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NZSFC's POD AND REEL Podcast
Welcome to the Pod and Reel podcast, presented by the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council, a national body with over 50 affiliated clubs across New Zealand, and over 37,000 members.
Since 1957, NZSFC has focussed on setting standards for responsible fishing practices, collating records, organising events like the Nationals, and supporting its affiliated fishing clubs. This podcast dives deep into the history, the people, and the clubs that make up our fishing community. We'll explore the highs and lows of fishing and learn from mistakes made, striving to be better, safer, and smarter when we interact with the water. With 15,000 kilometres of coastline, New Zealand's fishing history is rich with stories of the tussle between us and the sea.
Join Mike Plant as we delve into these topics and more on the Pod and Reel podcast, your gateway to the world of all things fishing in New Zealand.
NZSFC's POD AND REEL Podcast
Episode 8: Breaking Boundaries: Wahine Leading the Way in NZ Fishing
New Zealand's maritime landscape is changing as women step into leadership roles on the water, bringing fresh perspectives and challenging outdated assumptions about who belongs at the helm.
• Lisa Noble shares her journey from hairdressing to commercial cray fishing, and charter operating while emphasising how determination matters more than gender
• Sarah Psilas discusses her 10-year Coastguard career and passion for teaching water safety to children across New Zealand
• Wild Chix founder Isabell Zitzelsberger and Shanel Honore explain how they created workshops to teach women boating and fishing skills they'd otherwise never learn
• The Mercury Bay Game Fishing Club team highlights the success of their Girls in the Bay competition and growing female participation
• Hear how women in clubs play a vital role in communities, creating opportunities for learning, mentorship, and giving back
• The importance of wearing life jackets and carrying safety equipment can't be overstated - "Wearing a life jacket has never given anybody a bad day ever"
The NZSFC Pod and Reel podcast is brought to you by the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council with support from Maritime New Zealand and the Safer Boating Forum.
This Podcast is brought to you by The New Zealand Sport Fishing Council a not for profit, incorporated society funded by its member Clubs.
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Welcome to the NZSFC Pot and Reel podcast. I'm Mike Plant from the New Zealand Sportfishing Council, and today we're handing the reins to the women at the helm. These Kiwi chicks aren't just along for the ride, they're leading the way, fishing for records, saving lives at sea, teaching new skills and showing the boys how it's done. Today's episode features a powerhouse line-up with Lisa Noble from Ahipara Sport Fishing Club she's a charter operator, commercial fisher in Far North Local. Sarah Silas, skipper and Coast Guard educator. Chanel and Izzy from Wild Chicks, a new venture running camps and workshops to upskill and empower women in hunting and fishing. And the crew from the Mercury Bay Game Fishing Club, the woman behind the successful Girls in the Bay fishing competition Between them. These wahine bring decades of experience at sea. In this episode we dive into how they've navigated a world that's traditionally male-dominated, what's changing and what's still challenging, and the simple but vital goal they all share making sure everyone comes home safe. So let's meet our first guest.
Speaker 2:My name's Lisa and I grew up in Macra, which is a really small town in Wellington on the rugged coast on the west side. Growing up fishing was pretty simple, I guess like the Kiwi kid, you know, like Ealing in the River and Kauai. But as I got older my dad would take me on charters out to White Island with Rick Pollock on pursuit, and so I guess the more I did and the bigger the fish got, the more my hunger grew too, you know, yeah. So it was always a dream of mine to work on the water, but my dad said I had to get a trade first. So that's what I did.
Speaker 2:I don't like to really like speculate around like oh, it's hard as a female, this and that, because at the end of the day I feel like if you're determined and it's your passion, then you're going to make it happen, whatever the challenges are. So I kind of hate that like, oh, poor me, it's harder because this or harder because that. You know, like, I think if you're driven and show you're keen, you'll get the opportunity. Like it doesn't matter if you are male or female. Like, if you've got that work ethic and that drive, you'll get in there, you know. So my first job it was funny, actually, like I knew I wanted to work on the water but I didn't really know how to get into it. So the trade I did was hairdressing and we went up to Auckland for all these awards, for the salon, et cetera. Anyway, the boat show was on the same weekend and I thought, bugger it, I'm not going to go shopping with the girls, I'm going to go to the boat show. And they all thought I was crazy. But yeah, went around there, talked to a few people and one of the people I talked to is Steve Campbell from Blue Marlin Magic. I think he's the new boat now I'm not sure what that's called, but yeah, kind of had a yarn with him and said, like how do I get into the industry? Like is there, is there any tips? And he said, oh, mate, well, why don't you come up to Tonga for a month? So that's exactly what I did. Yeah, so that was my first gig.
Speaker 2:I was really lucky, my, my nine to five. My hairdressing job gave me a month off work and went up there. And I went up to Tonga not even knowing what an outrigger was. Like you know, done fishing, but no game fishing really, apart from trolling from a to b when we're at white island. But yeah, so that was my first introduction and I was so nervous I was definitely a fish out of water, but take my hat off to steve like he taught me so much. He was really patient, really good with all the customers too, and you know, when you're on a charter it's just a cool work environment. Everyone's there for a good time, like he still had his main decky. So you know this new greenhorn wasn't going to screw up their dream blue marlin. But yeah, yeah. So that was my first introduction.
Speaker 2:Pressure was huge, to be honest, almost a blessing, because my knowledge wasn't big. Then I didn't quite understand, like all the ins and outs of the job, you know so, like when I was in Tonga it was a non-paid gig but yeah, more there for the experience, so I wasn't doing a hell of a lot. But you know so, like when I was in Tonga it was a non-paid gig but, yeah, more there for the experience. So I wasn't doing a hell of a lot, but you know, like preparing lunches or helping clear the gear or very minimal in Tonga. But it gave me a really good eye-opener.
