Shyanne Orvis is a Colorado-based fly fishing guide and content creator whose deep connection to nature shapes both her career and her approach to motherhood. From the rivers of Carbondale to destinations around the world, she’s building an inclusive community on the water—inviting more women to experience the transformative power of fly fishing.
Shyanne Orvis is a Colorado-based fly fishing guide and content creator whose deep connection to nature shapes both her career and her approach to motherhood. From the rivers of Carbondale to destinations around the world, she’s building an inclusive community on the water—inviting more women to experience the transformative power of fly fishing.
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Shelby Stanger:
Every time I see a video of someone fly fishing, it looks so stunning. For those who don't know, a fly fisher or an angler uses an artificial lure called a fly that's usually designed to look like an insect local to the area. Standing knee-deep in a babbling river, the angler casts their line almost in slow motion. Their fly lands so delicately on the water, you can barely see it. Then the wait begins. The fly fisher manipulates their line making the fly dance on the surface of the river to attract whatever fish might be swimming below.
Fly fisherwoman Shyanne Orvis knows this dance well. She's a guide and content creator based in Carbondale, Colorado. Shyanne's career has allowed her to spend time traveling and connecting with nature, which in turn has inspired her approach to motherhood. These days, Shyanne is sharing her passion for fly fishing with people from all walks of life and she's inviting more women in particular to join her by the water. I'm Shelby Stanger and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-op MasterCard. Shyanne Orvis, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living. I'm really excited to speak to you. You are our first fly fisherwoman on this podcast.
Shyanne Orvis:
Oh, thanks for having me, Shelby. I appreciate it. I'm very honored to be here.
Shelby Stanger:
How did you get into fishing?
Shyanne Orvis:
I got into fishing when I was a little girl. My family is full of conventional spin fishermen, so that's like the... think big bobber, lake fishing, worms and leeches standing at the end of the dock, waiting for something to happen. And as I got a little bit older, I was more exposed to fly fishing and then just fell in love with it because it was like everything opposite of conventional. It's more intuitive, it's more connected with the river and the bugs and the fish, and you're spotting the fish that you're targeting. And it was just so much more intriguing to me.
Shelby Stanger:
It sounds really fun. I'm curious though, when you grew up, were you always outdoorsy? You said your family fished, but it's interesting that you picked fishing. A lot of people could have chosen soccer or chess or I don't know, but you chose fishing.
Shyanne Orvis:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
And it's not something a lot of young women chose at a young age.
Shyanne Orvis:
Well, I love all the things. So I think as a little girl, I grew up in a trailer park in poverty in Flint, Michigan, so it's not like we had a lot of access to the outdoors other than fishing. But I was always willing to try anything. So if a friend skateboarded, I would skateboard or if one of my friends rode dirt bikes. Anything that I was willing to try, I loved doing. And I'd spent a lot of my time in the woods, building forts and lighting fires and doing all the things I probably shouldn't be doing. But it was my way of escaping home life and all the struggles and uncomfortablities that came with it. And I think that just forever stuck with me. And then as I moved through adulthood and my teen years, yeah, I just would do anything that kept me grounded and gave me space to sit with myself.
Shelby Stanger:
Okay. I don't know too much about Flint, Michigan besides an old Michael Moore documentary.
Shyanne Orvis:
Did you hear of the Flint water crisis?
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah, of course.
Shyanne Orvis:
Yeah. Polluted with lead. Definitely struggles with poverty. Most people are low income households. Most people work in a factory. My mom worked in a factory as a little girl.
Shelby Stanger:
How did you leave?
Shyanne Orvis:
I lived with my sister at the time, I think I was 17. And I moved around a lot as a little girl. My mom struggled with addiction and my dad left when I was pretty young. And my sister's 11 years older than I, so she fell into this taking care of me, this mother role when I was little. And she's like, "Well, what's your direction? What are you going to do?" And a friend of mine had told me about this opportunity as a lift operator in Aspen.
Shelby Stanger:
Yes. I know this.
