PBS series highlights Stevens Point visionary
Carrie Frost was an avid fly fisher when the sport was dominated by men.
By Taylor Hale
STEVENS POINT – A new PBS Wisconsin Education series entitled “Carrie Frost: Fly Fishing Boss” was released on March 24.
The series highlights the stories of celebrated Wisconsinites, with the newest online episode featuring a Stevens Point woman who put the city on the map in the fly fishing world.
“We originally heard about Carrie Frost from Holly (De Ruyter.) After we heard about Carrie and a few additional people, we researched them and proposed them as options to teachers who strongly favored Carrie as the person to feature for the Wisconsin Biographies,” said PBS Wisconsin Education Engagement Specialist and author of the Wisconsin Biography on Frost, Jessie Nixon.
Frost came to Stevens Point in 1885. She was an avid fly fisher when the sport was predominantly men, and noticed her imported European flies were not attracting the local Wisconsin fish. She took to the lands and crafted her own, flies with local feathers, animal fur, and other native materials.
PBS Wisconsin Director of Education Alyssa Tsagong noted that American history for children and adults doesn’t need to be about “someplace else,” but it can be in our own cities and villages.
“History doesn’t need to be abstract and something that happened ‘someplace else’ – the relevance that local history offers for learners of every age creates a pathway for deeper understanding of how our communities were established and have changed over time, giving context to the present,” Tsagong said. “Local history becomes a gateway to expand your knowledge about history generally and to create cross-generational connections.”
Frost would later open a fly tackle shop in Stevens Point, using only her initials “C.J.,” instead of her full name to avoid discrimination as a woman business owner. Her products caught the attention of fishermen across the nation, putting Stevens Point on the map as the ”Fly Tackle Capital of the World.”
But Frost didn’t stop there, she continued to grow her shop’s reputation, and hired mostly women to tie her flies, helping shape social norms and standards of the time in an industry controlled mostly by men.
Tsagong said that the team at PBS learned about Frost from one of their public listening sessions held at the Portage County Public Library in Stevens Point.
The Wisconsin Biographies piece is intended for students, grades 3-8. A digital book, image gallery, and educator guide are also available on PBSWisconsinEducation.org.
“Carrie Frost: Fly Fishing Boss” is an educational component of the upcoming documentary PBS Wisconsin Hometown Stories: Stevens Point. There is no set premiere date for the Wisconsin Hometown Stories at the time of writing.
STEVENS POINT – A new PBS Wisconsin Education series entitled “Carrie Frost: Fly Fishing Boss” was released on March 24.
The series highlights the stories of celebrated Wisconsinites, with the newest online episode featuring a Stevens Point woman who put the city on the map in the fly fishing world.
“We originally heard about Carrie Frost from Holly (De Ruyter.) After we heard about Carrie and a few additional people, we researched them and proposed them as options to teachers who strongly favored Carrie as the person to feature for the Wisconsin Biographies,” said PBS Wisconsin Education Engagement Specialist and author of the Wisconsin Biography on Frost, Jessie Nixon.
Frost came to Stevens Point in 1885. She was an avid fly fisher when the sport was predominantly men, and noticed her imported European flies were not attracting the local Wisconsin fish. She took to the lands and crafted her own, flies with local feathers, animal fur, and other native materials.
PBS Wisconsin Director of Education Alyssa Tsagong noted that American history for children and adults doesn’t need to be about “someplace else,” but it can be in our own cities and villages.
“History doesn’t need to be abstract and something that happened ‘someplace else’ – the relevance that local history offers for learners of every age creates a pathway for deeper understanding of how our communities were established and have changed over time, giving context to the present,” Tsagong said. “Local history becomes a gateway to expand your knowledge about history generally and to create cross-generational connections.”
Frost would later open a fly tackle shop in Stevens Point, using only her initials “C.J.,” instead of her full name to avoid discrimination as a woman business owner. Her products caught the attention of fishermen across the nation, putting Stevens Point on the map as the ”Fly Tackle Capital of the World.”
But Frost didn’t stop there, she continued to grow her shop’s reputation, and hired mostly women to tie her flies, helping shape social norms and standards of the time in an industry controlled mostly by men.
Tsagong said that the team at PBS learned about Frost from one of their public listening sessions held at the Portage County Public Library in Stevens Point.
The Wisconsin Biographies piece is intended for students, grades 3-8. A digital book, image gallery, and educator guide are also available on PBSWisconsinEducation.org.
“Carrie Frost: Fly Fishing Boss” is an educational component of the upcoming documentary PBS Wisconsin Hometown Stories: Stevens Point. There is no set premiere date for the Wisconsin Hometown Stories at the time of writing.
