A group of aspiring anglers learned how to fish through a program aimed at getting more women involved in the sport.
“Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing” Learn to Fish offered instruction on inshore fishing, hands-on skill practice with guides at the Progressive Insurance Tampa Boat Show on October 26. The clinic was held at the Tampa Convention Center.
Speakers and instructors for the “No Yelling School of Fishing.” were Betty Bauman, founder of Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing, Captains Leiza Fitzgerald, Pam Wirth, Alice Trautman, Stacy Horak and Stewart Ames.
Registration included show admission, inshore/bay fishing instruction, hands-on practice for knot-tying and casting skills practice, Freedom Boat Club networking event, swag bucket plus a voucher for a Freedom Boat Club Sunset Boat Cruise for up to six people.
On the optional Sunday charter fishing trip, ladies fishing with Capt. Stewart Ames, Gone Fishing Charters released 15 redfish from 12 to 32 inches, five snook ranging from 20 to 25 inches and a jack crevalle fishing with live and cut bait.
Ladies fishing with Capt. Rick Gross, Fishy Business charters released seven of 12 spanish mackerel from 12 to 18 inches and released 20 snook from 22 to 32 inches and six speckled trout from 12 to 18 inches. They practiced casting and knot tying.
“We thank the boat show for their attention to women, who represent 45 percent of all new anglers and offer tremendous potential for fishing industry growth,” Betty Bauman said.
The final 2019 LLGF event is November 23 for a surf fishing clinic in St. Augustine, Florida.
The Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing Foundation (LLGF) is a nonprofit 501C3 organization dedicated to attracting women and families to fishing, while encouraging conservation and responsible angling. Known as the “No-Yelling School of Fishing,” LLGF conducts weekend, immersion-based educational programs in multiple regions of Florida with classroom presentations, hands-on practice, networking and an option to fish from boats or land.