Some friendships begin at work, in school, or through mutual friends. Others begin standing waist-deep in a river, untangling leaders, trading flies and laughing about the fish that got away.
For Shelby and a group of women who affectionately call themselves the “Mud Minnows,” fly fishing became the common thread that turned acquaintances into close friends. When Shelby got engaged, a traditional bachelorette party was never really in the cards. They packed their rods and headed west to celebrate the way they knew best: together on the water.
“Fly fishing is about the community,” one of the women explains. “We are all so different and so unique and so fun, and what brought us together was fishing together.”
Some of those relationships began through Ohio Women on the Fly events. Others grew from chance meetings, mutual friends and invitations to fish. Before long, weekends were spent together and fishing trips became part of the rhythm of their friendship.
The beauty of that community is on display throughout their *Ascend* adventure. They compare flies, study insects beneath rocks, celebrate fish, and help each other improve. When someone struggles to hold a slippery trout for a photo, another woman steps in with advice. When a promising stretch of water appears, the response is simple: “Let’s try what he did. We’ll just go together.”
There is plenty of skill behind what they are doing, but the women are quick to strip away the idea that fly fishing has to be complicated or intimidating.
“It is everything about the fish, but it is equally not at all about the fish,” one woman says. “You don’t have to be good at it.”
That may be the best invitation a woman curious about fly fishing could hear. You do not need the perfect cast, an encyclopedic knowledge of insects or years of experience before you belong on the water. You need enough curiosity to begin and, if you are fortunate, someone willing to begin with you.
That connection between people and the outdoors also matters to Ducks Unlimited. Conservation lasts when people develop personal relationships with wild places and with others who value them. Sometimes that connection begins in a duck blind. Sometimes it begins with a fly rod.
For the Mud Minnows, it grew into something worth traveling across the country to celebrate.
Near the end of the trip, one woman sums up what Shelby and this group have come to mean to her: “I just love them, and I just want to be outside.”
For a bachelorette party built around friendship, rivers and fish, there probably isn’t a better toast.
Watch the *Ascend* episode on the Ducks Unlimited’s YouTube channel to meet the Mud Minnows and see why sometimes the best thing you catch on the water is the community that keeps bringing you back.
Learn more at ducks.org/ascend.
The Women's Outdoor News, aka The WON, features news, reviews and stories about women who are shooting, hunting, fishing and actively engaging in outdoor adventure. This publication is for women, by women. View all posts by The WON
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