For McKenna Hulslander, fly fishing has never been only about catching trout. The rivers she grew up fishing with her family became places to learn, heal and eventually teach other women what it means to move through the outdoors with confidence and care.
They are also places she wants to protect.
“Having the opportunity to partner with Ducks Unlimited is just so meaningful for me,” McKenna says. “We share a mutual respect and care for maintaining such vast, amazing ecosystems.” For her, DU’s conservation mission connects directly to something deeply personal: keeping healthy rivers and wetlands on the landscape for the generations that follow.
McKenna understands what a river can give someone because she remembers exactly what one gave her.
There was a time when, as she puts it, “Everything else in my life was a mess.” She felt lost and overwhelmed by the pressure she had placed on herself. One day, her dad suited her up, took her to the river and told her he would meet her downstream.
McKenna had held a fly rod before, but she was not confident. She caught trees. She caught sticks. Eventually, she sat down on the riverbank and let everything she had been carrying catch up with her.
Then she got back up.
She stopped worrying about the fish she wasn’t catching and began paying attention to her cast, the insects, the current and the water against her hands and feet. “It hit me with an overwhelming amount of peace and presence,” she says. Fly fishing arrived like “this soft-spoken word in that moment of grace.”
Today, that experience shapes how McKenna guides other women through Outcast Adventure Company. Her father, brother and grandfather taught her more than knots and casting. They taught her conservation, river etiquette and responsibility for the places they loved. Now she passes those lessons forward.
“We do everything in confidence,” she tells her clients.
But confidence does not mean perfection. McKenna wants women to have enough guidance to feel capable without taking away the struggle that makes learning meaningful. A missed fish, a bad cast or a new stretch of water becomes part of the process.
That process also comes with responsibility. She teaches careful fish handling, keeping trout in the water and minimizing impact on the river. “It’s not about the fish,” she says. “I think if you can find yourself in the art and the poetry that is fly fishing, you might catch a fish while you’re there.”
That idea brings McKenna’s story back to conservation. Ducks Unlimited works to protect and restore wetlands and associated habitats across watersheds, helping sustain the water, wildlife and landscapes that make experiences like hers possible.
McKenna grew up listening to her grandfather tell stories of trout, grizzly bears and wild places. Someday, she hopes her great-grandchildren will have stories of their own.
The river once gave McKenna a place to find her footing. Now she is helping other women find theirs, while working to ensure there will still be healthy rivers waiting when the next generation needs them.
Watch the *Ascend* episode with McKenna Hulslander on the Ducks Unlimited’s YouTube channel.
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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