Get Every Body on the Water
Serene Cusack, Fatty on the Fly & Outcast Anglers
Serene Cusack is the huge smile, infectious laugh and indomitable spirit behind Fatty on the Fly and Outcast Anglers.
Serene’s hero’s journey kind of started like many others we talk about on the pod - she started looking around while she was doing her favorite outdoor activities, and realized that no one looked like her, and decided she could do something about it, or at least try to show up more visibly as a self-defined fat person who loved to fly fish.
Cue the pandemic, and Serene was stuck at home on furlough thinking all the things on repeat. But instead of getting bummed out and discouraged, she let her mind wander (wade?!?) into all kinds of new ideas about building community around the water. And for trying to hold a very exclusive-not-in-a-good-way industry accountable for its lack of efforts to welcome more and different anglers into the ‘club’.
Quick note, the language gets a little salty (briefly) when we start talking about internet trolls, but in all honesty, Serene’s message can and should be heard by all but the youngest kids. So I hope you’ll let this one rip!
I also hope you’ll go feed off Serene's boundless energy by following her @Fattyonthefly on Instagram and Facebook, and if you have any interest whatsoever in learning to fly fish - actually ON the water, not just a big lawn - keep an eye on ConfluenceCollective for more information about the 2023 Outcast Campout dates. Or better yet, connect with Serene and Bri directly if you want to help plan your own campout at your own awesome, local, 100% fish-guaranteed river! Let’s all take a page out of Serene’s book and make a point of building the communities we want to be part of!
Serene helps out during the most photographed first catch ever at Outcast Campout Maine
Speaking of community, I hope you'll join Guides Gone Wild for our next live event - Iron Chef Weekend - November 4th through 6th! Sign up here for more information, and to be notified when registration is live.
And finally, some links from my chat with Serene:
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Gallatin River (MT)
Outdoors for All (NC)
Ranger Outdoors (TN)
Madison River (MT/WY) - watch out for those waders!
Oros strike indicators (aka bobbers)