Posted on March 7, 2024 by Bill Monroe
By Bill Monroe
The latest trendy watch phrase is a simple “DEI,” which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion.
We could all use more of each for sure.
…Especially in fishing, where a once-male-oriented passion has finally become a haven for women, especially in the past few decades.
Not that they weren’t involved before, but there were fewer (thankfully including my own and Buzz Ramsey’s mothers) than on today’s rivers, lakes and oceans.
The 21st century’s second decade now shines on arrays of fishing tackle, in-store and online, designed by and for women. Agencies openly solicit their participation in angling education, recognizing the important role as mothers of future license holders and advocates.
Perhaps DEI wasn’t coined with fishing in mind, but more women (yes!) participating alongside males and, in some cases (yay!) even surpassing us in expertise, experience and excitement certainly embrace all three concepts.
It’s a welcome revision of Henry David Thoreau’s quiet passion and his observation: “Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.”
Having them alongside us (and recognized!) in greater numbers has been a highlight of my career and hope for a future I may not see but am in on the Genesis – men not only cannot give birth to children, but are also not always as intent as women at nurturing and passing passion along to kids.
(No matter how much we try.)
HOWEVER…
That said, the fairer sex, fisherwomen, must accordingly also assume responsibility for reversing some long-standing and subtle sexist discrimination against fishermen. And, in fact, we need to make some changes as well.
For instance, why do men have to say “he got away?” Do women anglers always say “she got away?”
Or “he took my bait”…”he broke my line”…”he was a monster” (I’ve met more than my share of she-monsters breaking off the end of my line)…”he’s wrapped around the prop.”
Sheefish? (yes, it’s a species)…Are there any “hefish?” (Sheefish, btw, may also be racist since they’re a species of whitefish, but we’re not going to open that “Prince Albert” can of worms.)
“Pink Lady?” A catchy phrase to hook male anglers once had product flying off the shelves.
What if Luhr Jensen had tried to market, say, a “Redneck Diver?”
Back in the day, the iconic Worden’s Roostertail spinners were all given names by the Yakima Bait secretarial pool. Buzz ended that when he took over the marketing, but one can imagine the fun they must have had fishing for creativity; perhaps at the expense of spouses and significant others (Oops, that’s sexist Monroe!).
Discrimination is hopefully changing in the angling world.
Hunters and huntresses usually get a free pass, since they’re/we’re usually required to shoot bucks, bulls, boars, rams and billys (male goat; can’t shoot a nanny), and sometimes drakes, usually roosters (pheasants), etc.
However, that’s not to say there aren’t some significant male/female undertones (oops, there went another one…should’ve said female/male).
A bear in the garbage can seems to always be a bad bear/boar, but if its a female with cubs or even sort of cute, she’s an automatic “Oh-look-I-could-just-hug-her.”
(I’d like to be a cute bear when I grow up. Move over Teddy.)
WHOA! A momma bear with cubs can easily become “angry as a she bear.”
A big, menacing cougar is often an automatic TOM.
But did you know a “puma” can also describe a (human) woman under 40 who prefers younger men while the “cougar” label is applied to women in their 40s and 50s who seek out younger male companions at least 10 years younger and often half their age?
Canadians once used the term “cougar” as a derogatory word for older women who hung out at bars to go home with whatever men were left lingering at the end of the night.
“Jaguar” is a 50+ woman who dates younger men.
God only knows what a wrinkly “Lioness” might look like.
But back in the boat on a fishing trip as the guide (or someone within-seconds-of-becoming-your-new-best-friend-ever) prepares to net your HATCHERY spring Chinook and hollers at you under the new anti-discrimination rules.
“Keep her head up.” (Huh? What if it’s a he? This isn’t a x-rated bedroom scene after all.)
Oh yeah, almost forgot – and why do women instead of men always get to be the glue in the family?
Even more important:
Why, oh why, do they catch more fish? (I will now keep my head down.)