Fish'N'Chicks

So...Who are the "REEL GIRLS"? ...the core members are...

*...who are the invited extra anglers...*

Tracey Rushford

How many women, who count fishing as their favourite sport, are actually able to get involved in angling on a competitive basis?

How many women working full time manage to fully pursue their particular interest in sport?

How many mothers of young children are there able to successfully juggle the responsibilities of parenting, home-making and marriage, yet still find enough hours in the day for fishing?

Chances are it's a slender minority.
A brief profile of just one of these people may reveal a few surprises.

Trace looking very excited in the final two minutes of the Broome 2001 Comp.

Tracey Rushford of the 'Reel Girls' team is no game-fishing boat ornament posing for the occasional 'action shot.' Tracey is no stereotype of fickle ideas glued together as a glamorous appendage to a serious tournament.

First impact of the first impression of Tracey's character is vitality radiating from a fit and healthy person full of energy, and quiet confidence. Her greatest commitment is to her family, husband Jonno, daughter Jacqui and son Christopher. Jacqui is just old enough to lose her first front tooth, and Christopher is younger, but able to swim faster underwater in the family swimming pool (so he tells me!). Together the family live in a 'Broome style' home built close to the sandhills behind Cable Beach. Certainly the house is well-appointed with all modern conveniences, but essentially the duty of running the household as mother rests fair and square on Tracey's shoulders. There are no short cuts like nannies or housekeepers.

The Rushfords' new home stands among mature mango trees where their greenery leads onto wide shady verandahs and into cool rooms. The design captures that essence of tropical lifestyle and laid-back Broome Time atmosphere so special about local architecture. For those who don't know it yet: Broome Time is a time zone where clock faces have figures but no hands. We just slip into Broome Time. Broome people are closely attuned to climate and weather, nuances of seasonal changes, phases of the moon and so forth simply because they spend so much time out of doors, eating , relaxing, entertaining, sleeping. Tracey is no exception, and this quality of lifestyle gives her an extra edge in her chosen sport.

Both Tracey and her husband work full-time in their own family business 'Kingswood Marine' on Port Drive in Broome. The business includes ships' chandlery, sales and repairs to boats and outboards, fishing tackle, and primarily the constant manufacture of pearl panels for the pearl farming industry. Live shell are placed individually into pockets of netting on panels which are suspended in the tidal flow on pearl farm leases. Pearls are big business in Broome, and Kingswood Marine employ full-time workers with Tracey responsible for most of the day-to-day accountancy details.

To counterbalance the necessity of all that hard work Tracey indulges in her favourite sport: fishing. Never half-hearted at anything, Tracey's involvement includes the responsibility of preparing her own gear for all tournaments, handcrafting lures and teasers, rigging baits and spooling new line.
Good tackle is only part of the story. To achieve the most from her chosen sport Tracey needs to be physically fit and confident. Serious workouts, keeping fit with early morning walks along the beach, a healthy diet of fresh food, no smoking, and the pleasure of alcohol in moderation keeps Tracey ready to pitch her best at every hook-up.

As a member of the 'Reel Girls' team Tracey always demonstrates that best of all qualities in any team: sporting attitude and team spirit. Her unselfish attitude shines through the mayhem of every multiple hook-up in every billfish tournament. Believe me it gets pretty hectic out there!

Tracey's love of the ocean and its bounty has led her to speak up about the value of tag- and- release tactics in competitions, and the importance of getting that message across to other anglers. With two young children at home she wants to be able to preserve fish stocks and the complex food-chain in the marine world so that the next generation of anglers may have the same pleasures she enjoys.

Dedication and vitality are the two words which most readily sum up Tracey's attitude to angling among serious sports enthusiasts. How does Tracey juggle her responsibilities and still find time to 'do as she likes'? Perhaps sharing so much of her life with a supportive life-partner, and being so deeply involved in the family business means her husband understands just how important time-off can be.

