This summer, CalTrout hosted a group of veterans from Project Healing Waters at our Shasta Springs Trout Camp fishing the Upper Sacramento River. We are very pleased to be able to give back to those who defend our country. Out on the river, each veteran participant landed trout, while learning nymph fishing and wading techniques in one of the state’s most beautiful environments.
Henry Little, longtime CalTrout member and Program Lead for Project Healing Waters-San Francisco, shared his experience from the trip: “The disabled veterans from the San Francisco Program of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, assisted by PHWFF-SF volunteers from the Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club, had “an experience of a lifetime” fishing the upper Sacramento and McCloud Rivers and swapping tales around the campfire at CalTrout’s Shasta Springs Trout Camp. A heartfelt thanks to CalTrout for making its Trout Camp available for those who have served our country so bravely!”
Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing (PHWFF) is a full-spectrum fly fishing program serving disabled active military service personnel and veterans. They’ve become a leader in the field of therapeutic outdoor recreation for the disabled using fly fishing as a rehabilitation tool. The program began in 2005 serving wounded military service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then, PHWFF has expanded nationwide, establishing its highly successful program in Department of Defense hospitals, Warrior Transition Units, and Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and clinics.
Top photo L to R: PHWFF-SF disabled veteran Jimmy Breiz crouching with a net in hand, PHWFF-SF Volunteer Cal Nakanishi (also an avid angler, supporter of CalTrout, and former US Army major, combat vet in Vietnam, and airborne ranger), and PHWFF-SF disabled veteran Rob Nugent casting.
Bottom photo: PHWFF-SF disabled veteran Jimmy Breiz.
