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Fishing |
 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, especially when it comes to fishing." 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 BoatUS 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 BoatUS 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 different fish. "There’s another lesson we like to 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 BoatUS Co-op 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. Famous 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 easy going 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 you want," Oyler says. "It’s not harder to fish offshore than inshore and you don’t have to be any stronger." Marsha Bierman proves that point. Using nothing heavier than standup short rods and 50-pound test line, she has broken billfish after billfish record, including capturing the largest documented fish ever caught on standup tackle, a 1,300-pound Pacific blue marlin. How does she do it? She taught the class her unique "pelvic tilt" method, a nifty gesture that enables women to use their hips and thighs instead of their backs and brute strength to reel in the big ones. Using a good natured, 200-pound male volunteer as the "fish," Marsha took him out to the swimming pool and reeled him in less than two minutes. Class members lined up to try it themselves and were ecstatic about the results. "This is so much easier than the way my husband tried to teach me," said Pat Hays of Lakeland. Other stereotypes fell by the wayside. Although a fish recipe exchange was part of the program, the recipe that had the most women writing down the ingredients was for "chum" - normally ground-up baitfish you scatter in the water to attract fish to your boat. "I look for canned jack mackeral and Kozy Kitten cat food, which for some reason fish like better than any other brand and mix in a few bread crumbs" said instructor Capt. Brent Gaskill of Tampa. |
 Says Bauman, who was named 1999 Woman of the Year by the American Sport
Fishing Association, "I’ve found that men are usually after the biggest
fish. For women, the appeal of fishing is in catching them, no matter what the
size." Perhaps that’s why all the seminar attendees seemed so interested
in bait. All the instructors agreed: For inshore and offshore, live bait is
best.. Gaskill prefers shrimp "because the bait store has it and you can
keep them alive for a couple of days in a plastic container in your
refrigerator."
Offshore, where the fish tend to be larger, spanish sardines, menhaden and
blue runners were the top choices. "Never, never let anyone bait your
hook," said Capt. Kim Kreider, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer cheerleader who
hung up her pompoms for the lure of tournament kingfishing - where she’s
done extremely well. "It’s really not that hard to rig a sardine,"
said Heather Overton, 25, who is trying to figure out a way to give up her day
job so she can fish all the time. "Just stick the hook through his nose, it’s the soft part above his mouth
and then kiss it for good luck." |
©2008, Boat Owners Association of The United States. All Rights Reserved.
