Anglers!!!

Fisherman, fisherwoman, or fisherperson? With today’s contemporary obsession over perfect correctness perhaps it would be better to refer merely to the fish and the fisher. Or would it? What differences are there to be found among anglers?

Obviously, fishing means different things to different people. There are fishermen who poach Patagonian Toothfish, others who trawl prawns, or farm tuna. Recreational fishing means different things to different people also.

In the early history of most cultures fishing has been the arena of the man, not the woman or child. The task of the hunter-gatherer was to provide food for the family. As time went by, ordinary people became released from the task of providing food in kind, instead they were paid money for time. The notion of fishing as sport evolved. At first this remained largely the arena of males. Fishing as sport expanded into, and through, the frivolous notion that man can dominate nature. The “Big White Hunter” idea of invincible superiority is now a relic of past days. It has been eclipsed by commonsense and the knowledge that a balance and diversity in nature should be respected and valued.

As a sport today, fishing is enjoyed by all kinds of people young and old, male and female. It is also a sport where women are seldom separated from men on the basis of physical disadvantage. So if mere physical strength or grunt is not what it takes to win, what tips the scales in the favour of the winner?

Today’s comps reflect today’s sentiment. Tag and release is the order of the day, just as recreational fishing ethics include bag limits for sustainability. The essential and unpredictable element of luck is the elusive wild-card of every contest, but other elements have great importance in determining the ultimate outcome. Elements such as local knowledge of geography, of tidal patterns and flows, interpretation of weather patterns and forecasts can never be underestimated. Selection and preparation of the most suitable tackle for the task is another area of expertise. An accurate and complete understanding of the life-cycle and preferences of the target species is just as important. The angler must learn to think like a fish. These are facets of the sport where women face no disadvantage, and often excel. Knowledge is power, and female contestants make formidable opponents because they understand they must gain the maximum advantage in those areas. This is their compensation for the disadvantage of physique and stamina.

In 1999 four keen female anglers, including myself, put together a team to fish the Broome Sailfish Tournament. We busily organised a boat, fishing gear, sponsors, matching shirts and came up with the name “Fish’n’Chicks.” We competed in the small boat category and did our own entire deckhand work much to the surprise of other anglers, particularly the men. Although facing scepticism, we soon proved that competent anglers can also be female. Fish’n’Chicks won Champion Small Boat and placed fifth overall (even defeating several of the charter boats!).

Following on to 2000 in Broome, we came second in our category and decided that next year in 2001 we would charter the inimitable FAD II for the tournament. This would give us the chance to prove ourselves amongst the charter professionals. From the publicity generated through our success in Broome 2000, we began receiving invites to the eastern states for more competitions. This led us to Port Stephens where the largest fishing tournament in Australia has taken place every February for the last 39 years. We presumed there would be many female anglers participating, as it is such a notorious event in a heavily populated area with excellent bill fish waters. To our surprise we were the only all female team once again and many of the male competitors thought we were there just “for show”. They failed to recognise our serious commitment to our sport. Our committment became self evident as our tag cards became conspicuous among so few others. We raised nine marlin, hooked up to eight and tagged seven. Our success there has led to significant recognition of our efforts.

Broome 2001 has been a rewarding triumph for us after taking out Champion Boat ahead of all teams. Our choice of boat was to charter FAD II, a 45’ luxury game fishing boat skippered by Ross Newton with deckhand Troy Dahlstrom, a truly brilliant combination. As usual their experience shone through and eclipsed all other boats. Our statistics were 49 raised, 25 hook-ups and 20 tagged sailfish with each of the girls catching five fish. We had an unforgettable time and were declared the champions. ( Yeehaa!!)

I’m sure there must be many other women just as keen on fishing, from Whyndam jetty and Kalumbaru, to beautiful Bremer Bay and Esperance. I’ll be an enthusiastic listener to any information about women fishing anywhere in the West, in farm dams, creeks, rivers, estuaries or the ocean, to hear all details for future articles about women in the West. (jeniferlerch@hotmail.com)

Fishing still gives all of us the satisfaction of true recreation or re-creation. Fishing harks back to olden times when food was collected by our own hands, not something artificially produced, transported, processed and packaged almost beyond recognition. There is a unique sense of satisfaction in outsmarting a bill-fish, or baiting a hook to target a favourite species, or just holding one end of a dangling line while believing in it as one believes that reciting a mantram is doing something purposeful. For what has become the majority of children today, the closest they ever get to producing food for the family is not collecting eggs from backyard chooks, not from milking the house-cow, not from trapping rabbits or shooting birds, but from fishing. Kids and teenagers can be found busily occupied fishing in rivers and creeks, dams and estuaries, off beaches and out of the ocean, and having fun.

Fishing gives all of us that special sense of reward, (or cynics would say that sense of gaining something for nothing). Fishing also gives us the chance to get things into proper perspective, and to understand how puny and insignificant we are, compared with the entire design. Our place on the planet is just one of many in a complex eco-system, all interdependent on each other.

My grandmother’s kitchen dresser displayed an old porcelain bowl decorated with a drawing of two men in quiet reverie. The men are dressed in 17th century attire, they relax on the riverbank propping each other up beside an empty rum bottle, their coarse-fishing rods lie idly unattended. Around the rim of the bowl an inscription reads: “O! The gallant fisher’s life, it is the best of any!” Perhaps recreational fishing is best summed up that way, no stress, no drama, just pure enjoyment.