Speaker 2:And then I was quite lucky. One of the groups that went up there was actually a bunch of my dad's mates and they caught like a little I don't know what I mean 60 kilos was tiny little blue marlin, and Steve actually let me leader it for the first time and, honestly, looking back on the footage now, I was just like, oh my god, what was I doing? I had like the leader up my arm, just looked like a total clown. But yeah, I guess that's one of the things too, like if you are going to be, you know, more hands-on leader and fish and stuff awesome. But really learn how to do it properly first. Like I was so lucky on that fish. You know, like little fish is psycho, but it was little so my little guns could handle it. But yeah, really important to know how to take wraps properly and, even more important, knowing how to let go.
Speaker 2:I think you've got to be keen, but you've also also got to be careful. Like I always did my research so I'd never jump on a boat that I didn't know or didn't know of, and the fishing world is pretty small, right, so that like you can use that to your advantage. Like you know what the good boats are. You know what boats you know maybe don't fit with your vibe type thing, like if they're like coming from the professional side, you know if they drink a lot or they go out in super rough conditions or that kind of thing. Like, don't get me wrong, I'm here for a good time and love a beer. But from a working point of view, like you've got to be careful which boats you jump on and which boats you don't.
Speaker 1:We'll hear more from Lisa shortly. Now it's time to meet our second guest, Sarah Silas from Coast Guard.
Speaker 3:I'm Sarah Silas. I've been in Coast Guard now for 10 years I think it is this year so I look after all the children's programme and all the kids' safe boating which we facilitate around the country. My job is amazing because I manage to go to all around the country providing trainings to swimming instructors to teach the children how to stay safe in a boat. So it allows me then to connect with the units and then go around the country and try and meet like-minded people like myself. I have the best job ever because I just get to go everywhere and talk to everybody, which I do a lot of. But boats were always a big part of my family. Grandma managed to get the gold award off the Queen for fundraising for the RNLI, so she was a bit of an inspiration to me. My mum used to do it and drag me around with the fundraising.
Speaker 3:I came to New Zealand 12 and a half years ago and I got involved with my local, my kids' school, my primary school. They wanted some instructors to be a water-wise instructor, which is all about water safety. They needed parents to step up to be instructor to help the kids. They do it every week, especially during the summer, and I thought, oh, this is really good fun, I can do this, got myself qualified and absolutely loved it. Loved it so much that then my daughter went to the high school they did it. So I used to go there. So I used to do probably three days a week of teaching all the kids water safety, sailing, kayaking, all that sort of thing. And then I decided that I really wanted to do a little bit more. So I looked into doing Coast Guard. Took me a while to try and get through the hoops because it was a bit harder at the time. I just literally sent an email one day and went hey, you're looking for volunteers to Auckland Coast Guard. And that's where my journey started.
Speaker 1:Next up is Tanya and Lisa Nkaro from Mercury Bay Game Fishing Club.
Speaker 4:I'm Anne. I'm the vice president, Got involved in the club about three years ago when we moved here Love fishing. I've always done that, even back in South Africa. Yeah, just kind of got involved, became a waymaster and then, yeah, got onto the committee.
Speaker 5:I'm Carolyn. I've been part of the club probably for the last nine years. I started as a committee member, volunteer and worked while I entered the office. My husband's a mad king fisher and I just enjoy being around, the atmosphere and the vibe of it all and totally love my job. Yeah, it's all good.
Speaker 6:I'm Tanya and I've been in the club for about five and a half, six years now and we've moved to Whitianga recently, got into fishing and started volunteering really a bit of a lull time where nobody really was keen to get. Move on the ladies to fishing comp, so have volunteered to be a part of that and, yep, one thing leads to another and you get involved with a lot of other things lisa here moved to fitting about six years ago.
Speaker 7:Brother's a member here so he dragged me along to join up. Sort of got to know a few people.
Speaker 5:The last couple of years been helped volunteering with the girls in the bay and yeah, fishing is my passion so when I first started here, I did the ladies uh comp it wasn't called girls in the bay at the time. Um, I also did it previously before moving here. Um, what what I found was it was always a really good vibe and we had a really good name for our ladies' comps. So the participation was really really good, the prizes were great, the atmosphere, the fishing all the girls just loved going out having a great time. Over the years, the conveners moved on and Tanya and Anne and Lisa took it to another level, changed a little bit of the format, got some really good sponsors. Yeah, today it's just absolutely successful and we've had nothing but positive reports. So, yeah, they've changed the name to Girls in the Bay, which is really fitting because it's exactly what it is. They've done an amazing job.
Speaker 1:And finally, izzy and Chanel from Wild Chicks, a new venture running camps and workshops to upskill and empower women in hunting and fishing.
Speaker 8:We spent a lot of time offshore game fishing and I studied marine science in the Bay of Plenty and the ocean was always like my love and I loved it. But being able to access it was really hard without my partner. And then when we got, when I got pregnant and I started adding more children to our family, it got quite scary because I just didn't know anything. Like I. We would be out there for days, weeks at sea and if anything ever happened to him I would have been stuck there. So I actually approached him a few years ago and said, well, well it was several years ago now and said that I wanted to do my skipper's ticket because I had already done my boat masters through my degree, but I wanted to know more. It was more.
