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Number of women fly fishing has gone up since 2003
By DAVE BUCHANAN The Daily Sentinel Fly fishing. It’s not just for men anymore. As if it ever were. It was in the 1400s that Dame Juliana Berners, preceding Izaak Walton by 200 years, published the essay, "A Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle," (the Old English title) in which the good nun suggests that fishing with a rod and a line brings good spirits and enhances life. More and more, many of those anglers enjoying those good spirits and enhanced life are women. According to an Outdoor Industry Foundation study last year, there are nearly 3.5 million women who fly fish in the United States, up 200,000 since 2003. That’s welcome news to Robert Ramsay, president of the American Fly Fishers Trade Association.
Fly fishing reeling in more women
COPPER MOUNTAIN - Standing on a rock outcropping that juts into Officer's Gulch Lake, Char Bloom resembled an orchestra conductor the moment before a concert. Instead of lifting a wand, though, she waved a fly fishing rod.
With an audience of women surrounding her, Bloom brought her rod back and then gracefully rocked it forward, throwing her line into the lake with just the perfect amount of arch. The fly gently landed on the tranquil lake, creating only the tiniest ripple.
"Make sure the fly hits the water first and not the rest of your line," Bloom said. "Otherwise, you'll scare the fish away."
Too late: The 17 female anglers watching Bloom were wearing jingling beads around their waists and they were decked out from head to toe in bright colors such as turquoise and hot pink.
'Big Lake' fishing remains steady
Little has changed on the 'Big Lake' this week, as limit catches of king salmon, along with an occasional lake trout and steelhead, remain common. Although a few nice catches were reported between Holland and Grand Haven, the better fishing has been near Muskegon, White Lake, Pentwater, Ludington and Manistee. Most of the fish are being taken 40-70 feet down, but with an east wind, that could quickly change. Everyone seems to have a favorite spoon or fly, but some of the more productive patterns have been the Moonshine Lures in Flounder-Pounder or Spitfire, mixed veggies, Natural Born Killer (NBK) and the blue or green dolphin. Flasher-fly combos also have been effective with Pickled Sunshine, Snow Ghost and Little Bride being popular color patterns. Downriggers have been used effectively in deep water, but lead-core, wire line and Dipsy/Slide Divers can be used when the boat traffic isn't heavy.
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