Reel Girls Name Change

2002, another new year. With every new year there are new changes and one such transformation is this column, from “Fish’n’Chicks” to “Reel Girls”. The legal ramifications of this change are complications I would rather not delve into, as I would be writing for a week and bore you silly. In the first issue of this magazine I briefly give an outline of our history as a team. This column is a little more detailed and includes the upcoming exciting prospects for the “Reel Girls”.

I would also like to thank you all for your encouraging emails. To Sharon and Cathy especially. This column is my contribution to this magazine each month and the response from you, the readers, has been tremendous and I’m glad you are all enjoying the whole magazine.

In 1999 a few other keen female anglers and myself put together a team to fish the Broome Sailfish Tournament. We are still together today, competing in tournaments both in Australia and overseas. The team consists of three Broome girls, Tracey Rushford, Sara Hennessy and myself. In each event we invite a fourth angler to encourage more women into the sport.

Tracey is hooked on the sport of fishing, and is eager to increase the awareness of the Tag and Release programs. With two young children at home, Tracey believes in fishing for the future and encourages education for the correct procedures to release fish. Look out for my column next month as I give you a detailed look at just what makes this “Reel Girl” real.

Sara is a keen and competitive angler who takes her fishing seriously. Sara advocates the idea that fishing should not be considered a pastime suitable only for men, and that women are just as capable. The March issue will have Sara’s profile too and as for me, I think you will get to know more of me as you read month to month.

Sara and I have worked as deckhands aboard gamefishing charter boats, while Tracey and her husband John own and operate Kingswood Marine in Broome. Together we work well as a team, competitive and sporting. Most of all we thrive on sheer enjoyment and pure good fun.

In the lead up to our first tournament in Broome the girls and I organised rigging sessions and even had a practice day out on a charter boat to work out the team strategy. Our 23’ Boat appeared tiny amongst the large charter boats, however, we were thankful for the new category for boats under 7.5meters in the all tag and release competition.

With my insatiable optimism, Sara’s competitive experience, Tracey’s enthusiasm and a fourth angler Sue, who was just as keen, we embarked on a fishing adventure. We wanted to do all our own deckhand work and all the skippering decisions for the boat were made as a team. We successfully managed to rig swimming queen-fish, belly flap teasers, all our own lines and tag and release sailfish like we had done it as a team for years …..well …. …almost.

The first day ended with three tagged fish on the scoreboard for us. Everyone cheered as we received a prize for fishing so well on our first day. After the second day the cheers were a little subdued as we brought in seven tag cards to the club house.

The following couple of days really tested us as we battled with battery failure, which meant no GPS, depth sounder or radio contact. Over the whole five days we missed lots of fish through crazed pod frenzies and quadruple hook-ups. However, we managed to tag and release thirteen sailfish and came fifth over all. Our team won champion small boat and defeated several of the larger charter boats

Suffice it to say we all thoroughly enjoyed the tournament, probably not taking it as seriously as others and relaxing in true Broome style. This was just the beginning!

Once again our team competed in a small boat for the Broome 2000 event to prove that the first year had not been just a fluke. We successfully tagged many sailfish along with the first marlin for the event and placed second. We all decided to take our enthusiasm further and book FAD II, a 43’ charter boat for the 2001 tournament.

With all the publicity generated through word of mouth and articles appearing in various magazines, we began receiving invitations to fish in tournaments around Australia. This led us to picturesque Port Stephens, three hours north of Sydney, where the largest game-fishing tournament in the Southern Hemisphere takes place every February. Our fourth female angler was Lisa Wantuch. I had met Lisa through work in the television industry and she was ecstatic about joining the team.

The Toyota 2001 Port Stephens Interclub tournament attracted entrants from all over the globe with over 240boats and 1000 anglers competing in the 2001 event alone, and let me tell you the competition was tough! We were the only all female team of four anglers fishing aboard a 34’ Blackwatch charter boat called “The Outlaw” with skipper George Williams and deckhand Glen Booth.

The sail-pass on the first day with over 240 boats was mind-blowing. That morning there was a prize for the best-dressed boat in the fleet. Unaware of this competition and with little time and resources we came to the conclusion of raising our bras and nickers up the outriggers to show the rest of the fleet that we were an all-female crew. Just to prove the point further we wore our bikinis with matching Shimano jackets displaying a large logo for our team written over the back. We won second prize for that category, but this year we will be more prepared.

We had not fished the eastern waters before as a team and had never solely targeted marlin. However, we had confidence and above all the pheromones to help us along the way. (Not to mention the unbelievably skilled deckie and skipper who would shoot me for not mentioning there input!) We managed to raise and hook eight fish and successfully tag and release seven. These statistics didn’t pass the men un-noticed and we soon began earning the respect from everyone as serious anglers. We were asked to give speeches about ourselves and Broome. The TODAY show filmed with us and other fishing programs have booked us for upcoming segments.

We all hooked two fish each, Tracey the only one to have the hooks pull on her second fish. She caught her first marlin though, and enjoyed the event immensely. Sara was anxious to add a blue or striped marlin to her tally but could only catch blacks. Lisa is now an avid billfish angler and wants to join us again for any other tournament.

Little me had the best trip of my fishing life and fought an estimated 200kg marlin for three hours on 24kilo stand up gear as we backed in to a rough ocean during the mid-week tournament. We finally managed to bring the fish within tagging range after pushing the line to 14kilos of drag for fifteen minutes as a last hard effort. The difference in pressure was tremendous, my strength coming purely from adrenalin as we tagged the biggest fish I had ever caught. It swam away after we snapped off a few shots and happily released it.

We didn’t manage to win a category for that tournament, even though we caught the same amount of fish as the winning boat for tag and release (just on the wrong days). We all agreed to return for the 2002 tournament.

The lead up for the Broome 2001event was tantalising with excitement growing by the minute. We had the traditional “practise day” a month prior to the event and tagged an impressive seven sailfish aboard the charter boat FAD II.

The original team of Tracey, Sara and myself were joined by Deb Foster, the local radiologist. The briefing night approached and the team arrived with all matching shirts including one for each of the crew. The calcutta is always a big event in Broome and we began with the highest handicap of fourteen sailfish. Although we thought this was unfair, it was a great honour to be recognised as potentially the best team.

We tagged two fish on day one, which put us in the middle of the field, but then blitzed the majority on day two with eight sailfish tagged. Our skipper Ross Newton and Deckhand Troy Dahlstrom were an exceptional combination, their enthusiasm matching our own. On the final day we were in the lead, but only by two fish. The competition was tough and lots of fish were caught. In fact in total over the four days there were 704 billfish raised, 244 hook-ups and 157 tagged and released amongst 18 boats. However, we managed to keep slightly ahead of the others on the last day and reigned champions over all other boats.

After the Broome tournament the girls were asked to attend the Mandura Boat and Fishing Show as an attraction for the public. From all this success and exposure through magazine and newspaper articles, and appearances on the 7,9 and 10 networks, the girls have now been asked to attend fishing shows and tournaments Australia wide. The ‘Reel Girls’ have also been invited to fish in Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) where the largest fishing tournament in the Northern Hemisphere takes place in October 2002. ‘Reel Girls’ are planning to raise enough money to go there next year, along with as many of the other events as possible to promote Australia for tourism and recreational fishing.

The team effort in all tournaments is so important and this is one area where the ‘Reel Girls’ work well together. Having an all female team is great fun as most of the time we don’t take things as seriously as the guys and we are always out to have a good time. There may be a few extra screams and squeals aboard, but it’s all screams of enthusiasm and excitement.