Sept. 15th Chapter Meeting: Women in Fly Fishing
by Rob Burlingame, AFF President
For the third year, our club has set aside September as the month to promote and honor “Women in Fly Fishing”. As the husband of an avid woman fly fisher and father of two sprouting fly toddlers, this month holds a special place for me. Since becoming involved with the Alamo Fly Fishers (and prior to my wife’s fly fishing addiction!), the sport has seemed on the surface to be dominated by men. Most of the big name fly fishers are men, the TV shows have male hosts and our membership numbers have reflected an overwhelming majority of males for years. On the surface, this looks like a male sport.
But, truth be known, the deeper you dig, the more women anglers you seem to find. And many of them can out fish their male counter parts any day of the week. Yes, my wife can confirm my last statement! There are many great women anglers right here in our back yard. This page is too short to list them all, but I am sure we can all name at least a handful! A visit to one of our casting clinics can teach us all a valuable lesson. Women tend to pick up the mechanics of casting quicker than men. (This may have to do with the “macho effect” that usually kills our golf shots too!) Women seem to be more relaxed and rhythmic when they start learning to cast. This naturally leads to better and smoother casts earlier in their adventure in the sport. That naturally leads to more consistency and more fish!
The only area of fly fishing that women seem to fall behind in (at least with our club) is in the number that fill out an application to join! With the sport being conceived as male dominant, the only reason I can find is perhaps some intimidation to join a club that is deemed a “guy thing”. The primary reason for our September meeting is to invite women anglers into our club and assure them they are an important part of the sport we love and that we would welcome their participation in the group. We all understand that men and women are different, and they have different interests, expectations and methods of satisfaction. Bottom line…The Alamo Fly Fishers would like to attract and develop our club’s programs and outings in a way that incite equal enthusiasm for fly fishing in both men and women.
This month’s program will be an open forum for women to share their thoughts about fly fishing, what it means to them, about exciting programs like CFR or whatever else they would like to share. I also encourage those of you with a female fishing buddy to share what they have taught you about the sport or how they have enhanced your fishing experiences!
Be sure to make it to our meeting this month, Tuesday September 15th from 7-9 PM, to show your support for our women anglers. Everyone is welcome and we encourage anyone to bring a friend or spouse along to a meeting that is sure to be enjoyable!