People Who Inspire
Jen Ripple DUN Magazine and Expert Fly Angler
For my seventieth birthday, the Divine bought me two days of fly fishing in Asheville, North Carolina. The first was a full day and at the end I was tired. We had dinner reservations at a restaurant we both wanted to try that night, but at the bar in the hotel before hand Jane noticed I looked beat. Per her normal considerate self, she put her arm around me and said, "We can cancel the reservation for tonight. Let's just order another bourbon and get a couple of burgers and eat right here." I asked the bartender for the drinks and explained that I had been on a trout stream all day and was worn out. Someone sitting next to me started tapping on my arm. I turned around and there she was.
"I'm sorry, did I hear you say you had been on a trout stream?" My name is Jen Ripple. I am also a fly angler and I own and edit a magazine about it." That was how it began with the dynamic Jen Ripple. She gave us two current issues of the magazine. Magazine doesn't even begin to cover it. They were more like coffee table books loaded with unbelievable photographs and articles all authored by women with fly fishing stories. This was no ordinary sports publication. There were stories about transition and stories about healing. There were stories by younger women, professional flyfishing women, and some were by people just starting out. There were the usual advertisements but not to the degree you would find in any other magazine. This was a magazine with a social conscience for preservation of the earth, its waters, and the peace flyfishing brings with it. Jen was in town to do a photo shoot for Orvis. I saw her in passing the next morning on her way out to freeze all day under a waterfall. I was getting coffee and heading out for my next day of fishing. She wanted pictures of my day and not just the fish. That was the beginning of what has now been a three-year incredibly close relationship with Jen and her partner Kurt Kopala. We consider Jen and Kurt family. We have visited each other's homes, met at major conferences where Jen was speaking, and at fly fishing shows where they both were exhibiting. Jen is one of those hallmark women in a male dominated sport that is helping the industry and the sport to find its woman's voice. She is a former chemist who traded her lab coat for waders and all-weather gear and her research reports for articles, interviews, and podcasts all centered on the prospect of introducing more women to the beauty, serenity and healing powers of fly fishing. She thinks nothing of driving long hours to spread the word or make an appearance or lead a seminar. It is her work. It is who she is and it is not all about the fishing. She has dedicated much of her time to making the industry better for all concerned, men and women.
I am inspired by such people. She followed her muse, that inner voice that said, I have a skill, I can create something new of value. I can do this and then most importantly, I will do this. So, whether she is coaxing a story from another accomplished female professional or landing a large tarpon, she brings that energy. She's one of those people who can take any piece of gear apart that she uses and put it back together. She inspires with everything she does. She does the work. And to think it all started when she happened to be sitting right next to us in a bar. There is a force that lives at a higher plane.
Jen Ripple is one of my heroes. You can learn more about Jen and flyfishing at dunmagazine.com. She is also on Facebook and Instagram.
