May 28, 2024 • 18 mins
Fly-fishing guide Erica Nelson is welcoming a whole new segment of folks into her outdoorsy paradise.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to on the job. Today, we're talking with Erica Nelson,
a fly fishing guide in Colorado committed to making the
fishing community more diverse and more fun workdays for Erica,
Nelson begins softly.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Sometimes I just like to just sit at the water,
especially right when I arrive.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Sitting there and observing.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
What's going on and then just kind of connecting with
that place is really important to me. So looking around
at you know, what birds are around, or what kind
of bugs or if there's any hatches, and feeling the water. Yeah,
just connecting with the area in the moment.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Being a fly fishing guide in Crested Butte, Colorado, Erica
gets to make a connection with some of the most
beautiful places in the whole world, especially if you're as
excited about fishing as she is.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
You know, within ten minutes there's the Slate River in
the East River, and that's really fun for a bunch
of little brook trout. And then there's the gunnisin which
is gold metal water. So as the Taylor River further
up on the tailor there are like some major mega.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Trout up there. It's all catching release.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
And then above that there's like some creeks, so it's
a great place to take people learning how to fly fish.
There's like open meadows and so it really just depends.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
But you might be surprised to learn that for someone
whose job has become taking people out on the water.
Erica didn't always enjoy fishing.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
No. I actually hated it as a kid. My dad
loved fly fishing, and he tried to take me and
even spin fishing as a kid, just down a lake,
and I just remember hating it so much. It was
like painfully boring, and I would get frustrated and I
just remember throwing the pole in the water and I'm like,
f this, like I'm never touching a rot again, Like,
(01:59):
don't ever me. So my dad and I never talked
about fishing growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So it's no wonder that Erica's path to becoming a
fishing guide had more twists and turns than a meandering river.
At the beginning of her work life or her occupational headwaters,
if you will, Erica was working at a boutique hotel
over in Portland, Oregon.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I really liked the job. It was really pivotal for
my career and my experience. I started as like a
housekeeping supervisor and worked my way up into rooms management,
so I would then manage like housekeeping in front desk folks.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Among the best parts of that job for Erica were
her co workers. One even blossomed into a mentor, who
Erica credits with helping her thrive at work and develop
as a person.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And she was amazing because we moved hotels three different times,
and so it was a really great many years that
we got to work together, and we were kind of
this like dynamic duo.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And these were fancy hotels, the kind of place that
smells nice and looks cool, but also where the guests
can be a little needy. So when Erica got a
few days off, she'd often have a desire to get
away from all that pomp and hand holding and set
off into the wild landscapes of the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It was funny because you know, this was the boutique
hospitality world. And I would go rock claiming on the weekend,
or I would go like camping with friends and I
was like, I just slept on a rock and these
people are complaining about thread count in the sheets, and
I think that was a moment of like, wow, I
really used to like this that I still like hospitality,
but to a different degree, and it just couldn't really
(03:41):
empathize as much. And I think that's when I noticed
I lost this connection.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Around that same time, there were some staffing changes and
that mentor that Erica loved working with was replaced by
someone that she just wasn't really jiving with. So pretty quickly,
Erica found herself one if maybe there was a new
step in her life, a new adventure waiting for her.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And I ended up having this picture of Denali right
in front of my computer, and I was like, yeah,
you know, it would be really great to like climber
ount on someday, and it would be really great to
be outside right now. So yeah, I think I really
was fantasizing about being outdoors.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
People will often tell us that when things aren't going
as we'd like them to, that we should envision what
our new life might look like. Manifestation as it's called,
in which we send out our desires into the world
in the hopes that they come true, But often what
we get in response isn't exactly what we envisioned. So
(04:44):
while Erica sat there in her boutique hotel dreaming of
mountains in Alaska. A friend called her up and said, Hey,
why don't you come down to California and learn how
to be a whitewater rafting guide.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I think I said no, And then that afternoon and
I had a really hard feeting with my boss, and
then I called her that like evening and I was like, Okay,
I take it back, I'm coming down.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So it kind of all happened really quickly.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So despite having no prior rafting experience and being admittedly
afraid of water, soon Erica was all about rafting.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Oh my gosh, I loved it. It was.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I learned so many different skills, mostly about myself. For
some reason, I just honed in more like direction, because
when you're on the water, you need people to do something.
