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Home > Fly Fishing News > A woman's angle on fly-fishing
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| The Sunday Times April 30, 2006
A woman's angle on fly-fishing
The growing participation of women is causing ripples in the world of fly-fishing, traditionally a bastion of men looking for some peace and quiet. Putting her best waders forward, Eva Langlands makes her debut in a cast of thousands
Kitted out in wellies, woolly hat and full-body waterproofs on the shores of Loch Damph near Torridon, my sense of style is evaporating as fast as my body heat. In a howling gale and lashing rain I’m waiting, in vain, to catch a fish. My only consolation is that I haven’t been asked to spear a wriggling worm to death. Yet.
Fishing, I’ve been told, is undergoing a transformation. Once the preserve of men desperate to swap family for a day’s riverside tranquillity, the sport is fast becoming a pleasure pursuit for women.
Female membership of the Scottish Anglers National Association (Sana) has increased from 870 in 2003 to 2,000 in 2005. Scotland’s national women’s fly-fishing team is set to compete at the European championships in Slovenia this year and the newfound popularity of the sport has led to the establishment of several women-only angling clubs.
But as I stand on the shores of Loch Damph, a spectacularly scenic fishing spot and one of Scotland’s finest for catching brown trout, I realise this sport isn’t as easy as it looks. Only five minutes into my first fishing lesson and I’ve already committed a dreadful crime by casting my rod back over my head.
My dreams of a large shiny trout pulling my rod into a graceful arch are dashed as I plunge my line into the dark forbidding depths of sprawling heather behind me. What a catch.
“Rule number one in fishing,” says the ghillie, Alistair Holmes, bending down to release my bedraggled-looking fly from the grip of unruly heather, “is don’t cast the rod back too far. Be gentle. Don’t use too much force. Otherwise, as you can see, you just don’t know where it’ll end up.”
Fishing, it appears, is not about strength but skill and dexterity. Qualities that women should have in spades.
Alastair Wallace, secretary of Sana, agrees. “There’s no reason why women can’t fish just as well as men,” he says. “It’s not about having macho muscles and strength — it’s all down to technique. I’m sure women can cast just as far and even further than some men.
“Historically it’s been a male-dominated sport, but that’s changing. There are still some men who think women shouldn’t fish, but they are a tiny minority. We’ve got female anglers competing alongside men, and very successfully too.”
So where do you start? Here’s a rundown of the basics. There are two main types of angling: coarse fishing, which involves dangling a worm on a hook in the hope a passing fish takes a bite, or fly-fishing. Here you pull your line across the water to entice a fish to nibble the carefully crafted imitation fly.
The action part of the sport is straightforward enough. Unlike many outdoor sports, which involve a protracted rigmarole of checking nerdy paraphernalia and making sure someone knows where you are in case your day trip takes an unfortunate turn, fishing is simple. You find your water, reach for your rod and cast, listening only to the whirring of the reel and the water lapping soothingly against the bank.
So far so good, but there is also etiquette to consider. Fishing is a sport riddled with rules and, before wading thigh-deep into the water, you need to know the do’s and don’ts. Many clubs have rules about night fishing — banned in some areas — and fly size. About the only thing they don’t monitor is the size of your Thermos flask.
But once you’ve mastered the art of casting and committed the rules to memory, you’re ready to fish.
After half an hour I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve cast. Going through the motions over and over again sounds monotonous, but as I swing the rod back and forth I find myself lapsing into a glorious daydream. With only the sound of water lapping against my wellies, my mind reaches a meditative state, broken only when my line becomes entangled in weeds or underwater rocks. I haven’t had any nibbles yet, but I’m assured it can take years to learn where fish lie in lochs or rivers. Holmes kindly shares some of his experiences and shows me where to cast my fly.
According to Jane Wright, three times Scottish ladies fly-fishing champion, being willing to listen to advice is one of the reasons women make good anglers. “Men think they know it all after two minutes,” she says. “They simply don’t like being told what to do. And that means they lose out. Women don’t try to go it alone — they are always taking note of all the tips and tricks.”
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