My Life With A Legend - A Quarter Century with the legendary Joan Wulff - By Sheila Hassan

As many anglers know, Joan Wulff is an icon in our sport. In October, Joan will celebrate her 100^th birthday.    Reflecting on this milestone prompted me to reflect on my unique experiences working with her for the past 26 years.

Joan paved the way for women to be accepted as equals in the fly-fishing world. It was Joan’s efforts through which women moved from being welcomed companions to respected fly anglers. Because of her knowledge, skill, and dedication to the sport, she was accepted, making her very likely the first woman to be recognized as a serious angler. 

Whether recalling her casting demonstrations in a fancy dress or the classic photograph of Joan in shorts making a beautiful long cast, she demonstrated that women did not have to be frumpy and quiet. We could be well-dressed, elegant, and skilled. Joan was competent, confident, well-dressed, and poised: that is the full package, and Joan was accepted and respected for all of it.

Joan is the most knowledgeable female fly angler I know. The fact that she created a language to describe the casting stroke still amazes me. I cannot think of another casting book that is so detailed, specifying exactly when actions occur during the cast and how to vary them to achieve a specific casting outcome. There are numerous fly-casting books written, and several of them by women, but Joan’s is the most detailed and, in my opinion, the most helpful to anglers. 

As a teacher and mentor, Joan is equally impressive. Over the years, she has encouraged so many women to try fly casting while also convincing them that they, too, could become skilled. Joan always conveyed to her students—and to women in particular—that she wanted them to be independent in their fly fishing, not reliant on a male partner who had likely introduced them to the sport.

During casting practice sessions at the school, Joan would purposefully split up couples so that each person was in a different casting group. She observed that this prevented one partner (usually the male) from trying to teach the other partner (usually the female) during class. She wanted each person to learn at their own pace, with no added pressure, and ultimately, the women felt more empowered.

Each year at the Wulff School, Joan was present to meet each student. She was interested in them as individuals and would ask them how they came to attend the school. She had lunch with the students to get to know them as people beyond their fishing lives. The students, and particularly the women, really appreciated that Joan was genuinely interested in them and their success. On several occasions, female students with tears in their eyes shared with me that they had never before believed they could enjoy fly fishing or become skilled at it. Through their time with Joan, they felt inspired and realized that it was indeed possible. 

As for Joan’s influence on my life, it is so profound that it is hard to describe. I feel that Joan is my soulmate when it comes to discussions about casting. There is no other woman with whom I have had such detailed casting discussions. Joan is a hardworking, disciplined woman, and she respected my efforts to absorb her casting method, both for my own casting and for teaching. When Joan was ready to retire from running the school, she asked whether I would be interested in becoming the director of the Wulff School. That was a big yes! She shared with me that she felt it was important for women to be represented in our sport and that those women should be knowledgeable and skilled.

As my mentor, Joan has always been supportive. She answered my seemingly endless questions about her casting method. She was never annoyed by my questions, no matter how detailed they were or how many I asked. She reviewed the lesson plans I wrote to ensure the continued consistency of her teaching methods among the school's instructors. She provided me with opportunities that I otherwise would not have had. Because of Joan, I became a contributor to Vin T. Sparano’s Complete Outdoors Encyclopedia (Universe Publishing, 2014) and had a small part in the video biography of Joan’s life, directed by Jeffrey Pill (wulffprojects.com).

Joan encouraged me to write about casting. I recall her telling me that if you really want to understand casting, you need to write about it. That led me to write and publish two books on fly casting, and I am currently writing my third. Joan was correct: every time I write, I gain deeper insight into casting and how to convey this great sport to others. She frequently remarked, “As a teacher you cannot just understand casting; you must be able to do it and talk about it. Then you will be accepted.”

 I have learned many things from watching Joan teach that I carry into my own teaching. Although Joan is a direct woman and never gives false praise, she provides very specific, direct feedback and then jumps right in, using her hands-on method to help students feel the correction and see its effect on their casts. She teaches with such grace and kindness.

One example of this grace is when Joan wanted the students in the classroom to quiet down and be ready to resume learning. She did not whistle or holler to regroup them. Instead, Joan has a small dinner bell, the kind you would use to summon a waiter. She would simply ring the bell, and the students would quiet down and take their seats. To this day I use that bell to regroup a boisterous crowd of students.

Joan’s consistency in her approach to teaching—always using the same language (although analogies would vary) and ensuring that the instructors did as well—was remarkable. It was very common for students to remark that they were impressed that all the instructors gave the same message and used the same language. I continue to carry that approach to group instruction with me whenever I teach alongside other instructors.

In addition to the language of casting, Joan would say that casting is a thing of feeling. She believed that beyond knowing and understanding the language, having the students develop a feel for the cast was of utmost importance. This is another concept that I continue to incorporate into my teaching some 25 years later.

Joan was masterful in how she paced information for students. She and Lee built the schoolhouse so that students alternated between lecture and activity. Another teaching skill I learned from Joan is using multiple modalities to help students learn, including casting with the non-dominant hand, closing their eyes while casting, and sitting down at the pond to change the student’s perspective of the target.

Joan was present at the conclusion of each school session. To help the students retain the progress they made during that weekend, she would assign them homework: go fishing within the next two weeks. It was homework they loved! She also made sure to convey the need for all of us who are fortunate enough to fish to be good stewards of our precious resources. I share these same thoughts at the conclusion of each of my classes. She would also tell the students that when they left and returned to their own fishing world, a little part of her went with them.

 As an angler, I am lucky to have spent so much time with Joan. Every time I fish, and the catching is slow I can hear her words in my head saying: “casting is what gives you satisfaction, even if the fish are too dumb to know a good cast.” Frequently, on Saturday night after class, Joan would drive by the river and watch me fish (no pressure there!). Later that evening, she would ask about the fishing, wanting details about which fly worked and how the fish behaved. She remarked that, at her stage of life she felt she was “fishing through me.” 

To this day, whenever Joan talks about fishing, she comes alive with a glint in her eye. I think all anglers hope to be that excited about fishing when they are close to the century mark.

About the Author:

Sheila Hassan has been on the staff of the Wulff School of Fly Fishing since 2003, serving as the director for the past 16 years. She retired from the school in June 2026 and continues to teach, bringing the pearls of Joan’s wisdom to many more fly anglers.