By Dave Fowler

As many of you know, SWTU sponsors the Wisconsin Women’s Fly Fishing Clinic which was held this year on June 12-18. The Clinic first started in 2010 and, for many years, was held at the West Fork Sports Club in Avalanche. For the last two years it’s been held at the Tree Top, a state-of-the art facility in Westby.

There is a “By Women For Women” Basic Clinic and an “On the Water Skills” Intermediate Clinic for more experienced anglers. The Intermediate Clinic is held first, followed by the Basic Clinic. Over the years most of the guides for the Intermediate Clinic have been men. For the Basic Clinic, the only male that is allowed to do any sort of instruction is Mike Miller, “the bug guy.” Any in-stream instruction was done strictly by women River Buddies – until this year. More on that below.

I’ve volunteered to help guide for many of the Intermediate Clinics over the years and have made friends with many fellow guides as well as Clinic participants. I always look forward to it. And, for the last several years, while I was guiding, my wife Kim has volunteered to help in the kitchen preparing and serving meals to Intermediate Clinic participants. However, this year she agreed to help out with the meals for both the Intermediate and Basic Clinics – which meant I would have a little time to fish on my own while the Basic Clinic was going on.

On the second day of the Basic Clinic, I was hanging around the dining room waiting for lunch (a privilege of having a wife helping in the kitchen), Lisa Wilson, who was the head “guide wrangler” for both the Intermediate and Basic Clinics, approached me and said that they were short of River Buddies for the guiding that evening because two had unexpectedly dropped out. So they were in dire need of someone to fill in as a River Buddy. When she asked me if I would be a River Buddy, I had to ask – “Isn’t this against the rules.” “No guys, right?” I guess it was one of those instances where “desperate times called for desperate measures.” Lisa made an executive decision to bend the rules a bit. I was to be the first ever male River Buddy!

So, off I went with “Beth From Pewaukee” to fish a stretch of the West Fork along with Katie, a fellow River Buddy, and her student. We had a great time. I’m hopeful that Beth will stay interested in fly fishing and maybe I’ll get a chance to see her at next year’s Intermediate Clinic.

As is the tradition at the Clinic, there is always a fire pit gathering at night to share thoughts about each participant’s experiences during the Clinic. Since I had never been part of the By Women For Women Basic Clinic before, I felt like an honored guest at the fire pit. Sort of a fly on the wall. When it came time for Beth to recount her experience with Dave the River Buddy, she gave me the ultimate compliment – she described me as a “Zen Buddha” in the way I taught her to cast/fish. I never thought of my teaching style like that, but who am I to argue. I just hope her Buddha description wasn’t a reference to my physique. For the rest of the Clinic, my moniker was Buddha Dave. Go figure.

Considering most of the women had never met prior to the Basic Clinic (there were two mother-daughter pairs), it was heartening for me to see the camaraderie among the group of 23 women who had made the pilgrimage to Westby for one reason – to learn how to fly fish. I didn’t have the chance to partake in the other Basic Clinic activities such as the stream shocking and the Mike Miller bug show, but I heard those were hits with the participants. I can see why there’s a waiting list to get into the Basic Clinic.

For some reason, this year many of the “regulars” who have guided at the Intermediate Clinic in the past were absent, and it was a challenge getting to a 1:1 guide-student ratio. The success of the Intermediate Clinic is very dependent on folks volunteering to be guides. It’s a really fun time for both the guides and the women, and I know that they really appreciate the knowledge they gain during the Clinic. So please think about helping out next year. If you are interested in guiding, or know someone who might be, contact Lisa Wilson at lawfinnee@gmail.com. The 2025 Intermediate Clinic will be held on June 11-13, 2025. Save the date. For anyone interested in the 2025 Basic Clinic, it will be held June 13-15, 2025.