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Jenifer Lerch

Jeni with one of the Flathead caught from South West Rocks in NSW Jeni Lerch is a powerfully motivated member of the Reel Girls team.
Her determination to live life to the fullest provides her with more energy than seems possible for a physically light-framed woman.
Infectious laughter, high spirits, and contagious optimism are all phrases which spring to mind as a description of Jeni, and they are qualities which invariably spread amongst her companions whoever or wherever that might be.
Jeni is good company.
A great deal of Jeni’s life has been focused on outdoor sports and responsibilities. Growing up on a farm she learnt to crack a stockwhip and ride horses at an early age. Sustained enthusiasm for the task at hand is something Jeni may have learnt from her own mare Kintamani Myra, who was bred for endurance racing.

Physical fitness is Jeni’s reward for consistent commitment to good food and plenty of exercise. Training exercise for Jeni includes boxing, bike riding, snowboarding, wakeboarding and occasionally running.

As the law of averages usually dictates, an energetic involvement in sport has not been without injury. Setbacks Jeni has sustained include a broken leg in traction for weeks after falling out of a tree, a smashed kneecap riding horses, a dislocated knee snowboarding……and the list goes on. Not all plain sailing but all leading to formidable courage and a grim determination to make the best of every moment.

Living always close to the coast Jeni has spent a great deal of time coastal fishing and messing about in boats. Both in sailing boats, where one’s attention is focused on identifying the weather, and game-fishing boats, where one’s attention is focused on the weather and conditions in relation to the prey. Her skill and expertise has built up from hands-on experience, not just text-book theory.

Add to this wealth of experience a passion for good quality, fresh, natural food, especially seafood, and a sketch of Jeni starts to come into focus. Good quality lifestyle for Jeni dictates no smokes or dope ever, and alcohol only for fun.

Jeni shares the Reel Girls’ determined promotion of conservation of fish stocks, and tag and release competition ethics. Just as every member of every team needs to be unselfish for the sake of the team, so does every competition need to be unselfish about their catch and about the maintenance of marine habitat for the sake of future anglers.
Jeni also enjoys a day up in the creek chasing other fish in a dinghy

Jeni’s success as an angler can be gauged by the number of trophies she has been awarded, but it can also be gauged by the healthy lifestyle she has chosen in order to pursue her favorite sport. Best choice of values, simple choices available to almost all Australians, are manifest in Jeni’s tireless energy, magnetic personality and good humour. These qualities usually leave an indelible impression on total strangers as well as close friends.

Although Jeni’s work takes her to many destinations Australia wide and overseas, she is always very happy to call Broome home.

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Sara Hennessey

Boredom is a word that seems to be missing from the vocabulary of Sara Hennessey, one of the Reel Girls angling team, out of Broome.

Don't worry, Sara's vocabulary can be very colourful and expressive, and lacks nothing in intensity.

It's just that for the amount of activities that Sara crams into her life, there are never enough hours in any day.
Sara with a nice Broome Bluebone

Sara works full time at the Broome Mercure Inn, best known in local vernacular as 'The Conti.' Her responsibilities encompass all the demands of the position of assistant manager, duties that extend beyond the hours for which her salary is calculated. She is well known there for her cooperative attitude, congenial company and reliable work. Special days, such as Melbourne Cup Day, demand inspiration, intricate planning, and complicated decoration for the enjoyment of locals and tourists alike, and these details are mostly Sara's responsibility,

After work, Sara finds other time-consuming things to do. She is a committee member of the Broome Fishing Club and regularly helps organise functions and events at the club. She is also the licensee there, and this is yet another time consuming commitment.

Five times a week she conducts aerobics classes for young and old of the Broome community. Sara is an active member of the dance club that regularly performs around Broome. Where she finds the hours to sew many of the young children's costumes for the dance school, I just don't know.

From time to time she works as deckhand aboard the fishing charter boat "Marlinfisher" owned and operated by her boyfriend, Geoff. The term 'day off' needs redefining in relation to Sara's daily life.

