Fishing Competitions as Women
Girls take on the fish!
Canadian women compete in a man's sport or is it? and the answer is?
Canadian female anglers Terri Mackinnon and Cindy Burnham made their journey to Chesapeake Bay, Maryland to compete as the first Female Pro Team to make the U.S Angler Choice Classic and the bragging rights to also represent Canada.
Competition was not new to either of the women. They both competed in the Preview year of the Women's Bassmasters travelling to 6 events. Terri Mackinnon actually still holds the best finish as a Canadian with her 8th place finish in Bull Shoals, Missouri in her rookie year. Cindy had competed in previous years in tournaments against the men and had a best finish of 9 in NY.
The two women decided to try the Team concept and signed up to spend the year fishing the U.S Anglers Choice series on Lake Erie. They successfully took the top 3 position in there division with an impressive 700+ point season. Both women were excited to represent not only Canada, but women in general when they fished against some of the best bass angler pairs teams in the U.S.
Mackinnon was not new to record breaking, she has had many accomplishment and achievements in her life since fishing came into it. Burnham has also set records of her own. "We thought it would be a lot of fun to go out and see what we could do together" says Mackinnon. "Terri and myself travelled across the U.S the previous year tournament fishing and we had the opportunity to talk a lot about fish not carrying if you're a girl or a boy" says Burnham. "We realized that it would be fun to go and try teamwork" says Mackinnon. In 2006 Team FisherGirl was the brainchild of Mackinnon. "I realized that we had to take the sport seriously and what better way then to sponsor the first International Female fishing Team" says Terri Mackinnon. As she adds "We ended up with the Angler of the year, so it was a great year."
"It was tough to fish a team environment when it was still technically against each other, however having the chance to fish with Terri and work together as a team was a great experience" says Burnham.
"Our sponsors believed in us, we believed in us and now we get to fish a dream. We wanted to share our passion for fishing with others, and it's still amazing when girls come up and say how they wish they could fish as well as the boys, we laugh and say, You can!" Ms.MacKinnon.
Females are welcome to most fishing tournaments and derby's. Check with your local bass, walleye, crappie or fishing clubs to see what types of tourneys they offer. There are many types of tournaments available all over the U.S. and Canada for a variety of species. Local tackle shops also will be very useful. Happy Fishing!
Now the one question remains. Do the fish know if it is a women on the other end of the line?