Shyanne Orvis:
And I was like, "Okay, a lift operator at $12 an hour, they provide housing." I didn't have a car and the public transportation in Aspen Valley was amazing. I had no concept of what Aspen was like. I cannot believe I was 17 and went from trailer park living to Aspen. So if you know anything about Aspen, it's one of the wealthiest cities in the world.
Shelby Stanger:
And most beautiful.
Shyanne Orvis:
Oh, yeah. And I remember getting off the bus with my backpack and being like, "Oh my gosh, I've never seen anything like it." Yeah, it's stunning. It's beautiful. And the access to the outdoors and the people were so amazing. And it makes sense as to why I never left.
Shelby Stanger:
While Aspen was beautiful and full of things to do, Shyanne quickly learned that $12 an hour operating ski lifts was not enough money to live there. She started taking on odd jobs to keep herself afloat. Even though she didn't have a lot of free time, Shyanne went snowboarding and skateboarding when she wasn't working. Some friends also introduced her to fly fishing and it quickly became her favorite pastime. I don't know anything about fly fishing. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to pretend like I know. I've never done it in my entire life. What's the biggest difference between fly fishing and conventional fishing? Give me a quick CliffNotes version tutorial of what fly fishing is. How is it different? What gear you use? When do you go? Where do you go? Take me in your world.
Shyanne Orvis:
Well, I'm going to do the best I can in response to that question, but I don't know a lot about conventional. The minute I left home when I was 12, I never touched a spinning rod again. But I just think fly fishing is so grounding and it's such an art. Whereas when I think of conventional, I remember the last time I conventional fished, I was in Alaska and we were on an offshore boat and I fell asleep. I slept the entire time on the boat because it was rocking in the waves and it was just so calming that I guess I just took a nap. But it just seems so much slower pace and just so vastly different.
Whereas when you're fly fishing, whether you're fishing the ocean or you're fishing in the jungle or you're fishing on the river, you have those moments of intensity where you're watching 120 pound tarpon rolling and turn and chase your fly, which is so exhilarating. This tiny artificial fly that doesn't smell like anything, it's not alive, and you're tricking this massive species to eat it. And then once it's on, the biggest difference with conventional is conventional, you hook into a fish and you're just cranking on him, you're just bringing him in.
Shelby Stanger:
You're reeling it in?
Shyanne Orvis:
You're just reeling it in, yep. With fly fishing, there's such a finesse to it because you're not doing that, otherwise you'll break your leader.
Shelby Stanger:
A leader?
Shyanne Orvis:
It's a clear piece of string that's essentially attached to your fly line and it's clear so that the fish don't see it and they don't get spooked.
Shelby Stanger:
And it sounds like you're moving it around to act like you're alive?
Shyanne Orvis:
Oh yeah, absolutely. A lot of it is in the motion. So you're manipulating the fly line to mimic whatever pattern you have at the end. So if it's a fly, it's got to look like it would be a fly on the river. Or if it's a shrimp, it's got to move the way a shrimp would. So it's like you're reading the fish's behavior, you have to change your speed or you got to pause. You have to watch what the fish is doing and then alter what you're doing. You're so connected, it's like you have to be a part of the process. You're not just sitting in one spot. So as I'm on the river, I'm walking upstream and I'm looking around rocks or logs and I'm trying to look for the fish that I want to target. And then I'm looking at the bugs in the air and I'm like, "Okay, well this is what they're eating right now. Here's what's hatching. Here's what I should put on." And I'll tie on these little artificial flies and hopefully trick them to eat. So a lot of things going on.
Shelby Stanger:
When Shyanne is fishing, it's almost like she's playing a game. She tugs on her fishing line to make her artificial fly move like real prey, whether that means fast sudden movements or letting it sit on the top of the water for a few seconds. It's like she's a puppeteer for her fly. Once Shyanne hooks a fish, the fight is on. As the fish tries to swim downstream, Shyanne has to keep it on her line while waiting for the right moment to reel it in. In the end, she scoops the fish up in a net to get a closer look and then releases it back into the water. Take me to a perfect day on the water. What are you doing? Where are you? What gear do you have? What does it feel like?
