A New Kickoff Event
Beyond the Cast begins with a bang: The symposium kickoff event, “Women, Wine, & Fly Tying,” will be held Thursday, January 14, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Farm Bureau Expo. 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.
Attendees will get to meet the instructors for Beyond the Cast, and meet other like-minded women. A special raffle will also take place, and funds raised will go towards Blue Wives Matter.
What is Beyond the Cast?
“Beyond the Cast Women’s Fly Fishing Symposium” was the first event of its kind in the county and began in Doswell, Virginia at the famed Virginia Fly Fishing & Wine Festival. The idea was the brainchild of Kim Rannalla, owner of Miss Mayfly who approached Festival Director Beau Beasley about 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 castings and ‘Fly Fishing 101’-style classes over the years in Virginia,” 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.
Once the core classes are developed, we’ll be reaching out to women fly anglers from across Tennessee and the surrounding states. Jen Ripple, Charity Rutter, Susan Thrasher and Jessica Dial are confirmed speakers at this year’s Beyond the Cast Symposium.
Approximately 35 seats will be available for purchase and include not only the all-day course on Friday, but a weekend pass to the entire festival. This symposium is only possible because of the strong support from Miss Mayfly who sponsors this effort.
Women interested in getting more information about the festival or this symposium can send an e-mail to [email protected]