Sara is always willing to help community groups, and to become involved in local affairs such as the festival of Shinju Matsuri (the major festival of pearls) and the Mango Festival. Sara is also a VFLO (volunteer fisheries liaison officer) and involved with educating people on fishing for the future by patrolling popular local fishing spots. If these details so far sound incredibly like a model citizen, too good to be true, tempting you to grumble "yeah, yeah, get real," then read on, please.

Once on board a gamefishing boat a transformation takes place. Ever heard of Jeckle and Hyde? How do you think Sara gained the nickname 'rod grabber'? Once on the water, and taking part in a tournament, Sara's killer instinct takes over. It's win or die for this competitor, and all's fair in love, war and competitions. Sara's intense focussing on the hunt never allows her attention to wane, and never allows an opportunity for glory to be missed. Sara is no idle spectator content to watch the fellas win, she always gives them the best run for their money. Her physical fitness and concentration span allows that run to be formidable, and she is a great asset to the team in every tournament.

Sara's home is a dazzling display of everything fishy. From countless trophies of all shapes and sizes, to fishing caps, to taxidermy fish and fish light shades.

Her CD rack is even made to look like a fish. It's not hard to choose her a present for Christmas or birthdays, just find anything fishy and she'll love it!

Competition-fishing began for Sara when she was a child, living south of Broome, with parents who are equally wrapped up in the sport.

Sara prepares a tag in the tagpole
Her father is a qualified marine mechanic. He was very supportive of Sara's desire to get involved with fishing and he spent lots of time teaching her everything from how to fillet fish, gaff correctly, rig baits and lures, along with boat handling skills, right down to reversing trailers. Her mother is also a keen angler and equally supportive of Sara's chosen sport.
Sara simply can't remember how young she was when she received her first prize in a fishing competition. Trophies abound, mixed in with just about every conceivable magazine on the topic of fishing, and fishing tournaments world-wide. Then add to that the internet, and you may have some idea of the saturation point of Sara's enthusiasm for her chosen sport. This enthusiasm is so strong that she has a permanent fixture of a Marlin with her twenty-four hours of every day in the form of a tattoo. It is the logo of her original Game Fishing Club, Perth, which is where some of you may have seen her before.

Sara tirelessly lives life to the full in Broome, the place she now calls home, and is eager to fish as many of the competitions as possible with the Reel Girls, within her busy schedule, over the next twelve months. This includes three or four events in WA alone, so look out for her, she's tough competition!

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Deb Foster

Deb Foster joined the REEL GIRLS (then called "Fish'n'Chicks") for the Broome 2001 Billfish tournament. Deb had never been game fishing before and was a keen angler who regularly fished for barramundi in the creeks and rivers near Broome.

Deb works full time at the local hospital and has two energetic children, Shane 13 and Shannon 9. Deb spent the first nine years of her life on a farm at Grass Patch, forty miles from the coast of Esperance in Western Australia. During this time she never really went fishing. The closest Deb got to marine life were the leeches in the farm dams, or
the blue bottles at the beach when her family made a trip into town.
Deb with an Exmouth Cobia
When Deb was about nine her family moved into the thriving metropolis of Esperance where everyone lived within a few blocks of the beach and the kids would walk to the water as many times a day as they liked (or were allowed by their parents!).

They lived quite close to the town wharf and not far up the beach was the one-mile long jetty. If you didn't watch where you were walking in those days you would fall through the rotted timber and end up in the drink! (Gone are the days of no litigation, and the freedom of being responsible for yourself.) Being under parents' feet, as most children are, her Mum suggested the kids try fishing to bring home some dinner, as they were now so close to the ocean. The children would trundle off to the wharf grumbling because they knew that whatever they caught would be dinner for the next week and their optimism never took them past catching herring or skipjack, which were not quality eating. Catch and release wasn't really thought of back then, so they reluctantly brought home all the catch.

Needless to say they became quite proficient with a hand line and would often return with as many as a hundred little fish and some squid for the next day's bait. What started out as a chore was then turning in to a fun game as the children began to explore the length of the jetty and beaches and what delicacies lay beneath its surrounding waters. Deb doesn't remember if she were ever taught how to tie a knot because they never really got busted up on the little fellas, and presumes that they must have just tied on a granny knot if it were ever needed.