Speaker 8:You know what happens if the engine, when you're miles and miles offshore and there's no one around and you've got a baby on the boat, you just it was a safety thing for me, so that's why I went in, I got my skipper's ticket and then I had a relationship breakdown, um, which was partly in part because I went and got my skipper's ticket. But you know, it was just and it gave me that confidence to be like I actually know these things and I knew more than what I thought I did. It's been yeah, it's been a real big journey to get there and to fight my way through that, because obviously it's an incredibly male dominated space. So it was terrifying for me walking into my course every day and it was packed full of like fishermen and I was just like, I'm just this girl, like, and the judgment was yeah, it's something that we combat a lot and you get that. That judgment of instantly being like you're a girl, what are you doing here?
Speaker 1:so, yeah, just wanting to be safe on the water was how I ended up being a skipper and you mentioned, and what's still a pretty male dominated space like what were those battles like for you?
Speaker 8:I honestly, I didn't think about it when I was doing it. I just did it because I knew it's what I wanted to be doing. Now, with Wild Chicks, it's actually been really highlighted for me just how hard it was to do it without the support and without a network of people backing me to do it. And it was hard now that I look back at it. And there was a blog post that was written by one of the beautiful women that we taught.
Speaker 8:She came to every one of our courses boating basics, the intermediate doctor destination and the boot camp that we ran and she wrote this beautiful blog post about how empowering it was for her. So she didn't own a boat and after all of those three courses she's gone and bought a boat. She can back it in at the ramp. She was taking her kids and then she's even said now that she has the confidence to plan a trip out to Motiti Island. And it literally brought me to tears because it realized. It just was this realization moment for me how I didn't have that network or that support and I had to do it myself and I didn't realize how hard it was until I had this woman who we were able to help in that way that I didn't know I needed it.
Speaker 1:Isabel, your story is not too dissimilar because you're selling boats and you had quite often a similar challenge where guys would ask you hey, where's the dude who's selling the boat that I can speak to? That kind of thing, right.
Speaker 9:Yes, and it was even sometimes when you go to sea trials and you ask them if they are capable of driving the boat and they go yeah, yeah, sure do.
Speaker 9:And you're hanging on for dear life almost because they're not able to trim properly and don't get the boat on the plane, and then standing there and going like excuse me, can you stop the boat and can we talk about how to drive a boat?
Speaker 9:It's pretty, yeah, not intimidating, but you don't feel like they take you for full in a way, because they have been obviously boating and learning from their dads and their uncles, who had figured it out themselves, and guys don't like to be told that they are not doing things right, especially around that area. When you're going from inside the mount and take it over the washing machine outside the harbour entrance, that is where you really found out if they're skilled or not, if they're actually taking the throttle back or if they just go full speed over those waves and you almost bang your head. Worse was when they already failed in the harbour and you just go. Oh my God, I didn't know that was possible. And the crazy thing for me is that they said fully hearted that they are absolutely capable that they were not brave enough to say hey, isabel, I have never driven a boat, I don't know what I'm doing, I need your help, or I need your advice. I think that's a really hard thing to say.
Speaker 1:Because I guess a boat's a big purchase, right, and no one really buys a boat without giving it a go. It's on the rarer side that someone would buy a boat unseen or untried.
Speaker 9:I have to disagree with what you just said, because there were so many moments where it blew my mind that people do not take a boat for a sea trip, that they they come to go. They go to the boat show, they see a nice boat they like and they buy it. And then when you do a handover and you forget to tell them to put the bungs in, they ring you later because their boat is full of water, like it is. Really to that extent that you have sometimes the feeling you're putting I don't want to say people at risk.
Speaker 9:But it's quite a big thing that in New Zealand you do not have to have a license at all to take a boat out. And it always blew my mind that people can purchase, or are purchasing something for $100,000, $150,000, $200,000 and then figure out afterwards how to use it. You would never do this with a car. You would not buy a car without a driver license and go well, okay, now I'll go out in that traffic and practice you would not. And also the amount of times where people ticked all the boxes on the sheets to build the boat and the section of the safety equipment most of the time stayed empty, because this is something you can figure out later, where you can save the cost and tell the wife it's just 130,000, rather than adding four life jackets for everyone and an EPIRB for 500 and making sure everything is there right from the get-go.
Speaker 1:That's quite crazy to hear. If we go to the showroom floor, are these guys walking in by themselves, or have they got their partners with them, or what's it like?
Speaker 9:I had a huge percentage, just the guys by themselves, and I often haven't even seen the wives. Some of them come in together and she makes often decisions on the color on the toilet, on the amount they're going to spend, but it's not. They don't ask the technical questions. Or once I try to explain to someone who didn't have the budget for what they wanted to buy, what they could downgrade or maybe take out in retrofit, and she just said to me clearly, isabel, I don't understand what you were talking about. And that's one of the moments where I was like we need to change this. This is ridiculous. We need to know more about what is on the boats, how to use it.
Speaker 9:I guess a lot of ladies wouldn't even able to turn an autopilot off when the husband falls over the side, for example. Right, so, yeah, all those things. So it was mainly really guys. And then at the end they said oh yeah, now I need to talk to the wife. She will transfer the funds. So she is the finance manager who signs it off if everyone's happy. But he was the one coming in most of the time making the decisions.
Speaker 1:So through these experiences I guess this is what started Wild Chicks was you notice these female partners, or that you weren't having too many girls come in by themselves to buy a boat?
Speaker 9:Chanel, chanel, I did that. She was the one and only lady I had, just by herself.
Speaker 1:And there are still barriers for women entering the boating and fishing world. Sarah opens up about juggling Coast Guard training with family life.
