The REEL GIRLS story.

Here is an intro for you about us. There are more details and stories that will give you a good laugh about each tournament on the "Tournament reports and stories" page.

Welcome to REEL GIRLS, the fishing team based in Broome, Western Australia. The purpose of this website is to link up with other people world wide, who share our interest in fishing as a sport.
We aim to:
- increase awareness of the value of fishing as a healthy pastime
- promote tag and release at tournaments
- increase awareness of the importance of conservation of fish stocks and habitat
- draw people to Australia as a worth while destination for anglers
- share our experiences with others
- promote different fishing destinations


A typical day in Broome with all the girls having fun
(From left) Jeni, Tracey & Sara

This brief introduction leads to details of
- individual team members' profiles
- tournaments, results and events
- history of the team
- lots of photos and fun
- merchandise available trade-marked REEL GIRLS

Thank you for visiting our site. Any feed back can be directed to us via jeni@reelgirls.com.au
Read on for a more detailed introduction to the "REEL GIRLS"

The "Reel Girls" is an all-female angling team that formed in 1999 (originally called the "Fish 'n Chicks") for the annual Sailfish Tournament in Broome Western Australia. The four local girls making up the team were Sara Hennessy, Tracey Rushford, Sue Watts and Jeni Lerch. (You can check out the full details of each Reel Girl on the Reel Girl profile page)

Sara had fished in tournaments in Perth for years and a few in Broome since moving there in 1997.

Tracey had watched her husband, John, fish the tournament, and win, for three consecutive years and decided it was time to give him some tough competition.

Sue was a keen angler and enthusiastic about putting together the all-female team.

Jeni had helped as deckhand onboard boats during tournaments and decided it was time for a female challenge.

Weeks in advance the girls held rigging sessions, organised team shirts and sponsors, along with all the tackle. Sara's parents' boat was available and the girls fished out of that 23' boat, entering in the small boat division of the tournament. The lack of funds for the five day event (not to mention the lack of room in the cockpit!) led the girls to do all the deckhand work themselves, from tying knots to rigging swimming queenfish teasers, to tagging and releasing the billfish. They even had a practice day out on a charter boat before the competition to work out the team strategy.


The 1999 original "REEL GIRLS"
Jeni, Sue, Sara and Tracey (from left)

 With loads of enthusiasm and matching team shirts the girls entered the fishing club for the briefing night. They were the only all-female team.
Laughter, surprise and encouragement came from the competitors of the twenty-five other teams. Although the girls were not taken seriously at first, the all-female team soon proved to be competent anglers. The first day ended with three tagged fish on the scoreboard for the girls.
Everyone cheered as the girls received a special encouragement award for fishing so well on their first day. After the second day the cheers were a little subdued as the girls brought in seven tag cards to the clubhouse. The following couple of days really tested the girls as their equipment let them down with battery failure, which meant no GPS, depth sounder or radio contact. Undeterred, they tried all tactics to find the fish. Tactics included distracting other boats from watching their own teasers by wearing bikinis and gimbals.

Whatever the tactics were, they worked! The girls won champion small boat and placed fifth overall, much to the dismay and chagrin of several larger defeated charter-boats.
Tracey, Sara and Sue continued to live in Broome as Jeni travelled around Australia on a fishing holiday.
She appeared in NAFA magazine and on Rex Hunt Fishing Adventures advocating the team and their win. Jeni also fished in tournaments in Gove (Arhnem Land) where her success continued, taking out champion boat for both the billfish and game fish tournaments with three local men.


Happy winners 1999!
Champion Small Boat
Sue, Jeni, Sara and Tracey (from left)

Jeni continued to travel around Australia promoting the team through other television appearances, magazines and newspaper articles (you can find the details of these on the "Reel Girls Articles & Reel Girls on TV" webpages).

The girls fished Broome's renamed Billfish tournament again in 2000, a name-change to encompass the marlin and swordfish of the area, as well as the fabled sailfish. The girls set out to prove that the first year was not just a fluke and once again entered the small boat division with no deckhand. The hard work and effort of early mornings, long days and big nights paid off as the girls once again claimed a top position of second.


One of the seven sailfish the girls caught on their "practise day" on FAD II off Broome in 2001		 This then encouraged them to book a large boat for the 2001 tournament with the aim of taking out champion boat overall. Consequently they booked FAD II, the boat on which Jeni originally began her game fishing.
With all the publicity generated and Jeni's continuing involvement in the media industry, they were asked to fish the Port Stephens 2001 event which hosts the largest fishing tournament in Australia and the largest in the southern hemisphere.