Later in Deb's teens she had a boyfriend who was a keen social fisherman and she started learning about "real fishing." Esperance is a terrific place for beach and rock fishing, with lots of coves and large outcrops from which to fish. She remembers going to Salmon Beach, the long jetty or camping around the coast at Israelite Bay or Cape Le Grande National Park. From the jetty they would catch garfish and then bottom bounce for anything with scales. The fish were very prolific and they never came home empty handed.

Out along the coast they would catch mostly salmon and the usual sharks and over-size skippy. "Call me weird", I quote her, "but the biggest thrill for me was catching sting-rays. What a buzz! They would come close to spooling you at least three or four times, then after about a half hour they'd finally get dragged up onto the beach."

From high school Deb moved to the big smoke and went to Uni in Perth. She says she basically didn't wet a line for years and very rarely made a trip to the other side of Perth to throw a handline in anywhere. After years in Perth Deb made the move of a lifetime and went to live in Broome in the magnificent Kimberley Region. Life began, as it should, with fishing, camping and "lifestyle" becoming the focus of her time. She and her husband had a little boat and would spend weekends in Dampier Creek or off the beach at Gantheume Point. They began to see an amazing variety of species and learn all the little tricks about which bait to use for which fish, how to gauge the huge tidal differences and got spoilt enough to throw back fish most people would kill for.

Deb finally got to fish for barramundi and actually catch them. Although she said it took hours of trolling with lures and accompanying someone who actually knew what they were doing to finally catch that elusive species!

One day in July 2001 Deb was fishing with some mates catching salmon when they mentioned that the girls team were looking for someone to fish with them in the Broome Billfish Classic.

Deb's first ever sailfish with Toby Blatchford (Skipper of "She's a Teaser")

She couldn't believe her luck and contacted Tracey immediately. This was the beginning of her real interest in fishing and she is now a totally hooked blue water angler. Deb says she has heaps to learn but they don't come much keener.
Deb was very proud of her week during the competition where she tagged and released five sailfish and came runner-up Champion Female for the competition. Since then she has spent ten days fishing at Ningaloo Reef in the blue water and caught a wide variety of species from shark mackeral to cobia, emperor to barracouda.

The success in Broome led to invites for trips up the Fitzroy chasing barramundi and out on boats off Broome. Naturally, she's had a few days out without much luck as you do in fishing. Winning the competition with the REEL GIRLS was a great step forward. She now has close circle of new friends and looks forward to expanding that circle with lots of fishing to come. Deb will be fishing in the Port Stephens 2002 Interclub tournament on a 26ft BlackWatch. You won't miss her if you're there, she's 5ft10 and keen as they come.

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Lisa Wantuch
Lisa Wantuch lives mostly on the East Coast Australia. Half her time is spent working in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the fishing industry as part of a crew spending weeks at a time confined to a vessel. This can be very demanding for most people, however Lisa has been committed to this work for a few years and her easy going nature is a good indication of how she copes with these particular working conditions. When Lisa is not working at sea, her time is spent on the north coast of NSW where she regularly fishes and keeps active jet -skiing, motorbike riding and diving.

Sydney is where Lisa grew up. Her family are keen anglers and have fished up and down the coast, spending most holidays fishing at South West Rocks. Lisa has the experience, competent skills, and knowledge to fish just about anywhere, and if she finds a place she doesn't know, she's not afraid to give it a go and search out some local knowledge for herself.

Lisa joined the REEL GIRLS during the Toyota Sportivo 2001 Interclub Tournament in Port Stephens. Lisa met up with Jeni in South West Rocks in January 2001 during a film shoot with Dreampool productions for the Rex Hunt fishing program. She has always been a keen angler and had been on the fishing program previously in South West Rocks and Thailand after Rex saw her fishing from the breakwall one day in that northern NSW coastal town. Jeni and Lisa shared a number of common interests and Jeni was sure she would fit well in to the team.

