RW Sample Chapters

Tahle of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Prologue - Angling's First Great Legend: Dame Juliana Berne rs . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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I:

Women's Legacy in Fly Fishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8 Trailblazers in Fly-Fishing History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Patterns of Excellence: Fly Tiers in History . . . . . . . . 33 The Woman Flyfishers Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 A Living Legend: Joan Salvato Wulff . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 5 Fly Fishing's Trailblazers Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 6 More Patterns of Excellence: Fly Tiers Today . . . . . . 107

Part 1 2 3 4

Part II: Women's Legacy in Big~Game Saltwater Angling ...

7 "The Anglerettes" of the 1930s and 1940s . . . . . . . . .

8 The Grande Dames of the Sea from the 1950s through the 1970s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9 A Living Legend: Marsha Bierman . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10 Women Making Big-Game History Today . . . . . . . . .

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128 133 147 165 179

III:

Women's Legacy in Bass Fishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 A Living Legend: Sugar Ferris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Top Pro Bass Anglers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Part IV: Women's Legacy in Science and Industry ...... 240 13 Four Pioneering Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Part V: The First~Ever Women's Angling Resource Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

National and Regional Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

State and International Clubs, Businesses, and Services Offered by or for Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Schools, Travel Services, Clothing, and Miscellaneous ...

Angling Books Written by or for Women: A Selected Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Appendices Bass'n Gal All-Time Earners .... . ...........

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...........

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......

Photography Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

260 261 264 280 283 286 287 291 292

Index . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

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Introduction

Until now, the history of women and fishing has only existed as scattered fragments of information, waiting to be assembled into a coherent whole, waiting to tell us what we have always suspected but could never confirm: women have distinguished themselves in fishing by establishing historic precedents, setting unfathomable world records, and otherwise changing the face of the sport through their ingenuity and daring.

Indeed, the history of modern sportfishing begins with a woman, an early 15th-century nun and noblewoman named Dame Juliana Berners, who is credited with writing the first tracts on both hunting and fishing. So remarkable was her "Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle," which appeared in 1496, that it has been hailed as "one of the best and most durable pieces of prose writing of its time." 1 It has also had a profound influence on the five centuries of angling literature that have followed.

Reef Women is filled with historic milestones attributed to the women who have followed Dame Juliana. For instance, Sara Jane McBride, a self-educated entomologist and prize-winning fly tier, wrote the first American papers on the life cycles of insects from an angler's point of view, which appeared in leading American journals in 1876. Mary Orvis Marbury compiled and authored the first definitive book on American fly patterns, published in 1892, which served as an instrumental force in dispelling the mass confusion surrounding the names that flies were called at the time. Cornelia "Fly Rod" Crosby was one of the country's first outdoors columnists and national sports celebrities, and by 1895 her fame had reached mythical proportions.

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Examples of women and their landmark accomplishments in the 20th century include Carrie Stevens, who revolutionized the way streamer fly patterns are tied when she whipped up the famous Gray Ghost in 1924. Francesca LaMonte of the American Museum of Natural History in New York helped pioneer marine research and produced seven groundbreaking books on freshand saltwater fish, beginning in the mid-1930s. Helen Robinson was one of a trio of people responsible for devising a technique for teasing a billfish to an artificial fly in the 1960s -a technique that is practiced around the world today. About the same time, Kay Brodiley became the first woman to courageously explore the remote jungles of South America in search of freshwater fish so rare that few are aware of their existence even today.

International fly-fishing luminary Joan Wulff indelibly altered the way flycasting is taught, through the school she established with her late husband, Lee Wulff, and her long-running magazine column and books. Marsha Bierman's short-rod standup technique for catching billfish is regarded as the most innovative influence on big-game angling since the sport's official inception in 1898. Most recently, Sugar Ferris introduced the first allwomen's bass-fishing circuit in 1976, opening the doors to the world of professional tournaments for women.

They are but a few of the extraordinary women -past and present-whose lives and achievements are chronicled in this book, each one significant in her own way.

Why do we need to know about them? These compelling figures symbolize the innate spirit that too often lies dormant within our souls. They embody those qualities that are within the grasp of each one of us, but which our inner consciousness, like a strict governess, rarely acknowledges as a legitimate exhibition of behavior for women. Through their lives, we are reminded of what we can and might be doing with our own lives -whether or not we ever pick up a fishing rod. Through

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their actions, they show us a way out of the limited menu of roles we've come to accept for ourselves, though we have the physical capabilities and mental capacities to face almost every challenge presented to men. More than anything, they are the role models who can help guide and center us as we cope with these increasingly complex and often troubling times.

They also represent an invisible dynasty of collective female experience. By amassing their achievements and contributions in a single volume, we discover that women not only have a history in fishing but have also made history in the sport.

As we follow the daisy chain of their lives through the ages, we also discover that there are many threads and parallels that bind them together into a culture all their own.

Without exception, they are tenacious, persevering, and keenly in touch with their native instincts. To them, fishing is a reflective act, a state of mind, and a metaphor for life in how each one views herself in alignment with the universe. What it has never been, even before conscientious anglers embraced the modern concept of catch-and-release, was a personal contest of egos measured by the number of fish dumped on a dock or fillets packed home at the end of a day on the water. In fact, every contemporary woman you will encounter in this book is a conservation advocate, using her prominence in the sport as a forum for alerting the public to the paramount need for preservation and restoration of our fisheries, both as anglers and concerned world citizens.

It will always be a puzzle how the myth got started that women do not fish, or at least do not fish in significant numbers comparable to men. Certainly there are ample references within this book to indicate that women have been participating in the sport for hundreds of years. There are also statistics to indicate that women have comprised approximately one-third of all anglers for at least the last 10 years, the only period of time in

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which quantifiable surveys have been taken. 2 If we have underestimated their participation, it is perhaps a result of two key factors: as late as the 1960s, many states did not require women to buy a fishing license, 3 and even today, few states ask for an angler's gender on the form that is filled out at the point of purchase for either an annual or temporary license.

Also perplexing is the prevailing myth that men want to keep the sport of fishing all to themselves. Of course, there will always be those for whom the sport is as much an escape from "the little woman" as a chance to spend time exclusively in the company of men. But it can be assumed that most of the millions of women who fish do so with their husbands or other male loved ones, since women are rarely observed on the water in groups of two or more without a man present, unless in a tournament or learning situation. But the president of a large angling organization says that the male members who have wives or girlfriends as fishing companions are treated with special envy and respect by the rest of the membership. Perhaps this book will aid their efforts to entice their female loved ones into a sport that has served as the primary bond in many of the relationships represented in this book.

The year 1996 is a watershed for women in angling. First and foremost, it is the 500th anniversary of the publication of Dame Juliana's phenomenally astute treatise on fishing of 1496.

Equally worthy of recognition is the 20th anniversary of the inception of Bass'n Gal in 1976 as well as the 40th anniversary of the founding of the International Women's Fishing Association in 1955. Indeed, these three events, along with every other imprint left by women over the last five centuries, is a testament to the fact that women have a legacy in angling.

May this book help change how we perceive women-and the sport - forever.

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