Hey folks,

After reading the posts in the latest hot topic, I thought I would give you guys an update on how my Womens Fly Fishing course is going.

Some time back I asked what fly fishing was to you, I used many of the quotes from responders in handouts.

There has been tremendouse response to the course. After 5 weeks there have been 22 women who have come to the course at least once. There are 12 that have been there every night. Local businesses responded as well, calling me up after seeing the advertisments to donate rods, reels, fly lines, boxes, books, you name it. Every night we have a $2 raffle for a prize or two and are donating the money to the schools breakfast program where the class is taking place.

The range of age is 19 to 55 and the range of any fishing experience is from "never wet a line" to "have been fishing for 40 years"
There is only one lady that has ever done any fly fishing. She has tinkered with it for 3 years. There are some real keeners taking part, mostly the younger ones.

The nights have been single lessons, one on equipment, one on what fish we angle for here, insects and the flies that imitate them, and fly tying. Every night I have had a guest speaker in, a fisheries biologist, a husband and wife team of fly fishers, a conservation officer.

The fly tying night was great. 15 people tying various colors of wooly buggers. No one had ever tied a fly before and 6 or 8 of them turned out to be fly shop quality. The fly tying splintered off since there was some interest to do more. I agreed to do a separate class on Saturday afternoons for 4 weeks. I invited whoever wanted to attend and ended up with 8 people at my house for 4 hours last Sat. Fantasic time.

The class is going very well, everyone is having fun too, which is the important part.

One thing I am reading from the ladies attending, especially the younger ones, is that actually learning to catch a fish seems to be secondary in their minds. Getting outside, learning about their surroundings, the exercise, etc. is what is important to them.

It took me 20 years to figure that out. They are way ahead of the game.

Steve