Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 525 is my conversation with Pete Erickson — a member of Fly Fishing Team USA, a Great Outdoor Games champion, and one of my oldest friends and a former roommate from our early guiding days. Pete competes on the world fly fishing circuit, and he has a refreshing take on getting beaten: his favorite tournaments are the ones where someone from France or the Czech Republic kicks his tail, because that is where the learning is. We get into competition, craft, and where we both came up.
▶ Watch on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
Pete Erickson is a member of Fly Fishing Team USA and a Great Outdoor Games champion who competes on the international fly fishing circuit. He is also a longtime fishing guide and an old friend and former roommate of Tom Rowland from their early guiding days. He is known for a learning-focused approach to competition and a deep love of the craft of fly fishing.
Fly Fishing Team USA is the national competitive fly fishing team that represents the United States in international competitions against teams from countries like France and the Czech Republic. Members like Pete Erickson compete on a world circuit, and the level of competition is high, with many of the top anglers coming from European fly fishing traditions.
Pete says his best competitions are the ones where a French or Czech angler just beats him, because it sets his brain spinning about what they did differently. He treats a loss as the most valuable kind of learning — discovering a technique he never would have thought of, like fishing blobs underneath tree limbs — and walks away energized that the art form keeps moving rather than discouraged.
The Great Outdoor Games was a televised competition, aired on networks like ESPN and OLN, that featured outdoor sports including competitive fly fishing. Pete Erickson is a champion of the event. The era produced a wave of fly fishing television, and Pete and Tom reflect on how a surprising number of the people on those shows came out of the same small area.
Pete and Tom are old friends and former roommates from their early days guiding. They came up together in the same area during a period when, as Pete puts it, they personally knew almost everyone who appeared on the fly fishing shows on ESPN and OLN. They reminisce about fishing together on snowy days and experimenting with giant streamers back then.
Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 525 with Pete Erickson is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts. The video version is embedded at the top of this page.
Pete is one of my oldest friends. We were roommates back when we were both guiding and figuring it all out, fishing together on snowy days and messing around with giant streamers before half the industry existed. He went on to make Fly Fishing Team USA and win at the Great Outdoor Games. I wanted to sit down with him not just for the competition stories, but because he thinks about the craft in a way I have always admired — and because we came up in the same strange, special little world.
Pete told me his favorite competitions are the ones where a French or Czech angler just beats him, because his brain immediately starts spinning about what they did. He treats getting beaten as the best learning there is. It is one of the healthiest competitive mindsets I have heard. Press play to hear how he describes it.
Pete competes against the best fly anglers in the world, and he comes home with techniques he never would have imagined — like fishing blobs under tree limbs. He talks about how international competition keeps pushing the art form forward. If you fly fish, you will want this section. Watch the YouTube player above.
Pete and I both remember a strange stretch when we personally knew almost everyone on the fly fishing shows on ESPN and OLN — all of it emanating from one little area. We try to figure out why. It is a fun, nostalgic look at how a scene gets made. Hear it in the episode.
▶ Watch the full conversation on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
Pete and I were roommates back then, fishing snowy days and experimenting with giant streamers before anyone called it cool. He brings back stories I had half forgotten. For anyone who loves the roots of modern fly fishing, this part is gold. Watch the player above.
The day after talking to Pete, what stayed with me was his attitude toward losing. He genuinely lights up when a better angler beats him, because it means the craft just taught him something new. That is how you stay great for decades.
Sitting with an old roommate who went on to fish for the country was a gift. We came out of one small place and the whole sport seemed to flow through it for a while. Pete helped me understand why.
▶ Watch the full conversation on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
The Tom Rowland Podcast brings you long-form conversations with the most accomplished anglers, hunters, conservationists, and outdoor professionals in the game. Listen to every full-length Tom Rowland Podcast interview.
Pete Erickson is a member of Fly Fishing Team USA and a Great Outdoor Games champion who competes on the international fly fishing circuit. A longtime guide and an old friend and former roommate of Tom Rowland from their early guiding days, he is known for a learning-driven approach to competition — embracing losses to the world's best as the fastest way to improve — and for a deep appreciation of the ever-evolving craft of fly fishing.
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