Fly fishing: an equal opportunity love affair

Female anglers succumb to the allure of a meditative sport

By DEBRA CONWAY

When Marielle Wilkes was a little girl growing up in Arizona, there were two kinds of fishing: the “spinning-reel-in-boats” variety that she did with her biologist father, and the “more intriguing,” wading-in-the water kind he pooh-poohed as “fancy fishing.” Now, the 36-year-old Manhattan photographer is part of a trend: females hooked on “fancy fishing.”

“Through the years, men have dominated sports fishing,” says Jay H. Cassell, senior editor of Sports Afield, “but in the late 20th century women took up the sport in increasing numbers. Books by American fly fishing instructors such as Joan Wulff have resulted in fly fishing schools, organizations and specially designed tackle for women.”

That’s how it worked for Wilkes. Back in college she picked up “Joan Wulff’s Flyfishing: Expert Advice From a Woman’s Perspective.” The former world champion fly caster, who won 17 national and international competitions from 1937 to 1960, usually against an all-male field, opened up a whole new world.

“She made me realize that not only was there a place for women to fly fish,’’ says Wilkes, “but that they could actually exceed men. Fishing in general, I think, is a guy thing... But fly fishing is very intuitive, something more of a woman thing.”

“It’s just visually beautiful,” she adds. “There’s a certain ballet to it.”

Now Wilkes, who is looking for a second home in the Callicoon area, frequently makes the trip to the Beaverkill and Willowemoc Rivers, the so-called “birthplace of American fly fishing,” to practice her preferred catch-and-release style of fishing.

“There’s something missing in city life,” she says. “There are no trees, no horizon. Here it’s a joy just to have the opportunity to be in the water. It doesn’t matter if you catch anything. Something in you just connects with nature and you can have your own conversation with it. It’s meditative.”

Others describe the experience in equally reverential tones. “It’s humbling to be out there in the presence of the beauty of the world,’’ says Lisa Lyons, who has been fly fishing for about 20 years—ever since she moved to the area and rented a place from Joan and her late husband, Lee, who had been running the Wulff School of Fly Fishing in Lew Beach since 1979. The passion was contagious. Now Lyons volunteers for local fly fishing retreats for the nationwide, Orvis Company-sponsored “Casting for Recovery “ program, a support and educational series for women who have or have had breast cancer.

“It is truly a wellness experience,’’ says Lyons. “It’s an example of how fly fishing can be a source of healing on many levels.”

Samantha Decker, a nurse from Cuddebackville who also volunteers for the program, learned about the healing aspects of fly fishing for herself. Although not a breast cancer survivor, she was working with AIDS patients when she first bought and experimented with fly fishing equipment. “I seemed to be crying all the time because of all the sadness I was dealing with,’’ says Decker, who started to fly fish about 15 years ago and has traveled all over the world to pursue it. “I looked for an outlet with things like pottery that I’d taken up, but I’d still cry the whole time I was sitting at the wheel.

“But fly fishing, there was too much to think about. It’s an art form—casting the line, watching the water, watching the wind, matching the flies to the emerging insects... it was such a relief.”

Now she describes herself as “obsessed.” She became a certified fly-casting instructor, a licensed guide on the Delaware River, guiding men, women and children in search of trout, and president of the 50-member Joan Wulff Fly Fishers Club out of Ridgewood, NJ. Basically, she says, April and May she hardly ever sees her non-fisherman husband, Wayne.

“He’ll ask as we pass in the night if I caught anything all day. I’ll say, ‘no,’ and it doesn’t matter. I love the outdoors. I may have seen a new-born fawn or a flock of cute baby turkeys. There are plenty of other rewards.”

Trout season events

‘First Cast’ with Joan Wulff

ROSCOE, NY — Celebrate the opening of trout season on Saturday, April 1 with world-renowned fly caster, author and teacher Joan Wulff, and avid fly fisherman and actor Rip Torn at Junction Pool, 7:00 a.m. Free coffee will be available.

For more information call 607/498-5765 or visit roscoeny.com.

Neversink welcomes anglers

NEVERSINK, NY — The Neversink Valley Area Museum celebrates its opening day of the 2006 season and welcomes fishermen with free coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts, compliments of O’Dell’s Country Corner and Krispy Kreme of Wallkill, on Saturday, April 1. The museum is open Thursday through Sunday from 12:00 noon until 4:00 pm.

For more information call 845/754-8870 or visit neversinkmuseum.org.

‘Catskill style’ fly-tying course

LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY — The Catskill Fly Tyers Guild offers a free four-session course in fly tying techniques for the Catskill angler’s “must have” flies. Flies include the Parachute dry fly, a soft hackle wet fly, a mini-Muddler Minnow, a Hares Ear nymph and a Grey Fox dry fly. Classes will be held on April 19, May 6, 13, and 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum.

Participants are asked to bring a light, a tying vise and any other tools necessary. Materials will be provided by the guild at no charge.

For information call 845/294-5813 or email darbeel@juno.com.

Fly-tying spectacular

ROSCOE, NY — The Catskill Fly Tyers Guild holds a one-day fly tying spectacular to increase appreciation for the “Catskill Style Fly” at the Rockland House Restaurant, the junction of the Beaverkill and the Willowemoc streams, on April 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Light refreshments will be available.

For information call 845/294-5813 or email darbeel@juno.com.