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Getting Started Fly Fishing
Nearly thirty years ago, a woman first put a fly rod in my hand and showed me how to “flip” the fly out and drift it correctly to catch sockeye salmon. When I asked her to teach me more, however, she couldn’t, and I ended up taking fly fishing lessons from a man. I had wanted to get instruction from a woman, but there just didn’t seem to be anyone like that around, at least no one that I could find in the far north state of Alaska at that time.
Not long after I took up the sport of fly fishing, women who saw me using a fly rod began asking me to teach them and/or to take them flyfishing. I was surprised to see so much interest when I had thought that I was all alone in wanting to start fishing with “the long rod.” Within a few years, I began teaching basic fly fishing classes for the city recreation department, and then, twenty-four years ago, my instruction and guide business, Women’s Flyfishing®, was born.
The world of fly fishing has undergone a lot of changes in the last thirty years. At last we’re seeing lots of women on the water, lots of women shopping (for themselves) in the fly shops, lots more gear and equipment designed for women, and lots more women who are flyfishing guides and instructors. And, finally, “flyfisher” has become the prevailing (non-sexist) term for everyone who fishes with a fly rod.
There are lots of theories about why it took women so long to emerge as equal participants in the world of flyfishing. Some believe that women were reluctant to take up the sport because they didn’t have lots of role models. That was true in my case. In my early days as a flyfisher, I seldom saw another woman on the water flyfishing. And, even though she held virtually all the records for distance casting with a fly rod, few women knew who Joan Wulff was at that time. Likewise, if a woman happened to pick up one of the major fly fishing magazines, she never saw an article authored by a woman or pictures that included women. Until recently there were neither waders designed for women, nor vests that fit women either.
Well, now that it’s happening, how should a woman who wants to get started fly fishing go about it? Here’s a few suggestions. Due to the growth in the sport, there are fly shops or fly fishing departments in general sporting goods stores sprouting up all over the country. They can be a source of information about women-led classes, women guides, and women’s clubs in your area.
Or check out the fly fishing clubs for women on my web site . They are located all across the country, and we try to keep as current a list as possible.
If there aren’t any resources in your area, talk to your local community college, which will often organize and offer a fly fishing class for women, or one of the fly shops may also be able to recruit a woman from your area who fly fishes to teach a class. Certainly there are excellent male instructors (I was lucky enough to have one), but I suggest you begin under a woman’s guidance, if possible. The women who’ve taken my classes all tell me they feel more relaxed when learning from a woman. They believe women communicate better with other women and that there is less of a competitive and technical atmosphere when women learn together. So, then, let’s get started!
Beginning soon, Fly Fisher Pro will be offering a new program called “Women Talk Fly Fishing” which I’ll be hosting. We’ll “talk” about different fly fishing topics of interest to women. We’d like to begin by asking you to submit your questions about getting started in fly fishing to me at pudge@flyfisherpro.com , We're still fleshing out the details, whether it will be just audio or a webinar format, and when we will kick it off, but we'll post all the details on Fly Fisher Pro and my site when we know. So, stay tuned!
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