This story mentions suicide and mental health struggles. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 in the U.S. and Canada, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
After serving 22 years in the Air Force and surviving multiple combat tours, Eli Hernandez was eager to get outdoors when he retired to the Texas coast in 2018. But when the time had finally come, he couldn’t get a single fish on his line.
Fishing was supposed to be healing — his way back to the person he was before joining the military. But, staring at his frustratingly calm local pond for what felt like forever one day last year, Hernandez was ready to quit.
He tried to breathe and find some patience, and then — REEEEEEE! He’d caught one.
“When you catch that first fish,” Hernandez said, “it's like that fly line is connected straight to your heart.”
17 a day
Hernandez is now the regional coordinator for the Texas and Louisiana region of Project Healing Waters, a national nonprofit founded in 2005 that uses fly fishing for experiential therapy for veterans.
To combat mental health issues, some veterans have turned to experiential therapy, which involves using hands-on activities like art projects or going outdoors to process trauma.
Nonprofits that offer veterans experiential therapy are located across the nation, with numerous in Texas, the state with the most veterans. Volunteers take veterans, active-duty members and sometimes family members on fishing trips to bond with people in similar situations and benefit from nature’s healing power.
“When they transition out of the military, [we want them to know] they have something that they can rely on,” Hernandez said.
Suicide became the leading cause of death for U.S. active-duty service members in 2012 following waves of veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan between 2007 and 2011. Nearly 15 years later, the veteran mental health crisis carries on.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reported roughly 17 veterans die by suicide daily, and veteran suicide prevention nonprofit America’s Warrior Partnership estimates an even higher average of 44 per day. (Reports can vary because agencies document some suicides as accidental deaths instead, depending on the circumstance.)
The outdoors is a popular place for veterans. The Texas Park and Wildlife Department offers certain disabled veterans a free hunting and fishing license. Last year, over 100,000 Texas veterans purchased the package — making it one of the highest used licenses in the state.
Get outside
Joe Winston helped start a kayaking and fishing recreational therapy organization for veterans called Heroes on the Water in Allen, Texas, in 2007.
He remembers his dad, a Vietnam War-era veteran, and his mom hosting fellow vets at the family home in the mid-1980s for Spaghetti Tuesdays. His dad would also help them find post-service jobs around Beaumont.
That experience helped Winston launch the nonprofit, which has expanded across the country and has served 72,000 veterans.
“I wanted to make sure that our servicemen and women came home to a different position than the Vietnam folks did,” Winston said. “So when the idea of kayak fishing and outdoor recreation [came up], we thought it was good to get folks out of the hospital because everybody knows life's better outside.”
Some veterans wait weeks for therapy services through the VA, but Hernandez said veterans get immediate access to Project Healing Waters at no cost when they apply.
Approved veterans are invited to fishing events, which the organization hosts three or four times a month, and are added to an email list and texting group chat. Members will often text the chapter if they are going fishing in their own time, inviting others to join.
“Although fly fishing is the vehicle we’re using, the intent is to try and build that community,” Hernandez said.