You need to do it right away or else we're
gonna flip, right, And I saw this beautiful marriage of
like the skills that I had in the office and
then in the outdoors of what I needed people to do,
and I was like, Wow, there's something to this. I
(05:47):
ended up getting an undergrad degree an outdoor leadership as
my minor, and I was.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Like, that's what it was.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
It was like this connection with people in the outdoors,
and so that was really cool, and that was kind
of like the trajectory of wanting to continue guiding, wanting
people to learn how to guide, wanting to do overnight trips,
and so yeah, it just kind of stuck with me
and it's just been such a great skill.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
But Erica isn't one to sit back and get comfy.
So after doing the whitewater rafting thing for a while,
she moved up to Wyoming, and while she was there,
she noticed that a lot of people were fishing, which,
as we'll recall from her childhood, was totally not her thing.
But whether it was the staggering beauty of Wyoming's rivers
(06:32):
or just how into fishing all these Wyoming folks seem
to be, Erica got intrigued. Then she got a fishing pole.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
And so I was like, you know, I'm just going
to try this out. So I just went on YouTube
and tried whipping it around and really wasn't successful in
the beginning.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
But again, like I've had.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
All these experiences of skiing and you know, rock claimbing
and backpacking and.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Was a learning curve.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
But with fly fishing, it was like this thing that
I wanted to be good at I was like, what
would it be like if I just caught one fish?
I just highly com made a goal for myself to
catch one fish, and then I'm going to move on
to the next thing.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
When we come back from the break, Erica catches that
first fish.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Looking for a job is lonely, endless searching phone calls
that go nowhere, applications that vanish into thin air. What
if you could link with dozens of local companies who
are hiring right now with just one connection. That's Express
Employment Professionals.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Find us at.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Expresspros dot com. One connection, endless opportunities and no fees
ever for job seekers Express Employment Professionals expresspros dot com.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
We're back with Erica Nelson, who, after moving to Wyoming,
gave herself the very modest goal of catching just one fish.
How long did it take you to catch that first fish?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
You know, honestly, probably like a year. And it was
like a year of like catching lots of trees, you know,
falling in the river, and I would pretend like I
knew what I was doing when other people would ask
to come along.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
But despite it taking an entire year for Erica to
catch her first fish, she started to see how people
could get so into it. There was something both thrilling
and almost spiritual about fishing. So she kept at it,
still slipping on rocks and getting her line wrapped around
tree branches, but getting ever more into it. And then
(08:38):
one night she goes to a bar, and being the
social person that she is, she strikes up a conversation
with an older gentleman next to her and lo and behold,
he's a fisherman.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
He's like, oh, you can row a boat, you can row,
I'll teach you how to fly fish.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
And I was like great.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So it was this really beautiful exchange that we had,
and he was an elder man, so it was really
to learn new experiences from him and be able to
kind of then start my skills and then can build
on that.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So just like that, while talking between SIPs at the bar,
Erica finds a fishing mentor to show where the ropes,
a wise old timer who could show her how to
tie knots and read the water and avoid all those
pesky tree limbs.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So yeah, him and I became really great friends for
the next few years after we met, so he was
a really He actually took me in my first overnight
float trip down on the Snake River softwork sneak and
that was a really cool experience. But to be able
to have like a solid mentor every weekend, I don't
think I would be able to have the skills where
(09:46):
I'm not today.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
In addition to the wisdom of this older mentor, Erica
also picked up fishing tips from people on social media
platforms like Instagram and if we're being honest, also, you know,
I was.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Pretty straightforward and honest of like just wiped right because
you were holding a fish to you my answering a
few questions like what kind of species is that? Like
how do I tie this? Now? Like do you have
any recommendations? And then that's when I actually started to
build a lot of friendships. So they were like, hey,
co meet me and finddale, like I'll take you on
the Green River. And you know, I ended up making
(10:24):
a lot of great friends and I'm still really good
friends with today.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
But the more time that Erica spent fishing, the more
she noticed that the people on the water didn't look
like her, and sometimes that brought unwanted attention.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Like I was the only woman at the boat ramp
and people would just stop and stare, and I'm like,
oh my gosh, this is so it's already like intimidating enough,
like backing up the trailer let alone, having like a
full audience staring at everything.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
And the online fishing community wasn't very diverse either.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I noticed that there wasn't like a lot of women
of color, especially you know, fishing having indigenous roots.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
And I got a lot of requests from people of.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Like take me fishing, you know, And I'm like, oh, man,
like there's this need in this calling that I'm seeing
in this industry that need more female guides in the industry.