During the tournament in Port Stephens Lisa caught two striped marlin that were tagged and released, weighing an approximate 80 kilos. The girls put together a promotional video from the event in which Lisa tags one of these marlin.

Lisa joined the girls once again for the Toyota Interclub tournament in 2002 and is enthusiastic to return next year. If time permits, one year she will be over to experience Broome and the Kimberley as well.

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Sue Watts

Australia is a vast island. We’ve all read about that statistic before, but the scope and size starts to make itself patently obvious when Australians set out to travel around their own island. The cost of airfares, the lack of train services, the limit of bus services, and the total absence of ferry services between the ports that string out around the mainland coast usually adds up to a decision to drive: just drive around the island, there’s only about 38,000 kms of coastline to see!
This decision, typically made by so many Australians, was also made by Reel Girls team member Sue Watts when she and her husband Bud set out from Melbourne in 1988.

Also typical for so many Australians: the years have rolled by but Sue and Bud have still not completed the circumnavigation.
Their first serious hold up was three years spent in Port Douglas in Far North Queensland where they enjoyed the Great Barrier Reef and all its wonders out of a 19ft Haines Hunter. It was Sue’s introduction to fishing, and no wonder she easily became hooked on the sport. Apart from R&R and top quality fresh fish for the family table, fishing at Port Douglas included entry in to a local competition. To her surprise and delight Sue was proclaimed champion female angler.

Continuing the round trip the next major stop was Darwin. Four years rolled by, but those years offered little opportunity for fishing as Bud was working deep in the bush, inland.

Missing their former close connection to the coast and all the quality of lifestyle choices coastal living has to offer, Bud and Sue moved on down the track from Darwin to Broome in 1994.

Sue's trophies for Champion Female and Champion Small Boat in the 1999 Broome Billfish Tournament

Making the most of all that the Broome location has to offer, Sue and Bud now own a custom built 17ft surveyed dinghy built by Rod Wellington and designed for local conditions.
Every year Sue and her family take an extended trip up in to the Kimberley spending three to four weeks camping out every night, endlessly fishing, and thriving on the seclusion, the majesty, the awesome expanses of this remote wilderness area, where it is still possible to be really truly free, which is to say: entirely responsible for yourselves.

With self reliance being such a large factor in these annual plans Sue and Bud and their entire family travel in tandem with another Broome family in a second boat.

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Kelly Pummeroy

Kelly Pummeroy is well known as the travel reporter for Channel 9's morning TODAY Show. She was invited to fish with the REEL GIRLS for 2002 whilst the show did a segment on the team.

Kelly warned the girls that she had done several segments on fishing for television but never caught a fish on any segment. She thought she might be bad luck for the team, and was a little reluctant to join with so little confidence. The girls only met up with Kelly for the first time the day before the event. That year there was no chance for a practise day with team bonding, no chance to dispel the nail-biting tension of competition, it was just 'jump in the deep end' straight into the tournament and all the action.

The first day was a great success for the girls as they tagged 13 sailfish. Kelly's first fish was not counted as it was estimated to be under ten kilos and one of the core members of the team helped her by touching the rod, which is not permitted during competition. After that, Kelly needed only verbal assistance (which may have been a bit loud and explicit at times!) and she proved herself to be a competent angler, a keen competitor, unselfish team-member and convivial companion.

Sound technician Damien, Kelly and camera man Matt on FADII during the 2002 Billfish Tournament in Broome

On the second morning of the tournament Kelly tagged 4 sailfish before 9.30am. The rest of the team demanded to know the secret of her success. She then confessed that the reason may have been because it was actually her birthday! However, she did jinx herself after that and ended up by not catching another fish that day.

By the end of the tournament Kelly was eagerly rigging up all the baits, tying bimini twists and fishing like she had done it for years. Kelly is now the proud owner of a brand new Shimano Tiagra 20 and 10 kilo Backbone series Shimano rod. Her efforts as a team member helped see the girls win the event once again, and the rods and reels were part of the prize.