A charter boat called "The Outlaw" was organised with skipper George Williams and deckhand Glen Booth. The girls organised flights, accommodation, apparel through Mako and Shimano and 100 bags of information with goodies including their own personalised stubby coolers to hand out to the teams. Unfortunately, Sue could not join the girls for the event, but Lisa Wantuch from South West Rocks became a welcome part of the team.

The Port Stephens event was nerve-wracking for the Reel Girls as they were not familiar with the waters and had never chartered a boat with a deckhand before. The line class was greater, along with the size of the fish! However, they were still very enthusiastic and entered the marquee for the briefing with positive attitudes. They were the only all female team amongst 240 boats and over 1000 anglers.

Amongst the inquisitive glances and bold blokes the girls quietly introduced themselves and mingled socially. They did not get to meet everyone and tell their story, so some anglers thought the team were just part of the models they have each year for photo shots. (Thanks guys!) The following morning all the boats gathered outside the main harbour for the traditional "Sailpast". All 240 boats lined up in procession and made their way to the heads with hundreds of coastal onlookers. What a parade! There were prizes for the best-dressed boat and although the girls were unaware of this extra opportunity to win cash, they improvised with female tactics. (Check it out on the Port Stephens write up).


A Happy team after a successful event with 7 Marlin tagged and released. Sara, Lisa, Jeni and Trace onboard the 34' BlackWatch - The Outlaw		 The Reel Girls won second prize for the best-dressed boat during the Sailpast, which was a good start and gave them an immediate winning edge (any psychological advantage is worth it!).

Day one was quiet for the girls as not a bill was raised. The weather conditions were perfect and they settled in to the new boat and crew comfortably. Day two was much more productive as two marlin tag flags flew high on the outriggers of "The Outlaw" for the journey home.
Without going in to full detail about the tournament, the results were as follows:-
the team raised nine marlin over the six days, hooked up to eight and tagged seven. This was a fantastically satisfying result as the marlin had been quiet for the tournament and many boats didn't even see a single marlin for the whole six days of fishing. The Reel Girls actually tagged more fish than the boat which won champion boat for tag and release, but you can read the full details of that story on the "Tournament reports and stories" page. Due to a slight paperwork complication, the team was categorised in one of the Newcastle and Port Stephens teams instead of visiting teams. Had they been in the visiting team category they would have won the trophy, however the girls were still very pleased with their result. They received a lot of recognition from all the officials and anglers, and were asked to give speeches on themselves and Broome.

A promotional video from the Port Stephens event was produced for the team with the help of Channel 9's TODAY show and Dreampool Productions. The TODAY show plan to finish the program in 2002 for the 40th anniversary of the Tournament. If you would like to view the 2001 video, please contact us for further details.

After that event Tracey and Sara headed back to Broome, whilst Lisa began work on a boat in Queensland. Jeni stayed on the East Coast and continued to fish in tournaments with other friends. This led her to Broken Bay and Sydney for the Easter Game Fishing Tournament where she won champion female angler. The weather began to cool and Jeni started the trek back to Broome for the Broome Billfish Classic (fishing all the way of course!).

The lead up for the Broome event was tantalising as the girls became more and more excited by the minute. They had their traditional "practise day" a month prior to the event and tagged an impressive seven sailfish onboard the charter boat FAD II.

Once again the original team of Tracey, Sara and Jeni were one short and Deb Foster, a Broome local, joined the girls.
They raised funds through raffles, selling stubbie coolers at the local markets, even entering in a competition for "Miss Broome" at the local nightclub where they received cash for a heat win. 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 the girls began with the highest handicap of fourteen sailfish or seven thousand points (500 points for a sailfish, 1000 for a marlin). Although they thought this was a trifle unfair, it was good to be recognised as potentially the best team. They had earned the respect of the fellas, and there was no sign of any patronising attitude from the other teams.
Day one began with the bang of the flare and the girls headed out along with the film crew from "GOOLARRI", the local indigenous television station. The day was relatively calm, although like Port Stephens, the cameraman was a little green and spent the day asleep. Luckily the director had filming experience and enough footage was taken to put together a program.

The girls tagged two sailfish on day one, which put them in the middle of the field, but then blitzed the majority on day two with eight sailfish tagged. Day three included a film crew from a television fishing show. They seemed very impressed by the girls, especially their genuine sporting attitude. Six sailfish tag cards were presented by the Reel Girls at the clubhouse that afternoon.

The girls' team was in the lead heading into the final day, but only by two fish. The competition was tough and lots of fish were caught on the last day even though the conditions were a little rough in the early morning. For the final two minutes the girls had all lines in the water in case a pod were raised by any boat, which may have effected their placing. However, the girls had tagged six fish for the day and reigned champions over all other boats. There was great celebration!