Speaker 3:It was quite a hard decision for me to take because at the time what I wanted to do was do it in the week and have the weekends free so I could be with the kids and my husband, because obviously they were at school and working. So it took me a little bit of this time to decide, probably about six months to work out can I do this? And it is weekends, and I didn't think it'd be that much. I thought it'd be once or twice, maybe a month and we'd do training and stuff like that With my husband's support and the kids as well, because they were quite excited to see me go off and do it. So I dragged a friend along as well. So Michelle, she's still there now. She taught me water-wise. So we've been on this journey for a long time and I gave it a go.
Speaker 3:It wasn't quite once a month, it was more like twice a week in the evenings, other weekends it was all the time. But the kids didn't mind at all because they'd go out with dad on our boat sometimes and see us out there. But my oldest was right behind me At 15, she was like I want to go to this mum and she couldn't until she was 16 I mean at 16 she came out with us. She had to be with me, but she was right behind me every step of the way, loved it, and now is working in coast guard. Volunteers in coast guard, uh yeah, gets as much enjoyment out a bit as I do. Are you seeing a bit of?
Speaker 1:a change like with female skippers being at the helm and what's still a pretty male dominated space, but are you seeing a bit of a changing of the guard where females are finding a bit of space to get at the helm and actually do this?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've seen a difference probably in 10 years Now our unit is. I've only ever known one female skipper in our unit who's not in our unit anymore because she moved up north, but she's still in Coast Guard. But for me there were no female skippers, so that was a little bit difficult. I got some really good male mentors as well, but my problem was confidence. I didn't think I was good enough to do it. I didn't think I didn't believe I had the ability to do it. I didn't want the responsibility, and so it's.
Speaker 3:I think having Emma watch me go through a few things it kind of spurred me on. You know, because we've always taught our girls I've got two girls you can do anything, you can achieve anything. Don't ever let anyone tell you you can't do it, and especially because you're female, you prove them wrong every time. And so just watching the maritime side of it is very male dominated area. It's frightening, it's scary, but it's also empowering at the same time. Because if you do break into it and you do hold that space, it is rewarding and if you can get and I've known some people have got really good male colleagues that are just fully supportive. And then I've heard horrendous stories on the other side where people, because they're female, they just don't even get looked at and they don't get on the helm.
Speaker 3:So there's still an old guard there and a very old mentality around the maritime, but it's definitely definitely seen a shift. I've seen a shift in 10 years. Um, and I just um, I want to make sure that you know more girls come through and I'm very, very keen and it's the reason why I'm doing this women in SAR training in 10 days time in marlborough because to empower them, empower the women. I've done a few courses which I was really lucky to go on. One was with Coast Guard New Zealand in Auckland and the other was I got sent to Finland last year for the International Maritime Rescue Federation training women in SAR. So that was amazing.
Speaker 1:Izzy saw these same struggles and thought there's got to be a better way. That's where Wild Chicks was born.
Speaker 9:I think it built over years where, first and foremost, when people come in and don't expect a woman to talk to them, then it's like, oh, that's, that's a bit weird, but it's fine, like I made friends with most of my customers, I would say. But then the next thing was never seeing the wives and then realizing that they don't know a lot of those things. And then even things when the guy said, oh, my wife is the best fishing person on the boat and I'm like is she? Does she know which rod she's using, what tackle she's using what line she's using what bait to choose, or is she literally just like reeling in the line and then hands the fish over? Yes, and the guy's icky at do the fish care afterwards filleting it.
Speaker 9:But then when it became evident when Chanel also came in when women are getting a divorce or getting widowed, that that ability of taking a boat out going on the water catching a fish is all taken off us because we rely on the guys so much and it's like even sometimes not just the boat.
Speaker 9:I met a lady and she said after the divorce she wanted to take her boys because we rely on the guys so much and it's like even sometimes not just the boat.
Speaker 9:I met a lady and she said after the divorce she wanted to take her boys surf casting but she didn't know what rod to have, how to do it, where to go and all those questions. And that's when it all became evident that there was no space for us to learn this and to actually learn how to fish and how to back a trailer and how to dock a boat, and how to learn about safety or even reading a weather map. We hear our husbands usually saying oh, it's good weather, tomorrow we'll go out fishing, but we don't know how to interpret a weather map, to actually make a call. If we need to take sea legs, if we feel safe, if we're happy to take the kids, what does it mean when there is a one metre, well, every eight seconds? Is that good, is that bad? Do I want to stay home in that circumstance? So we don't know those things and that's why Wild Trick was born and we're out there telling the girls and teaching the girls to feel more confident.
Speaker 8:It's really intimidating. Still. We've just literally gone through all of this because we're talking about taking girls fishing for a weekend and tackle and boats and servicing like that. We're just sharing that information, you know, and that's what it is. And then if the girls have questions they can ask more things about it. But you know, you can walk into one of our seminars and there's an entire slide and we talk for what? Like half an hour about the safety. Like you know, it's a two-hour seminar. It's a very safety orientated component is massive in it. But we don't expect all the like women to then walk out and go and buy all the life jackets and the epurbs and all the things. It's just about the education around it.
Speaker 8:Like I've actually just talked to my teenage friend. I met him through the fishing club. He's 18 and he is coming to the boat show and he's been saving his money. He wants to buy four game reels and his boat's only four and a half meters and I said to him I was like where's your EPOOB or have you got a PLB? And he was like no. And I was like you are not, not, like we're gonna be at the boat show. And I've literally said to him I was like you're not walking out of there.