So when I moved to Colorado, I'm feeling this like
this tug, this like need, this calling almost to female,
and so I was like, I'm just going to do
a season and I ended up having a very busy
(11:29):
summer of just like people from all over the world,
really particularly in the US, but coming they're like, hey,
I heard your guiding, and it ended up like being
really fun and I was like, wow, this is awesome,
and I'm seeing an increase and I'm inspiring all these
like other people that would never normally try fly fishing. Ever,
and after digging into some research, there was only one
(11:52):
other indigenous female guide in the entire state of Colorado,
so that kind of made me like the second and
I was like, Wow, this is a really interesting like
demographics and how can I build more people, you know,
their skill sets and wanting to be into this because
I've always found fly fishing as a gateway towards conservation.
The more that you spend time in the outdoors and
(12:12):
these beautiful areas, the more that you want to protect it.
And so it's kind of become this like I guess,
like passion, I guess mission for me, so it's kind
of how I fell into that.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Along with becoming only the second indigenous female fly fishing
guide in Colorado, Erica also worked hard to have an
impact beyond her region on Instagram and producing a podcast
she called The Awkward Angler, in which she tackles some
of the difficult subjects or awkward conversations as she prefers
(12:46):
to see them that the fishing community needed to have.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
I've heard so many different fishy podcasts, but it's all
about big fish and destinations and things that I can't afford,
and it's fine at all, but I've kind of had
a different perspective when I'm out on the water, and
I wanted to share that. And also, I fly fish
with a bunch of folks that are you know, that
you typically wouldn't see on the water, and I want
(13:11):
to learn about their experiences that they have, And so
I started the Awkward Angler podcast and it's an authentic
series talking about fishing storytelling with folks in the outdoor industry,
and so it's different people's experiences in the outdoors anyway.
It's just these conversations that are typically either taboo.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
To have or awkward.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
That's kind of the name of the name, because you know,
it is awkward to learn how to fly fish, and
the things that I like to bring up about the
industry and point out is awkward to talk about.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
And along the way, she picked up some fans, some
of whom traveled great distances to spend a day on
the water with her.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I've had a transcuple request me and it was like
a surprise for the partner's birthday and it was really
cool to see her like wide up. She's like, oh
my god, you booked new Erica.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
This is awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So I typically have a lot of clients that are
on my age. Most of them are women, women of color.
I have a lot of non binary trans folks, and
so I typically get those clients that are have been
historically excluded in the industry.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
But as Erica sees it, she's not just introducing people
to fishing, she's reconnecting them with the natural world.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Because I've always found fly fishing as a gateway towards conservation.
The more that you spend time in the outdoors and
these beautiful areas, the more that you want to protect it.