The winning team from Broome 2001.
Jeni, Sara, Tracey and Deb
After the Broome tournament the girls were asked to attend the Mandurah Boat and Fishing Show as an attraction for the public. Following that, Tracey and Sara returned to Broome as Jeni travelled to the East Coast to compete in many competitions from Port Macquarie to Lake Macquarie, to Botany Bay and Nelson Bay, until the girls joined her in Port Stephens for the annual Interclub event.

The REEL GIRLS fished aboard the Broome boat "BACKLASH" skippered by Kevin Blatchford. They also fished aboard the BlackWatch boat "SURREEL" for ladies day and "INKWAZI" for a day of filming. Although the girls had seven days out fishing, very few fish were raised and the girls only tagged the one blue marlin. None the less, they had a fantastic time and got some good footage for the television program "POSTCARDS" on Channel 9.

After that Tracey fished in the Abrohlis Islands Tournament off WA where the boat she was on won! Jeni travelled around the country with a film crew fishing and Sara returned to Broome.

The girls then prepared themselves for the 2002 Broome Billfish Tournament to which they held the title. They invited Kelly Pummeroy from Channel 9's TODAY SHOW to fish with them. 
Kelly had never caught a billfish before and although she needed assistance at first, she proved to be a champion tagging 9 sailfish for the event. The girls couldn't have asked for a better angler. Kelly was enthusiastic to learn all about gamefishing and now is the proud owner of a brand new Shimano Tiagra 20 outfit.
During the event the REEL GIRLS successfully tagged two marlin during a double hook-up. They also successfully completed many quadruple hook-ups as the sailfish turned on.

Tracey, Kelly, Jeni and Sara with their trophies for winning champion boat in the 2002 Broome Billfish Tournament

The 2002 event proved to be one of the best years with close to 1300 fish being raised over four days amongst 17 boats. The girls had the same boat FAD II and skipper, Ross Newton, as the previous year. However Sam Lyon was their new deckhand who had just started his first season working. Sam actually had less experience than the girls, yet by the end of the event was very pleased with his work as were the REEL GIRLS. For the first time the girls did not have a practise day prior to the event.

Deb Foster, who joined the REEL GIRLS in 2001 put together her own team of all female anglers and called themselves the "UNREEL GIRLS". The two other girls were Cathy Catoni from Perth and Nikki Bilston from Broome. 

Neither of them had ever caught a sailfish before and both caught many during the competition. The girls are already planning trips to tournaments this year in Exmouth and next year in Gove (Arnhem Land - NT).

The "UNREEL GIRLS" actually caught more fish than the REEL GIRLS had caught in their first year of the competition. It was a fantastic effort by them and no doubt they will be back next year!

Cathy, Dan (Skipper), Deb, Nikki and Triggy (Decky)

The Broome boat "BACKLASH" won champion large boat and the boat "XTSEA" that was towed all the way from Melbourne won champion small boat. However the REEL GIRLS tagged and released 47 sailfish and 2 marlin to take out champion boat overall. The girls then travelled to Melbourne for the Mercury Fishing Expo in October and were involved heavily with the media in promotional work. They took with them their range of shirts, caps, kids clothes, gloves, fishing soap and videos for people to purchase and view. Following this Jeni travelled to Mandurah for the boat show with the gear and gave talks on stage to all people interested in hearing the REEL GIRLS story. 

Tracey and Jeni then teamed up with two new recruits, Kat Long and Karen Jeffs, to fish the GAMEX Tournament in Exmouth in late October. The girls won champion boat for sailfish tag and release and you can find out the full details of that story on the Tournaments and Events page.  

From these events, along with the growing publicity through magazines and newspaper articles the REEL GIRLS have now been asked to attend Fishing Shows and Tournaments Australia wide as well as overseas.

 


Tracey teaches new angler Karen the circle hook rig the REEL GIRLS used in the Exmouth Tournament

As most of us are aware, the cost of both game fishing and travelling is expensive and now the girls are raising money through the sale of merchandise, and publication of magazine articles to help fund their journey.


Through these events and the uniqueness of their successful all-female team the girls hope to promote fishing in some of the following areas;-

*       Use their notoriety as an all female team to attract men, women and children to
         participate in the healthy sport of fishing, a sport that almost anyone can do, which takes
         them outdoors and promotes a healthy lifestyle and is also lots of fun!

*        Increase the awareness of the Tag and Release program for the sport of game fishing.

*        Promote the preservation of fish stocks in our waters through catch and release.

*        Educate anglers on the correct procedures for tagging and releasing fish.

*        Encourage people around the world to consider Australia and for their next fishing
          adventure.

So there you have it! That's how we got to where we are today and where we are going. In fact you just might see us fishing in your home town soon.