One in a Hundred Who Fish are Left Handed Women

[onemorecast]

As a female fly fisher, one of the big advantages to me of having more women fly fishing (other than more fishing buddies) is that the clothing and accessory (vests, packs, etc) manufacturers might take us more seriously. Men's clothing does not fit properly and I am tired of having to select from items that are not as good quality as men's gear in such non-outdoors colors as pink, purple, powder blue, or white. [sorry - that's a soap box of mine from which I will step down now.]

Don't feel you have to step down off the soap box! Testify! I won't wear that stuff either. But I have had some success finding appropriate colors in quality items made for other sports that will work for fishing. I really don't want "special" women's fishing stuff (pretty trim, girly colors, etc) - I just want the same stuff guys get in women's sizes.

By the way, when is someone going to make a wading jacket in a ladies cut that DOESN'T have huge pockets where we don't want them? And for less than $200, please. I just bought a ski jacket for cheap that is supposed to be 100% waterproof (yeah, I know, big joke) in a great color. It's not entirely perfect but it'll do. I've yet to see whether it's really waterproof or not. I mean how many people ski in the pouring rain?

[Big Bad Wulff]

Women equate fishing with putting a worm on a hook.

[Bluegill222]

All I had to do was put a rod in my wife's hand, show her the basics, and turn her loose on a pond full of hungry gills. The rest as they say is history. Neither of us fish as much as we'd like, but we fish together every chance we get. I have a two year old neice who will be getting into the act soon as well.

[Mato Kuwapi]

This is from an avid woman fly anglers point of view, and someone started to mention it earlier. For the most part, it was fathers, grandfathers and uncles who would take the kids fishing. They usually took the sons, as a right of passage sort of thing...but not the daughters. Probably because of the past (and present in some cases) preconceived notion that women belong in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. The men who did take their daughters fishing may have been forward thinkers or just didn't have sons. I was lucky. My dad got two girls first...then it was another ten years before the son was born. Luckily I was well bonded with dad by then and we were "fishin' buddies". Besides... the deal was, I could go fishing if I cleaned the fish. LOL!!! He loved spending time with his kids and I benefited from that. I started fishing with worms and bobbers before I was two. Unfortunately it never progressed from the worm dunking stage as my dad didn't know any other way. I don't suppose his dad took him fishing much, and living on Lake St.Clair had it's disadvantages. Finding a fly angler was one of them. I know he would have loved that if he knew someone that could show him.

What I'm saying is if you want to see more women come to fly fishing...start taking the young daughters out fishing with you, not just the sons. Get them tying flies and let them be creative!! (Arts & crafts) Don't look for perfection. They have a big enough problem with that.

The touchy feeling thing...worms, bugs, fish slime etc. I believe that is a learned behavior. In this case, passed on most often from mother to daughter. The often heard, "EWWW, Don't touch that! Dirty!" when the youngster picks up a worm or bug ...or plays in the dirt for that matter. It might keep the little girls cleaner but it stifles their natural curiosity in the world around them. Thankfully my mother was too busy looking after other babies to worry too much about that stuff when I was out playing. I LOVED finding critters of all sorts, in and out of the water, and watching them. I didn't mind getting dirty either. ...to my mothers dismay, I'm sure...but then she loved roaming the woods when she was young, too. My dad wasn't too happy with my collection of snakes though. LOL

One other point... I didn't go fishing during those years I was raising a young family. I TRIED!! I was just too busy chasing little kids. Taking them fishing was like being a one armed paper hanger. My husband, their father, didn't take too much of an interest in the "dad" part. He also doesn't like to go fishing. Something he didn't do as a kid, because his dad didn't take him. His dad wasn't much of a "dad" either. See how that works?

More girls and women will come to caring about things like the rivers and go fishing, camping and hunting, if someone starts to take them out and the younger the better. After all, the days of keeping them in the kitchen are over....I HOPE. I believe it's really that simple.
One day, these girls will be taking their girls with them.



The thing about how many are left handed???? Now that's what I call not having anything to do. GO FISHING!!!





***The issue these days is going to be whether kids, male or female ever get this opportunity at all. With both parents working and the reliance of video technology to do the entertaining... I have a real worry that our youth won't be getting outdoors at all. If they don't learn to love the outdoors and what it has to offer, they won't care about it when it's their time to look after things. Think about that one.

HMMMM.... I can hear Deanne now... "should have been submitted as an article".

[Mato Kuwapi]

Once I get going, it's hard to shut me up.

I have just one more comment...I promise. It's OK for men to ask other men to go fishing, but it's still taboo more or less for the guys to ask a female along if she's not married or dating one of them and if she's married to someone else...forget it.

I used to really wonder why females felt the need to have all Women fly fishing clubs. The only thing I saw different was the way we go for a whiz in the bush, until I came to the realization that guys have a hard time treating me as just "one of the guys". I didn't get asked to go fishing much...especially if it required an overnight stay. I did and still do 90% of my fishing alone...unless someone is looking for me to guide them. Wait...to be fair...I have about four male friends (mentors) who do ask me to come along as they know, "I just want to go fishing." Thanks to them, I'm a pretty fair angler!

I've only been considered, "just one of the guys" during my time as a Scout leader or CI with the Cadet Corp (ROTC). "she just brings her own tent" was the rest of that line. I got used to that and never gave it another thought until I came to the local fly fishing club. This was a whole other story. Thank goodness for Flygirls of Michigan! I can go on fishing trips!!

[EdD]

Mato, down here it tends to be the gals that ask the guys to join them. That might be how they beat the onus on guys not to be forward.

You could STILL submit that as an article.



Ed

P.S. I'd be more than happy to hook up with you at MI-FI '09 (if I can keep up with you...)