
Family, friends, spouse, future partner – even necessity – it almost seems like there are as many reasons women get involved in fishing as there are fish in the sea.
We all know that’s a little much. But the point remains the same.
Young girls and grown women are becoming more and more involved in a bout with Mother Nature that often includes a day of tussling with a fish.
And no matter what the reason, most women involved in the sport in some degree – and the men that fish with them – will tell you that the females of the angling world seem to have an edge.
And we’re not talking about a horseshoe in the back pocket.
Maggie Whittemore is one of those ladies, often on the water with her father and brother while growing up. She even worked at the Virginia Beach Fishing Center where she has been for 12 years. She also worked on one of the facility’s headboats before getting the job of running the show at the marina.
Sometimes she dabbled with fighting a fish, but the excitement experienced by others just didn’t seem to sink in.
Then something happened to the 33-year-old.
“I knew people who were involved in the Wine, Women and Fishing tournaments,” Whittemore said of the women’s only tournament that takes place before the start of the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament. “I fished with some of them and kind of got hooked.”
Now Whittemore is on the Board of Directors for the VBBT and is dating a gentleman who she spends plenty of time on the water with. She’s traveled to other fishing locations around the world, where things are different but the passion is the same.
“I was on a boat in the White Marlin Open and was in the chair fighting a fish,” she said. “One of the guys on the boat said it was ‘so good to have a woman in the chair.’ It’s not the original path for most women, but that’s changing.”
Whittemore had planned at first to become a lawyer.
“But now I’m going to go with all of this and see where it takes me,” she said. “I love the marina and the people and I’m really loving fishing.”
Whittemore even has a 100-ton captains’ license and has a bucket list goal to fish somewhere in the world that’s extravagant.
“Not a boat I can’t drive,” she said with a laugh.
And she’s very far from alone.
At the recently held VBBT, Stacy Allen was named the tournament’s top female and top overall angler while fishing with her husband Brian. His team on Wall Hanger also was named the Top Release Boat.
These kinds of accomplishments aren’t new to the Allen, who has been learning more and more about the sport and is starting to travel out of the country to do so.
While the love of fishing was big part of it, the guiding force has been the couple’s two children – 19-year-old Braxton and Lydia, a senior in high school.
“I thought it was a good way to keep the family together and do more things as a family,” said Stacy, 47.
Big into the East Coast king mackerel tournament scene, the foursome has taken more and more to going after billfish.
Stacy would like to see more ladies involved.
“I wish we had more all-women tournaments,” she said. “I think the ladies want to fish, but don’t have as much opportunity as men because of the children.
“We just got them involved and it’s been great.”
While the number of male anglers who like to see women fishing is growing, it’s been rare that they’ll talk about the big reasons why.
That’s changing.
Women who start fishing tend to show more interest in the intricacies of the sport and tend to display much less of that men’s “give me that rod, I know what to do” attitude.
The women ask questions and follow guidance.
And when they get the sport down pat, they’re often better at fishing than most men because of those reasons.
Whatever the reasons why, expect to see more women in tournaments or in the inlets with fishing rods in their hands.
And don’t be surprise, guys, when the ladies out fish you.
To read more of my work, go to: leetolliveroutdoors.com