Fly Fishing Charters For Women Only — With A Woman As Your Guide

In 2021, Christina Legutki was conducting fly-fishing clinics at Mangrove Outfitters Fly Shop in Naples when an idea hit her. 

“I knew that there were a lot of women wanting to get into the sport,” she says, then pauses. “I guess they were a little intimidated to approach, you know, a man about taking fly-fishing lessons,” she says. “I kept hearing the same story over and over again. ‘I’ve tried to learn from my husband, but he kind of yells at me.’ And I know this because I learned from my own husband, who’s a fishing guide, and it’s difficult to learn from your spouse.”

Her idea was simple: Offer fly-fishing lessons for women only. She coined her business Chica Fly Charters. “Just serving a female clientele has been a good niche,” Christina says. “And I have kids, so it gives me flexibility where I’m not out every single day.”

Her husband, Jeff Legutki, is a full-time guide who works out of Everglades City and mostly fishes Ten Thousand Islands. Christina stays closer to home, launching from Bayview Park in Naples and fishing inshore. She takes a maximum of two guests out on a small skiff, usually hunting fish in shallow waters. 

Christina meets her customers around 6:30 a.m. She says that about “four in 10” of her anglers are absolute beginners, so that generally requires her to teach some basic fly-fishing techniques on dry land before heading out. “The casting is different,” she says. “The rods are heavier, and the line is heavier than freshwater fly-fishing.”

Once launched, it usually takes no more than 20 minutes to reach a fishing site, be it a creek, a backwater, flats with sandy bottoms, or near the beach if the water is clear. Probably her favorite fishing grounds is Rookery Bay, a 110,000-acre National Estuarine Research Reserve about eight miles south of Naples.

After arriving at a suitable location, “I get on this tall platform that hovers over the engine, so I can see everything,” she explains. “The boat is in water inches deep and I’m pushing it with a 20-foot long pole. That’s because everything we do is sight-fishing.”

This means instead of heading out to where the fish are supposedly biting and waiting for the rod to bend, Christina and her guests hunt fish, spot them and cast in their direction, teasing them with a fly to hopefully incite a bite. “A lot of people, when they think of fly-fishing, they think of the film ‘A River Runs Through It,’ where you’re in a stream up to your waist, and it’s calm, with peaceful water flowing by,” she says. “When people move into saltwater, it's not going to be like anything they’ve ever experienced. It’s a completely different animal.”

A much more intense animal. Christina uses a clock system, where the front of the boat is 12 o’clock. From her perch, she’ll instruct her charges to cast “10 o’clock, 40 feet away.” Over time, she teaches them how to see the fish, or their shadows, in the water. “When you see him eat, you’ve got to set the hook, so it’s a very sporty game,” she says. “A lot of people compare it to hunting. If you’re into deer hunting, there are people that like to shoot with a rifle and there are people that like to bow hunt. Saltwater fly-fishing is like bow hunting.”

Chica Fly Charters mostly goes after tarpon, redfish and snook, the most sought-after sportfish on Florida’s Paradise Coast. Christina ties her flies specifically to lure those species. She never promises her clients a catch. In fact, reeling one in is often a bonus. “Many days you come back empty-handed, but that’s just fly-fishing,” she says.

Christina is speaking figuratively. Her parties return every caught fish to the water. “I’m strictly a catch-and-release girl,” she says. “Catch them, get your photo, put them back.” 

That means her excursions can go after snook year-round, not just when in season.

Christina insists that coming back without a catch in no way connotes failure. “People have fun casting and they get better as the day goes along,” she explains. “Casting a fly rod is one of the most fun things to do. They learn how to spot fish in water that can be dark and murky.”

She’s learned to measure a successful day on the water in other ways. “Did you show them a good time? Did they feel comfortable on your boat? Did they learn something new, improve their skills? They should always go home with a smile on their face.”

Christina counts visitors to Florida’s Paradise Coast as a substantial part of her clientele. “I get a lot of people from up North that come down and say, ‘I’ve been wanting to try saltwater fly-fishing for the longest time,’” she says. Then they’re just one day on the water down here and they’re totally hooked. Pun intended.”

Chica Fly Charters offers excursions of four, six and eight hours. You can reach Christina Legutki directly at stoneylegutki@gmail.com or (239) 777-7517.