Women in Sportfishing
- This topic has 27 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated Jun 6, 2008 at 12:26 am by
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I’m trying to gather information on women in sport fishing. I’d appreciate any feedback you guys could give me…
Has anyone tried to get their wife/girlfriend/mother/sister etc. involved? How did that experience go? How would you feel if your wife/girlfriend liked it enough to want to go out with you on a regular basis?
Do you know any women who participate regularily?
Are there any women out there who would be willing to share some of their good or bad experiences?
Do you feel like there has been an significant increase in the number of women who fish in the last 5 years?Thanks!
“Has anyone tried to get their wife/girlfriend/mother/sister etc. involved?”
Don’t leave out daughters. I have a 12 year old that throws a nice loop, fishing has been a part of her childhood hopefully it will stick.
MS
My wife asked if I’d show her how to fly fish about 7 years ago. We’ve been fishing partners ever since, and enjoying every minute of it.
We know several women that fly fish on a regular basis. Sometimes with a group and sometimes alone.
My wife and I fly fish together as often as we can. I think it is great and enjoy having her there with me.
I would really love it if my wife learned how to tie flies cuz I suck at it!
Joel
Adrienne –
Has anyone tried to get their wife/girlfriend/mother/sister etc. involved?
I “taught” Lauren to fly fish at the same time I was learning, which really means we learned together with neither of us knowing what we were doing.
How did that experience go?
Lauren still mocks me for the first time I caught a trout. I was like, “I caught a trout!” (I had left my fly on the dangle while I “showed her how to do something” and some kamikaze stocker hit my fly.) Lauren was like, “So?” And I couldn’t understand it, “A trout! A trout!” I said. “Don’t you get it?” Lauren has been fishing since she was a child so she basically just laughed at me.
How would you feel if your wife/girlfriend liked it enough to want to go out with you on a regular basis?
Lauren used to go out on a regular basis but graduate school put an end to that. Now she will accompany me on serious trips, like to Yellowstone. I would like her to come more often; she is always invited; but it isn’t really realistic with her current time commitments.
Do you know any women who participate regularily?
Not as many as there should be. The first shop owner I ever dealt with was an out of the closet lesbian named Charlotte; great fisherwoman, really good shop personality. She sold her business, which I really regret, because she was unique. I have met a few ladies on the show circuit who participate (I nearly laid Joan Wulff out when I turned a corner and ran right into her at one; that was embarrassing.) One lady who deserves a mention is Paula Begley up at Little River Outfitters in Townsend, Tennessee. She and her husband Byron own and run the shop, but Paula has her own little following of female fly fishers who meet there on Saturdays. It’s a pleasure to walk in and see more women than men standing around talking about fishing.
Are there any women out there who would be willing to share some of their good or bad experiences?
Do you feel like there has been an significant increase in the number of women who fish in the last 5 years?
No, and it’s a shame. I know from magazine readership numbers that the current number of female readers of fly fishing magazines is below 5%. Meanwhile, manufacturers report closer to 25% of sales are to ladies. They wouldn’t keep the gear in stock if it didn’t sell, and a lot of fly fishing product designers are actually women (for instance, Diane Bristol at Simms). So I don’t understand that; whenever I propose female-oriented articles they have to go through a vetting process of “can we afford to give this much space to only 5% of our demographic in an attempt to make that demographic somewhat bigger, in this issue?” Usually the answer is no, although we all do our best to include as many ladies as possible on background for stories (quotes, etc.) All I can guess is that women tend to be less likely to obsess about fly fishing to the level that they will read about it when they are not doing it; maybe women are less escapist in their daily lives? Most men read fishing magazines as a substitute for actual fishing; they would rather be on the water but since they can’t be, they adopt the next best thing. Women may not work that way, I don’t know.
Zach
Adrienne,
I teach fly casting and tying for the Becoming an Outdoors Woman and Women in the Outdoors programs here in Kansas.
Adrienne my wife began fly fishing about one year after I took it up. Suffice to say, she is my best fishing buddy. While I enjoy fishing with others and also alone, I enjoy it more when she is with me. There was no forcing the issue, she just flat out enjoyed it from the start. If you check the photo archives, you’ll even find some shots Zach took of her a few years ago in Tennessee. Regarding other women in our sport, we don’t see nearly enough although it seems to be changing but slowly. Nancy belongs to a club dedicated especially for women, http://www.dvwffa.org/index2.htm. There are a little over a hundred of them. As for good experiences or bad ones, only once have we come across another angler who had a problem. He actually greeted me warmly and walked in the stream where Nancy was casting. Looking back, he was lucky as she was just short of planting her fly in his head. [ch61514] Other women I have spoke too, seem to favor traveling in pairs and not fishing alone. On the positive side, Nancy has introduced a lot of ladies into the sport once she talks with them. Typically we’ll be staying some place, they’ll see her come in from the stream and begin asking questions. Next thing you know, its lawn casting and then off to the stream. I hope this helps.
Rolf
I think participation by women is growing by leaps and bounds though. There have been some number of women getting into the media.
Kathryn Macoun host “What a catch”
http://www.whatacatch.netTheres casting for recovery
http://www.womensflyfishing.net/cfr2.htmAnd up here in CDA, the national fly fishing mag “Canadian Fly Fisher” has brought April Vokey on board.
http://www.canflyfish.com/2007/about.aspI’m sure there are many more women making or soon to make their marks on the sport.
As for my wife.
Well she tried some fishing when we first started dating. Didnt much care for it, cared even even less for the black flies and mosquitos :). I’d love it if she took it up and joined me more but that won’t happen.I’d be curious to know of all of the fishermen (men) who have children of mixed sexes (at least one boy and one girl) how many have introduced fishing to their daughters?
When I bump into guys streamside and we strike up a conversation, if it gets to the point of family I often ask a question around this topic.
Being the father of two girls I can’t honestly say it would make no difference if we instead had a nuclear family but I don’t think so.
My dad was a guide and he had both myself and my sisterr fishing in the bush by age 3. My sister like most girls stopped actively fishing when she discovered shopping, high school cheerleading and boys but still will pick up a rod today 40 yrs later. She just doesn’t make a point of going.
So for myself I’m pretty confident that that sex of my children would have no bearing at all. Id love to have my kids with me and learning to love and appreciate the outdoors the way I do. Much as my dad, brought my sister and I up.
As a side note all 3 of us now are into archery, my youngest (10) starting coming to the 3D range as well a couple weeks ago with her own compound. She is more the stereotypically girly girl of the two, yet she shows more passion for it than my oldest. Where the oldest loves the outdoors, I doubt she’ll take it as far as hunting. I dont think its in her heart to draw a bead on a Whitetail, but my youngest who isnt as crazy about the outdoors does have it in her ( I think) and I can foresee taking her hunting with me if her budding interest in archery continues.
Just goes to show, as men/fathers…what do we know about girls
😛Sorry Zach…wasnt implying anything earlier.
Does it seem strange to anyone else that the person who started this thread hasn’t even been on the site since the day it was posted. Just wondering 😕
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