Shyanne Orvis:
So my perfect day would be walking the beach along some crystal clear flats and there would just be tailing permit everywhere and they're all willing to eat my fly.
Shelby Stanger:
What's a permit?
Shyanne Orvis:
A permit is... Y'know folks, I think it's something you guys got to Google. It's a species.
Shelby Stanger:
Okay, so it's fish?
Shyanne Orvis:
So it's a fish, yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
It's a beautiful fish?
Shyanne Orvis:
Anything I'm talking about is fish. Every permit I cast to follows my fly, eats my fly, and then they'll probably take off and I've got to be able to hook into them, and I'm going to keep my hand off of my reel and just let him run. And the minute there's slack in that line and that fish isn't just hauling ass away from me or I feel him pause, I have to reel when he is not running and then back off when he is. And then hopefully I land the fish.
Shelby Stanger:
Paying attention to details like the bugs and the flow of the water grounded Shyanne in a way she'd never experienced with other sports. After getting a few fly fishing sessions under her belt, she realized she wanted to spend as much time as she could on the water. Luckily, Aspen is a hub for fly fishing and it didn't take long for Shyanne to realize she could make money by teaching people the sport. When she was 19, she took a job at a local fly shop and quickly moved into the guiding world. What was guiding like? I mean, you were pretty young.
Shyanne Orvis:
I was young. I think if I look back, I've always had a strong personality, which I think is great in a male-dominated space. I think if I was timid or hesitant and more reserved, it would've been challenging for someone... You know, a majority of people going out fishing at the time were men, for men to be like, "Oh, I don't want her as my fishing guide. She doesn't know anything." But I think my strong disposition pretty quickly puts them in their place in a way like, "Oh no, I'm confident. I know my shit. We're going to go and we're going to have a great time. And I'm going to show you where the fish are and it's your job to do the rest." And that's, I think, served me a lot in being a good guide in a way, connecting with people and being able to take them into remote, challenging places and them trusting me along the way.
But I was naive. I had a lot to learn. And being exposed to people who can afford to hire a guide for $700 a day, that was my school. Getting to be on the river and meet CEOs and entrepreneurs and people in the finance world and people who are doctors, and then hearing what they wish they would've done differently in life. Because that's the one thing I think I love is I love conversation, I love hearing people's stories, and I wasn't afraid to ask uncomfortable questions. And it was just the best way to learn for me was to learn through other people's experiences and journeys.
Shelby Stanger:
It's so cool because this year we've interviewed so many guides and we all share really similar stories. Started really young and got access to this demographic of people that we wouldn't normally get access to in a setting where we were the experts. And you told me you grew up in a trailer park in Flint, Michigan, and you're having access to these CEOs who have million-dollar houses in Aspen. So it's probably weird and also at the same time, it is what it is and you take what you like and you leave the rest and it probably opens your world a little bit and maybe it opens theirs too.
Shyanne Orvis:
Oh, yeah. I think it's mutual. I don't know, I think in that setting an opportunity for them to be vulnerable because sometimes I'm asking not just, "Do you have any advice for growing my career?" It's, "How did you get in that journey and how did you start that career? And what came at the cost of being a CEO or a millionaire, billionaire? Is there anything you would've done differently?" And a lot of people, not a lot of them, I'm not making people cry every time I'm going on a guided fishing trip, but there's been so many moments where we're sitting on the tailgate of the truck or we're in the river and people are getting emotional about their life at what they would've done different. And that's the biggest takeaway I've ever experienced was, I want to be successful and I want to financially support myself, but not at the cost of my relationships and my friendships and my happiness. And I don't know if I would've known all of those things had I not met people who learned all of that the hard way.
Shelby Stanger:
It's really interesting. At a young age, even in Aspen, I still don't understand, you could have gravitated towards being a skier or a snowboarder or an ultra runner or a hiker, all these things, but you chose fly fishing. And you're a woman, there's not many female fly fishermen. I have a friend who actually fly fishes for mako sharks. She's total badass. Her husband though was a fisherman and that's how she got into it. I'm just curious how you chose fly fishing over all these other things you could have done in Aspen when you got there?
