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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2016)
20 Wednesday, April 13, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Fishing guide shares her passion She blames her husband Dave. Correspondent When they first met, Mary Sisters’ Fly Fisher’s Place Ann was not a fisherwoman. has a new guide — Mary Ann “I always thought fly fish- Dozer, a woman who radiates ing was the stupidest thing with infectious energy and Dave did,” she said. whose enthusiasm for fly fish- Until they took that trip to ing is boundless. When she Yellowstone and she tried it starts talking about fly fish- for the first time. ing, her eyes get wide and she The rest, as they say, is smiles a lot and her vocabu- history. Trained as a process lary fills up with words like engineer, Dozer says that in “adrenaline” and “passion.” some part what drew her to Dozer, a graduate of fly fishing were the techni- Purdue University and for cal and analytical aspects of many years employed as an the sport, though she leaves engineer by Hewlett Packard, plenty of room for the roman- started fly fishing in 1995 in tic vision of the lone fly-fisher Yellowstone National Park. working a canyon riffle. “I love to be in the outdoors,” she said. “And what is better than the Zen of actually stepping into the water and being there?” In 2002, she became active with Casting for Recovery, whose mission is “to enhance the quality of life of women with breast cancer photo by dave dozer through a unique Rewards of skill and patience. program that By Craig Rullman combines breast-cancer edu- cation and peer support with the therapeutic sport of fly fishing.” She remains active in Casting for Recovery, which provides free retreats at more than 42 locations around the country, serving some 600 women a year. Three years later, Dozer and her husband, Dave, who builds custom bamboo fly rods, were partners in a Corvallis fly shop. Over time, Mary Ann became interested in guiding, and she has been a profes- sional guide since 2009, when she travelled to Idaho for a Casting for Recovery retreat and met Julie Mizner. Dozer says, laughing, “She told me I was good enough to be a fly fishing guide, but I really needed to learn how to row a boat.” So she did, and rowing a boat became a critical skill on her very first guiding experi- ence, which was a float trip down the Salmon River. From 2009 through 2015 Dozer guided fly fishing trips for Silver Creek Outfitters, fishing primarily the main stem of the Salmon River out of Stanley, Idaho. Though she was guiding out of Idaho, she has fished photo by Jane lanning mary Ann Dozer loves being on the river. all over the western United States. Mary Ann and Dave settled in Sisters last year, excited by the prospect of being able to fish “every day of the year.” Mary Ann is also a Master Casting Instructor, certified through the Federation of Fly Fishers, one of only 150 peo- ple in the United States who hold that rating. “Guiding is teaching,” Mary Ann says, adding that she feels compelled to share the thrill that she enjoyed when she first started fly fish- ing, and still enjoys. “It is so much fun to share your pas- sion, to get people excited.” She notes that there is a process to her teaching meth- ods, and she tries to stay ahead of the client, to be pre- pared to answer “the ques- tions you maybe wouldn’t normally ask.” And what is her goal for new fly fishers, or perhaps that person who has always wanted to, but has hesitated, or felt intimidated by the lan- guage and technicalities of fly fishing? “I know what it’s like if you haven’t been fly fishing before. I felt the same way, and I was lucky in the way I got started. But when I finally tried it I wished I had started earlier. At the end of the day the goal is for clients to walk away and be able to fish on their own. And to catch fish, of course,” she says with a wink. Mary Ann Dozer guides out of The Fly Fisher’s Place in Sisters. If you are inter- ested in taking a guided trip with her, call 541-549-3474 or drop in at the shop. Her personal website is www. FlyFishingPursuits.org. And you can learn more about Dave Dozer’s custom bamboo rods at BambooPursuits.org. Quilt Drawing for FURRY FRIEND S 501 ( c )( 3 ) FOUNDATION 100% of the proceeds go to Furry Friends Foundation. “Friends of Furry Friends” quilt was pieced by Valerie Fercho-Tillery. The bold colors and incredible detail make this a spectacular quilt. The quilt is currently on display at The Nugget offi ce, 442 E. Main Ave. Bring your pup by for a dog cookie and have a look! Tickets may be purchased at The Nugget offi ce or online at our website www.furryfriendsfoundation.org. Tickets are $1 each, six for $5 or go for it, 25 for $20. Info: 541-549-9941 “Friends of Furry Friends” - by Valerie Fercho-Tillery (46"w x 59"h)