According to Nick Petryszyn, many fly fishing enthusiasts follow a similar pattern of engagement with the hobby.

“I always like to say there’s an arc to people that get into fishing,” Petryszyn told the Local. “Somewhere at the end of that arc is where you no longer fish — you’re just in a place observing nature, because that’s essentially what fly fishing is. You’re trying to observe and pull apart all these little clues and signals to figure out how to catch a fish. I think ultimately the goal is just to have a complete understanding of that environment and that takes you out of whatever is happening in your life.”

This therapeutic quality of fishing led to the creation of the Mayfly Project, a nonprofit organization that supports youth in foster care through fly fishing. Petryszyn is a co-lead mentor for the inaugural Philadelphia chapter of the program, which will have its first session in the Wissahickon Valley Park on March 21.

A complete toolkit

The Mayfly Project was founded in 2015 by Jess and Laura Westbrook, an Arkansas couple who later partnered with Idaho-based mental health professional Kaitlin Barnhart. The group had a goal of providing children in foster care with a calming, healing, and empowering outlet. Over time, the organization expanded nationwide to include more than 30 chapters.

The program takes place over five outings, where the mentees receive their own fishing equipment and are taught skills such as casting, knot tying, and reading the water. Kids are also taught how to be environmental stewards, taking care of the waterways.

By the end of the sessions, the participants have a complete toolkit to access anytime they desire.

“[Kids] leave the program with the knowledge, the equipment and hopefully, the excitement to continue to do this,” Petryszyn said. “So wherever they are and whatever they’re going through in their lives, they’ll have this thing that they can return to and reground themselves.”

Bringing the project to the Wissahickon

Although the organization has been around for over a decade, 2026 marks the first year the Mayfly Project has a Philadelphia program. Much of the initial funding came from proceeds of the Fly Fishing Film Tour, held at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville.

According to Petryszyn, having a project in Philadelphia makes perfect sense.

“In Philadelphia, a major metropolitan area, we have two stocked trout streams within city limits,” Petryszyn said. “These are natural places that most people have to go travel somewhere. You could take a bus, you could take public transport, and catch trout inside Philadelphia.”

The sessions will take place along the Wissahickon Creek, a body of water with which Petryszyn and Cathy Brzozowski, another mentor for the Philadelphia project, are familiar.

“Nick and I have both fished the Wissahickon for years and it is a great place to access,” Brzozowski said.

The Philadelphia project has six children set to be mentored its first year. The Mayfly Project partnered with Bethanna, an organization that provides adoption, child welfare services, and behavioral health care in southeastern and central Pennsylvania, to provide the mentees.

Petryszyn said the Mayfly Project is always looking for three things to expand its reach — money, mentors, and mentees. However, the organization is very conscientious with its recruitment strategies.

“We can’t just widely recruit the way that we could if we were working with a different community, because we have to be so protective of these kids. They’re gone through, oftentimes, very traumatic things,” Petryszyn said. “All of our mentors receive training on dealing with kids and trauma. They’re all vetted and background checked, so it’s very extensive to get involved.”

Sharing a place of peace

For Brzozowski and Petryszyn, fishing provides a place of peace. It has now become their mission to share this peace with others.

“A lot of the lessons that I’ve learned from fly fishing are directly translatable into just being an aware human,” Petryszyn said. “It was such a valuable gift that I received as a kid from other adults — grandparents, aunts, uncles — that it just seemed natural to try to pass this on to somebody else, because then that person will be out in the world with these same tools and qualities that I value.”

Brzozowski feels similarly, and even participates in another program that introduces kids to fly fishing — All Kids Fish, a one-day event in Norristown on Sept. 26.

“We do it at Norristown Farm Park, but we recruit kids from Philadelphia,” Brzozowski said. “We would like to have kids that are from high-risk communities or high-risk situations out on the river, and we provide them all the same fishing equipment they would need to have the same experience and be able to repeat that on their own moving forward.”

Through these initiatives, Brzozowski and Petryszyn aren’t just able to share one of their favorite hobbies, but also give a greater gift.

“Our focus is not catching the fish,” Brzozowski said. “We all want to catch a fish, but that’s not what this is about. This is about providing a home on the water for the kids where they can find some space, time, and peace.”

Learn more at themayflyproject.com and ifishibelong.org.

Maggie Dougherty can be reached at Margaret@chestnuthilllocal.com.