Shyanne Orvis:
Yeah, I mean, realistically though, I wasn't going to be able to become a pro skateboarder or create a career around it. And I think for me it was like I knew when I was 19 and I started guiding, I could just see my life unfold and this vision essentially. And it was like I just knew in my heart, no matter what anybody said, I was on the right path. Because I could see there wasn't a lot of women in this space and there wasn't women telling their story.
There was only one way to do things and I just was like, whoa, that's crazy to me. Women deserve to be here. We deserve to be girly. I would wear a bandana fishing and a tank top, and that was crazy because I was only supposed to look a certain type of way. And there were a lot of women who did this in the fishing space. There were a lot of women who showed up and paved a path for me to be able to create my own path. But it was just so many barriers for women in the space and not a lot of anglers doing things differently. So I think almost instinctually when I was 19, I was like, I see what I'm supposed to do here. I can see how I can impact and change and inspire other women to go out and do it different and be ourselves.
Shelby Stanger:
Shyanne Orvis is a fly fishing guide who's passionate about conservation and getting more women involved in the sport. Beyond guiding, Shyanne shares fishing tips and videos about her adventures on social media. She's also written a children's book inspired by her son, Colter. I'm always curious about how folks manage to turn their passions and hobbies into a career and Shyanne's success as a young woman in the fly fishing industry is impressive. It's always interesting when we chase these wild ideas, it doesn't always line up financially. But somehow you've made a living pursuing your wild idea as a fly fisher woman and you have sponsors and you lead trips. And I'm just curious how you make it all work.
Shyanne Orvis:
I think that goes hand in hand with a little bit of my strong disposition and knowing what it's like to be poor. I'm okay living in the gray zone, so I don't know if I'll ever be financially comfortable per se because anytime I make money, I just go and travel with it. But I do a lot of hosting trips around the world and taking other people on these experiences. A lot of them are women specific or coed and we'll go to like, Mexico is a great place for people to really get into saltwater fishing.
And we'll stay at a fly fishing lodge and I just guide the experience, I make sure they have the right gear, that they have the right knowledge before they go out on the boat. They have the right expectations, maintain the stoke and the excitement around all of the experience. But it's cool because I get to bring all these people together and it just creates so many new friendships. And especially for women, there's not a lot of women in the space and it gives us an opportunity to come together and to fish together and connect with one another with such an empowering feeling. I walk away from every time I go on these trips just feeling so inspired.
Shelby Stanger:
Are you also the fun captain that takes them dancing at night?
Shyanne Orvis:
Oh, absolutely. I don't know if I have any advice for anybody looking to be wealthy in the outdoor space per se, especially with the life we're living. But I get to do what I love and I get to travel and I get to fish, got a roof over my head. And I have more than enough and I know what it's like to have nothing, so I don't really need much. I've got my friends and the gear that I need to go fishing. And what I will say is the partnerships, I'm so unbelievably grateful for being able to utilize social media to create content and to be able to tell my story and my journey and that it's resonated with other people. Because it does give me an opportunity for these brands to support what I'm doing in a financial way that allows me to spend time on the river, that allows me to not just guide and make a living from that, but to go and travel and to go on trips with my son.
And I think there's a lot of benefit that comes from the partnerships. And a lot of times people are like, how do I get partnerships? And my advice on that would be to be different and to be you. Especially in the fly fishing space, there's this stigma that, oh, I'm a guide, I've been doing this for 30 years, how come no one's giving me money? And I'm like, well, what are you doing that's different than all the other 500 fishing guides? Why should they support you and what you're doing? Are you giving back? Are you volunteering? Did you start something that's impactful? Are you creating content that's educational or exciting? What can you offer that makes you a really valuable asset for them to want to support?
