ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
Next up, put your waders on and step into the river.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "A WINOOSKI CHEF FINDS PEACE IN FLY FISHING")
ANDREW WYSLOTSKY: Ooh, that was my best cast of the day.
DYLAN MOODY: Yeah. That one was good.
WYSLOTSKY: That was pretty (laughter).
SCHMITZ: Vermont chef Andrew Wyslotsky fell in love with fly fishing during the pandemic when work at his restaurant slowed down. And he wanted to share that love with other people, like Dylan Moody, a student reporter at the University of Vermont.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "A WINOOSKI CHEF FINDS PEACE IN FLY FISHING")
WYSLOTSKY: (Laughter).
MOODY: And it helps you when you don't have to worry about me being on the other side.
WYSLOTSKY: That is nice. That's what it's - I've hooked myself a few times, and it's something I never want to do to anybody.
(SOUNDBITE OF FISHING REEL WHIRRING)
SCHMITZ: Moody's resulting podcast about fishing and mental health received an honorable mention in NPR's College Podcast Challenge. Here's an excerpt from their interview.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "A WINOOSKI CHEF FINDS PEACE IN FLY FISHING")
WYSLOTSKY: Fly fishing, for me, started probably March 2020 and just, like, changed everything. It became almost like...
(SOUNDBITE OF FISHING REEL WHIRRING)
WYSLOTSKY: ...Yeah - any free time I have, this is what I want to be doing now. I really use it on, like, my mental health journey quite bit. I'm bipolar, ADHD, and it just - yeah - helps ground me.
(SOUNDBITE OF FISHING REEL WHIRRING)
WYSLOTSKY: Big one.
My whole life, I've been, like, the biggest proponent of therapy, mental health services, everything. But I was also one of those people who was like, I don't need that. I'm fine. And I remember, you know, it was the moment I realized, like, maybe you reach out to somebody because this doesn't feel OK.
I was at one of the restaurants and got a phone call from the catering manager just letting me know - it's like, oh, hey, we tacked on an event for tonight, and we have a tasting, as well, just booked. And in that moment, I'm just sitting there. I was like, I don't have any of this product. Why wasn't this communicated? Like, how am I going to pull this off in the next two hours? Having those thoughts and then opening my eyes and just being surrounded by broken coffee cups, I was like, oh, what happened? And realizing I was - like, I just smashed a bunch of coffee cups because I was mad. So that's when I realized, like, maybe I need to talk to somebody. This doesn't feel like a measured response (laughter). And I remember, like, not even my first therapy appointment...
(SOUNDBITE OF FISHING REEL WHIRRING)
WYSLOTSKY: ...But just the doctor's appointment where I brought up to my primary care that it's like, hey, I want to see a therapist. I got in my car, and I was sobbing afterwards. My wife called me and was like, oh, how was it? And she could hear I was crying. She's like, are you OK? I was like, I'm incredible. Like, I'm fixing this. I'm going to help me.
That was a fish (laughter). I just pulled that lure right out of its mouth.
(SOUNDBITE OF FISHING REEL WHIRRING)
WYSLOTSKY: Everybody should go to therapy. It's just been such a game changer. And having, like, therapists teach me mindfulness and being able to work that into my everyday life like this. This is - I'm just filling up my battery for the week when I come out here. If I don't catch a fish, I don't catch a fish. That's fine. But I'm just going to spend, you know, two hours flinging my arm back and forth, just thinking about the rhythm of that. Like, there's nothing else in my head except for the water I'm standing in, the motion of my arm, watching my line. Like, that's it. And it's fantastic. Like, it's incredible. And yeah, just, like, nothing else matters. Like, we're such tiny things in the world. Everything's going to be fine.
(SOUNDBITE OF FISHING REEL WHIRRING) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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