Kelly's trophy of a Broome Pearl-shell and silver sailfish will no doubt be the talking point of many conversations in years to come in her Melbourne home.

An extract from her email best describe Kell's earlier fishing exploits:

"My Grandfather and my father were both mad keen fisherman and used to take me a lot fishing in the river where I grew up in Horsham. I even caught the largest redfin in the junior classes a couple of times in the Wimmera River Fishing Competition where (as a kid) I won a camera one year and a Fishing rod the next. My sister even won a stereo she would never let me use!

We spent a lot of time fishing in South Australia as well, for whiting etc on Family holidays mostly surf fishing near South End and Millicent while I was growing up.

As an adult I really didn't fish much until I met my husband, Leigh. As he loves Fishing and fished with his Grandfather as well (in the Murray, for Murray cod with bardi grubs ) we spent a lot of weekends fishing in Tasmania and used to catch quite a lot of small fish off the rocks down there.

Just wanted to let you know, that really when I met Leigh I was a competant fisherperson! Probably better than some men ...but we're talking basic lures and sinkers and hooks off rocks and hand line type stuff!! But I certainly had no idea what you were doing on the boat that first day, I had never ever been on a boat set up like Fad II in my life!

Now I want to buy a boat to go with this scooby doo rod!! I really am keen also to take up fly fishing now as I feel it's a "little" bit like the fishing you were doing where you out smart and target the fish?

I also found the attitude and outlook of you three girls an inspiration, and actually missed you all when I returned, I missed that sincere sisterly "solid" support and caring.

I feel amongst women there is a lack of that genuine support in many environments. I would compare it to the life long relationships I developed with girls in boarding school!

I really hope you get to compete in Mexico and would gladly do anything I can to help you get there!

Love Kel XXXXXX"

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Karen Jeffs

Kaz with a Spanish Mackerel during the Exmouth Competition

Kaz's Profile coming REEL SOON
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Kat Long

Kat fly fishing off the beach in Broome

Kat was born in Sydney and grew up on the Northern Beaches; coming from a background of three generations of female anglers she has been mad about fishing her whole life.

She has fished all around Australia and travelled the world chasing numerous varieties of fish in exotic places like; Botswana for tiger fish, South Africa for kob, Mauritius for tuna, Kona for marlin, Mexico for dorado, Costa Rica for tarpon, to name only a few.

Working in the modelling industry took her overseas also where she lived in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris and Munich.

Kat was Inside Sports Girl of the Year 1996 and was voted one of the top ten bikini models of the decade. She has hosted her own television series on Foxtel called NRB about extreme sports and Australian music.

Now based back in Australia she has spent most of 2002 helping run a sports fishing camp on the remote Kimberley coast of Western Australia.

It was in Broome that she met the 'Reel Girls' and was invited to fish Gamex in Exmouth and jumped at the chance. Having never caught a sailfish before it was a new and exciting opportunity for her; she loved it and caught four of the thirteen sailfish tagged and released by the girls in the tournament.

Definitely hooked and very excited at being a part of an all-female angling team she plans to join the girls for more tournaments in 2003.

Kat, Nicki & Deb heading out to party in Broome

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Nicki Bilston

Nicki Bilston grew up in the wheat belt town Wagin, a long way from the ocean!

She moved to Derby when she was 18 and not surprisingly became a barra addict. Nicki took every opportunity to fish the surrounding Buccaneer Archipelago with it's amazing tides and numerous islands. She worked on Koolan Island and soon learnt how to bring in big GT's and Mackerel.

In 2001 Nicki moved to Broome and continued her interest in fishing. Inevitably she met the Reel Girls and fished on board "Lively" for the Broome Fishing Club's May Day Fishing Competition with Jeni as the deckhand. Following that Nicki teamed up with Deb Foster, Pam Blatchford, Tina Mathews and Jeni's mother Sylvia for the Mary Islands Buccaneer Classic.

