The winter issue of the regional online magazine, Southern Culture on the Fly is live! Check it out! Image is linked. Add Comment Save the Date: S.C.O.F. Tie-One-On 01/13/2012
The 2nd annual Tie-One-On-Athon is happening Feb 26th, 2012. This is a great event to benefit the local chapter of Project Healing Waters and to get a bunch of fly tiers together for a fun day. Stop by and hang out, tie some flies, watch others tie, learn a few tips or all of the above! Last year was a success, raising a few thousand dollars for PHW in addition to tons of donated flies. Looking forward to seeing you there!  My first and only hunting trip took place in Southern California's Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge in the mid-nineties. A friend invited me to join him in a snow goose hunt mainly because, at the time, I wasn't too keen on killing wild creatures for the purpose of sport. He, an avid sportsman, felt a need to educate me by demonstrating why hunting is so important to the health of our wildlife and the enlightenment of our beings. All I could say was that it worked! It was an unforgettable and immensely educating experience, spiritually, physically and mentally to say the least. Long story made short, we shot several snow geese and cooked them up for supper the next day. Not the best tasting dinner but vastly satisfying. I have wanted to learn how to hunt on my own ever since however other activities took priority and life went on without ever going back to the blind. After reading the book, Girl Hunter by Georgia Pellegrini I am more inspired than ever to experience the woods wake up and to be on the hunt for my next adventure. As someone that loves to feed people, I was most impressed with the recipes and the respect that each dish commanded. I can only imagine the great stories that are told while sharing the dinner table with Georgia. Teaming up with characters from across the U.S. and abroad whether in the back of an ATV chasing wild hogs along the banks of the Mississippi or on a dove hunt with beer and barbeque in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Georgia travels in search of her main course. More than a food-laden hunting narrative, Girl Hunter also teaches you how to be a self-sufficient eater. Each chapter offers recipes for dishes like wild turkey and ouster stew, stuffed quail, pheasant tagine and venison sausage. Each dish, like each story, is an adventure from beginning to end. As I finished each chapter of Girl Hunter I held the book up to my chest and sighed, thinking *THIS* is what I want to experience. She doesn't sugar coat her trips and every hunt does not end with a trophy kill. Her experiences are rich in lessons of life and her words place you there along side of her. Really, you have got to read this book!   For those of us that follow fly fishing blogs, Christine Warren of www.FlyfishChick.com is certainly one of the more entertaining of them all. We love following Christine around the country sharing captivating stories of good fishing, good friends, good food and great adventure. Her recent adventure was taking on the Texas Water Safari, a 260-mile paddle race from the Texas Hill Country to the Gulf Coast for the first time inspired a lot of us. We can share in her experience with this race with her new book, Paddlefish. www.paddlefishthebook.com Christine will be in Cashiers, NC at High Hampton Inn signing books this Friday Nov. 25th from 4-5pm Christine Warren grew up in Texas and Tennessee before attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduating in 1993 with a degree in English, she worked for fourteen years in marketing and advertising. In 2007 she left corporate life to explore a growing passion for writing and fly fishing. When her fishing friends introduced her to the Texas Water Safari, she recognized it as a life-altering challenge that she couldn’t resist. With her husband and daughter, she splits time between Austin, Texas and Mobile, Alabama. To follow her writing and speaking engagements on fish, rivers, and brazen leaps of faith, visit Christine’s website at FlyFishChick.com. Excerpt from the book: PADDLEFISH By C H R I S T I N E W A R R E N On a sweltering summer day in 2010, Christine Warren stepped into a 24- foot canoe and paddled toward a goal that she never previously imagined possible. The Texas Water Safari is a 260-mile paddle race from the Texas Hill Country to the Gulf Coast. Run continuously since 1963, the course follows the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers to the coastal fishing town of Seadrift. Paddlers must complete the race in 100 hours. While the exhausting pace and blistering heat are reason enough to bow out, it’s the ancillary hurdles that often eliminate racers long before the finish line: dam portages, water moccasins, logjams, mosquitoes, dysentery, alligators, sleep deprivation, and equipment failures. Paddlefish is the first complete narrative ever published on The Texas Water Safari. With a mixture of humor, misery, history and triumph, Christine has written an engaging and entertaining memoir of her yearlong transformation from a mom, writer and fly fisher, to a viable competitor in “The World’s Toughest Boat Race.” If you’ve ever wondered what extra-ordinary challenges lurk beyond your comfort zone, this book may help you discover what’s ultimately possible. WNC Fly Fishing Expo 2011 11/03/2011
It's here, it's here!!! This expo is my favorite gathering of fly fishing industry professionals. Regardless if you are from this area or just visiting, there is something for everyone here. Why I love it: I get to catch up with a lot of friends in one place, share stories of adventures in travel, fishing and life...all the while being surrounded by great fishing folk that are mad crazy about the outdoor culture. "The 3rd Annual WNC Fly Fishing Expo kicks off on Nov. 5 at the WNC Agricultural Center. Western North Carolina is blessed with altitude, clean streams, wild trout and consequently, an abundance of people who love to fly fish. The WNC Fly Fishing Expo is a two-day fly fishing extravaganza providing anglers a forum to learn the very latest news and innovations in their sport." Some of my favorites (links): Southern Culture on the Fly Magazine Hunter Banks Co, Fly Fishing Outfitters Caster's Flyshop Mooseknuckle Lanyards Fishwater Maps Blackhawk Fly Fishing & Lodge Casting for Recovery of the Carolina's And many more... You'll just have to come see for yourself! See you there. 
