Fly-Fishing Festivals Feature Women’s Symposium in 2023

The Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival, and the Texas Fly Fishing and Brew Festival, will feature a women’s symposium at their 2023 gatherings. A full press release on this exciting new development can be found below.

Both the Virginia Fly Fishing & Wine Festival (January 14-15, 2023, in Doswell) and the Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival (February 25-26, 2023, in Mesquite) will bring an exciting new program, sponsored by Take Me Fishing™ and designed to ensure that women from all walks of life excel in the quiet sport of fly fishing.

Beyond the Cast Women’s Fly Fishing Symposium-Virginia and Beyond the Cast Women’s Fly Fishing Symposium- Texas will offer a wide variety of intermediate to advanced fly-fishing programming explicitly created for women and taught by experts from all over the country.

“We’ve provided numerous successful introductory casting and fly-fishing 101-style classes over the years,” says Festival Director Beau Beasley.

Beyond the Cast is different. The program is designed by women, for women, focusing on topics chosen by women alone.

“We are thrilled to be the festival’s sponsor and support this unique women’s initiative at the fly-fishing festivals in Virginia and Texas. RBFF’s Take Me Fishing brand has an exclusive focus on women with its national campaign Women Making Waves, supporting initiatives that make women feel comfortable and confident in the sport.” says Stephanie Vatalaro, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communication for the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation.

The Beyond the Cast team that designed the symposium hope to build a community of confident, independent women anglers. To achieve that, the symposium will feature sessions such as:

● How to interact with wildlife safely and appropriately.
● How to wade safely choosing right waders.
● The whys, when’s, and how’s of euro-nymphing.
● How to develop personalized tactics for mountain trout fishing.
● All about sling packs and fly boxes.
● Emergency medical considerations while fishing.
● How to plan a safe day on the water.

Symposium participants will have a chance to interact with industry leaders during a complimentary lunch on the Saturday of each festival. When they aren’t participating in symposium-specific programming, students are invited to take in the rest of the festival over the weekend.

The Beyond the Cast Women’s Fly -Symposium will feature regional and national expert instructors and guides, including Julie Mattson, Charity Rutter, Tina Murray, Tom Rosenbauer, Kiki Galvin, Kirk Deeter, Kim Ranalla, to name a few.

Virginia Fly & WineBeyond the Cast symposium participants will meet Women Wine & Waders founder Pam Dunlap; and Beverly Smith from Trout Unlimited participants at the Texas Fly & Brew, will meet Joan Swartz, President of Texas Women Fly Fishers. They will also meet Amy Milne Chief Operating Officer of Project Healing Waters.

To create a vital community of like-minded angling women, Beyond the Cast Women’s Fly-Fishing Symposium is limited to 50 participants at each event in Virginia and Texas. The symposiums will also include up to half a dozen Lead Anglers, carefully selected angling women who will serve as the symposium’s ambassadors, ensuring each participant relates to at least one seasoned mentor over the course of the weekend.

To learn more, contact Beau Beasley at [email protected] or check out the event’s websites:  www.vaflyfishingfestival.org and www.txflyfishingfestival.org.