The all female team named "Lively Lassies" placed fourth amongst 19 boats. For full details of this tournament please check the Tournaments page. Nicki then teamed up with Deb Foster again and Cathy Catoni from Perth to form the "Unreel Girls" and fish the Broome 2002 tournament. Here Nicki caught her first billfish and the team tagged eleven for the event.

Now Nicki is fishing with the "REEL GIRLS" in tournaments throughout Australia and overseas.
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Cathy Catoni
Cathy Catoni has become one of the UNREEL GIRLS, the second all female team entered into the Broome Billfish Tournament for 2002. How she got there is best explained through an extract from her own email to Jeni:

"Thank you for your articles in "Fishing Western Australia" re:.REEL GIRLS. I thoroughly enjoyed them and find myself all revved up to throw a line in when I've finished reading your articles. Then the waiting sets in for the next edition. Fishing WA is a great mag and I feel comforted knowing that as I'm reading through the pages (front to back) the best is yet to come ... your segment.

Let me explain why I get so excited. It seems I've always had an enormous attraction to the water. It all started when my Dad was watching some people squidding down in Koonbana Bay (Bunbury) on one of our holidays. I was 2 years old and decided to test the water myself. Luckily my Dad looked up just in time to see the top of my blonde hair disappear over the side of the jetty. By the time Dad dived in and grabbed me I was already six foot below the surface of the water. The bay was very murky due to the Mineral Sands Factory operating back in those days. I thank my diligent Dad and the powers that be for saving my hide.

We always spent our holidays near the beach. Our favourite spot was Horrocks Beach (just north of Geraldton), where we spent nearly all our summer holidays for at least 8 years that I can remember. Dad used to pile the 5 kids and Mum into our old kombi with all our gear loaded up in our 14 foot ali boat towed behind. It used to be so embarrassing when road trains overtook us as we couldn't get over 80 kph.

Horrock's is a great place for a family to holiday. By the age of 10, I had learnt from Dad how to operate a boat and Dad soon let me take the boat out whenever I wanted to use it, which was always. Mum and Dad only saw me when I'd run out of fuel and were occasionally approached by strangers who were concerned a girl was out in the boat alone. I used to find a good spot in the bay, anchor and skindive for ages or do a spot of fishing. I progressed to scuba diving in the mid-eighties while on holidays in Queensland and dived the Great Barrier Reef on scuba, which was unbelievable.

Fishing is a great love of mine and many hours are spent fishing Perth waters throughout the year. I head north as often as I can to enjoy the great weather, red dirt and amazing fishing. My love for the sea was strengthened when I started working Oil and Gas Exploration for a seismic crew. I worked nine years in the industry and most of that time was working as far away from the ocean as you could possibly get in Australia's many deserts. When on leave back in Perth one of the first things I would do was drive to the beach and just sit for hours watching the ocean.

The thing is, your articles visit the very heart of my 37 year existence. Dad never stopped me doing things that I enjoyed because of my gender or my age for that matter. He taught me well, encouraged me to succeed and trusted me. I love him for that. Australia is such an incredible country and most of my best friends are guys. But I will never understand why so many guys out there think we are only a token gesture in the workforce and some sporting arenas, such as fishing. As a technician I've worked most of my life in a male dominated industry and found the only way I have gained respect was by doing things twice as good and working twice as hard. My hat goes off to you REEL GIRLS for breaking new ground in the major fishing comps. Oh ... my Dad says good-on you as well.

P.S. I'm driving up to Broome via my favourite diving/fishing spots along the way and I was hoping you could forward my phone number or e-mail onto your fellow friend and REEL GIRL Deb for a spot of fishing in Broome. It would be a great honour if she has time for a fish. I will be up there for a few days in the first week of December. Prior to that I will be in Coral Bay, Port Hedland and Exmouth. If not I might see you guy's on the water some time ... you never know your luck, just like fishing!!! Keep up the great articles. cheers Cathy Catoni"

This introduction through the print media and then cyber space has blossomed into a firm friendship between Cathy and Deb and the wonderful reward of fishing together.
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