Ladies, Let's Go Fishing: Casting for New Anglers - fishing lessons for women

Boat/US Magazine, Jan, 2000 by Becky Squires

Jani Hamlin of Tampa, FL, signed up for a "Ladies, Let's Go Fishing" seminar because her husband insisted she go. "He wanted me to learn how to filet a fish," she says.

Instead, Hamlin caught a 20-pound kingfish, the second-largest fish caught in the two-day seminar held in Tierra Verde near St. Petersburg, FL. "This fish was my second biggest catch after my husband himself," Hamlin deadpanned. "He's a terrific person, but a terrible teacher." And yes, Hamlin also learned how to filet a fish.

Hamlin was part of a group of 110 women ages 20 to 70, who had come to take part in "Ladies, Let's Go Fishing" -- a.k.a. the "no-yelling school of how to fish." Founded five years ago by then fishing tournament marketer Betty Bauman, more than 1,500 women from all over the United States have since taken part in these weekend seminars throughout Florida. They learn how to fish, including how to bait the hook, tie knots and rig tackle, even back up a trailer and dock a boat. And they have a ball doing it.

When most people think of fishing, they think of men -- from the sweating and grunting angler ensconced in his fighting chair battling a 300-pound marlin, to the fly fisherman with his elegant hand-tied flies in a pristine creek up in the Rockies, or the good old boys loading up a cooler full of cold brew and heading off for a day's fishing on the lake with their buddies.

"Ladies, Let's Go Fishing" is out to broaden the participation, says instructor Marsha Bierman, who also happens to be the premiere offshore big-game angler today -- man or woman -- with more than 2,500 billfish captures to her credit. "Let's face it, fishing is a man's sport and it's up to us women to prove that we can do it too. We are stronger and tougher than men give us credit for, but they will never take us seriously until we learn to do it right."

"Ladies, Let's Go Fishing," a BOAT/U.S. Cooperating Group, is dedicated to teaching women how to do it right -- but in an upbeat, friendly and supportive way. "If women are serious about learning to fish, there's no better place to do it," reports BOAT/U.S. member Bonnie Atkinson of Tallahassee. "I can't wait to take it again."

Says Kurtis L. Gregg of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which provides financial and educational support to the group, "Ladies, Let's Go Fishing" teaches anglers how to do it the right way right from the start, so they don't have a chance to develop bad habits. That's why we're so glad to be a part of the program. Women are really into conservation and the environment, and this is the perfect place to teach them about ethical angling -- the importance of fish habitat, the best ways to catch and release, and the size limits for fish.

"There's another lesson we teach them, too," says Gregg. "Don't be afraid to out-fish a man. At 'Ladies, Let's Go Fishing', no one is pulling any punches, and they're having the time of their lives."

Atkinson agrees. "I was tired of going out fishing with my husband and son and being told 'do this, do that' without understanding what I was doing. Now I do," she says.

The need to conserve pervades the seminar. "A lot of time men's glory comes from the kill," says Bierman, who releases all her billfish, even in tournaments. "Women's glory comes from giving life. It's just not necessary to keep any more fish than you're going to eat."

Another reason many anglers keep fish is for "bragging rights." Seminar attendee Mary Smith, who runs Fisherman's Village, a BOAT/U.S. Cooperating Marina in Punta Gorda, points out that you don't have to give up bragging rights by letting the fish go. "Every good taxidermist these days has a lot of different molds. If you bring him a photograph or even just a description of what you caught and how big it was, you'll get a 'stuffed' fish that you can hang over your mantle with pride," she says.

Florida angler Denise Oyler had some down-to-earth advice for the group. "If you ask most men questions about technique, they'll bombard you with technical terms. Maybe they think that by making it look harder, they look smarter. But you don't have to know everything to know how to fish -- just the basics."

Oyler's basics included some hilarious comparisons between fish and men. "Snook are like men who play hard to get. You do everything right and they still pick up and leave. A trout, on the other hand, is easygoing and enthusiastically hits the bait. I'd probably date a trout."

In "Ladies, Let's Go Fishing" seminars, it's perfectly okay to ask questions. Not only does nobody yell, but nobody laughs at you, not even at the most basic queries. So you learn a lot, starting with the difference between a conventional and a spinning rod and that "10-pound test line" doesn't mean that you can only catch a 10-pound fish.

The course covers all kinds of fishing, from offshore to bottom to pier. "Once you learn how to tie your own lures and bait your own hook, you can go anyplace," Oyler says. "It's no harder to fish offshore than inshore and you don't have to be any stronger."