Troutfest TX Speaker Bios

Troutfest Flies

Troutfest TX 2025 Speaker Bios

Keynote Speaker

Chris Wood Chris Wood, President/Chief Executive Officer, Trout Unlimited

Before coming to Trout Unlimited in September 2001, Chris Wood served as the senior policy and communications advisor to the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service where he helped protect 58 million acres of publicly owned land. Chris began his career as a temporary employee with the Forest Service in Idaho and also worked for the Fish and Wildlife program of the Bureau of Land Management. He is the author and co-author of numerous papers and articles and three books including, Watershed Restoration: Principles and Practices (AFS 1997), From Conquest to Conservation: Our Public Land Legacy (Island Press, 2003), and My Healthy Stream: A handbook for streamside owners (TU and Aldo Leopold Foundation, 2013).

Featured Presenters

Chris Johnson Chris Johnson

Chris is the owner and founder of Living Waters Fly Fishing, a fly shop and guide service based out of Round Rock, Texas. He has guided the Texas Hill Country for seventeen years, and has fly fished the heart of the state for over 25 years. In addition to guiding his home state, Chris has been a licensed fly fishing guide in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Alaska. Chris is a FFI Certified Casting Instructor, Umpqua Signature Fly Designer, Tenkara USA Guide, and TPWD Angler Educator Area Chief. He is also a pro team member for Whiting Farms, Scott Fly Rods, Dyna-King Vises, and Scientific Anglers. Chris is dedicated to sharing his passion for the sport and investing in the next generation of fly anglers. He often is a featured presenter/fly tier at fly fishing, outdoor, and community events throughout Texas and beyond. Chris and his shop have also been featured in several outdoor publications including Trout magazine, Garden and Gun, and Tenkara Magazine. He was also awarded the 2014 Man of the Year from the FFI Texas Council and in the same year, Living Waters was the recipient of the FFI’s prestigious Lee Wulff Award. In addition to fly fishing, Chris is passionate about fisheries conservation. He co-produced the short film “Unspoken,” to raise awareness for Rio Grande Cutthroat trout conservation. As a result, Living Waters is working with Trout Unlimited as a Gold Level endorsed TU Business to restore Rio Grande Cutthroat throughout their native range. Chris serves as the current State Council Chair for Texas Trout Unlimited and is the Conservation Chair for Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited as well. He is also a part of the Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society and the Rio Grande Cutthroat Conservation Team. Chris also serves as a member of the current Texas Freshwater Fisheries Advisory Committee and the Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame Nominating Committee. Chris is happily married to his wife Emily and together they enjoy fly fishing the world and raising their children in the sport.

Kayla Lockhart Kayla Lockhart

Kayla was Born and raised in a small farm town in Minnesota. She is the second oldest of 7 girls (yes that is right all girls!) Her love for the outdoors, fishing and hunting started at a young age when she would tag along with her father all over Minnesota, which resulted in them becoming fishing and hunting buddies. She finally ventured out of her home state in 2015 and explored some new waters and lands and moved to Portland OR. When not on the water you can find Kayla enjoying one of her other hobbies she enjoys in life – Playing Music (ukulele and Banjo), painting, embroidery, and riding her dirt bike through the fern filled forests in the PNW.

Kayla Lockhart first discovered fly fishing to help cope with her depression and anxiety from a difficult upbringing. Today fly fishing has taken her exotic places in pursuit of some of the most exotic species of fish. In between these trips, Kayla assists with conservation efforts, and organizations like the fly fishing collaborative and the mayfly project.

Maxine McCormick Maxine McCormick

Maxine McCormick currently lives in Seattle and attends the University of Washington. She has been fly fishing for as long as she can remember thanks to her dad. By chance, she was introduced to competitive fly casting at the age of nine and since then she has attended three World Fly Casting Championships winning seven gold medals in both accuracy and distance events. At the 2022 World Championships in Norway she took home four gold medals while winning all of the single handed fly casting events. Her perfect accuracy result was the highest score ever recorded at the WC’s (male or female), and she set a single hand fly distance record in the Women’s Sea Trout event. Maxine believes that the skills she developed while tournament casting has resulted in more confidence, success and fun on the water while fishing. She looks forward to sharing her efficient casting stroke with you and hopes it will improve your casting and fishing too. What Maxine loves most about casting and fly fishing is that there is always more to learn and how good you are is a direct product of how much practice you put in.

Devin Olsen Devin Olsen

Devin Olsen started fly fishing in Yellowstone at age 9. Within a couple of years, it became an addiction he could not shake and he begged for rides to local streams until he could drive. He started competing at age 19 and made Fly Fishing Team USA in 2006 when he was 21 years old. He has competed in 14 consecutive World Fly Fishing Championships with Fly Fishing Team USA. He has earned a bronze individual medal, a silver and two bronze team medals from these championships and numerous medals from competitions in the United States.

Away from competitive fishing he holds a bachelor’s degree in ecology and a master’s degree in fisheries science. He worked as a fisheries biologist for several years before starting his company Tactical Fly Fisher. He has produced three instructional films Modern Nymphing: European Inspired Techniques, Modern Nymphing Elevated: Beyond the Basics, and Adaptive Fly Fishing. He is also the author of the books Tactical Fly Fishing: Lessons Learned from Competition for All Anglers and Stillwater Fly Fishing: Competition Inspired Strategies for Everyday Anglers.

Jen Ripple Jen Ripple

Jen Ripple is Editor-in-Chief of DUN Magazine and a leading voice in fly fishing. Honored as Southerner of the Year by Southern Living and inducted into the Southern Fly Fishing Hall of Fame, Jen’s work spans renowned publications like Outside and Gray’s Sporting Journal. A professional angler and conservation advocate, she empowers anglers through clinics, speaking engagements, and advocacy, championing women in this traditionally male-dominated sport.

Panel Discussion Participants

Chapter Meeting Speaker

A big thank you to our sponsors and partners who helped make Troutfest TX possible.

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CONSERVATION

Protecting, reconnecting, restoring and sustaining our cold water fisheries. It’s what we are here to do.

LEASE ACCESS PROGRAM

Our lease access program allows members access to fish the Guadalupe River at 14 private locations.

YOUTH TROUT CAMP

Engaging our young people in river ecology, conservation and fly fishing with an expert hosted parent/child weekend on the river.