LADIES FLY FISHING CLASS BY JOHN BERRY

I have been guiding Susan and her husband Barry for over a decade. She is a pediatrician and he is a banker. Both are avid fly fishers. At times, they have used my wife, Lori, as an additional guide, when they had friends accompanying them on fishing trips. Susan had gathered a group of ladies that were childhood and college friends that wanted to learn to fly fish and contacted us to help her put it together. It sounded like a lot of fun, so we eagerly agreed to participate by organizing a private ladies’ fly fishing class. Susan secured a nice cabin on a lightly fished but wadable section of the White River, for the school.

 Lori and I have been teaching fly fishing together for about a dozen years beginning before we got married. We have taught at a variety of venues. Our most recent is Arkansas State University Mountain Home, where we have been teaching for over three years. In fact, I met Lori about fourteen years ago when I was teaching a fly fishing school for the Mid South Fly Fishers (the Memphis fly fishing group) on the Spring River. She was my student and it was love at first sight. She was a quick learner and her significant background in corporate training made her a natural instructor. Over the years, we have refined our teaching techniques and have become quite comfortable with the subject matter. We always fit it to the experience level of the students and the time allotted. 

We arrived at the cabin at 8:00 AM and took a few minutes to meet our students. All were accomplished in their own careers and were eager to take up fly fishing. One was in medical sales, one taught at a junior college, one was a nurse and one had her own advertising firm. They were from Mississippi and Oklahoma and were impressed with the beauty of the area. None had any experience in fly fishing. 

We began the class with fly casting. There was a threat of rain and we wanted to get our outdoor activities in before the rain came. Lori is the lead instructor for this but I was an active participant. We each worked with each student in all of the modules because everyone learns in a different way. With two instructors explaining and demonstrating, it can stimulate learning on some level for all of the students. In a couple of hours, all were casting comfortably. It has been our experience that women pick up fly casting more easily than men. It is a finesse sport and muscle strength does not always ensure success. 

We moved inside for a class on tying knots. This is one area where our lady students generally struggle. Most men learn knots in the Boy Scouts. This group was a bit different and they progressed quickly. After a great lunch, we then covered rigging fly rods for four basic fly fishing techniques. We moved on to entomology and fly selection, reading the water, water safety and gear selection.

We wrapped up the day’s events at 5:00 PM and headed home. Susan organized a side trip to Dry Run Creek so that they could observe the trout in a natural habitat. 

We arrived the next day at 8:00 AM and found the ladies already in their waders ready to go. Lori and I quickly wadered up and rigged four rods. We walked down to the river and found the water running at about 1,800 cubic feet per second which is the rough equivalent of half a full generator. It was slightly cool and overcast. The weather forecast was for warmer temperatures in the afternoon and there was a slight threat of rain. 

Since there was quite a bit of water running for wading, we took great care when putting the ladies in position to fish and kept a careful eye on them throughout the day. We covered a variety of fishing techniques with them on the water. We found that the most effective that day was to swing soft hackles. The ladies did well catching several fish. The day went quickly with no serious falls or swimming opportunities. 

The overall highpoint of the day was the camaraderie of all the participants. It was a unique bonding experience on water that they will be talking about for years to come. Every time a fish was landed there was a celebration and a sharing of joy. We fished until around 4:30 PM or until they all had all of the fun that they could handle. We left about 5:00 PM and talked about how much we enjoyed the group all the way home. For us the day on the water had been a challenge but was very enjoyable. We hope to do this again soon. 

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over thirty years.