It’s Just Fishing.
by Whiteny Milhoan
“I knew joy when I landed my first trout.”
– Casting for Recovery participant
The best part about my job is witnessing the joy that comes with learning to fish.
Casting for Recovery provides free fly fishing experiences for women facing breast cancer. These fly fishing retreats are often the grounding, renewing, empowering physical and emotional release that the women who attend have been needing.
But most importantly, they’re fun! The women who come to our programs are dealing with treatment side effects, surgery complications, body insecurities, navigating insurance companies and keeping their families together. Know what takes the back seat? Self care, self love, a chance to be present in the moment, and yep you guessed it – fun.
There is no one –no one– who experiences the thrill of their first fish on the fly without an enormous smile on their face. The ripple effect of that smile goes so much deeper. At Casting for Recovery, it serves as a simple reminder that there is life to be lived outside the bounds of cancer. That lesson applies to all of us. Time on the water reminds us that adventure feeds the soul and time outdoors squashes worries.
Casting for Recovery retreats create the right space to allow the spontaneous joy and connectivity that fly fishing brings to happen naturally. Women are able to experience the outdoors in a new, meaningful way. They’re able to share their stories and lean on one another. They’re able to try something new in a completely safe space. The rest of the story, just like any day on the river, comes together organically once the opportunity and the right environment have been presented. It seems so simple, but the thing is, it IS simple – it’s just fishing!
Obviously, there’s a lot more that goes into Casting for Recovery than ‘just fishing.’ There are trained, talented medical professionals who provide critical medical education; there are compassionate, experienced counselors to help women navigate the psychological and emotional challenges of breast cancer; there are dedicated, passionate fly fishing instructors who simplify the complexities of learning to fish; there are thousands of donors who understand why fly fishing and breast cancer make perfect sense; and there countless hours poured into planning, fundraising and outreach by selfless volunteers nationwide.
And sure, fishing means much more to the angling community as well. It’s how we spend our time, spend our money or make our money, connect with nature, bond with our kids, get a break from our kids, find community, seek solace, pursue adventure and engage on conservation issues. It’s all of those important things, and I don’t mean to downplay their significance. But it’s still just fishing.
It’s often easy to become consumed by the pressures of planning the next trip, gathering more technical gear, advocating for our natural resources and continuing the quest for knowledge, skill and experience. Fly fishing has become so meaningful to so many people that we sometimes lose touch with the simple joy. I’m fortunate enough to see it on the faces of hundreds and hundreds of women each year who attend Casting for Recovery retreats, and it’s a perfect, beautiful reminder.
So go fishing. Know joy.
