Rivers of Recovery: Fly-Fishing and Therapeutic Outcomes

Abstract

The notion that fly-fishing can be therapeutic is not new. According to Gierach, "They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not such a big deal anymore." A quick search on the internet of the phrase "Therapeutic Fly-Fishing" will yield many interesting applications, including within the cancer therapy context, for PTSD, for physical disabilities, for treating substance abuse and addiction, and a host of other maladies. Since the publication of Berners's Treatise on Fishing with an Angle and Walton's The Compleat Angler, which "marked the birth of recreational fishing and defined many of its core traits, including the retreat to nature, fair chase, and rugged individualism," the public has been in the process of being convinced that fly-fishing is good for you.