Highlights of the Last 500 Years

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WHO FISH

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Highlights of the Last 500 Years A selected chronology compiled from the pages of REEL WOMEN to illustrate women's extraordinary legacy in sportfishing.

1496

Modern sportfishing is officially inaugurated with the publication of the "Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle" in England - attributed to Dame Tuliana Berners, a nun and noblewoman. She is also credited with writing the first tract on hunting, and reputedly penned both historic documents between 1420 and 1450 (before Christopher Columbus was even born!).

1737 William Penn's daughter sends a letter to her brother in England, asking for more tackle, as her "chief amusement this summer has been fishing."

Early 1800s Paul Fisher's Angler's Souvenier, published in London in 1835, and Brown's American Angler's Guide, in 1847, both mention sightings of women fly fishing.

1858 Just prior to the Civil War, Elizabeth Beniamin ingeniously creates a

series of wildly-successful fly patterns that catch the fancy of Ralston, Pennsylvania's visiting city anglers.

1876 The first American papers on the subject of insect life from an angler's perspective - written by Sara Tane McBride, a self-educated entomologist and prize-winning fly tier - are published in national journals.

1890

Carrie Frost establishes a commercial fly tying operation in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. By the mid-1940s, the area is populated with factories of women turning out some ten million flies per year.

1891 Mrs. George Stagg lands a 205-pound tarpon, measuring 7 feet 3 inches long,

Selected Chronology

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which is mounted for exhibition in the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Already that year, she and three other women have each caught tarpon weighing over 100 pounds.

1892

The first definitive book on American fly patterns is published, compiled and written by Mary Orvis Marbury - which becomes an instant bestseller and an instrumental force in solving an escalating crisis concerning what fly patterns were called at the time.

1895

Maine's first registered guide, Cornelia "Fly Rod" Crosby's fame has reached mythical proportions as she tours sports shows, pulling them in by the thousands at each stop, as a result of her legendary angling and shooting skills, and popular syndicated outdoors column.

Lady Orford of England becomes the first woman of record to take two large tarpon in one day (weighing 128 pounds each), while fishing off the coast of Florida.

1900 Mrs. Tim Garner catches a 136-pound bluefin tuna off the coast of Southern California.

1921

Mrs. Keith Spaldin~ tops Zane Gray's 418-pound swordfish record with a a 426-pound catch - setting off a tremor in the big-game angling world when he unsuccessfully protests that she must have had help.

1924

Came Stevens, a Maine milliner who had never tied an artificial fly, revolutionizes streamer patterns when she whips up the now-famous Gray Ghost on an impulse, lands a trophy-size brook trout on her first cast, and wins second place in Field & Stream's national contest.

1932

The Woman Flyfishers Club incorporates in the Catskills, thus becoming the first women-only fishing organization in the world.

1930s - 1940s Several dozen socialites, admiringly dubbed 'the an~lerettes' by the saltwater fraternity, rack up a succession of world records for giant tuna and billfish over 600 pounds. Among them, Chisie Famn~on and Helen Lerner are regarded as among the best anglers of the Golden Age of Big-Game Angling.

1936 - 1940 Helen Lerner and her husband, Mike, underwrite and mount seven historic scientific expeditions in association with the American Museum of Natural History to study fish in their natural habitats. As the leader of the scientific team on five of them, Francesca LaMonte helps pioneer marine research and later produces seven landmark books on the world's game fishes .

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Selected Chronology 1938

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Toan Wulff. who will indelibly alter the way flycasting is taught, begins her nearly-six decade career by winning her first casting title at the age of 11, followed by 17 national and one international casting titles {1943-1960); an unofficial women's distance record of 161 feet (1960); the first salaried contract for a woman from a tackle manufacturer {1959-1975); the first and only casting column in a national periodical {1980-present); a landmark book on the subject {1987); and an internationally-recognized school.

1939 Francesca lAMonte helps Founding President Mike Lerner form the International Game Fish Association and joins the Board of Trustees (along with Ernest Hemingway and others) as its first Secretary.

1940s Sisters "Bonefish" Bonnie Smith, Frankee Albright, and Beulah Cass make saltwater fly fishing history as legendary guides in the Florida Keys, while the men are off fighting World War II. 1948

Denny Crowinshield establishes the record for the largest fish caught by a woman to date - an 882-pound tuna.

1954 Eugenie Marron and her husband, Lou, devote their angling skills to science by leading several groundbreaking research expedition, including the first ever to the Humboldt Current.

1955

The International Women's Fishing Association is founded in Palm Beach, Florida, becoming the second oldest women's fishing organization in the world.

1960s Kay Bradney pioneers the first of many courageous fly fishing expeditions into the uncharted jungles of South America, among other remote places.

Helen Robinson co-invents a technique for teasing billfish to an artificial fly that is practiced throughout the world today.

1963 Helen Shaw's enduring book, Fly Tying, is published, becoming a landmark how-to tome with the first step-by-step photographs.

1970s - 1980s Big-game angler Helen Grant logs so many wins in the Florida Keys, Palm Beach, and the Bahamas, that she is universally regarded as the queen of tournament fishing.

1971 Megan Boyd of Scotland receives the British Empire Medal from the Queen of England - the highest distinction ever awarded to a fly tier in that country.

1976

After organizing the first-ever all-women's bass-fishing tournament on Lake Livingston, Texas {1972), Sugar Ferris founds Bass'n Gal, the first national women's fishing organization, as well as the first (and at present only) women's professional tour (1977).

Selected Chronology

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1977 Marsha Bierman becomes the first woman ever to win the prestigious Bahamas Billfish Championship. In 1986, she revolutionizes big-game angling by introducing the standup short rod technique, which has allowed her to catch and release over 2000 billfish (including two "granders") on SO-pound tackle.

Bass pro Chris Houston takes Bass'n Gal's coveted Angler of the Year, Classic Star world championship, and a national title in a single season - then repeats that stunning feat in 1991. In all, she has accumulated 17 titles - more than any other woman on the national tournament scene.

1978 Maggj.e Merriman pioneers the first fly fishing schools for women on the West Coast (and possibly the entire country.) In 1982, she introduces the first women's fly-fishing vest designed by a woman.

1985

Sandra Storer Donahue becomes the second woman ever to win the Bahamas Billfish Championship.

1989

Lori-Ann Murphy becomes the first Orvis-endorsed female guide in the company's 139-year history. In 1994, she and Christy Ball establish the first women-only fly fishing destination adventure business.

1990

Sharon Torruella of Puerto Rico becomes the first woman in the 37-year history of the Club Nautico de San Juan's Blue Marlin Tournament to take first place.

1992

Linda England and Fredda Lee become the first and only women to date to fish a B.A.S.S. tour for an entire season (which they did for three); host their own television series (1991-present), and author a how-to book on the sport.

Rhonda Sapp and Donna Teeny design and introduce the first full line of fly fishing clothing and gear for women.

1993

Deborah Maddux Dunaway becomes the only angler in sportfishing history to hold all nine IGF A billfish records, a feat which garnered her the coveted International Game Fish Association's "Angler of the Year" honor.

1994 Mollie Beattie becomes the first female director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in that federal agency's six-decade history.

Ann Kunkel becomes only the second woman in the 56-year history of the International Game Fish Association appointed to its prestigious Board of Trustees.

1995

The Orvis Company introduces its first full line of women's fly fishing clothing and gear, designed by Christy Ball, Lori-Ann Murphy, and Nancy Zakon.