Mindfulness on the Water: Simple Practices to Deepen Your Fly Fishing Experience

It’s no new revelation that fly angling lends itself to being a deeply therapeutic pursuit. There are long standing organizations such as Casting for Recovery, Project Healing Waters, and The Mayfly Project, just to name a few, many of whom have devoted decades to creating space for healing through fly fishing. Volumes of literature speak to the deeper experiences we encounter on the water, and perhaps now more than ever, the idea that many of us are fishing for something greater than the fish themselves has become increasingly mainstream.

This points to a few core truths. We have a collective need to connect more deeply with ourselves, a collective need to reconnect with the natural world, and, quite often, a need to feel genuine connection within community as well. Fly fishing facilitates all of this and then some. It offers physical, psychological, and interpersonal benefits simply by nature of the experience. I sometimes wonder if the pull I feel toward the river is actually coming from the many systems of my mind and body quietly reminding me that I need time moving, breathing, and being outdoors. I usually listen, and I almost always leave feeling better than when I arrived.

One of the things that keeps fly angling endlessly engaging is its wide and expansive scope. There are always new fly patterns to learn, new water to explore, new species to pursue, and new casting skills to refine. In the spirit of honoring that richness, there are also meaningful ways to shift our perspective and intention while we’re out getting a line wet.

While fly fishing has often been compared to practices like yoga or Taoism, it truly stands on its own as a uniquely complete and well rounded wellness practice. For those who feel called to layer in a little more presence while on the water or in the woods, here are a few simple mindfulness practices that integrate naturally into a day of fishing.

Breath Awareness

We’re breathing all day long, which means we have an incredibly powerful tool available to us at any moment. Breath awareness can take many forms, depending on the individual and what they’re hoping to cultivate. For many people, simply paying attention to the breath is deeply grounding. It draws us into the present moment, provides a rhythmic focal point, and gently settles the nervous system.

Try: Breath counts. Research suggests that six nasal breaths per minute supports nervous system regulation. Each breath follows a five second inhale and a five second exhale. The next time you arrive at a run and decide to pause and observe, which is almost always worthwhile, try twenty counted breaths using this pattern. It pairs beautifully with reading the water before tying on a fly and taking your first cast.

Mindful Movement

No complicated or pretzel like postures required. Mindful movement simply means paying attention to how you move. A great place to start is by slowing down. Instead of rushing to the next stretch of river or charging toward the opposite bank, take more deliberate and intentional steps. Walking itself is a powerful way to inhabit the body more fully and quiet mental noise.

Try: While wading, experiment with a forefoot first gait pattern, then gently lower the heel. This approach is well suited for uneven and variable terrain and often helps reduce slips and falls. The forefoot refers to the ball of the foot just beneath the toes, not the toes themselves. It offers a broad surface area for stability before completing the step.

Sensory Mapping

Sensory mapping is a well known mindfulness practice that involves consciously tuning into the senses. You can focus on one sense at a time or move through several in sequence. At any point during the day, pause and notice what you’re experiencing through smell, sound, sight, texture, temperature, and physical sensation. Fly fishing naturally lends itself to this practice, especially when stopping to read a new run.

Try: Upon arrival, or even while moving, focus on listening. Notice sounds to the north, south, east, and west of you. Some people enjoy sketching these observations as a literal sensory map, though simply noticing is more than enough.

Intention Setting

Intention setting is similar to goal setting, but without the pressure of performance. It offers a central point of focus while remaining flexible rather than outcome driven. Asking yourself why you chose to come out today is a useful starting point. The surface answer is often “to fish,” but digging a little deeper might reveal intentions such as resting, exploring somewhere new, spending time with a friend, or simply being somewhere quiet. Understanding how you’re showing up helps inform where you go, the pace you keep, and how you engage with the day. And if your intention truly is to feel the tug of a fish on the line, that’s a perfectly valid choice, and one best supported by selecting water where success is likely.

Try: Once you arrive, take a minute or two before moving ahead. Scan your body and notice areas of tension, fatigue, or soreness. Take inventory of your energy, stress level, emotional state, and mental clarity. Understanding your internal landscape is a powerful way to guide your decisions on the water.

Gratitude Scanning

Gratitude sometimes gets wrapped up in clichés, but acknowledging it has measurable effects on perspective, mood, well being, and even brain health. It’s simple, effective, and often overlooked. When we become accustomed to certain places, people, or experiences, it’s easy to take them for granted. A gratitude practice helps interrupt that pattern.

Try: Bookend your time on the water with a brief gratitude scan. Identify two things you’re grateful for upon arrival, and two different things upon departure. There are no rules. You can write them down, take photos, or simply reflect quietly for a moment.

Not every day on the water needs to include extra structure or intention. One of the greatest gifts of fly fishing is how stripped down and simple it can be, free from the to do lists that often dominate daily life. Sometimes focusing on nothing more than the rod in your hand and the insects moving through the brush is exactly what’s needed. Other days, cheering on a friend as they land a fish is more than enough. Regardless of the context, weaving mindfulness into your time outdoors tends to enhance the experience. Over time, these simple practices become second nature, integrated as seamlessly as reading water, seating knots, and pausing to watch a fish kick free and swim away.

