Raven and his canoe were lost in a thick fog when Fog Woman appeared, removed Raven's spruce-root hat from his head and caused all of the fog to disappear into it so that the sun shone and Raven reached shore. Then Fog Woman and Raven were married. Fog Woman created the first salmon in an inland spring, and thus, fed her earth children.

In 1496 the Treatise of Fishing with an Angle, the first surviving work ever printed in English on the subject of sport fishing, was published. Its authorship has been attributed to a woman, Dame Juliana Berners. She is credited with the first hunting treatise printed in English (first Book of St. Albans, 1486). When the hunting treatise was printed a second time (second Book of St. Albans, 1496) the fishing treatise was included. She made suggestions like baking hornets, bumblebees, and wasps in bread to preserve them for bait. Not exactly Martha Stewart, but her suggestions proved useful. To Juliana the best of all sport was angling;

"a merry occupation, without care, anxiety or trouble, which may rejoice his heart and in which his spirits may have a merry delight.....In fishing the angler can have no cold nor discomfort nor anger, unless he be the cause himself. For he can lose at the most only a line or a hook, of which he can have a plentiful supply of his own making.....So then his loss is not grievous, and other griefs he cannot have, except that some fish may break away after he had been caught on the hook, or else that he may catch nothing. These are not grievous, for if the angler fails with one, he may not fail with another, if he does as this treatise teaches - unless there are no fish in the water. And yet, at the very least, he has his wholesome and merry walk at his ease, and a sweet breath of the sweet smell of the meadow flowers, and makes him hungry. He hears the melodious harmony of birds. He sees the young swans, herons, ducks, coots, and many other birds with their broods.....And if the Angler catches fish, surely then there is no man merrier than he is in his spirit."

The nineteenth century brings other women of impact. Sara Jane McBride learned fly fishing and fly tying from her father, professional tyer John McBride of Monroe County, New York. "After studying the year-round insect cycle of shallow, food-rich Spring Creek, near Caledonia, Sara wrote the first published American papers of any consequence on the subject of aquatic insects from an angler's perspective. The articles appeared in Forest and Stream in 1876 and Rod and Gun in 1877. Up to this time, most fly patterns were 'attractors', as the fishermen did not have a clue about insect life. Her 'natural' flies won a bronze medal at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. She was also the first to observe and note the importance of minute changes in water temperature on pupae and larvae and the surrounding ecology. The holder of Maine Guide License #1 was Cornelia "Fly Rod" Crosby, born in Phillips, Maine in 1854. She made her living by fishing and writing about it in her column "Fly Rod's Notebook" in the nationally distributed publication The Maine Woods. In the 1890's she was the most famous fly fisherwoman in the world, and her appearances at sportsmen's shows in New York and Boston drew record crowds.

In the field of fly-tying, women like Mary Orvis Marbury (the daughter of Charles F. Orvis, founder of the famous Vermont tackle company), were elemental in the standardization of fly patterns. Her lavish book, Favorite Flies and Their Histories, (1892) was the forerunner for many fisherwomen fly-tyers. Carrie Stevens' 6 pound 13-ounce brook trout, taken with her streamer invention, took second place in Field & Stream's fishing contest of 1924. Her original smelt imitation developed into the forever popular Gray Ghost streamer. Other famous 'fly-women' include Elizabeth Greig, Helen Shaw Kesslers, Winnie Ferdon Dette, Elsie Bivins Darbee, and Mary Clark.

In my opinion, the most influential woman of the 20th century is Joan Wulff. Her father, Jimmy Salvato, owned the Paterson Rod and Gun Store, was an outdoor writer for the Paterson Morning Call, and fathered of most of the conservation clubs in northern New Jersey. He still found time to raise hunting dogs, participate in tournament casting, and teach his 10-year-old daughter the sport he cherished. Joan had been left behind when Jimmy took her 8-year-old, younger brother to the Paterson Casting Club's practice sessions. She convinced her Mom to let her take her Dad's fly rod to the casting club dock. Unfortunately the tip went flying into the six-foot deep pond water. A neighbor was summoned to retrieve it with a garden rake, but word got out somehow. Evidently Jimmy liked her determination, and she was invited on the next trip to the Club.

"I can look back now and say I was born to fly cast. While it wasn't easy, I was drawn to it. That same year (1937) a friend, Eleanor Egg, had talked my parents into letting me take tap, ballet, and acrobatic lessons from her. I am convinced that the dancing lessons improved my casting because they taught me to use my whole body to back up, my limited ten-year-old strength. Casting and dancing became my favorite pastimes. I won my first casting title in 1938, the New Jersey Sub-Junior All Around Championship, and with it gained the motivation to practice."

Joan's dancing evolved into a partnership in a dancing school with Eleanor that lasted eight years. Her love of teaching transferred from dancing to fly casting. Between 1943 and 1951 she won one or more women's titles every year; in 1951 winning four including one against all-male competitors. The man who placed second against her was her boyfriend Johnny Dieckman. Distance fly casting became her passion; "a sport of beautiful form and motion, requiring the use of the whole body". For competition, Joan's gear was specially designed and made by Bill Taylor, her mentor. Her lighter bamboo tackle (long before graphite), still weighed 6 3/4 ounces. Her silk line, hand spliced sections forming a taper, was 52 feet long and weighed 1 1/2 ounces. Despite these limitations, Joan cast 161 feet in a 1960 New Jersey State tournament for an unofficial women's record. Starting in 1948 Joan did demonstrations at sportsman's shows and exhibitions. Performing in a strapless silver and rhinestone evening gown to the music of "Up A Lazy River"; she personified her belief that "casting has both visual beauty and a feeling of oneness in the combination of body motion, rod action, and the weight of the flexible line";. In 1959, she began representing the Garcia Corporation, the largest tackle manufacturer in the world at the time, promoting their products.

It seems inevitable that the most famous women's caster should meet the most famous man in fly fishing. She met and married Lee Wulff in 1967 while filming a giant bluefin-tuna "American Sportsman" special for T.V. Joan believes "if you can fish with someone, you can probably live with them happily". In 1979 their enthusiasm led them to open a fly fishing school in the Catskills of New York. Here they could teach techniques as well as promote the 'catch-and-release' philosophy they believed would protect the fish for future generations.

In all, Joan has won 17 national casting titles and holds the International Women's Fishing Association records for brook trout and Atlantic salmon. She is the author of Joan Wulff's Fly Casting Techniques, Joan Wulff's Fly Fishing, and writes a regular casting column for Fly Rod & Reel. Joan, is first and foremost a teacher at heart. I would also recommend her video Dynamics of Fly Casting, for anyone interested in improving their techniques.

Women have been a part of fishing history since the beginning. We may not become known for our participation, but we can perpetuate our enthusiasm and joy in the sport through others. We know the elation of the perfect cast, sailing out in front of us, landing softly just where we visualized it. We have felt the disbelief, delight and satisfaction of having a fish take a fly we have tied. We have felt the tranquility of soft river sounds and the sun warming our back. We can share these things with our children and friends one-on-one, anytime, on any river or stream.

"It puts me in touch with another of nature's species, in beautiful surroundings that are as old as time. That is where I want to be; that is how I am renewed."
Joan Salvato Wulff

Columnist Joan Carter co-owns, with her husband, Dan Carter's Guide Service.