And so it's kind of become this like I guess
like passion, I guess mission for me, and so that's
kind of how I fell into that.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, you had said that you see the fishing industry
in a lot of ways as a lot of people taking,
and you're trying to make it a more reciprocal, harmonious relationship.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Absolutely, I find it really important to have a relationship
with everything.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
You know, we really need to protect.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Our water and our air and the areas that we
recreate and live in. There's a term called hojo in
my culture, and that's bringing balance and harmony in your life,
and so that's on a personal level, but with all
things and so I find that really important to bring
into guiding.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
And of course Erica and her clients have a lot
of fun out there.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
It's funny because they always recognize they're like, why is
every other boat so serious? And we have like music going,
We're having a good time, and you know, we can
actually shape the way that we want this to go.
It doesn't have to be this one strict way to
do things. And so I think that's really fun to
be able to play around with and get other people
that wouldn't normally experience it, and we get to experience
(15:55):
it how they want to and how they're comfortable with
doing it.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
So, after taking some leaps of faith and catching her
fair share of trees, Erica Nelson has established herself as
a sought after fishing guide. But while it seems like
a dream to get to share the thing you love
so much with others day in and day out, you
have to be careful.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
See, that's the thing of like why I didn't want
to guide because I was like, I like fishing too much.
But I definitely continue to hold my boundaries of having
that balance, and so there are times where I've learned
how to say no and be able to take time out.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
For myself because Erica knows that, just like a river's
fish supply, our passions are precious resources that need to
be protected. So while she'll continue guiding, Erica will be
doing a little less of it as she starts on
yet another new adventure in her life, building a fly
fishing guide school of her own, one aimed at making
(16:59):
the more inclusive and welcoming to a wider array of people.
So if you've been stuck in a professional rut lately
and been dreaming of a new outdoorsy career manifesting your
next adventure, maybe you should give Erica a call. But
if she doesn't pick up, don't take offense. Just leave
(17:22):
a message because there's a good chance that eric and
Nelson is taking a little time away from her work
life to do what she loves, which, by the way,
her dad is thrilled about.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
He was in Las Vegas about it, and so he
came out for a weekend and that's all we did.
He was we'd wake up a breakfast and go fishing
all day and then come back up out of.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
The canyon, have dinner, and then repeat.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And it was so much fun because it was a
really one and the fishing was really awesome, but it's
just a great way to connect with my dad.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
For on the job. I'm Avery Thompson.
Welcome to on the job. Today, we're talking with Erica Nelson,
a fly fishing guide in Colorado committed to making the
fishing community more diverse and more fun workdays for Erica,
Nelson begins softly.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Sometimes I just like to just sit at the water,
especially right when I arrive.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Sitting there and observing.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
What's going on and then just kind of connecting with
that place is really important to me. So looking around
at you know, what birds are around, or what kind
of bugs or if there's any hatches, and feeling the water. Yeah,
just connecting with the area in the moment.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Being a fly fishing guide in Crested Butte, Colorado, Erica
gets to make a connection with some of the most
beautiful places in the whole world, especially if you're as
excited about fishing as she is.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
You know, within ten minutes there's the Slate River in
the East River, and that's really fun for a bunch
of little brook trout. And then there's the gunnisin which
is gold metal water. So as the Taylor River further
up on the tailor there are like some major mega.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Trout up there. It's all catching release.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
And then above that there's like some creeks, so it's
a great place to take people learning how to fly fish.
There's like open meadows and so it really just depends.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
But you might be surprised to learn that for someone
whose job has become taking people out on the water.
Erica didn't always enjoy fishing.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
No. I actually hated it as a kid. My dad
loved fly fishing, and he tried to take me and
even spin fishing as a kid, just down a lake,
and I just remember hating it so much. It was
like painfully boring, and I would get frustrated and I
just remember throwing the pole in the water and I'm like,
f this, like I'm never touching a rot again, Like,
(01:59):
don't ever me. So my dad and I never talked
about fishing growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So it's no wonder that Erica's path to becoming a
fishing guide had more twists and turns than a meandering river.