Speaker 8:You can buy two gang reels and a PLB and I'm sorry like that's. Like you know it's the safety, you know it's. Guys want to spend money and girls I mean don't get me wrong Like I would way rather spend $500 on a new fishing reel than I would a PLB. But I know that that's what's going to keep me safe, it's going to what's going to keep Isabel safe, it's what's going to keep my kids safe and as a skipper, that is your responsibility to look after all of the people that are on your boat you know, and it's even in those seminars.
Speaker 9:It's sometimes quite shocking, when we talk about those things, how often the ladies go. My husband never has done a trip report. I've never heard anyone doing a trip report. We don't have a PLB. He doesn't use straps to like take, like strap the boat down onto the trailer.
Speaker 8:Yeah, the straps, like that was a crazy one. Like there was a lady and she came and she was like my dad. I've been boating with him forever and he uses ratchet straps on everything, like even to put a mattress down. He puts like 50 of them up, but I've never seen him put one on his trailer boat and I was like you're joking, right, and she's like nope, so you know it's, it's education.
Speaker 1:Lisa Noble agrees seminars like theirs are vital to building confidence and capability.
Speaker 2:Talk to your mates, join clubs, like if there's any seminars on. You know, like if someone like Bonds or I don't know any of those kind of fishing icons have a seminar, go to those, like, you'll meet like-minded people. You know even the boat show, that kind of thing. After Tonga I, yeah, spent my month up there. Then I went back to Wellington and I said to the salon sorry guys, I'm out of here and moved up to Paihia because obviously there's not much marlin fishing in Wellington, although this season is different. But yeah, so I was really lucky. Bonds is quite good friends with Rick Pollock's son and my dad's quite good friends with Rick Pollock. So that all came about just word of mouth, kind of family friends. And yeah, I was really lucky. So I just helped Bonds in the workshop for I think it was two or three months just over this like summer period, the busy period. But yeah, it was, like you know, putting like the stickers on the inserts and just little bits and pieces, helping out. But again, I was very greenhorn then, like he. Actually he got me to make a dredge once and I did all the squids but I forgot to put the bloody swivel on. So, bless Bonds, he had a lot of patience. But again, that was a really cool like network to meet people, you know, because all the charter skippers would come in or the like random fishermen would come in and you get to meet people. Like that it's word of mouth, you know. Yeah, so I've worked on the charters for I don't know three or four years, like use pie here as a home base.
Speaker 2:Anyway, when our season was coming to an end on gladiator, one of my girlfriends, nikki, invited me to go on a girl's trip with her and one of my other good friends, helen, um, and they were doing the ahi para ladies con, so came up here and fished that with them, had a ball, didn't catch anything, we got a bite but yeah, it was pretty slow con. But we actually stayed at my now partner's parents house and they obviously run the commercial cray fishing business and um. So I met them all, got on like a house on fire and stuff, and then they rung me about two weeks later and said, hey, look, we've got a job on the cray boat. What do you think? And I was like, oh well, I've never cray fished before in my life, but why not? Perfect timing. You know our charters were coming to an end. So, yeah, jumped on and commercial cray fish for about two and a half years and they were really good.
Speaker 2:So Ken would actually always get me to do the safety briefing to earn like the respect, I guess, of the punters on the boat. Yeah, and we had lots of like lots of safety measures in place too, like you know, when we'd have our toolbox meetings, because obviously for a female like, for instance, I've got long hair right. So if I'm ever in the engine room or even sitting like in the anchor, well, spreading the anchor chain and my hair's next to that winch, you know, like things like that. So that are just a little bit different if you're a male. So I'd actually always wear like a beanie or like a hat when I was doing those sorts of things. No way I've got the strength of a male.
Speaker 2:I feel a lot of, say, leadering for instance. A lot of that is like finesse rather than brute strength. You know, if you think about it, when you're fighting a fish at I don't know, 10 to 12 kilos of drag for your fight on your reel and then you get to the leadering side and if you're bloody, pulling as hard as you can. You're going from that amount of drag to however much you're putting on it yourself. That's when the hook.
Speaker 2:So on gladiator, they fish a little bit differently. So we kind of like tag and stuff off the rod tip so he can use these kevlar wind-ons that Nathan Adams actually uses. They're really good in that instance because they're really heavy duty and you know if they chafe on the boat you're not going to break easy. So sometimes a little bit boring for the deckie because you just want to get in there and lead of the fish. But in those instances, you know he was a strong believer of keep that same amount of drag on the fish the entire time in the hope that you're going to up your catch rate or, you know, land rate, whatever it is. Yeah, so in that instance that was quite good. But yeah, there's definitely some things I struggled with. But we ran two crews, so there was myself and always a guy crew as well. So if there's anything that I wasn't comfortable I didn't have the strength for, that's when they would chip in, you know, and we'd just bounce off each other, which was really cool.
Speaker 1:And Sarah. She's seen firsthand how the vibe on board shifts when women and girls are at the helm.
Speaker 3:They do bring a different dynamics. They really bring a different dynamics. We think differently. We don't just barge in there, we think things through. In fact, the problem with females is I know I am not every female, but we're overthinkers. We actually overthink everything. We have to know everything. That was my problem about being a skipper. I didn't feel I knew everything to be a skipper. Therefore I couldn't be a skipper because I didn't know everything. And my husband always said you know, some men just do blag it quite a lot. And as I started to gain more knowledge I started to see kind of what he was referring to. The women just think differently. They bring a different calmness because they I'm very risk averse, which is good because I don't want to put my crew in any danger on my boat but they very. They just methodically think things through a little bit from a different angle. And if you get females on your crew with males, the dynamic then is really good because it's not all about testosterone and off we go, let's go and let's put our red cape on and let's fly in. It's more calmer and controlled that way.
