WIMMERA fishing groups hope a new state government initiative will help create a supportive community of female fishers, and increase female participation in fishing.
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On the back of last week’s International Women’s Day, the Victorian Fisheries Authority has launched a new Facebook group, aimed to provide women with a supportive online fishing community.
The Women in Recreational Fishing Network Facebook group will be central to the new network.
Horsham Fishing Competition president Adele Rohde said any initiative that helped increase female participation in the popular pastime was a positive move.
“I think there are probably a lot of female fishers out there that enjoy doing it, but there probably hasn’t really been a community,” she said.
“Anything we can do to help build that community and get people outside and fishing is a great thing.”
The 41st annual Horsham Fishing Competition was on Sunday and the top four senior prizes went to female participants.
“I loved seeing how well the women competed on Sunday,” Mrs Rohde said.
“With International Women’s Day last week, it was just awesome.
“It is two years in a row now we have had women take out the top prize.
“It goes to show it isn’t always your common perception of what a fisherman is that is necessarily going to catch the biggest fish.”
Horsham Angling Club president Kelvin Roberts said he would like to see more female members at clubs like his.
“We don’t have as many female members as we would like,” Mr Roberts said.
“We are still strongly dominated by men in the club.”
Mr Roberts said the initiative was a good idea, and he hoped to see more families being involved with fishing in the Wimmera.
“It’s good because it could get more families involved too. If we need to do something to help get women more involved in fishing, then let’s go and do it,” he said.
“If the government wants to help female participation, we will definitely back it.”
The new initiative is a part of the state government’s plan to have one million people fishing in Victoria’s waterways by 2020.
The formation of the group comes after the Victorian Fisheries Authority ran a survey for women in fishing.
Almost 1400 women completed the survey, with feedback indicating more women wanted a comfortable place to discuss fishing and get advice.
The online community can be found at facebook.com/groups/womeninrecfishing.
