The "Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival" will return to Mesquite on February 25-26, 2023. I will be offering fly casting classes again this year, but I want to highlight something new that I think is worth sharing.

"Beyond the Cast Women's Fly Fishing Symposium" will be offered for the first time at this year's event. I have never seen anything of this scale offered before. It will be an excellent opportunity to increase fly fishing skills and to address some unique challenges that to women fly fishers deal with, such as the "choosing waders" topic. Finding waders that actually fit was way more challenging than it should have been for my wife.

This symposium will cover both days of the festival and there are excellent speakers planned for this event. Opportunities like this one are rare and I suspect most of us know someone that would benefit from attending this symposium.

Here's the link for more details: https://txflyfishingfestival.org/

Here is a copy of the official description with more details:

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Brand new at the 2023 Texas Fly Fishing & Brew Festival (February 25-26 in Mesquite): Sponsored by Take Me Fishing, an exciting new program designed by and for women to ensure that women from all walks of life excel in the quiet sport of fly fishing.

“Beyond the Cast Women’s Fly Fishing Symposium,” the first event of its kind, will offer a wide variety of intermediate to advanced fly-fishing programming created specifically for women and taught by experts from all over the country. “We’ve provided numerous introductory casting and ‘Fly Fishing 101’-style classes over the years,” says Festival Director Beau Beasley, “and those classes have been enormously successful. ‘Beyond the Cast’ is different. What we have here is a program by and for women, with a focus on topics that women have told us they’re looking for and haven’t found elsewhere.” The Texas Fly & Brew is “thrilled to partner with Joan Swartz and Texas Women Fly Fishers to bring this event to Mesquite,” continues Beasley “and so grateful to the RBFF for turning this dream into a reality.”

Stephanie Vatalaro, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communication for the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, says that RBFF is “thrilled to be the festival’s sponsor and support this unique women’s initiative at the fly-fishing festival in Texas. RBFF’s Take Me Fishing brand has an exclusive focus on women with its national campaign Women Making Waves, supporting initiatives that make women feel comfortable and confident in the sport.”

Ultimately, “Beyond the Cast” program developers, sponsors, and instructors hope to build a connected community of confident, independent women anglers. Some elements of the program include:

- how to interact safely and appropriately with wildlife;
- how to choose the right waders and wade safely;
- the whys, whens, and hows of euro-nymphing;
- how to use a kayak when fishing;
- an ask-an-expert-anything session;
- the ins and outs of sling packs and fly boxes; and
how to plan a safe day on the river, taught by a security specialist.
Symposium participants will interact with one another, industry leaders, and special guests during a complimentary lunch on the Saturday of the festival. When they aren’t participating in symposium-specific programming, students are invited to take in the rest of the festival over the course of the weekend.

“Beyond the Cast Women’s Fly Fishing Symposium” will feature regional and national expert instructors and guides including Tina Murray; Julie Mattson; Tom Rosenbauer; Jerry Hamon; Kim Ranalla; special guest Amy Milne, Director of Operations for Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing; and many more. 2023 Texas Fly & Brew “Beyond the Cast” participants will meet Kirk Deeter from Trout Unlimited and will also receive a complimentary membership to TU. Attendees will also meet and speak with Joan Swartz, President of Texas Women Fly Fishers.

Because a chief goal of symposium organizers is to create a friendly, vital community of like-minded angling women, “Beyond the Cast Women’s Fly Fishing Symposium” is limited to 50 participants. “Beyond the Cast” will also include up to half a dozen Lead Anglers, carefully selected angling women who will serve as the symposium’s goodwill ambassadors and ensure that each participant is connected with at least one seasoned mentor over the course of the weekend.

That's cool and impressive. I've always suspected that women could be better flycasters than men, if they were interested. My wife loves fishing. She doesn't fish, but loves it, because it gets me out of the house and gives her space and alone time. IslandJim

is there vendors at this event with things for sale, like waders, and boots rods and reels. thanks

Yes, there are vendors at this event. The selection of vendors has varied each year and I have not heard any specific details for this one yet. The website does contain a list of some of the vendors and that will continue to update as we get closer to the event date.

Absolutely, they can be excellent casters. Joan Wulff is an obvious example.

My daughter went to one of Al Crise's casting classes with me when she was 12. She was asked to join TFO's Jr advisory staff at 13 and passed FFI's instructor certification exam at 15. She's a much better caster than me, especially with the finesse style casts. But, I can take her on distance.

do you think korkers both will be there

I'm sorry, but I don't know who will be there. I don't have anything to do with that part.