Speaker 3:I've done a few Coast Guard does a Suddenly In Charge seminar. They haven't done it for a while because of lots of changes. But Izzy has come online with wildicks and I've had many, many conversations with her because she's very empowering and she's recognised that she was the same, I was the same as her. We didn't feel confident enough, and so it's all about making sure that these ladies just start doing a little bit more and come out of the shadow of the husband, because I meet so many ladies that can't drive the boat. Or when you're backing them, trailer down, the men's always doing it. Or I used to say when the kids were smaller, when we had our boat, my husband would, we'd drive it between us, but then I'd drop them off at the fuel dock in Bayswater and then he'd walk to go and get the trailer, the boat on the trailer and reverse it down the ramp and I would just hold off and I would drive it straight on. But you didn't see that very often with ladies there was many of them would sit on the dock side at the fuel dock with the boat, waiting for the husband then to take the car down with the trailer, walk back round again, get in the boat, then drive round, try and put it on the trailer, then hop out and try and drag it in as well. Yeah, it was just many times, so it's definitely.
Speaker 3:I definitely encourage ladies just to pick up the radios, you know. Make sure that they can talk on the radio, do a radio course. Go and do a day skipper course, do some basics and start trying to have a go. And I very much want to encourage any ladies that can do it. I have females coming through all the time now in the unit and I will take them out. No problem at all.
Speaker 3:Coast guards have got a few courses. Let them start there. You've got beginning boating. That's the basic basic If you've just bought a boat and you don't know anything. But if you've already got a boat and you're going out, go and do a day skipper course, because that's really good. You know, you get some voyage. You get to learn which way to go, who goes, where the sound signals, things like that, and start learning it. And then, when and when you go out there on the boat, start observing, start looking at which oh, that's a port marker, that's a lateral marker, that's what and start trying to absorb it that way. Also, try and connect with other females. That's what I would try and do. I've encouraged people to give me a call and anyone's got a nice boat, I'll come out with them, no problem at all, you know, and to do it that way. If you've got time, go and join Coast Guard, if you can. If you've got a love for the water, like I have, and I have a love for the boats and helping people, then that's how I got my knowledge.
Speaker 3:I thought I had quite a lot of knowledge when I came to New Zealand because I've done my RYA courses, my powerboat level one and two. We'd always done courses when we got boats, we got jet skis. I'd grown up with a bit of knowledge. But when I started on Coast Guard I realised actually my knowledge was very, very limited. I had got some, but I didn't know as much as I thought I did. And then my journey really started and I've learned so much in 10 years. So much. But it's because I've gone out there and done it and I've been around and I haven't even been around many females, to be honest. It's just that I had the love for it.
Speaker 3:People like Izzy are awesome because she's actually taking people practically. You can go and do a boat exercise with her so you can go out on the boat, you can back the trailer down on the ramp. She's doing that sort of thing. She's recognizing that there are people that need that little bit of extra help and encouragement. I would encourage for ladies that if you're on a boat with your husband, to make sure that you throw a buoy out over the water and you recover it yourself, because if your husband falls out that boat, you want to be able to do this. I did it with my children when they were probably teenagers. We always made sure that they could drive and helm that boat and if anything happened to one of us, they could either go back for us or they could take it back to the wharf if they needed to. And they were only 14, 15, 16, that age, even younger. They learned that quite quickly.
Speaker 1:And speaking of the children, you know you've got Kids Safe Boating. What's the whole program for kids and why are you focusing on kids to start with with a lot of your work?
Speaker 3:Well, the main job was between 8 and 12-year-olds. We would focus on them. They would just do some very basic boat safety. We teach a word to kids. It's the word WET. It's an acronym. It means three things. It means check your weather before you go out, check your equipment before you go out and tell somebody where you're going. And if every adult did this, then perhaps we wouldn't have some of the rescues that we have to go out for, you know, because some people go out with not enough fuel, no oars, no anchor, no communication, nothing.
Speaker 3:So we teach the children and we've been doing this for quite a few years. Last year that program put through 85,000 children through the program nationally or around the country. So it's a really good basic. They learn to fit a life jacket, they learn to feel what it's like out in the water. They learn to feel what it's like in the water. They roll out of a boat, they go under the air pocket of a boat, they turn the boat over in the pool and they learn what it feels like to be underneath it and things like that. So it's really. They have a lot of fun doing it. But this year I've just launching in fact I'm launching it I have just launched it is a little skippers program which is a preschool program. So what we're doing now is we're putting three to six year olds in life jackets and it's all about for them the feel of a life jacket and making sure that that feeling is a happy feeling for them, so when they go and float in the water they know that they can look at mum and dad and they go oh, I'm safe because I'm in a life jacket and with mum and dad. So we're starting them early. And then what the next plan is to do the older teenager ones and to do more for teenagers, because if we can shift the attitude of just wearing a life jacket, we can make a massive, massive impact. And it already has worked, because I think it was 15 to 24-year-old males were a high drowning rate and that number has significantly declined. So now we're concentrating on 45 to 65-year-old males. I think we've done a generational change because we've been doing it for so long.
Speaker 3:It's not just us, we know there's Surf LifeSafe doing it, water Safety's doing it, there's Drowning Prevention Auckland doing it. There's lots of organisations and we're all trying to work collectively to try and make sure that we reduce the drowning and the education. It's just education, education, education all the time for these kids and for adults. So if you go on to wwwsafeboatingorgnz, that gives you the whole program that I've created, we've been doing, and the new one I've created, and it gives you a list of all the pools around the country and there's more coming online. I've got to add a few more in as I bring them more online. Contact the pool, just contact them and say, hey, look, if I'm a school, how can I get part of this I'd love to see is to get some more kit into communities because we've got school pools, so I'd love to be able to get more kit that the pools, the schools, can share kit between them in an area. Somebody takes you know, somebody looks after it, but they share it so they all get to use it.
