New Home Base
In 2026, the Virginia Fly Fishing & Wine Festival (January 9-10, 2026 in Doswell at the Virginia state fairgrounds) will feature an entirely updated Beyond the Cast Women’s Fly Fishing Symposium. Both the 2024 and 2025 BtC events were successful in imparting crucial angling skills and nurturing new fishing partnerships among our female participants. In 2026 we’re are again expanding our offerings: Beyond the Cast participants will meet on festival grounds in the The Meadow Hall Mansion--a historic and stately building we have secured for their exclusive use. The symposium will be held entirely inside on Friday January 9th from 8:00 AM-4:00PM.
A New Kickoff Event
Beyond the Cast begins with a bang: The symposium kickoff event, “Women, Wine, & Fly Tying,” will be held Thursday, January 8, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Meadow Hall Mansion. Women, Wine, & Fly Tying guests will enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres, adult beverages, and fly tying with experts along with special guests of the festival. All interested women fly anglers are invited to the kickoff event which is open to the public. This event has become so popular that we are now allowing up 75 women attend!
What is Beyond the Cast?
“Beyond the Cast Women’s Fly Fishing Symposium” was the first event of its kind, offering a wide variety of intermediate to advanced fly-fishing programming developed specifically for women and taught by experts from all over the country. “We’ve provided numerous introductory casting and ‘Fly Fishing 101’-style classes over the years,” says Festival Director Beau Beasley, “and those classes have been enormously successful. ‘Beyond the Cast’ is different. This is a program by and for women, with a focus on topics that women have told us they’re looking for and haven’t found elsewhere. Having said this, women fly anglers of any skill level are welcome to attend.
Schedule of Events
“Women told us that they don’t fish as often as they’d like to--and sometimes stop fishing altogether--because they can’t find fishing partners. They’re looking for like-minded outdoor women to connect with. So beyond teaching skills, we’re helping women establish networks and make connections--with potential fishing buddies, and with guides and outfitters. We have built the infrastructure that enables them to create their own community.
This year's Beyond the Cast will offer more advance classes which will focus on tactics to land steelhead, as well as saltwater species. Most classes will be taught by female guides who are experts in their fields.
8AM-4PM BTC Women’s Fly-Fishing Symposium Meadow Hall Mansion
8-8:10 Registration
8:10-8:20 Welcome Beasley/Taylor
8:30-9:20 Tom Rosenbauer How to Read the Water
9:30-10:20 Christa Clasgens All About Steelhead
10:30-11:20 Wanda Taylor What Is Saltwater Fly Fishing
11:30-12:50 Working Lunch Multiple Speakers
1-1:50 Bonnie Braiziel How to Interact with Wildlife
2-2:50 Mike Tayloe Duct Tape & Whiskey: First-Aid Kits in the Wild
3-3:50 Charity Rutter Mountain Trout Tactics