Now I am just bragging! 11/03/2011
When guides have a day off what do they do? We go fishing! Sometimes to check out new water or new flies...but mostly just because we love fishing! I had the pleasure of fishing with Hunter Banks Co's head guide, Forrest Marshall this week. If he knows a lot about something, it's definitely trout. He seems to know what exactly they are thinking, eating and where they are better than anyone I've ever fished with. Needless to say, it was a day of lots of smiles and a few high fives...and I learned a few more things about big ass trout. PS: To book a trip with fly fishing guide extraordinaire, Forrest Marshall you can find him at Hunter Banks Co., Asheville, NC Perseverance-Casting For Recovery 10/16/2011
This past week I had the pleasure of fishing with the very talented and wonderful Linda Michael from NC Wildlife (she is also a dedicated volunteer for Casting for Recovery) along with a great group of anglers on the Little River outside of Brevard, NC. It was a picture perfect autumn day in the Blue Ridge mountains. The peak of the fall colors mixed with cascading waterfalls was the scenic backdrop for our adventure. During our hike to the river I couldn't help but notice that along the trail were trees that seemed to be growing out of rocks. Surviving though it seems that these rocks are disrupting the root system thus making it that more difficult to reach the nutrients the trees need to survive. I couldn't help but to associate this phenomenon with the battle that cancer patients must face everyday during their fight with this disease. One word came to mind: Perseverance. Linda is heavily involved with Casting for Recovery, a non-profit breast cancer support group using fly fishing to heal sufferers both mentally and physically. Casting for Recovery was founded on the principles that the natural world is a healing force and that cancer survivors deserve one weekend — free of charge and free of the stresses from medical treatment, home, or workplace — to experience something new and challenging while enjoying beautiful surroundings within an intimate, safe, and nurturing structure. Casting for Recovery-Carolinas hosts two free fly fishing retreats for breast cancer patients each year. Over a hundred applications are submitted every year to the Southeast region of Casting for Recovery retreats however there is only enough funding to support 14 applicants. It is the goal of our local chapter to add more retreats for these applicants. This great organization is near and dear to my heart for many reasons but the one that is profoundly obvious is my own mother was a breast cancer survivor for 10+ years before succumbing to gastric cancer in March of 2010. In her honor, I am dedicated to spreading the word in hopes that I can inspire you to help us, Casting for Recovery-Carolinas, raise money so that we may host many more retreats in the future. To donate please visit: http://castingforrecovery.org/donate Retreat name: Casting for Recovery-Carolinas I had to share this blog I came across from another fly fisherman, Erin Block of the Mysteries Internal blog. This post is one of the best reads I've seen from the fishing community! She speaks "outloud" from the heart and clearly has great passion for fly fishing. Thank you Erin for allowing me to share this! Be sure to visit Erin at http://mysteriesinternal.blogspot.com Enjoy! What I Want to Be. Written by E.M.B. of Mysteries Internal http://mysteriesinternal.blogspot.com A fisherman. Not a fisherwoman. Not a fisherperson. Perhaps I'm just not PC-enough (which is most likely the case). I realize that many women will loathe me writing this. Many women backed the suffrage movement until they realized what it meant. Until they realized that it meant they would be treated as equals. That they would have to work out of the home. Have to think about careers. They might have to be single their entire life and have to earn a living for themselves. They would have to pull out their own chair at dinner and would have to open the door themselves. Yet, they could also vote and decide and drink and smoke and wear pants. And, they could think for themselves. Thank God, we could finally think for ourselves.....out loud. I know full well what this belief of mine means, and what writing this means. It means that as a woman in a male-dominated world I have to be as good as, no --- better than --- most of the men. That is, if I want to be taken seriously. And I do. And I will be. I'm not just a pair of breasts in waders. I'm no trophy, nor are my fish. I've been here before, in the minority. I've been the only girl in the show ring holding up a 1,600 lbs. steer's head. They didn't make women-specific cattle for me. And I had to train my steers better as a result. Less muscle = more