Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing
Physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and disabled veterans
Josh Williams isn’t your average fly fisherman.
Following high school, Josh joined the U.S. Army as an infantryman in 2002. After basic training, he was deployed to Iraq as the automatic rifleman in his squad for a 13-month deployment during which time he fought in Al Najaf, Baghdad, Sadir City, Fallujah, and Taji. After returning home from Iraq, Josh became a squad leader, and on his 4-year service mark was promoted to Staff Sergeant. He had full intentions of becoming a career soldier, but the universe has other plans for him.
Josh battled anger issues, drank heavily and fought routinely after returning from deployment. “It was a really bad time,” he recalls. His life took a turn for the worse when his right arm was severed in a freak motorcycle accident, “losing my arm took my anger to another level” he says, and he ended up at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center wondering what his future held. He was 22 years old.
What followed was a lengthy, painful 10-month recovery at Walter Reed. But it was during this time that Josh linked up with Ed Nicholson and Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing (PHWFF), a non-profit organization using fly fishing, fly tying and associated activities as a unique form of occupational and recreational therapy with over 200 programs at Department of Veterans Affairs and DoD facilities nationwide.
Ed Nicholson, Founder of PHWFF, recalls meeting Josh at Walter Reed, “Josh had never been fly fishing, and yet, with a little prodding, we got him interested, even though he had lost his right arm at the shoulder. We fixed him up with a Vivarelli semi-automatic reel, and soon he was casting out on the lawn with us at Walter Reed, adapting to his injury, perfecting a very nice cast, and—most importantly—figuring out on his own how to manage line with his teeth.” As Josh learned to cast a fly rod on that lawn, he knew that the door to activities he loved so much was not closed. Through the help of his loving family, friends and his passion for the outdoors, he began to fight his way back.
“I fell in love with fly fishing after catching my first trout on a fly rod. This opened the door and gave me the confidence to try other things I thought I could no longer do like tying my shoes!”
With this new found confidence, Josh went home to Roanoke, Virginia in 2007 and enrolled in Old Dominion University to study mechanical engineering. He also began actively volunteering and participating with his local PHWFF Program and discovered his passion for fly tying. Josh recalls that first meeting, “One evening, we had our first tying class with the vets at the Salem VAMC. I decided to try so I couldn’t give the vets there an excuse not to. And when it was all said and done, I tied the ugliest most pathetic woolly bugger ever tied! But I TIED IT!!! I took one of our kits home and it was all over. I was hooked.” Mastering fly tying is a difficult task for anyone and more challenging for someone with one-arm. But what makes Josh unique is his tenacity and fly tying brought a new challenge to the table As time progressed, he founded Dead Drift Flies to sell his increasingly in-demand hand-tied flies.. A symbol of his success is that The Orvis Company now sells three of Josh’s fly patterns in their prestigious catalog.
Which each success, Josh sought new challenges and soon took on the role of PHWFF Program Lead at the Salem Veteran Affairs Military Center, “Being a participant back in 2006 healing me in more ways than one, he says, but volunteering is possibly even more rewarding.” The increasing desire to pay it forward also led to him actively advising fellow veterans participating within the organization. Ed Nicholson recalls, “he became our go-to guy when someone needed advice about how to cope with the loss of an entire arm. He embraced fly fishing with a passion.”
Ever determined, Josh’s passion for the sport led to a truly profound understanding of the mechanics and execution of fly fishing. He became a remarkable angler and fly tier who began professionally offering his services. As award-winning outdoors writer Ed Felker noted, “I’ve spent some time trout fishing with Josh and he is a very good trout fisherman. On small water, the expert deployment of the roll cast gets his line across the stream and his fly to land gently. But watching him fish from greater distances, while standing in a kayak using his foot to move the rudder and his teeth to strip in a bass is a thing of beauty.” Dead Drift Flies soon expanded to become Dead Drift Outfitters and he started hosting guided excursions to the rivers and mountains around Roanoke. Alongside these remarkable achievements Josh’s desire to give back only increased, evidenced by the recent Roanoke River Smallmouth Tournament which he organized.
The tournament aimed to raise funds and awareness for PHWFF and the veterans it serves. With support from his full-time employer AECON, the Roanoke community, and Dead Drift Outfitters the event provided not only a memorable fishing experience for those veterans competing but also served as a fundraiser for his local PHWFF program – better enabling them to provide this unique form of therapy to those who may need it.
“If you’re a disabled soldier or civilian, don’t be so discouraged to not even try. That’s not the way to live. Be stubborn. It’s because of our Lord giving me ‘a whole bunch of it’ that I’m able to get out there without embarrassing myself too much. And remember, there is always always, always, someone out there who’s got it worse than you! You can do it, you just have to learn how to do it your own special way. “
Due to his tenacity and determination Josh Williams has become an expert angler, fly tier, veterans advocate, and inspiration. Josh Williams isn’t your average fly fisherman.
About Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc.
Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing (PHWFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled military service personnel and disabled veterans through fly fishing and associated activities including education and outings. Learn more at www.projecthealingwaters.org.
About Dead Drift Outfitters
It’s simple, really. We were born to be with nature. Sometimes in this hectic world, we temporarily lose sight of that. We’re here to give you that realignment. To urge you to Step Outside. Learn more at http://deaddriftva.com/
