Giving Back

Every once in a while you get the opportunity to give back. That can look like a number of things depending on your situation and skills/resources to offer. In this case, I was invited to New Mexico to help a buddy of mine out with a veteran's fly fishing trip he hosts annually on the San Juan River. The efforts/contributions made by the donors and volunteers was nothing short of amazing. The group of veterans came out from Arizona and included a wide range of ages and backgrounds. They had nothing to worry about except having a good time. I got to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in 14 years. I also had the opportunity to make some new friends while hanging out at our base camp on the river, over dinner conversations and time shared on the water.

The guides showed up ready to work and put their guys on fish while leaving their worries (even momentarily) behind. Stories were shared, MANY laughs were had and an environment created for healing had the whole group thriving. Some guys went out for numbers, others for quality and some did both over the 3 days on the water. Most of the guys were just happy to be enjoying time on the water with a line wet. We had one particularly outstanding day boating over 200 fish with 29 doubles and a triple. Other boats reflected similar experiences over the trip.

As a non-trout angler, I was out of my element. We fished a lot of tiny bugs under bobbers, did some weird euro jigging stuff and I caught fish on streamers. With enough effort you could find at least one fish in the net fishing the way you wanted to but I concentrated on listening and learning. While I won't be making a hard switch to trout trips, I have some new skills/tools to apply in trout situations. Some of them may even apply to smallmouth after some trial and error here on the Shenandoah River.

As some of you may know, I have been involved in Project Healing Waters in some way since 2011 while I was still on active duty in Alaska and I currently volunteer with my local Winchester, VA Chapter. The skills and knowledge I have acquired are wasted without the opportunity to share and teach. As a guide and volunteer I get to do just that and I was even able to contribute far away from home on the San Juan.

I know this might not hit home or inspire everyone, but if you're ever provided the opportunity to volunteer or give back to a community you belong to, you might just get as much out of it (or more) as for those you're providing for at the time. Until then, keep your eyes and ears open. Try to put a smile on someone's face.

HUGE shout out to Jerome and Joe for all the hard work networking, fundraising and coordinating the event. Thank you to the guides, volunteers and donors. Thank you to the veterans for the stories and commaraderie and lastly THANK YOU for the invite to come and be be part of a very special few days.

The bonus fishing before headed back to the east coast was a great time as well!