As I walk on stage, rod in hand, I see the hundreds of eyes watching me. The women are intrigued. The men are amused. The children are just excited to see what this lady, much like their mum, is up to. I know without catching their eyes that this sums up the attitudes, still in today’s society, to women in the fishing industry around the world. It has been and probably always will be considered a man’s world. There is still a long way to go before this changes.
As I scan the crowd from the stage looking for children to invite up to partake in a demonstration of the 10 Step Casting program I have designed, I am looking for girls. Although, through many years of using this program, it has been proven that I am capable of teaching any child of any age or gender to cast a fishing rod independently and accurately at a target within 3 -5 casts, I am always going to count on a girl rather than a little boy picking it up easily.
My name is Melanie Young and I am a mother of three that has worked very hard to be one of the most acclaimed fishing instructors in Australia. Ten years ago my husband, Todd Young and I, created Young Guns Fishing Adventures. Our business is focused purely on land based fishing and casting instruction.
Curiously, from the outset it became evident that in all competencies of fishing the female students have always outshone the males. Why is this? A woman’s touch maybe? Well, in my experience there are many reasons. Teaching a child to cast a spin rod for example, is not disimilar to the physics of throwing a ball. Where ever the tip of the fingers are pointed and the angle the arm is extended at affects the distance and direction the ball will take. With a fishing rod, the angle and direction the tip of the rod is at when the line is released will directly affect the distance and accuracy of the cast.
Little boys are more inclined to throw a ball or cast a fishing rod as fast and as hard as their little arms with allow, resembiling a thrashing motion. In most cases, seeing them let go of the ball or releasing the line at angle pointing straight up towards the sky. Little girls however, are more deliberate and direct in their motion making them more inclined to release once their fingers or tip of the rod aligns with their target. The same can be observed when watching most adult men and women cast a fishing rod without previous professional instruction.
Aside from casting, observation of the thousands of children and adults we have instructed has also highlighted an almost instinctual trait in men that sees them wholeheartedly believing they were born knowing how to fish successfully. Maybe it’s a throw back from the hunter/gatherer times. Even the youngest male child is relunctant to take instruction, and many make comments like “I know how to do it”. Yet when asked if they have done it before, it is not unusual to hear the response “no, but I know how.” Strangely enough, girls or women very rarely hold the same exchange. It is almost as if many females have accepted their place, being, in a man’s world. They couldn’t possibly do it on their own.
Often we have parents approach us at demonstrations with two children. One a girl and one a boy. Commonly, generally the father, will push the boy forward and ask that we teach him. The little girl stands silently in all of these cases, accepting of the fact that this is not for her. On the many occassions, I have always asked the little girl “would you like to have a try?” To which most will look to their parents for validation that she too, might be capable of participating. Most parents respond with a look of suprise. Some might say “oh she has never done this before” or with an unsure “I suppose she could have a go.” Without fail, the little girl will always out perform the boy child regardless of age difference.
As well as being the Director of Young Guns Fishing Adventures, I am also the Secretary of the Professional Fishing Instructors and Guides Association of Australia. One of the difficulties the fishing guides and instructors face is finding their target market. Males from the Western world more so, that are already sold on the idea of fishing, are inclined to believe, once again, that they know what they are doing and it is their natural ability to do so. You can’t preach to the converted. So for guides and instructors, the very people that love the service or product you are selling, are also the most difficult customer to secure. They take little time to consider that perhaps someone else might have knowledge they don’t about their birth right.
Women are more open to the suggestion that they can be taught the skills of fishing, yet for many, approaching a guide or entering a tackle store is as daunting as talking to a mechanic or buying a car. Then for some women, it would be ridiculous to suggest to their male partner that they would like to participate in lessons in such a skill if, even he, the male, is interested in it.
It is a socially accepted male dominated consumer relationship. Fishing instructors and guides even still in today’s society, whereby acceptance of females fishing with a breast or backside on show, is somewhat more accepted, must market their business predominantly to tourists with the promise of showing them something foreign rather than to suggest they will increase their customers skills or knowledge in their chosen sport.
Will this situation ever change one might ask? Will there always be raised eybrows to the woman that has the gaul to enter a tackle store and enquire about purchasing equipment, heaven forbid, for herself and not her significant other, brother, dad? Time will tell.
In Australia, throughout the last ten years, I have seen too many talented women resort to parading around in bikini’s whilst in competition, where previously they hadn’t, purely to raise their profile or be accepted to a degree within the industry. Gossip within the Australian fishing industry is rife every time a female becomes even remotely successful with gripes and innuendo about said female using their female charms to achieve the profile they have. Groups such as the facebook group ‘Chicks who know how to handle a fishing rod are hot’ with it’s current 6,500 fans could be both commended and criticised for raising the profile of female anglers. Should women have to put their feminity and obvious female attitributes away just to gain credibility where clearly their skill is undeniable? For me it is a personal choice to attempt to look attractive whilst leaving something to the imagination. I am not convinced though that women showing off there beauty, however they interpret it, should be criticised. Unfortunately, I hestitate to suggest that the 6,500 fans this group does have, are motivated by the skill and expertise these ladies have and are more inclined to believe the boys are having a chuckle at them not necessarily with them.
Upon scratching the surface of the initial ‘Chicks who know how to handle a fishing rod are hot’ page wall though, you will find in all their glory, without their breasts and bums out, are many gorgeous, talented women showing that girls can too, if not better than most.
It certainly will be interesting in years to come to look back and see how the girl power within the fishing industry world wide has progressed. The education of all children in fishing like any other sport in a structured/professional environment, I believe, will be the key to this.
