Heidi Lewis

Fly fishing came into Heidi’s life when she really needed time alone to clear her head and clock out of everyday life. Since that day, she has fished pretty much once a week, and it truly is a therapy for her for so many reasons, including exercise and meditation. Every time she fishes, it’s a new experience with a new code to crack or a puzzle to complete. It’s humbling, rejuvenating, exciting, and a passion. It’s something that follows her into her dreams at night and motivates her to work hard so she can play hard. The only thing Heidi regrets in life is that she didn’t discover fly fishing sooner. She enjoys sharing many aspects of it with others, as well.

Katie Burgert

Katie grew up spin-fishing the warm rivers of western Pennsylvania every chance she could get, but when she had the opportunity to come to Colorado to chase trout, fly fishing was the obvious next step. Now, she’s found her passion, venturing deep into the backcountry in search of elusive fish and solitude. Fly fishing provides her with adventure as well as peace, and it has also introduced her to some of her closest friends through summer guiding. When she can’t be on the water,she tries to stay in the angling mindset by running Fish Untamed, a website dedicated to backcountry fly fishing.

Tina Murray

Tina fishes extensively and has been a fly-fishing educator for more than two decades. She organizes the Wisconsin Women’s Fly Fishing Clinics, a “For Women, By Women” series of clinics in the heart of the Driftless Area. These very popular clinics offer many skill-building opportunities from beginners to Women’s on the Water – Intermediate (Wowsc-i) to a Riverbuddy mentorship-training program specifically to teach women how to mentor others on the water. She also pioneered an intensive high school program, Project Green Teen (PGT), for at-risk teens at Shabazz High School in Madison, Wisconsin. Tina is the Equity and Diversity & Youth Education coordinator for Southern Wisconsin Trout Unlimited, and the winner of multiple awards–including the Joan and Lee Wulff Conservation Award and Field and Stream’s Hero of Conservation. Tina owns shenanigansflyfishing.com and works with all genders and ages while specializing in opportunities for women.

Linda Leary

Linda Leary loves fishing and sharing it with others! She started FisheWear as a way to create fun, functional, and fashionable clothing for women to enjoy the outdoors. She says that she wanted to help women build confidence and enjoy being in the outdoors and learn to love fishing! The company also offers guided trips and instruction for women to get out with friends and fish and, most of all, have fun.

Sophie Danison

Sophie has been a river person most of her life, a filmmaker for about four years, and fishing is new to her. In 2016, she was awarded the Orvis-supported Women in Fly Fishing Film Grant and got to shoot and edit a short film, called “Old Friends, New Fish,” about three moms driving a minivan around Montana to fly-fish. A couple years later, she teamed up with her friend, Emerald, to shoot and edit “Sh*t Fly Fishing Gals Say”. Those projects helped grow her knowledge of fishing in general, but also in terms of actual participation. She says, “I’m a complete noob. Until my angling skills improve, I’m super happy to row all day (actually) and promise to bring snacks.”

Linda McAteer

Now that she has more time for it, Linda has been doing some serious fly fishing. She’s discovered that the more she does it, the better some aspects of the art become. She says she’s even unlearned a few bad habits along the way. In 2018, Linda started the Arizona Women of Trout Unlimited fly fishing school.

Lise Lozelle

Lise is the owner and founder of Maven Fly, an outdoor apparel company for women. She is also the Marketing Director at Casting for Recovery, a nonprofit organization focused on providing fly-fishing experiences for women with breast cancer. In addition, Lise is currently serving on the American Fly Fishing Trade Association Board and her local Trout Unlimited Chapter Board. It’s a big, busy life, and every day is a new adventure!

Jess McGlothlin

Jess McGlothlin sees her mission as a simple one: tell stories. Working as a freelance photographer and writer in the fly-fishing and outdoor industries, she was once the Orvis Outdoor Copywriter and now works with a variety of brands and publications. It’s never boring— while on assignment in the past few years she’s learned how to throw spears at coconuts in French Polynesia, dodge saltwater crocodiles in Cuba, stand-up-paddleboard down Peruvian Amazon tributaries, eat all manner of unidentifiable food, and fish for some truly incredible species. See more of her work at Jess McGlothin Media.

Lori-Ann Murphy

Lori-Ann landed her first steelhead on fly in her late twenties, while wading the Deschutes River. That led her to move to Teton Valley and guide on the Snake River between Wyoming and Idaho for twenty years. Throughout her guide career, she always had a special love for casting. She has won several casting and fishing competitions and represents leadership with her casting approach to fishing.

In 1989, she attended the Orvis Guide Rendezvous with sixteen men. Then-Orvis chairman Leigh Perkins was her first client, fishing Nelson’s Spring Creek. Right there in Livingston, Montana, she knew her life as an RN was going to take a dramatic shift. And it did. Along with some fly-fishing leaders, such as Nancy Zakon and Margot Page, Lori-Ann started the Orvis School for Women in 1992. It was there in Manchester, Vermont, that an entire room of twenty-seven women from all over the USA decided they wanted to go on fly-fishing trips. It was a no brainer for Lori-Ann, who is addicted to fun, to launch Reel Women Fly Fishing Adventures in 1994. RWFFA continues today, twenty-five years later, as a source of inspiration to get women out on the water fly fishing.

To complete her guiding career of thirty years, Lori-Ann has spent the last ten years living for the most part in San Pedro, Belize. She established Reel Belize, a Belize Tour Operator for fly fishing, in 2018. She has guided full-time on the flats and now spends her time training Belizean tour guides to be the best out on the water for her company, Reel Belize. Between living in the tropics and then her beloved West in the summertime, life is pretty good for this veteran fly-fishing guide. It’s Lori-Ann’s true belief that fly-fishing pleasure brings to those who dare – those that want to keep seeing a rainbow trout break the rivers surface with an explosion to the fly on the Big Hole or feel the adrenaline rush from of a huge school of permit charging feathers and fur on the saltwater flats of Ambergris Caye – a life of passion and fun.

Rachael Brady

Rachael has always been a country girl, but until three years ago, she was more likely to be standing in a field with her Beretta rather than on a riverbank with rod in hand. Her job focuses on wholesaling fishing tackle to UK and Europe and also dealing with the three fishing beats that Orvis have. She had been in the job a few months and was eager to learn more about what she was actually selling, in both products and experiences. She thought it would help give her an insight into what the customers needed, but she had no idea how addicted she would become!

With the help of friends and the continuous support from fishing associates within the company, Rachael started to get out more and more. Before she knew it, she was on the river from 5p.m. until dark every night. Last year, she managed to get on the England Ladies Commonwealth Fly Fishing team, and fished for her country in Northern Ireland. This was one of the best experiences of her fishing life, and she cannot wait for 2020, when the competition will be held in New Zealand.