This winter, Alyssa Halls of Owl Creek Flies is gathering a group of aspiring steelheaders for an inspiring sesh on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. The Ladies Winter Steelhead Fishing Retreat & Workshop is a hands-on clinic hosted in conjunction with Brazda’s Fly Fishing that includes Skagit-style casting, steelhead fly-tying, wade fishing and swung-fly presentations—plus plenty of time on the water to develop skills.
“When women get together and conspire to learn flyfishing, I think the world gets a little brighter, and the fish are forced to step up their game,” Halls says. “This is not just a casting clinic. This is workshop on patience and meditation, on awareness and appreciation, on ecology and the art of imitation.”
There’ll also be beers… and a fire pit. What more do you need?
Cost: $1,200 per person ($1,300 for 4 night packages). Includes two half-day and one full-day guided trips, 3 or 4 night stay at Wild Duc Lodge on the Sol Duc River near Forks, WA, and use of gear, flies & terminal tackle, tying tools and materials. Gourmet meals prepared in-house.
Workshop dates: Jan. 15-18, 18-22, 22-25, and 25-29
[On Facebook, @ladiesspeyschool. Contact Jeff Brazda at 253-307-3210, jeff@brazdasflyfishing.com, or Alyssa at 503-915-6615, owlcreekflies@gmail.com, to reserve your spot.]
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.