Speaker 3:And the life jackets is the most important thing. Wearing a life jacket has never given anybody a bad day ever. Just been to Queenstown now and I've just I think we've had 300 children come through, clued Up Kids in Queenstown and I went with the Queenstown unit and we were with I think it was five. I think it was five of the people. There was Civil Defence, landsar, red Cross. There was five of us and it was amazing and the kids went from 10 minutes from one to the next and every group I had came in front of me and I asked them all have they been in the pool and put life jackets on, like the ones I was just about to get them to put on again? And I think probably 95% of them said yes, they had. And I asked them about it and they all said I asked what they'd learned.
Speaker 3:I didn't have long, but they said they'd learned how to fit a life jacket and it really came across that I didn't realize how well they're doing down there, because they all loved it, enjoyed it, did it, understood it and done it a few times and wanted to do it again. I'm going to see if I can get hold of the people up here to see how they can do this and do it more regularly for the kids and get the schools through it, because the kids were learning all sorts. They really were, and it wasn't just about water safety, it was about the landslide there. There was civil defence, earthquake stuff and stuff like that. It was an emergency planning day and it was just awesome. But yeah, everybody needs. I feel that every child has the right to learn to swim and to learn how to survive, which is not just about swimming. It's about survival in the water and what you can do to survive, because swimming sometimes isn't always the right thing to do, but if you're wearing a life jacket, you will survive.
Speaker 1:With more women and kids learning the ropes. Clubs are adapting Mercury Bay's Girls in the Bay competition and now the Youth Nationals event. Both offer a $10,000 prize pool for just entering the competition. Tanya admits getting sponsors on board wasn't easy at first, but they kept pushing.
Speaker 6:I think it really comes down to being locals at the club, being regular club goers and building up those relationships and it's constant networking really.
Speaker 6:And all of us have tapped into all of our friends and you know, people we know and our networks and asked those guys to come on board. And you know we've had such great response and such great support from all the people we know, but also from the previous years as well, people who have always been part of it and always been proud of sponsoring the girls and the bay or the ladies previously. They've all said hey, hey, look, we really love it. It's a great event, so we want to keep keep it a great event. So let us know how we can make a contribution. We also heavily rely on the girls actually entering. So, um, you know it all comes together as a package, as you said. You know it's like chicken and egg as well. Without the participants, you don't really have have the volumes and that also will be a difficult one, you know, to pull off you guys I know are fishing ladies events so you're supporting other clubs, but it goes both ways.
Speaker 1:Uh, at your event there were girls from counties that attended and other clubs as well. From what I've seen, kind of a bit of a new movement in ladies fishing anyway, of clubs supporting other clubs and growing that way.
Speaker 6:Yes, and on our social media we've been asking other clubs to share as well, and we share their events too, and we have started hashtagging clubs, supporting clubs. You know, we've got heaps of friends from the likes of counties that always come and holiday here, so they'll be dual members as well, so they'll be fishing here but also love to fish on the West Coast. So in the end you can't really avoid that crossover. And that's what makes it so great, because that also gets the word out and gets more participation from other areas.
Speaker 1:You also have brand new entrants each year. It may be their first time even fishing fishing, let alone going for the game species. How is that feedback coming through back to you guys? Because I know at the end of each competition you actually follow it up with a survey to to get feedback, constructive criticism as well and try and improve on that feedback yeah, we always try and you know, do better on the previous year.
Speaker 4:That's just a kind of a norm on the fishing side. It's great um. I manned the the way station um this year and it was so great to see how much fish came in and how stoked the ladies was at actually getting them. Yeah, really cool to see that they enjoying the day out on the water as well as the actual competition and the prize giving.
Speaker 1:So, Anne, you're vice president as well as a waymaster here at the club. You're really leading the way in that space. How is it being at the gantry when it's all happening?
Speaker 4:I don't know I've never felt intimidated or that the boys you know wouldn't kind of agree with a decision that I make. You know wouldn't kind of agree with a decision that I make. But yeah, I can see that you know it could potentially make some ladies feel a little bit insecure or anything like that. But the boys have been great, you know they're accepting of it.
Speaker 1:Lisa Noble has watched the change unfold over the years and her advice keep showing up, keep backing yourself.
Speaker 2:That generation too, are also kind of like a female can't work on the boat or this and that, and I'm not meaning that in a mean way, but I think it's the drive that you really need not so much luck. Yeah, like I remember there was another skipper that I talked to in the very early days when I was still living in Wellington, and I rung him up. There was an article that I've seen in the New Zealand Fishing News magazine and it was JB and his crew on the hook and bull. And yeah, I rung him up and I said, mate, like, how do I get into the industry? And he pretty much laughed at me on the phone, right like he thought, oh my god, this chick who only knows how to catch snapper and earling, like, and back then I'm young, I couldn't cook a bloody meal, you know, like two minute noodles back then. So of course that's a big in on those charter boats is knowing how to prepare beautiful food, whether you're a male, female, not trying to like stereotype here but it is a big role of the job anyway.