finesse. I've been the only woman in an entire conservatory classical guitar department. The only woman on stage, and they didn't play any slower for me. I had to keep up. And I did.During thefirst week at the conservatory a classmate said, after hearing me play, "well, you're good for a girl." I cringed. I refused to be good for a girl. By the end of the year I was better than him. And I refused to be "good" because I wore short skirts and low cut tops. I wasn't going to sell out my sex. I won cattle shows and I was a damn fine guitarist. I was good. And not just for a girl. Did I have to prove myself though? Of course. And now in yet another male dominated world -- fly fishing -- with which I've fallen in love, I know I need to do the same. Segregating the sexes is not any way to make the field more diverse. The Bitch Creeks and Page 6 Chicks do nothing to make women become interested in or feel more comfortable fitting into this sport. By placement, it's shown who the real fishermen are. And it's been fitting, for the most part. Women have written woman to woman, not flyfisher to flyfisher. My sex still needs to prove itself. Women have done it to themselves. We've haven't risen to the standard of fishermen. We’ve risen to the standard of fisherwomen. And while I know it isn’t PC to say, it’s different than that of being a fisherman. The standard is lower whether people will admit it or not, and even if the title persists, the expectation needs to change. My kind of feminism isn't sexualized. I'm a woman and I think that's fairly obvious. I don't need to have a pink rod or waders that hug my hips. And I don't need to be overly tough and bitchy to make my point. My kind of feminism, my way of being a woman, means that I will cast and tie and fish as well as men. Not out of spite, or to impress, but out of respect. For you -- and, for myself. I want to fish with you – not against or behind. I will be the first to admit that there are some very big physical differences between men and women. Some very big strength differences. We aren't the same and I am not one of those women who think that we are. However, not being the same doesn't mean we can't do the same things; only, in different ways. My fishing partner, a man, told me the other day that I’m a good fisherman. I don’t feel good yet, but I hope to be. Someday. A good fisherman. That, is what I want to be. And that, is what women need to be. So there. I said it. Out loud.  A Face Only a Mother Could Love 10/08/2011
Recently, I fished a Delayed Harvest river that people have been telling me about for some time. Its a bit of a drive for me but I was assured that it would be well worth it. I had no idea what I was in for and to be honest, I was just happy to visit a new fishing hole in North Carolina. The trip was well worth the drive. Gorgeous gin clear water with a healthy and hungry fish population consisting of some wild trout as well as stockers. I was fishing a deeper run and saw this fish in the middle of the water column feeding. Even from where I was wading, I could see that there was something different about this particular trout. After a few drifts, he ate my fly and OH MY LORD, what a strange looking Brook Trout! He had a lot of fight in him too. I think this guy has seen better days. None the less, an unforgettable fish! Never Bite the Hand That Feeds You 10/04/2011
I am still buzzing from my last trip out West. I was a little depressed when I flew back to the Southeast, feeling like I always do upon my return from a trip like that...[hands in pocket, looks down, kicks dirt] "but I belong out West". Nothing compares to the waters of Montana, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming...places that are so familiar to me. Those waters will always feel like my home waters. Sunday is my day to fish. My husband and I try to get in a float at least a few times a month. Like any Sunday, I packed up my gear and prepared to go the the river that we always seem to go to on any given Sunday. I was not terribly thrilled, I'll be honest [sniffles, pouting]. Was I being ungrateful? And then it happened..I was reminded of why I do love the Southeast and all it has to offer. The fall colors, the hatches, the fish, the people...there is a special place in my heart for it all! I promise to never bite the hand that feeds me again. |    About the Author:
Flygirl Reba Reba spent the last decade chasing trout with a fly rod all over the country only to 'find herself' in the process. Headed east and settled down in Western North Carolina. "I am passionate about teaching what I love, fly fishing and clay shooting". Reba is a fly fishing instructor & NSCA Certified Level I Sporting Clays Coach. She truly is an advocate and ambassador of a sustainable outdoor culture. |
| WNC Women on the Fly |