Shelby Stanger:
In addition to posting beautiful videos about fly fishing in Colorado, Shyanne documents her travels to places like Argentina and Mexico. She also posts about preserving the places and the species she loves. Fly fishing wouldn't be possible without flourishing fish populations, which is why Shyanne mostly practices catch and release. It's important to her that we protect the Earth for future generations, which of course includes her two-year-old son, Colter. You have so much time on the water to think and it is a skillful sport. What has fly fishing taught you over the years?
Shyanne Orvis:
Man, fly fishing has taught me everything. It's taught me patience. It's taught me how to be connected with nature and our resources. I think what's really cool is watching how it's transformed motherhood for me. So now as a mom, I feel like I'm really patient. I'm not really reactive. It takes a lot for me to get triggered or upset. I'm like, "Oh, that makes sense. No worries buddy. Let's talk about it." Or when we're on the river, just going at his own pace and not rushing anything. If you rush anything in fly fishing, you're not going to catch any fish, you're not going to be in tune with nature. So I feel like it's created this opportunity for me to be a really present mother and just really in tune with what he needs. And if he's not enjoying fishing, then we just pack up and we go or we pivot and we look at bugs or birds or make a game or throw rocks in the water. So just not forcing anything.
Shelby Stanger:
I love that. I want to talk more about Colter. He sounds super cute. So how old is he?
Shyanne Orvis:
He's two and a half.
Shelby Stanger:
Has he ever caught a fish?
Shyanne Orvis:
Oh, yeah. His first fish was at two weeks old. I don't know if we can count it because technically I'm catching the fish. But he's two and a half, we probably go fishing minimum once a week, in the summer, every day. We spend a lot of time on the water so he can reel in fish, with my help, of course. He can net my fish, he can identify fish. I actually wrote a children's fly fishing book and I think in that book it's cool because it teaches kids the process of fly fishing. So it'll teach them about what we're wearing and the gear that we're using. And I started reading that to him at a really young age. So when we got to the river, he's like, "Waders. Net. Fly rod. Green drake. Brown trout. River." And all the keywords. So it's just so cool to watch all of that.
Shelby Stanger:
I also should have read that book before. I would've gotten a good education about fly fishing.
Shyanne Orvis:
I know. I'm going to have to ship you one, yeah. It'll be a great intro. It'll teach you everything you need to know.
Shelby Stanger:
Do you have any advice to parents who want to take their kids fishing or just take them to the outdoors?
Shyanne Orvis:
Yeah, absolutely. I think give your kid patience and yourself patience because, again, you can never really control the outcome and how that day is going to go. So just giving yourself grace and being patient with however it unfolds. Providing snacks and not forcing it. I think sometimes we want so badly for our kids to love what we do, that we can rush into it or overexpose them or force the experience on them. And if they're just not feeling it that day, being able to be like, "Okay, we'll try again another time." Or pivot and create a positive experience from it.
So if Colter's having a tough time, I'll just put down the fly rod and we look at bugs or we'll start throwing rocks in the river. We'll do anything other than fishing so that when I tell him, "Hey, baby, do you want to go fishing?" He's like, "Yes." Because he creates this positive association with fishing. It's not just him crying and not wanting to fish that day, it's a collective of all these moments. It's looking at the fish in the net, throwing rocks in the river, it's going for a walk in nature.
Shelby Stanger:
Even if Colter isn't the one reeling in a big fish, it's important to Shyanne to nurture his relationship with the outdoors. It took her 19 years to get into fly fishing, but Colter certainly has a head start. If you want to keep up with Shyanne, you can follow her on shyonthefly on Instagram. That's S-H-Y O-N T-H-E F-L-Y. Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI podcast network. It's hosted by me, Shelby Stanger, produced by Annie Fassler, Sylvia Thomas, and Sam Peers Nitzberg of Puddle Creative. Our senior producers are Jenny Barber and Hannah Boyd. Our executive producers are Paolo Mottola and Joe Crosby. As always, we love it when you follow the show, take time to rate it, and write a review wherever you listen. And remember, some of the best adventures happen when you follow your wildest ideas.