Fly Casting 101

The Mountaineer PHW group after a good day of casting in the VA Park.

Jacob Ott, Director of the Greenbrier Sporting Club drove up from Lewisburg to help us with our casting class.   Jacob is a certified Fly Casting instructor and helped all of us with our casting!    Our next class we will put everybody’s skills to the test as we try hitting the water.

We are looking for donations of leaders, tippet, and flies to help supply our classes.   And as always we are always looking for fly fishermen/women who are interested in volunteering and helping with our classes.

Project Healing Waters – Class #1

Wednesday March 21, 2012 was our first fly tying class at the Clarksburg VA.   The class marks the first time the Clarksburg VA’s PHW group has come together to “Heal those who serve” through fly fishing.   We started the class off with the ever popular Black Woolly Bugger and a basic instruction on the tools and material used in tying one.   With flies like these and the weather we have been having there will be some fish caught very soon!

A couple of the many flies tied at the first PHW fly tying class in at the Clarksburg VA.

PHW Update

Things are still coming together for the Project Healing Waters group here at the Clakrsburg VA.   We are gearing up with materials, tools, and vices to start our tying classes.  We will keep the MCTU site updated with information as we get it.

PHW Regal Vices ready to start tying flies

1 of the 10 Custom PHW Vices by Regal

Project Healing Waters at Louis A. Johnson VA Hospital in Clarksburg, WV

From left to right: Michael Andrew - VA Recreation Therapist, Tom Perrine - VA Recreation Therapist, Phil Johnson - PHW Regional Coordinator, Chad Cooper - MCTU Member/Assistant Program Lead, Chris Byrd - MCTU President

What is Project Healing Waters?

The Mountaineer Chapter will be discussing our possible involvement with Project Healing Waters. PHW is a group that has partnered with various fishing clubs and organizations to promote the therapeutic value that fly fishing can bring to the traumas of war.  Our local Veterans Hospital in Clarksburg has contacted Project Healing Waters and asked for a program here.  The Veterans Service Partnership Coordinator for Trout Unlimited contacted us in the hopes that our chapter might be interested in helping to start a program here in Clarksburg.   For those who are not familiar with PHW here are a couple videos that better describe the program and what it does.   If you think you would be interested in helping out with a group the Mountaineer Chapter will be looking to put together come to our Chapter meeting 7pm Oct. 11th at the Bridgeport Civic Center.

Project Healing Waters on ESPN’s Outside the Lines

The River Just Knows – Project Healing Waters

ProjectHealingWaters.org