The Top Ten Things that I Love about Fly Fishing(that have nothing to do with catching fish)

I think most anyone who’s spent a decent amount of time on the water will agree that at some point we realize that fly fishing is about so much more than catching fish. This topic has been the focal point of countless literary works over many decades; what we find while we’re out looking for fish on the fly is the realization that we’ve stepped into a depth of experience that’s rarely matched by other sports. Many shy away from even referring to fly angling as a sport, and will more often liken it to an expression and experience of lived art. As we become increasingly engaged with our medium, what tends to grow is the desire to slow down, become a more keen observer, and absorb the details of our ecosystem more thoroughly. The joy and exhilaration of connecting with a fish on the fly is unique and fantastic in and of itself. And how lucky are we in knowing that there’s so much more to this practice than the fishing alone? Following is a short list of the top ten things that I love about fly fishing that have nothing to do with catching fish…

1-Bird Watching: The scavenging, hunting, calling, mating, and swooping down to swipe a fish right out of the water.⁣ Spending time returning to the same water throughout the seasons has allowed for me to witness the process of many species of birds nesting and nurturing their young. Bald eagles have always been a favorite. What a spectacular piece of nature to bear witness to. 

2-Foraging & Identifying Plants: I began foraging prior to my introduction to fly fishing, but needless to say the two effortlessly complement one another. Discovering and identifying edible/medicinal plants while out exploring fisheries is such a delight. Likewise, learning how to better identify more plants, trees, and wildflowers even without harvesting is an intricate layer to the experience of being outdoors. 

3-Walking & Moving in Nature: The amount of evidence that points to the positive physical and psychological effects that accompany simply being in the outdoors is enormous. I became so enthralled with the biomechanics of fly angling and exploring these wild places that I created an entire mindful movement method devoted to it. It’s a fascinating subject, and one where there’s always room for more exploration and evolution while we discover what it means to move well in the outdoors. 

4-Witnessing Bugs Hatch: I’m not sure that I ever noticed hatches taking place before I began fly fishing, and of course now they’re impossible not to see whether I’m out on a fishing excursion or not. What a neat and detailed process, to begin to understand the entire life-cycle of these insects as they relate to the seasons and varied ecosystems that we explore. 

5-Watching Wildlife at Work: I love witnessing the progress of beaver dams, nests, dens, beehives and abandoned beds. ⁣Sharing space with countless creatures and species that call these environments home always means that there’s so much taking place and to be seen within any stream, lake, forest, and field. 

6-Snack Breaks: And not just while on the water, but also within the ritual of carefully selecting and gathering the days tastes and treats, securely tucking them away in anticipation of a moment later to come.⁣ Whether alone or in the company of others, those times where we locate a good log to perch on while nibbling on a sandwich or pulling out our portable french press to make a fresh batch of coffee are always a special and integral part of the experience. 

7-Observing the Change in Light: From sun-up to sundown, whether it’s a blue bird day or one that’s overcast with diffused light. The golden hours are always tough to beat, but the entire days sequence of light as well as the warmth that it produces impacts how we feel and the paths that we choose to wander.

8-Watching Fish Rise: The slow emerger nips, the aggressive terrestrial nabs, and of course those vertical acrobatic caddis fly launches. While it can be challenging to not immediately cast to rising fish, the skillful angler and observer understand the value of pausing first. Over time I’ve found that sitting down and watching rises with a beverage in hand can be just as satisfying as the fishing itself.

9-The Wide World of Aromas: The fresh pine needles, wildflowers, sagebrush, grasses, soil, and manure all have their own unique scents to be experienced and enjoyed. As we know, our sense of smell has the strongest ability to trigger both emotion and memories. I also find that intentionally tapping into my sense of smell within any given environment tends to have a particularly grounding effect.

10-The Water: Its color, temperature, speed, depth, and structure. I love the huge amount of variance from one body of water to the next, along with studying the seasonal shifts that take place.⁣ Again, there’s something particularly engaging about returning to the same water features over the span of time. It offers all sorts of insight into how our climate is shifting, and how it is that we may be impacting the health of our fisheries.

I fell in love with fly fishing precisely because of its richness. It truly is a feast for the senses, a 10 course meal perfectly paired in some of the most beautiful venues the earth has to offer. Consequently, I’ve also found that the more time that I’ve spent shifting my gaze towards these many other elements, the stronger angler that I’ve become. ⁣Whether or not you have a tendency to be incredibly focused or catching fish every time you’re out on the water, or you feel fairly neutral about the catching itself, there’s always ample opportunity to enrich your experience in these ecosystems by simply seeing what’s there, and becoming actively and enthusiastically engaged with the gift that is exploring the great outdoors with a fly rod in hand. 

Enjoy.