Shyanne Orvis is a professional fly fishing guide based in Carbondale, Colorado, near Aspen, where she guides the Roaring Fork, Frying Pan, and Colorado Rivers. What most people do not know is that she grew up in foster care in North Carolina, moving through five different homes from age four until she aged out at eighteen. This is a conversation about how she went from that instability to living in the mountains as a guide, the boarding school opportunity that changed everything, and what she means when she talks about manifesting a life through intentional thought and hard work.
Watch the full conversation on YouTube or listen to the episode now.
Shyanne became a guide after volunteering for Rivers of Recovery, a nonprofit that takes veterans fly fishing, where experienced anglers taught her the sport. After fishing every chance she got and people asking her to take them, she reached out to a local outfitter who gave her a shot, starting with shuttle runs and working around the shop before eventually guiding trips.
Rivers of Recovery is a nonprofit that takes veterans suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and military sexual trauma on fly fishing trips. The program focuses on camaraderie and connecting veterans with others who understand their struggles, and Shyanne witnessed participants arrive broken and leave smiling, laughing, and connecting with one another.
Shyanne guides on the Roaring Fork River, the Frying Pan River, and the Colorado River in the Carbondale area near Aspen, Colorado. She is in her fourth year guiding, primarily doing wade trips, and is completing her float-guiding hours to transition to running float trips on these rivers.
For Shyanne, manifesting means being intentional with your thoughts and your actions, believing that what you put out into the universe you get back, but crucially also doing the work to make it happen. As a child she pictured living in the mountains, then took concrete steps like applying to boarding school and moving to Colorado, which she uses to show that manifesting requires action beyond positive thinking.
Shyanne was placed in five different foster homes between age four and aging out of the system at eighteen. She was with her older brother in the first two homes before they were separated, after which she spent the rest of her childhood on her own in the foster care system.
Shyanne fishes the Roaring Fork, Frying Pan, and Colorado Rivers, throwing dry flies like caddis, PMDs, and green drakes, and nymphing with copper johns and pheasant tails. She has been tying her own flies for about three years and calls it therapy, and she fishes six days a week even after guiding all day.
Sometimes you have conversations that remind you what is really important, and this was one of those. I wanted Shyanne on because she is living proof that your circumstances do not define you. Five foster homes, separated from her siblings, no stability, and now she is guiding in one of the most beautiful places in the world, living the life she pictured as a kid. What I appreciate most is her honesty about the work part of manifesting, that it is not just closing your eyes and wishing but taking the scary first step and refusing to give up.
The instability was the hardest part. Moving through five foster homes between ages four and eighteen, Shyanne never had a bed that was hers and was separated from her older brother after the first two homes, but even as a little girl she had what she calls a survivor's mentality, a sense that she would be okay even though she did not know how. The turning point came when a teacher told her about a boarding school in Colorado and helped her apply, even though she did not know where Colorado was. Hear how she made the decision to leave in the episode.
While studying environmental science and ecological restoration, Shyanne started volunteering for Rivers of Recovery, a nonprofit that takes veterans with PTSD and trauma on fly fishing trips for the camaraderie and connection. A professor told her about it, and through that work she met anglers who took her under their wing. Her first fish on a fly was a ten-inch brown trout on the Frying Pan that felt like catching a marlin. Listen to how she went from volunteer to guide.
Watch the full episode or listen now to hear the rest.
When Shyanne talks about manifesting, she is not talking about wishful thinking. For her it means being intentional with your thoughts and actions and believing that what you put out, you get back. As a child in foster care she would close her eyes and picture herself living in the mountains, and now she is in Carbondale surrounded by them, but she is clear that it is not just positive thinking. It is doing the work and taking the scary first step. Hear her full explanation in the conversation.
Shyanne is up at 4:30 or 5:00, at the shop by 6:00 tying flies and prepping gear, meeting clients around 7:00 and on the water by 8:00. After getting home she washes the boat, cleans gear, ties flies for the next day, and then goes fishing for herself. She fishes six days a week and calls tying her own flies therapy, but guiding is not just fishing. It is early mornings, late nights, and keeping people positive when the bite is slow. Hear her describe a typical day.
The day after this one, what stuck with me was that Shyanne is living proof your circumstances do not define you. Five foster homes, separated from her siblings, no stability, and now she is guiding in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
What I love about her approach to manifesting is that she is honest about the work part, and her goal to start a nonprofit for foster kids in the outdoors would change lives. This one is worth your time. Listen to the whole thing.
Listen to the entire conversation here.
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Shyanne Orvis is a professional fly fishing guide based in Carbondale, Colorado, near Aspen, guiding primarily on the Roaring Fork, Frying Pan, and Colorado Rivers. Having grown up in foster homes in North Carolina from age four to eighteen, she moved to Durango at fifteen to attend Colorado Timberline Academy, then earned a degree in environmental science and ecological restoration. She worked for the nonprofit Rivers of Recovery, which takes veterans with PTSD and trauma fly fishing, and is now in her fourth year guiding, transitioning from wade trips to float trips. You can follow her on Instagram at @shyanneorvis.
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