Fly fishing outing helps veterans
JACKSON TWP — Scores of military veterans, volunteers and local sportsmen came out Saturday to Conway Sportsmen's Club on Magill Road for a morning of fishing and camaraderie.
The event was put on by Project Healing Waters, a national initiative to promote healing in veterans through fly fishing, in partnership with EdgeMarc Energy Holdings and hosted by the Conway Sportsmen's Club.
“Part of the project of Healing Waters is healing through fishing rather than medication, and doctors believe in it too, said Dale Fatchet, a Vietnam veteran and Project Healing Waters volunteer. “The doctors at the VA recommend it highly.”
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Dozens of volunteers from each of the three organizations fanned out to teach newcomers and mingle with their guests.“Especially (those with) PTSD, they get around here and forget about everything except fishing,” Fatchet said. “You get guys around here with legs missing and stuff and you see smiles on their faces.”Fatchet fought in Vietnam as an Army Ranger and is now heavily involved in the program, teaching newcomers and leading fishing trips around the country.Like many in the program, he was introduced to Healing Waters through time spent at the VA.“I got wounded a couple times in Vietnam, and years later I needed my knee replaced and my ankle replaced from gunshot wounds,” he said. “They kept coming to my room saying 'You ever fly fish?'”Fatchet told them he wouldn't be at the hospital long, but they kept asking.“A week later, they did it again. Week later they come again,” he said.
Eventually, he learned he'd be staying at the hospital a few more months and relented.“So I went down and they taught me to build a fly rod and how to tie flies,” he said. “I was there maybe four months. I got discharged and started going down on Mondays to teach other guys like they were teaching me.”Since then, Fatchet has taught and brought in other veterans to the program and has led fishing trips anywhere from Canada to Belize.“It's a very active group, and I'm proud to be part of it,” he said.Code Gombert was a volunteer at the VA when he heard of the group.Gombert served as a combat medic in World War II. He got involved in Healing Waters about five years ago.“I volunteer at the VA hospital and on a Monday afternoon I was walking out and a fellow carrying a fishing rod was walking out,” he said. “Jokingly I said “guys going fishing?' And he said 'Yeah why don't you join us'”Gombert has been involved ever since.To him, Healing Waters and other programs like it are all about helping veterans develop hobbies and camaraderie, all vital parts of the healing process.“It's recreation,” he said. “And we keep them going. I work down in the ceramic shop and teach guys how to paint ceramic and I keep going.”As the name suggests, the program was started to help veterans heal without solely relying on medication or in-hospital treatments. So far, it's been effective.“That's what we focus on is physical, emotional, psychological rehabilitation of veterans through fly fishing,” said project lead Amanda Thompson. “So, they have the camaraderie of fellow veterans, they build their own rods, they tie their own flies and they're all volunteers.”“It's a type of medication through fishing,” Fatchet said.And all this while learning a new, lifelong hobby.According to Fatchet, fly fishing is easy to pick up but hard to master.“If you never fished, it'd be easier,” he said.More traditional fishermen have a tendency to overcast.“Women are a lot better at it, they have a lighter touch, and that's what it's all about,” he said. “And it takes practice. You'll never learn everything.”
