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'Reel' women recast a sport
Pro bass fishing, once dominated by men, is now hooking women competitors.
from the February 23, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Kathy Magers, a pro angler from Waxahachie, Texas, emerged from the WBFA to become – in what Mr. Cook characterizes, in an e-mail exchange, as a kind of defection – the driving force behind the WBT, eventually approaching B.A.S.S. with the idea of a major women's tour.
"The timing was perfect," says Mr. Mathis of her 2005 bid. "We [at B.A.S.S.] had been discussing what we should take a look at next."
Part of the answer lies in demographics. Of some 28 million recreational anglers in the US, nearly 26 percent are women, says Doug Grassian, an ESPN spokesman, citing National Fish and Wildlife statistics.
"It is a business, without a doubt," says Ms. Magers, though she describes her own experiences with fishing in terms of deer sighted on shore, hours spent free from cellphones, and the fellowship of "fishing sisters."
Magers, now a grandmother, learned from her grandfather, she says, but often fished with her mother. She spent her childhood with pole in hand, watching peach-and-gray sunrises over the Gulf of Mexico from Galveston Island.
Conversations with women anglers often favor aesthetics over catch sizes. Robin Babb, a contender this weekend from Livingston, Texas, fondly remembers the start of the Lake Amistad event, where some 100 boats sat massed in a cove, quietly awaiting the start, their powerful Mercury outboards stilled.
"We were supposed to take off at safe light, which would have been about 7:15," she says. "And then the fog set in for about an hour-and-a-half and we had to wait. I ended up lying on the deck of my bass boat, staring up at the sky and thinking through my day. It was neat.
"Once it's time to go, it's controlled chaos," says Ms. Babb. "You idle out through the no-wake zone, and then you hit it, and all the adrenaline kicks in."
Anglers disperse over tens of thousands of acres of water. Some work the grass beds near shore. Others favor the "humps" of bottom terrain out in deeper water.
Each professional fishes with a co-angler, but the relationship is unlike the one between golfer and caddy. Co-anglers – some relative beginners, others approaching their own "pro" status – fish separately and compete against other co-anglers. Scoring is based on each angler's aggregate catch weight over the first two days of fishing; top finishers qualify for Day 3.
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