Well, women in fly-fishing is nothing new.
Obviously, there have been women paving the way and kind of elevating our participation for a very long time.
Well, just like that, 50/50 on the Water is not new.
The people in the industry have been talking about ways to make our industry stronger, and having women elevated in this industry is
really a key way to do it.
One of our barriers as women, and as a woman of color, people have to get past preconceived notions about what we become
involved in, what we can do.
I think once you sit at a table with people, you listen, they see that there's more to you than what that preconceived notion might have been.
Power in numbers—that allows some women who might not have experience like I do to go into a fly shop and to ask about flies
and how do I do this and not feel that you have to know everything to get out there.
Through social media, through campaigns like 50/50, I'm finding that women feel more confident to ask those questions about
getting out on the river.
Fly-fishing is a community sport.
It does involve a community of learners and anglers and conservationists and historians, role models and teachers and mentors.
We wanna be involved, we wanna share our knowledge and passion and enthusiasm with someone.
Hooking a fish and getting life on the line is just, you're just like, Wow, there's a fish there!
And you get excited about that and having someone to share with it.
I think it's in our best interest to just get as many people involved in the sport as possible.
To grow it as much as possible.
The more people we get involved in the sport, we'll have a better chance of protecting the rivers, the fisheries. I mean our voice will be louder.
We'll be able to protect the things that matter to us.
Public lands and clean water.
Who's gonna speak out for that but the sportsmen who cherish those resources?
To get more women involved in the sport would just mean a louder voice for
the fly-fishing community.
We are all connected to the outdoors.
We are all wild women, men, and children of Mother Nature.
I want to see people involved, regardless of their abilities and skill set and social class.
I wanna see no barriers in fly-fishing, just as if it were any other sport in the world.
To me, it's a no-brainer to have equality in the activity that we love.
It's a no-brainer to have as many women as men not only participating but excelling in the activity.
People come into the shop just kind of looking for that diversity, and the people who I see in my shop are people of color, people with disabilities, people from different economic backgrounds.
Certainly a lot of women and a lot of men who love to fish with their spouse.
Men who love to fish with women.
Men who have daughters and men who are really eager to help elevate women here, because they're in their lives all the time, and this
is such a great place to share our lives together.
