IN RECENT YEARS, THERE’S BEEN A concerted effort to get more women involved in fly-fishing, and no doubt this season, the centenary of Miss Ballantine’s 64lb salmon, there will be an even greater recruitment drive.
Historically, women have enjoyed great success in the angling world and, while I don’t want to open the gender debate, despite fewer women fishing than men, they’ve caught the bigger fish. There are many theories why: pheromones, style of casting, a different approach to fishing. But is there a deeper magic at work? Female fishers I’ve known generally analyse less and just get on with it. They tend, and I’m aware I’m generalising, to be more relaxed and less scientific in their approach than men, less concerned with line length, weight and size of fly;…