At the beginning of her work life or her occupational headwaters,
if you will, Erica was working at a boutique hotel
over in Portland, Oregon.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I really liked the job. It was really pivotal for
my career and my experience. I started as like a
housekeeping supervisor and worked my way up into rooms management,
so I would then manage like housekeeping in front desk folks.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Among the best parts of that job for Erica were
her co workers. One even blossomed into a mentor, who
Erica credits with helping her thrive at work and develop
as a person.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And she was amazing because we moved hotels three different times,
and so it was a really great many years that
we got to work together, and we were kind of
this like dynamic duo.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And these were fancy hotels, the kind of place that
smells nice and looks cool, but also where the guests
can be a little needy. So when Erica got a
few days off, she'd often have a desire to get
away from all that pomp and hand holding and set
off into the wild landscapes of the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It was funny because you know, this was the boutique
hospitality world. And I would go rock claiming on the weekend,
or I would go like camping with friends and I
was like, I just slept on a rock and these
people are complaining about thread count in the sheets, and
I think that was a moment of like, wow, I
really used to like this that I still like hospitality,
but to a different degree, and it just couldn't really
(03:41):
empathize as much. And I think that's when I noticed
I lost this connection.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Around that same time, there were some staffing changes and
that mentor that Erica loved working with was replaced by
someone that she just wasn't really jiving with. So pretty quickly,
Erica found herself one if maybe there was a new
step in her life, a new adventure waiting for her.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And I ended up having this picture of Denali right
in front of my computer, and I was like, yeah,
you know, it would be really great to like climber
ount on someday, and it would be really great to
be outside right now. So yeah, I think I really
was fantasizing about being outdoors.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
People will often tell us that when things aren't going
as we'd like them to, that we should envision what
our new life might look like. Manifestation as it's called,
in which we send out our desires into the world
in the hopes that they come true, But often what
we get in response isn't exactly what we envisioned. So
(04:44):
while Erica sat there in her boutique hotel dreaming of
mountains in Alaska. A friend called her up and said, Hey,
why don't you come down to California and learn how
to be a whitewater rafting guide.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I think I said no, And then that afternoon and
I had a really hard feeting with my boss, and
then I called her that like evening and I was like, Okay,
I take it back, I'm coming down.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So it kind of all happened really quickly.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So despite having no prior rafting experience and being admittedly
afraid of water, soon Erica was all about rafting.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Oh my gosh, I loved it. It was.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I learned so many different skills, mostly about myself. For
some reason, I just honed in more like direction, because
when you're on the water, you need people to do something.
You need to do it right away or else we're
gonna flip, right, And I saw this beautiful marriage of
like the skills that I had in the office and
then in the outdoors of what I needed people to do,
and I was like, Wow, there's something to this. I
(05:47):
ended up getting an undergrad degree an outdoor leadership as
my minor, and I was.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Like, that's what it was.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
It was like this connection with people in the outdoors,
and so that was really cool, and that was kind
of like the trajectory of wanting to continue guiding, wanting
people to learn how to guide, wanting to do overnight trips,
and so yeah, it just kind of stuck with me
and it's just been such a great skill.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
But Erica isn't one to sit back and get comfy.
So after doing the whitewater rafting thing for a while,
she moved up to Wyoming, and while she was there,
she noticed that a lot of people were fishing, which,
as we'll recall from her childhood, was totally not her thing.
But whether it was the staggering beauty of Wyoming's rivers
(06:32):
or just how into fishing all these Wyoming folks seem
to be, Erica got intrigued. Then she got a fishing pole.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
And so I was like, you know, I'm just going
to try this out. So I just went on YouTube
and tried whipping it around and really wasn't successful in
the beginning.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
But again, like I've had.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
All these experiences of skiing and you know, rock claimbing
and backpacking and.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Was a learning curve.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
But with fly fishing, it was like this thing that
I wanted to be good at I was like, what
would it be like if I just caught one fish?
I just highly com made a goal for myself to
catch one fish, and then I'm going to move on
to the next thing.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
When we come back from the break, Erica catches that
first fish.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Looking for a job is lonely, endless searching phone calls
that go nowhere, applications that vanish into thin air. What
if you could link with dozens of local companies who
are hiring right now with just one connection. That's Express
Employment Professionals.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Find us at.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Expresspros dot com. One connection, endless opportunities and no fees
ever for job seekers Express Employment Professionals expresspros dot com.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
We're back with Erica Nelson, who, after moving to Wyoming,
gave herself the very modest goal of catching just one fish.
