When Joyce Shepherd steps onto a riverbank, she carries with her more than just a fly rod. She carries decades of wisdom, a commitment to healing, and a passion for sharing the serenity of nature with others.
Born in Snow Hill, North Carolina, where her family farmed tobacco, Shepherd didn’t grow up fishing. “I always wanted to fish,” she recalls, “but I was a girl, and they wouldn’t take me.” At 35, she finally picked up a rod – and never looked back. Now 75, she has built a life centered around the water, casting not only for fish but for peace, healing, and community.
Teaching the Art of Casting
Shepherd specializes in casting, the skill of sending a delicate fly across the water to entice a fish. “Casting is about precision,” she explains. “If there’s a fish way over there, you’ve got to get your line right to it. We use flies – artificial bugs that imitate the real ones fish eat.”
But for Shepherd, teaching casting goes beyond technique. It’s a therapeutic tool, especially for the veterans she works with through Project Healing Waters and for cancer survivors through Casting Carolinas.
“Fly fishing takes people out of the headspace they’re in,” Shepherd says. “Veterans with PTSD have to focus on tying tiny, intricate flies, or on the rhythm of casting. It builds motor memory and calms their minds. For cancer patients, it takes their thoughts away from fear and back into the present moment. It brings peace.”
Shepherd has seen firsthand the transformative power of water and community. She remembers a veteran who once admitted in full transparency, “I used to go home and beat my wife. Now I go home and tie flies.” Another, struggling with suicidal thoughts, was saved by a simple phone call inviting him to go fishing.
For women with cancer, Shepherd and her colleagues provide free weekend retreats. “From the moment they arrive, we make sure they don’t carry the load alone – not even their luggage. It teaches them that help is there, that they don’t have to do everything by themselves.”
Determined to open doors for others, Shepherd co-founded Women on the Fly in North Carolina, a group that now boasts over 200 members. “It’s very important for me to show young women that they can do this,” she says. “We’ve built a sisterhood. We fish together, learn from each other, and support one another.”
Ask Shepherd what fishing gives her personally, and she’ll answer in one word: peace. “Water is very healing,” she says. “The minerals, the rhythm, the connection – it calms you. Even horses are put in streams to heal their legs. There’s something timeless about it.”
That belief in nature’s healing power drives her message to younger generations. In an age of screens and fast food, Shepherd urges young people to “try something new, get outside, and grow something – even if it’s just in a pot on the porch. Learn where your food comes from. Reconnect with nature before it’s too late.”
In 2018, Shepherd was inducted into the Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians Hall of Fame in Bryson City, North Carolina. The honor reflects not only her decades of casting but also her dedication to teaching, healing, and building community.
Despite being the only Black woman in the fly fishing circles she entered decades ago, Shepherd remembers being embraced and protected. “Fishermen are good people,” she reflects. “I never had an issue. They welcomed me.”
From farm fields in North Carolina to rivers across the Carolinas, from veterans and cancer survivors to hundreds of women picking up rods for the first time, Joyce Shepherd has cast wide nets of influence and healing.
Her story reminds us of the many ways healing can be found outside of traditional spaces. “Nature is essential to our human existence,” Shepherd says. “We just have to remember to breathe, to connect, and to let it bring us peace.”