The Female Angle

28.8.11

Florida Keys.

It’s always been one of those places talked about, but was never in the top 3 of my tropical destination bucket list. Belize, Seychelles, Christmas Island… Heck even Nicaragua, Ascension Bay, Bahamas and Cuba seemed, well, just more exotic. But when a very good friend suggested in September that Ape and I head to the Keys this spring, with his help arranging everything, it seemed like the right thing to do.

In the next 8 months, plans were finalized, guides booked, house rented, and copious amounts of gear acquired. I have to say I was a bit apprehensive, as stories echoed in my head of boats lined up side by side, educated fish that would turn their nose up at flies, demanding, impatient guides… Coupled with my lack of experience with sight fishing and warmwater fishing in general, I can’t say my expectations were high.

One thing I can say, is after hearing about 16 different colour combos of toads to bring, 12 different ways to tie leaders, and at least 7 ways to strip the fly and set on the fish, I threw all advice out the window and decided to just do what my guide recommended. Which turned out to be the thing to do.

To keep a long story short, here are just a few of the highlights:

always pack a change of clothes in your carry on, that way when your luggage doesn't show up the first day you don't end up wearing black sweatpants on a flats boat;

30 mile/hr winds suck;

though fish were scarce, we did see singles, pairs, and a couple of schools;

my first and only tarpon hooked and landed on day one;

my first and only (huge) permit ate and spit the fly on day three after a grueling chase;

the Canucks won and lost;

Matt got his ass kicked by two girls, more than once;

sharks, rays and turtles all came to visit;

fell in love with flats, mangroves, flats boats, sight fishing and the Keys in general;

got to spend a week with two of the best friends a girl can have;

met some fabulous new friends and incredible guides - Don Gable, Billy Thompson, and Travis Holeman;

What did I take away from Florida? Well, a new obsession for saltwater flats fishing, for starters. A fierce need to go back to the Keys. The realization that I need to work on casting into the wind with a 12wt rod and 2/0 tarpon fly. And most of all, some great memories.

Thanks Ape, Matt, Lemons, Don, Billy, and Travis.

Margaritas at the Dallas airport

Miami International - thanks for keeping our luggage an extra day

Day one - rain?

Thanks for the loaner lucky hat and shirt Don! Sweatpants in Florida? Not fun!

Well, hello Mr. Tarpon!

Thank you, thank you, thank you....

One of the strongest, wildest, most beautiful fish ever.

Dinner time!

Our fabulous guide, Billy Thompson

Guess who!

Shark!

Soooo beautiful.

Watching tarpon swim by the boat is the most exhilerating thing.

Looking for permit.

Billy Thompson and Don Gable; Keys guides

Uh Oh Ape, are the Canucks losing?

Nope, we won!!!!

Um yeah. That's mine. I wish.

Ape tried poling and did a fabulous job. Even got me some shots at baby sharks, which are the cutest things ever.

Day 5, 5am wake up, and still excited.

Early morning off Cudjoe Key.

Travis and April

Travis Holeman, another incredible Keys guide, and so much fun to spend a day with.

Travis showing us how its done.

Last night of the trip, hoping to catch the Bahia Honda worm hatch, to no avail.

I'll be back Florida!

11.3.11

Three Pretty Girls

What's more gorgeous than Rogue Angel K8 with a wild steelhead doe?

Rogue Angel K8, a wild steelhead doe, and Leah.

On our epic ladies trip in northern BC last November. One of the best trips ever!

7.3.11

For the ladies....

It can be a little lonely being a woman in the fly fishing industry, when your fishing buddies, your co-workers, your fellow guides, your clients and your customers are all men. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I love men, the no drama attitudes, bravado, exaggerations, humour (or lack thereof), tall tales… But spending so much time in testosterone rich environments can be a little rough on a girl.

I particularly noticed it the other night while having dinner and drinks with friends and their friends. The women were talking about their children, pregnancies, high school reunions, homes; the men were talking about sturgeon, boats, and last week’s fishing trips. There I was stuck in the middle, not sure which conversation I fit in to or which one I wanted to join. I drifted back and forth, always with one ear tuned to the other conversation. I find this happens to me quite regularly at social gatherings, where I need the girl talk but am unable to drag myself away from the boy talk. I hear conversations about fishing or boats or gear or archery and suddenly I can’t hear anything else. Getting time to spend with my girlfriends is rare, and when I finally do I always seem to get pulled away.

I do have some amazing female fishing buddies, but the few that live close to me have weekends off, which I rarely do. The others are in northern BC, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, so our opportunities to fish together are few and far between. So that leaves me fishing with the boys the majority of the time. Which is great, but there is a completely different vibe happening, and sometimes that testosterone is just too much. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told “sorry, my wife/girlfriend wouldn’t understand”. My co-workers here at the shop go fishing with some of our better long time customers, but so far that’s a line I haven’t crossed. Nothing would ever happen, it’s just that I’m female and they are male, and therefore it’s a no go.

I was even told I couldn’t stay at a certain slumber lodge on our favourite steelhead stream because “the boys won’t be comfortable”, despite the fact that the majority of the “boys” that stay there know me quite well and consider me to be just another angler.

I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by supportive and helpful men since I started fishing, which is not always the case for a lot of women. But every so often somebody will phone the shop, and, hearing a woman’s voice, ask to “talk to one of the guys who can help me out with rods/reels/waders (whatever)…” “You can talk to me” I always sweetly reply. “Oh…………okay……….well…..” and then they tentatively start asking their question. It makes me feel great to help them out, but it annoys me to have to prove that I know what I’m doing, whereas it’s just assumed that the guys do. The most common question I get from customers actually in the shop, is “So, do you fish?” Fair enough question, I suppose, except once again, it’s assumed that the male element in the shop does, why is it not assumed that I would too?

I guess when it comes down to it, you’ve gotta follow your passions and deal with those little annoyances as they come up. It’s nice to see more and more women getting involved in the sport, with events, courses, trips and gear designed specifically for us. With roll models like Hannah Belford, Kate Taylor, April Vokey, Whitney Gould and Mia Sheppard (among many others) blazing a trail for young women everywhere, the world of fly fishing is no longer such an intimidating place. In the end, if you love to fish, gender shouldn’t matter.

Beyond the Fly

23.2.11

2handedtrout.com

Good friends Dave and Sarah Henry, who already run the fraservalleyflyfishing.com blog, have created a new website dedicated to two handed rods for trout. With gear reviews, tips and techniques, news and upcoming events, trip/destination reports, photo and video galleries, as well as articles, 2handedtrout.com aims to be the ultimate resource for light two handed rod fanatics. The current featured article about fishing in New Zealand with double handers is submitted by Rene Vaz. Check it out and contribute!

2handedtrout.com