How fly fishing in PA will help people recovering from substance abuse

Going fishing is definitely about more than catching fish.

Fishing has a way of resetting an angler’s mind and soul with nature. Now a national nonprofit organization is using the health benefits of fishing to help those who are recovering from substance abuse, including here in Pennsylvania.

Reeling in Recovery started in Georgia in 2019 and became a non-profit in the summer of 2022. The organization holds free fishing retreats around the country, and the first one to be held in Pennsylvania will happen April 15 in northeastern Pennsylvania.

“Recovery is admitting that you have a problem and that you need a higher power to help you. And standing waist-deep fly fishing is experiencing what that higher power, in my case God, has created.... sobriety and serenity are truly gifts from God,” said Jason Causey, board member and past participant in one of the retreats.

Causey, 53, lives in Atlanta, Georgia, but previously lived in Pennsylvania for 15 years. He wishes the program was available 10 years ago when he was getting sober.

“I think it would have made things a little easier,” he said.  

He remembers the support he received when he was getting sober in 2014, so he wanted to get involved with Reeling in Recovery when he learned about it from Becca Sue Kline, the founder of the nonprofit. He understands the value of involving someone who has had similar challenges with substance abuse.

"That’s the basis of Alcoholics Anonymous. You know what these folks are going through. They might walk in different shoes, or come from different places, but the story is all the same," he said. “I was fortunate someone was able to pull me out, and I’m where I am today because of it."

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Why fly fishing?

The sport and hobby of fly fishing provides the escape that many people seek in their lives.

“When you’re out there in nature listening to the water run by and someone is teaching you how to cast a fly line and you hook that first fish, I mean there’s just nothing like it. You’ve forgotten about every bad thing that has happened to you that day or that week, it’s just a way to escape without drugs or alcohol," Causey said.

Trying to escape from life or a problem is what drives people to abuse alcohol or drugs, he said, but being in the outdoors is a natural high that is better than substance abuse.

“Nature has a funny way of helping you cope,” he said. “It’s a recharge. It grounds me.” The perspective of being in the wilderness helps him realize all the things he’s been worrying about are no longer such a big deal. “We have our tendency as normal humans that we over-inflate things sometimes, let it get the best of us. I think that’s a struggle for me at times, and fishing helps put things back into perspective.”

While living in the Keystone State he enjoyed bass fishing in a variety of ponds. “The lakes were packed with bass,” he remembers.  “Pennsylvania has got some of the best trout waters in the world."

This program is designed to get people into a hobby that lasts a lifetime. “You can fish anywhere in the world and at any age,” Causey said.

“Fishing itself is not super difficult, you got to have some type of working knowledge, but with fly fishing there seems to be such peace. You’re a piece of the whole nature. You’re part of it. You’re not really the guy calling the shots, you’re just participating in this process,” he said.

“We want to give that experience to the newly recovered or somebody who’s going through it, or somebody who’s been in recovery for 20 years and never set foot in a river.”

Georgia Skuza, the organization’s communications director in Philadelphia, looks forward to the retreats as she knows the value they have.

“I have a family history of addiction and I actually found Reeling in Recovery on social media back in August," she said. 

She has been fly fishing since 2019. “Pennsylvania is one of the homes of fly fishing, and I thought it would be a really good way to expand our mission up here,” she said.

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Pennsylvania retreat

The Pennsylvania program will be held April 15 at The Delaware River Club in Starlight where they will be fishing for trout and fall fish. 

The retreat is open to anyone who is in recovery from addiction.

“Whether it be they are in recovery for 20 years or two months. Really anyone in the area that is looking to learn about fly fishing or has been fly fishing and is in recovery and wants to meet more folks, but it is for those in recovery from substance abuse,” Skuza said.

During the retreats, the participants will see fly-tying demonstrations, casting demonstrations, apparel instructions and a presentation from a nature-informed therapist who will combine recovery, nature and fly fishing and of course, go fishing. The class is limited to 10 people.

The organization attempts to supply anglers with gear or they can bring their own.

“If they are beginners and have never touched a fly rod, we’re hoping to supply everything for them - waders, boots, fly rod, reel, and wading staff, if needed,” she said.

The program is free for participants, but they do have to pay their own travel expenses. The costs are covered through fundraisers and donations. Other retreats this year will be held in North Carolina, Georgia and Colorado.

“Many of our members are in recovery themselves or have been directly affected by addiction. They have found, like numerous other programs, that fly fishing is a healing outlet. Fly fishing really helps center themselves in their recovery, and it sort of provides an unconventional healing outlet in sobriety,” Skuza explained.

Those in recovery talk about needing a routine, and in fly fishing there is a routine.

“You put your rod together, you put your reel on, you get dressed, you have your months in which it’s really good to fish and that routine and that consistency helps a lot of people stay grounded. When you’re on the water, everything else just melts away. Fly fishing has really been an integral part of a lot of people’s sobriety journey,” she said.

Visit reelinginrecovery.org for registration information for the Pennsylvania retreat. The group's website and Instagram, reelinginrecovery, have announcements.

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him atbwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook@whipkeyoutdoors.