It was a snowy
spring morning at
Gallatin River Guides. Five women
gathered around a table filled with fruit, pastries and coffee in the Big Sky,
Montana fly shop, studying slides with photos and illustrations of different
river-flows. Kara Tripp, our instructor and owner of the women’s based fly-fishing
company, Damsel Fly Fishing, explained how to read the river, where fish will
be in the current, and why.
An hour later we “wadered
up” at Reynolds Pass on the Upper Madison River and divided into groups of two
and three to put our newfound knowledge to the test.
I slid into the
river, wavering against the heavy current on the slippery rocks like a newborn
deer trying to stand. I thought about what I had just learned in the classroom,
now looking at the boulders and riffles as structures and seams where I would
attempt to place my fly. To my total surprise, I immediately set my hook into a
small rainbow. This was the first time I had caught a fish utilizing strategy
rather than trial and error, and I was officially hooked myself.
Over the past
several years, women have flocked to the traditionally male-dominated sport of
fly fishing. According to the 2018 Special Report on Fishing conducted by the
Outdoor Foundation, 31 percent of the nearly 6.8 million Americans who
participate in fly fishing are female.
Fly-fishing
outfitters and outdoor retailers have taken note of the trend. In 2015, Montana
companies Gallatin River Guides, Simms and Montana Fishing Outfitters teamed up
to create the Montana Women’s Fly Fishing School, the first and only of its
kind in southwest Montana designed and run by women. In 2019 the school has offered
18 sessions from March to October.
Gallatin River
Guides’ former owner, Pat Straub, saw the demand firsthand. “At our fly shop, we would constantly
see women coming in with a high level of interest, but many felt like they were
uneducated or intimidated by fly fishing,” Straub said. “We started with
Gallatin River Gals, our free weekly fishing gatherings for women. The
excitement that created morphed into many women asking for a longer experience,
and voilà, the Montana Women’s Fly Fishing School was born.”
Guides Anne Anderson and Kara Cain.
During the three-day
course, beginners and intermediate anglers learn essential skills like tying
knots, reading the river, casting, basic entomology and fly pattern selection.
Each day begins with classroom instruction followed by application on Montana’s
world-famous waters, including the Gallatin, Madison and Yellowstone rivers.
Tripp is enthusiastic about getting more women involved
in her lifelong passion. “When I started fly fishing 17 years ago, I didn’t
know any other girls that liked fly fishing like I did,” Tripp said. “I don’t
need a bunch of fancy data to tell me that women fly fishing is the fastest
growing niche. Why? Because its fun, and in the words of Cyndi Lauper, women ‘…
just wanna have fun.’”
At the end of the nine-hour
day, we relaxed with hot toddies and French fries at the Gallatin Riverhouse
Grill south of Big Sky, relating strategies of the day and stories of our lives.
A few days on the river with experienced fisherwomen gave me the camaraderie
and confidence I needed to graduate to the next level in my new favorite sport.
A
version of this story was originally published in the summer 2016 edition of
Mountain Outlaw magazine.