How fly-fishing helped this woman overcome life's toughest challenges — and catch monster salmon

She stands 5'5" and weighs all of 112 pounds.

She has a serious heart issue and is constantly facing battles dealing with debilitating health conditions that affect her cardiovascular and neurological systems.

She has to carry a nitroglycerin spray at all times.

She's spent — and continues to spend — more time with doctors in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Quebec and Alberta than she cares to remember.

She's still seeing medical specialists in hopes of properly diagnosing and treating other health issues.

And she catches Atlantic salmon weighing in excess of 30 pounds.

Jessica Duffney of Corner Brook exemplifies a fighting spirit like few I have ever met, a drive that has earned her quite a reputation for catching monster fish on the Lower Humber River that the vast majority of anglers in Newfoundland and Labrador can only dream of during their 30-, 40- or 50-plus-year fishing careers.

Raised by her grandparents in the tiny community of Benoit's Cove in the Bay of Islands, the 36-year-old was searching for "a passion" several years back that would provide her with the hope, happiness and meaning to her life that she says was being sucked out of her.

Once a competitive teen involved in various sports who even worked as a deckhand aboard a commercial fishing boat in her early 20s, Jessica was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia, or SVT — fast or erratic heartbeat — in 2011. Then a year later, it was dysautonomia, an umbrella term for several different medical conditions that cause a malfunction of the autonomic nervous system, which controls automatic functions of the body, including heart rate and blood pressure.

"Each day I felt less like the strong individual I once was," she said. "I felt like I lost myself in the fight."

But as chronic illness slowly picked away at her drive for life, a newfound love of fly-fishing brought it back, and with it a tremendous appreciation for nature and the outdoors.

"On my 'good days,' I volunteered at the local hospital, where I encountered numerous people and their stories," she said. "One day, I spoke to a young physician who had overcome a battle with cancer. He explained that fishing for wild Atlantic salmon helped him get through the many struggles he faced during a very difficult time... This was quite inspirational and it gave me something to consider."

Fly-fishing came into her life at a difficult time, she said. "I was grappling to find my strength, an illness I couldn't see myself through, a seven-year relationship ending, and the death of my younger sister."

I asked her if losing her sister, Jenna, played a role in driving her to find something to make her happy with life in general.

"Absolutely," she said. "I now live for both of us. Every day."

Sometimes life leads you down the most difficult road that you can't make sense of, she said, until you find yourself where you're supposed to be.

"Just as I thought my journey was over, it was actually just beginning. If you're struggling and life is tough right now, I'm living proof that it can get better," she said. "Fly-fishing, hunting and the great outdoors helped me find a determination and strength I honestly didn't know I had. From a wheelchair to waders, a bed to a boat, I'm quite pleased to say I have found myself through the struggle."

Although she's been involved in salmon angling for only eight years, she has studied it every way she possibly can; though reading, joining various fishing groups, asking questions, listening and, of course, through plenty of practical experience.

As a result, besides being able to cast a mighty fine line, she's become quite knowledgeable on the subject and even had a few valuable tidbits for this veteran angler when I spent couple of days fishing with her a few years ago.

She's hooked and released numerous fish in the 12-15-pound range on the Humber, several in the 20-plus-pound category, some pushing 30 pounds and a few even heavier than that!

As a close friend, I have seen photos of some of her large fish which, for her own personal reasons, she doesn't always share on social media.

She fishes alone from her boat about 50 per cent of the time.

Occasionally, when the action really heats up, when she's into her backing within seconds and there's nobody nearby to help, she's managed to haul anchor, start the motor and get the boat close to shore where she can drop anchor again, get out, then safely land and release the fish — all while a massive and powerful salmon is fighting ferociously at the end of her line.

So despite her health issues, "fragile" isn't a word I'd associate with a fighter like Jessica Duffney. The young lady with the vibrant personality is quick to point out that hooking the big lunkers is by no means a common occurrence and that she spends a considerable amount of time on the water every summer.

"There are far more days I go home smelling like skunk than days I even get to see or rise one of these giants," she said with a laugh. "It's a rare occurrence that I truly don't take for granted. I have the utmost respect and admiration for this special species that has overcome the unthinkable to grow this large and make it back here to their home waters where it all began. If I were catching these fish every day, the accomplishment just wouldn't be of the same significance."

It's sometimes hard to comprehend that it was mid-June 2016, two weeks into the salmon fishing season, when 28-year-old Jessica Duffney purchased her first fishing licence, fly rod and a pair of baggy neoprene waders.

The rest is history. And it's very much still in the making.

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