road, but it’s not something he currently plans on pursuing. Bone knew he wanted to be a guide by the time he was 12, and now he plans on continuing to share his love of fly fishing with the masses. Guide trips are offered year-round, with February through September being the peak season. The day usually starts around 7 a.m. and ends at approximately 4 p.m.

“If anyone wants to come and do a trip, we welcome all skill levels, and we can definitely do things for the more advanced angler or start from scratch with a brand-new angler and teach them the basics and expose them to the sport of fly fishing,” Bone said. “We’ll definitely go out and have a good time and catch some fish.”

When a fish is caught, it’s virtually inevitable that Bone’s “assistant” — a chocolate labradoodle named Beaux — is going to be the most enthusiastic party present.

“He loves fishing almost more than we do,” Bone said. “He’s always super excited every time someone catches a fish, and he’s definitely always along with us. He always wants you to show him every fish.”

While clients might not approach Bone’s prolific fish-catching levels under his supervision, he believes the experience itself is just as good as gold. Not everything is a competition, after all.

“I think it can be challenging, but it’s a lot of fun, and it’s a really cool way to connect with nature,” he said. “It’s not for everyone, but I’ve taken a lot of new people out that were kind of unsure about it, and they ended up really loving it.”