How long did it take you to catch that first fish?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
You know, honestly, probably like a year. And it was
like a year of like catching lots of trees, you know,
falling in the river, and I would pretend like I
knew what I was doing when other people would ask
to come along.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
But despite it taking an entire year for Erica to
catch her first fish, she started to see how people
could get so into it. There was something both thrilling
and almost spiritual about fishing. So she kept at it,
still slipping on rocks and getting her line wrapped around
tree branches, but getting ever more into it. And then
(08:38):
one night she goes to a bar, and being the
social person that she is, she strikes up a conversation
with an older gentleman next to her and lo and behold,
he's a fisherman.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
He's like, oh, you can row a boat, you can row,
I'll teach you how to fly fish.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
And I was like great.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So it was this really beautiful exchange that we had,
and he was an elder man, so it was really
to learn new experiences from him and be able to
kind of then start my skills and then can build
on that.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So just like that, while talking between SIPs at the bar,
Erica finds a fishing mentor to show where the ropes,
a wise old timer who could show her how to
tie knots and read the water and avoid all those
pesky tree limbs.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So yeah, him and I became really great friends for
the next few years after we met, so he was
a really He actually took me in my first overnight
float trip down on the Snake River softwork sneak and
that was a really cool experience. But to be able
to have like a solid mentor every weekend, I don't
think I would be able to have the skills where
(09:46):
I'm not today.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
In addition to the wisdom of this older mentor, Erica
also picked up fishing tips from people on social media
platforms like Instagram and if we're being honest, also, you know,
I was.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Pretty straightforward and honest of like just wiped right because
you were holding a fish to you my answering a
few questions like what kind of species is that? Like
how do I tie this? Now? Like do you have
any recommendations? And then that's when I actually started to
build a lot of friendships. So they were like, hey,
co meet me and finddale, like I'll take you on
the Green River. And you know, I ended up making
(10:24):
a lot of great friends and I'm still really good
friends with today.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
But the more time that Erica spent fishing, the more
she noticed that the people on the water didn't look
like her, and sometimes that brought unwanted attention.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Like I was the only woman at the boat ramp
and people would just stop and stare, and I'm like,
oh my gosh, this is so it's already like intimidating enough,
like backing up the trailer let alone, having like a
full audience staring at everything.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
And the online fishing community wasn't very diverse either.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I noticed that there wasn't like a lot of women
of color, especially you know, fishing having indigenous roots.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
And I got a lot of requests from people of.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Like take me fishing, you know, And I'm like, oh, man,
like there's this need in this calling that I'm seeing
in this industry that need more female guides in the industry.
So when I moved to Colorado, I'm feeling this like
this tug, this like need, this calling almost to female,
and so I was like, I'm just going to do
a season and I ended up having a very busy
(11:29):
summer of just like people from all over the world,
really particularly in the US, but coming they're like, hey,
I heard your guiding, and it ended up like being
really fun and I was like, wow, this is awesome,
and I'm seeing an increase and I'm inspiring all these
like other people that would never normally try fly fishing. Ever,
and after digging into some research, there was only one
(11:52):
other indigenous female guide in the entire state of Colorado,
so that kind of made me like the second and
I was like, Wow, this is a really interesting like
demographics and how can I build more people, you know,
their skill sets and wanting to be into this because
I've always found fly fishing as a gateway towards conservation.
The more that you spend time in the outdoors and
(12:12):
these beautiful areas, the more that you want to protect it.
