Yes, fishing, particularly fly fishing has become my passion during the spring and summer. We (me, my husband and youngest son) climb snowbanks in the spring and continue to test the river until the fish finally arrive. When the water cooperates, we are on the river for the entire day, or just as soon as it drops after the morning rafting release.

When the wind is right, we head to the pond for native brook trout that we fly fish for out of a canoe until the fish stop biting or the river drops–whichever one comes first. All three of us in a canoe, taking turns, nit-picking at each other for not calling out “casting” before we cast, helping each other net our catch while not flipping the canoe, and learning how to fly fish.

What has made fly fishing so special for me are the times I get to spend with my family. I am no longer the girl on the outside looking in, but an active participant on equal ground, and I can hold my own. Shopping is fun for all of us. We make our trips to sporting goods stores searching out our favorite flies, lines, tippets, and streamers. We share our tips, secrets and our favorite fishing holes. We support each other when we catch, release or lose that one that would have been the catch of a lifetime. We share our meals discussing how we should prepare and cook our catch. We are no longer doing our own separate things like we do so often at home; we are sharing the experience together as a family.

Yes, fishing with the ones I love is really all I know, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way. However, I have made other women friends and we’re venturing out. Not only loving to fish but getting women involved in learning how to fish is so rewarding. So girls get out there and fish. Don’t be afraid, be fearless!