1. Troutnut Forum
›
2. Fly Fishing
›
3. closing the gender gap in flyfishing

I thought this article might be of interest.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/10/sports/fly-fishing-women.html

This is an interesting, and enlightening, article. Thanks for bringing it to attention!

I was not aware of the 31% segment of fly fishers being female, or how quickly this is increasing.

My backpacking daughter has brought up some of the points noted in this article such as safety and being dismissed as 'just a girl who wants to hike' behaviors from shops.

I've mentioned in previous posts that 3 of my 4 daughters fish with me whenever possible...and they can cast, mend, read water, and match the hatch with growing confidence. I consider them fly fishers first, not females who happen to fly fish.

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

I've taught two women to fly-fish myself: my ex-wife (bought her an outfit for Christmas one year) and, well, the woman I left her for...no, you're not going to hear the rest of that story! After I got him into it, my buddy Zach at first found his wife uninterested, then one day he was just nailing them and his wife was like, "Now what exactly are you doing here?" Now she has her own set-up...My buddy Todd is always sending me pictures of his beautiful daughter holding large salmonids up for the camera. I've thought about getting my daughter a Tenkara rod since she is such a "Japanophile" (she didn't care about anything in Cabelas' gun room until I said, "Hey, here's a Japanese Arisaka from World War Two." "Really? Let me see!").

"...just a girl who wants to hike..." WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT?? She can get herself some 4-pieces. Screw those with the chauvinistic attitude! Girls/women can do anything the guys/men can do, sometimes better. I mean, heaven forbid a woman outfishes one of these guys, his fragile male ego might develop hairline cracks or something. REAL MEN are NOT intimidated by a woman who knows how to work a fly rod, they DATE THEM! Still looking for one up here in Oscoda though...

Jonathon

P.S. As I always say, if a girl outishes me, then there'll no argument the next time I want to go fishing!

How many people in the LGBT community fly fish? That's what I want to know.

I'm in CO and FF has taken off amongst women. At first I noticed all female FF clubs on stream. Now there are many female FFers alone or more often in pairs. Really great to see. They are now working in the fly shops, have real expertise, and are comfortable sharing it.

Back when I was teaching FFing I really enjoyed teaching the women. I was involved in, or ran my own, "Women's FF Camps". They were separate from men's camps because the social space was different. The male camps were more aggressively success oriented, and there was often a competitive thread going on. Everyone wasn't like that, but that energy always found its way in to the mix. Also, in the male camps, there was always damage to cabins and some stealing.

The female camps were blissful by comparison. One thing I noticed, and appreciated, was that the women were more outwardly thoughtful and appreciative of the aesthetic of being in nature, on a river, and tying and casting a fly. Or, at least that theme was more prominant.

Reminds me of the debates about getting more females into science, back then. Girls were taking a back seat to the boys in mixed groups, not stepping up to leadership or ownership space.

Cultures change and although I'm not directly involved anymore, it appears the women are finding their way into participatory and leadership positions in many fields. In fact, some statistics on navigating the academic and professional worlds, esp in periods of great structural change, are showing that women are actually more successful at navigating change than men. My experiences in introducing FF to women has me not surprised in the current trends in the least.

As far as LGBT goes, the groups of people that don't fit the biological norms were always a fearful and therefore silent minority. I guess my take follows Doc Watson's comment, "I don't care if you have green skin and wear a bone in your nose; If you can fiddle, you're OK by me."

If you lack a sense of humor don't click.

https://giphy.com/gifs/veep-rginamils-feistyvagabond-rnoqkxwa4IBdC/fullscreen