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)