"[It’s] an all-encompassing passion for challenging yourself to catch a trout, particularly here in Southland."
Southland Fish & Game field officer Ben Febery said they had partnered with New Zealand Fly Ferns captain Rachel McNae and Placko — one of the nation’s top fly fishing guides — to offer the first Southland women’s fly fishing academy this weekend.
The collaboration aimed to empower female anglers in their fly fishing, he said.
Placko said she had recently paired with McNae to deliver the new venture and, between them, they brought 40 years’ experience with them.
Placko came from Australia, bringing her guiding experience and instructional experience with her while McNae had left her full-time academic career to focus on fly fishing education.
"So now we’re sort of going in all guns blazing."
Placko said the aim was to make fly fishing more accessible and more comfortable for women to try it — give them the tools and the knowledge to excel at it and stick with it.
"The one thing I can’t guarantee is that we’re going to catch a fish."
Mr Febery said research by Fish & Game on licence-holders
revealed nearly 10% of Southlanders had a fishing licence, but it was a sport dominated by men, however, "that’s slowly changing".
"Trout fishing in Southland has the highest participation rate in the country ...
"It’ll blow rugby, cricket, netball out of the water.
"There’s more trout anglers in Southland than there are in any other province," he said.
Fish & Game was trying to focus on female anglers and offer them a bespoke experience "where they won’t be judged and where they’ll be empowered in a comfortable and supportive environment".
The new event would run with 10 spots on both Saturday and Sunday in Lumsden, but if there was demand, "we’d run another one in a heartbeat", Mr Febery said.
"It’s learning about the behaviour of a fish and where they sit in the river and why. Then ... how you are going to trick them into taking your fly."
The day would include how to select flies, entomology fundamentals, life cycles of an insect, what fish populate the river and what they were eating as well as providing casting instruction and on-river experience.
Choosing the fly was important as one might offer food, while another might challenge the territory of the fish, McNae said.
She was "stoked" with the response, but not surprised as the number of women interested in fly fishing was growing.
No matter the angler’s experience, people were always learning something new.
"It’s wonderful to have some women’s only clinics where they can have a safe learning environment, feel comfortable to ask questions and OK to make mistakes."
It was about women finding "a crew of like-minded women to go adventuring with", she said.
"When women learn together, it creates a different kind of feeling. There’s sort of a sisterhood on the river that allows them to connect with other women, ask different questions.
"A lot of our fishing is social ... we really make a good go of having an adventure."
McNae also uses river metaphors as a tool for leadership development.
"We have a whole leadership programme that sits alongside the academy looking at the river’s shape and form and how it evolves and what that means for individuals as well. There’s different layers that we’re able to tease out in terms of emergence and transformation and things like that.
"It’s a fascinating way to be able to teach leadership to women."
Placko hoped the fishing skills, the value of river stewardship and custodianship would be passed to whanau for future generations.
"It’s also beneficial because it opens up opportunities for them to be able to include their whanau ... and not have to wait for somebody else to take them fishing."
By Toni McDonald