And so it's kind of become this like I guess,
like passion, I guess mission for me, so it's kind
of how I fell into that.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Along with becoming only the second indigenous female fly fishing
guide in Colorado, Erica also worked hard to have an
impact beyond her region on Instagram and producing a podcast
she called The Awkward Angler, in which she tackles some
of the difficult subjects or awkward conversations as she prefers
(12:46):
to see them that the fishing community needed to have.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
I've heard so many different fishy podcasts, but it's all
about big fish and destinations and things that I can't afford,
and it's fine at all, but I've kind of had
a different perspective when I'm out on the water, and
I wanted to share that. And also, I fly fish
with a bunch of folks that are you know, that
you typically wouldn't see on the water, and I want
(13:11):
to learn about their experiences that they have, And so
I started the Awkward Angler podcast and it's an authentic
series talking about fishing storytelling with folks in the outdoor industry,
and so it's different people's experiences in the outdoors anyway.
It's just these conversations that are typically either taboo.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
To have or awkward.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
That's kind of the name of the name, because you know,
it is awkward to learn how to fly fish, and
the things that I like to bring up about the
industry and point out is awkward to talk about.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
And along the way, she picked up some fans, some
of whom traveled great distances to spend a day on
the water with her.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I've had a transcuple request me and it was like
a surprise for the partner's birthday and it was really
cool to see her like wide up. She's like, oh
my god, you booked new Erica.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
This is awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So I typically have a lot of clients that are
on my age. Most of them are women, women of color.
I have a lot of non binary trans folks, and
so I typically get those clients that are have been
historically excluded in the industry.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
But as Erica sees it, she's not just introducing people
to fishing, she's reconnecting them with the natural world.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Because I've always found fly fishing as a gateway towards conservation.
The more that you spend time in the outdoors and
these beautiful areas, the more that you want to protect it.
And so it's kind of become this like I guess
like passion, I guess mission for me, and so that's
kind of how I fell into that.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, you had said that you see the fishing industry
in a lot of ways as a lot of people taking,
and you're trying to make it a more reciprocal, harmonious relationship.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Absolutely, I find it really important to have a relationship
with everything.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
You know, we really need to protect.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Our water and our air and the areas that we
recreate and live in. There's a term called hojo in
my culture, and that's bringing balance and harmony in your life,
and so that's on a personal level, but with all
things and so I find that really important to bring
into guiding.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
And of course Erica and her clients have a lot
of fun out there.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
It's funny because they always recognize they're like, why is
every other boat so serious? And we have like music going,
We're having a good time, and you know, we can
actually shape the way that we want this to go.
It doesn't have to be this one strict way to
do things. And so I think that's really fun to
be able to play around with and get other people
that wouldn't normally experience it, and we get to experience
(15:55):
it how they want to and how they're comfortable with
doing it.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
So, after taking some leaps of faith and catching her
fair share of trees, Erica Nelson has established herself as
a sought after fishing guide. But while it seems like
a dream to get to share the thing you love
so much with others day in and day out, you
have to be careful.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
See, that's the thing of like why I didn't want
to guide because I was like, I like fishing too much.
But I definitely continue to hold my boundaries of having
that balance, and so there are times where I've learned
how to say no and be able to take time out.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
For myself because Erica knows that, just like a river's
fish supply, our passions are precious resources that need to
be protected. So while she'll continue guiding, Erica will be
doing a little less of it as she starts on
yet another new adventure in her life, building a fly
fishing guide school of her own, one aimed at making
(16:59):
the more inclusive and welcoming to a wider array of people.
So if you've been stuck in a professional rut lately
and been dreaming of a new outdoorsy career manifesting your
next adventure, maybe you should give Erica a call. But
if she doesn't pick up, don't take offense. Just leave
(17:22):
a message because there's a good chance that eric and
Nelson is taking a little time away from her work
life to do what she loves, which, by the way,
her dad is thrilled about.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
He was in Las Vegas about it, and so he
came out for a weekend and that's all we did.
He was we'd wake up a breakfast and go fishing
all day and then come back up out of.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
The canyon, have dinner, and then repeat.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And it was so much fun because it was a
really one and the fishing was really awesome, but it's
just a great way to connect with my dad.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
For on the job. I'm Avery Thompson.
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