Editor’s Note: After compiling some of the best fish stories from our female fishing fans over the last month or so, FLWOutdoors.com is finally ready to share them with the public. For the next several weeks, beginning Feb. 12, we’ll feature a different submission every couple of days, with a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule beginning Feb. 16. To be sure, the stories submitted by our readers have been most impressive as well – ranging from the truly humorous to the utterly heartbreaking. We hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we did. And hopefully, as more and more women get involved in the wonderful sport of fishing, we’ll get to read and hear about many more stories from our female fans in the future. Enjoy.
Audrey Robb
Dryden, Ontario, Canada
Tournament fishing on the RCL Tour
Being a woman in a man’s sport can sometimes be overwhelming, especially when you are a co-angler and have to listen to a man all day. It all started about six years ago when I met my spouse; he is an avid tournament fisherman. He introduced the kids and me to walleye fishing. Since then I have taken everything he has taught me and used it to my advantage as a co-angler in the RCL tournaments.
Last year was my second full year on the RCL Tour, ending up as runner-up for Co-angler of the Year. It was a thrill to be that close. I missed first place by two points, or you can say I missed my new boat and trailer and my chance to become pro by two points. I didn’t start counting my points until the last tournament. I knew I was close before the Devils Lake tournament. I knew I needed to do well to make up some points. I only had two days to pre-fish and I wasn’t very impressed.
All I could do was stay focused on the next two days of fishing. We worked hard trying to get a good limit each day; all I needed was one more big walleye and it would have made me a famous fishing lady. There aren’t too many ladies in this sport, so I feel very privileged to compete at this level and to do this well.
Then it was time to fish the RCL Championship. At the end of the first day of the championship, I placed 105th, which left me disappointed in myself. I had a good pre-fish with my spouse and knew there were some nice fish to be caught. But every pro has a plan figured out. I knew he was on fish because of how far we had to go. How many other guys would run down to the next lock and dam 40 miles away if they weren’t catching good fish? Needless to say, his fish moved or weren’t as active as they were for his pre-fish. I spent the whole evening worrying about where I was going the next day and what sort of presentation we were going to be using. Little did I know, my next-day pro was sitting in fifth place after day one. Guess what?! His fish were still there on day two.
Day two, after the fog caused a delayed takeoff, he decided to take a shortcut that no one else would. I experienced the feeling of speeding over water that was only inches deep. We arrived shortly at our trolling spot, quickly set up our lines and began our challenge. We didn’t go very far when a planer board pulled back and we had a fish on. After quickly but carefully reeling in our first walleye, it was time to reel up and do it again. It was a short channel that held the big walleyes just on the edges. We repeated this pass over and over, always keeping the boat in the same depth and the boards pulling our cranks over the fish, until we got our limit of nice walleyes that moved me from 105th to eighth place.
After two years of fishing the RCL tournaments, one of my goals was to make it to day three of a tournament. Disappointment after disappointment, I thought it wasn’t possible until the championship. I MADE IT TO DAY THREE. Of all the qualifying tournaments, I made it for the one tournament that counted the most.
Day three, a new learning experience. I’m a jigger, I’m a troller, I can cast cranks. But can I just sit and watch? It was hard. We anchored up and cast our lines to where the fish should be holding, then sat back and waited for them to come to us. Just sit … and wait … sit … and wait … and catch a fish. Now, do you have the patience to wait for over an hour for your first fish? With a fish caught every couple hours, we finally got our five fish and took off back to the weigh-in.
The excitement and butterflies started as we all loaded the new RCL-edition boats onto their trailers. None of the pros or co-anglers divulged any information regarding the day’s catch. Even when we were waiting in line for the weigh-in, the suspense was overpowering. I was fidgeting, nervous, uneasy, but impressed with our day’s catch. It was our turn on stage. As we carried our bag up, everyone cheered. But, when you are nervous, you speak off the top of your head. I think I said something about stupid American fish, because in Canada we don’t have this much trouble catching them. I’m still not exactly clear what I said.
After everyone weighed in, I finished in fourth place, my most exciting tournament-fishing experience ever. 2004 is going to be another great year fishing the RCL tour. I will be focusing on learning boat control, finding quality fish and learning how to read my electronics. I will then be ready to make my mark as a pro on the RCL Tour. Look out boys, Audrey’s coming.