Lady Makers On The Fly
When I first heard of fly fishing I always thought of it to be a man’s sport but when I looked into the history of the sport a bit I discovered that women have been involved in fly fishing since 1496 —the way anglers tie their streamer fliers is attributed to a woman and the ‘bait and switch’ method anglers use to catch billfish on the fly came from a woman. And a woman was one of the most prominent guides in Maine when Teddy Roosevelt fished here in 1878. The story of women in fly fishing is huge and I want to add on to it with this series.
I headed up to Red River Camps with a group of amazing female makers and fly-fishing anglers. The roads were quite dusty, the map was quite handy and a road soda well when we hit those dirt roads was a must-have. You are out in the middle of nowhere and the cell signal completely shuts down. It's time to be completely unplugged. Just the way I like it. Once we got to Red River Camps we were greeted with open arms by Jen and Gloria who run the camp. Once we settled in the dinner bell rang and it was time for an amazing homemade meal crafted by Gloria. I provided Gloria with some fun cooking gear, Smithy Ironware and Nick Rossi Knives. I think she enjoyed playing around with them!
During dinner, we planned out the next day scoping out the surrounding ponds in hopes of getting some good fish. Thanks to Mary Zambello's father's fly fishing book, was a great resource to have when trying to figure out the best fly fishing spots. We decided to hit the sack early and got all comfy and cozy in our cabins as we looked out to the night starry sky.
The next day we visited a couple of ponds and didn't have much luck with the fishing. Some of us did catch some smaller fish that were near a spring but weren't truly noteworthy fish to capture on camera. It's okay better luck next time. A little too hot for fishing up north those couple of days.
After a day with lots of sun, vitamin D, fishing, an amazing lunch, and nature at its best, we quieted down to sit by the campfire to have a real conversation. To talk about the highs, the lows, the adventures behind everyone's make and craft, their inspiration for the outdoors, and their fly fishing passion. A couple of things that popped out at me during this conversation were how a community is important to everyone, how women can certainly get into fly fishing without feeling judged, and that people should get into something they enjoy whether it be a hobby, a full-time job or whatever it is just do something they enjoy and that brings them a full cup of happiness.
Tune in to this episode to learn more about these lady makers and fly-fishing anglers and how they all relate to one another.