Speaker 2:Years went by and I remember catching up with JB later on, like four or five years later, and he said to me I'm so shocked, said I can't believe you started there and now you're literally crewing on boats and I actually got to do two trips with them on the hockey and that just blew my mind incredible, like next level fishing. It was pretty cool, yeah. So it's that drive and that passion that you really need. Like definitely not luck, like you'll get a hundred knockbacks, but if you get one, like what's the word? One opportunity out of all those knockbacks, take that as a win.
Speaker 1:Like you've got to be thick-skinned and just really want it and, to wrap it up, we hear from the Mercury Bay girls on what it's really like at the grassroots level volunteering, helping at your local club, giving something back, because that's what it all comes back to clubs just being a huge part of the community.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we love it Absolutely. It's a passion. And then we come back for prize giving and have an amazing party.
Speaker 6:It's becoming a passion for a lot of women. You know spending time with their partners as well, and learning. And you know a lot of couples myself and Anne and also Caro. You know we're all guys that go out as couples on our boats, and so you know it's often time that you spend alone, so that's quite nice, but you also take that time to learn and become. You know it's your thing that you do together, which also actually includes a lot of kids, but they're always testing their boundaries as well. That's what it's all about. After all, it's a competition. That's what it's all about.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we have a lot of very competitive men in our club and families, and families yeah, kids, a lot of kids as well, yeah. Some really good junior children coming through the Nicholson boys, levi and Hunter they're really good fisher juniors for our club.
Speaker 6:And we've got the likes of Kane Bodman with his boy Lewis. He's got a world record. They count his and his as well. You know Another family that is really. They also love fishing as a family. So mom Amelia, and all of those guys also. She's often part of the, the fishing comp for the girls as well.
Speaker 1:I've always thought of clubs as being like a kind of communal hub in a community, that that brings communities together, obviously based on volunteer actions. If I I think of Girls in the Bay, it was a raging night, late into the night, but early morning the next day 20-odd volunteers turned up to pack it all down, clean it all up. I know a few, with some hangovers going on as well, but they turned up the next day to do it. It's that kind of volunteer participation that makes a strong club and makes a strong community as well.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we actually have a really good group of volunteers that will come down most of the year to help out, especially with tournaments, but not just only that, with other volunteer things like the courtesy van, we've got Scott and Debbie. Scott and Debbie, they look after all our recycling and things like the courtesy van. And, um, we've got scott and debbie scott, debbie, they look after all our you know recycling and things like that.
Speaker 1:So you know, as a club we're very lucky to have, um, a really good group of volunteers it's quite a unique club in the fact that your location here in fitianga, which is a tourist destination, means you get all sorts of people through the doors, from people who've just arrived in the country and somehow ended up in Whitianga wondering what's going on and can I have a meal, or can I look at the fish on the wall and this kind of stuff to dyed in the wall. Seasoned fishermen, commercial as well as recreational, um fishers that that are part of your membership base. So you really draw quite a diverse range of the community and international tourists to this, the hub, the mercury bay game fishing club yeah, we do.
Speaker 5:What's really quite cool is, um, you'll get a lot of families that haven't been to woody anger for a while and their parents have been down here fishing, especially the older generation, and a lot of their um photos are on our board of their catches and things. And you know, I sit in the office and quite often I hear ladies going oh my God, that's my granddad, that's my great uncle, and that's really cool. So we do get a real diverse group of people come through all the time.
Speaker 1:How do you guys find the balance between honouring the past and the history but still being relevant today for people to come into the club and have a good time and not feel like it's gone, stagnant and it's a kind of time capsule of the past and it's not relevant today? How do you juggle that kind of balance?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's a hard one and it does actually require active work to make that happen, especially to get the younger generation active in the club and making sure that they are going to take over and running the club and being involved. Yeah, it just actually takes work. You just need to work at it and the committee is definitely committed to actually make that happen.
Speaker 1:You talked about technology earlier as well, so now you're using Facebook, messenger and Instagram and these tools to reach, I guess, a younger generation and they can share their experiences on the water with you and then you can kind of push it out to a wider audience of club members and those who may be wanting to know more.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely so. We work very hard at communication. So whenever a fish gets weighed, for instance by a weighmaster, immediately it goes onto a messenger chat group and it goes onto our Facebook. We try and make it as easy and seamless as possible and just make it as quick as possible as well, because a lot of the times people are stoked to get that fish weighed so they want it out there for everybody to see. You know, we see less and less, especially bigger fish getting weighed. Most of them are, you know, tag and release. There's a lot of the ladies especially who is just keen to tag and release. I'm one for myself. It'll be few and far between that. I'll actually land a fish nowadays and I think it's just with. It comes with education kind of sending that message of when is a fish actually? Um, you know, at the point, if you do tag it to make that call in terms of is it going to live or not, then you land it or not. But but, first and foremost, I think, is to tag it.
Speaker 1:You implied some new rules I guess around the girls in the bay as far as what fish you would accept to go across the weigh station. So this is minimum weights and minimum length of fish. So this is you doing a bit of your part. Encourage anglers to only weigh fish of merit and going across the bridge like that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we definitely changed that from last year even to this year's rules to make just the fish sizes a little bit more sustainable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so from the top of my head, I think it was 90 kilos for a billfish and 90 centimetres for a kingfish. So keeping those other fish in the water where possible.
Speaker 6:I think it's also important that we're keeping it quite consistent with other comps too. So there's a lot of similarities between the girls and some of the other ones, especially also the junior comp. Just setting those expectations that there's no different rules for different people as well, and we're all trying to work towards that same sustainability model. Consistency is always good. When it comes to that, there's no questions need to be asked. You know. You know.
Speaker 1:It's either right or it's wrong I think the biggest misunderstanding in the general community towards fishing clubs are that we're just there to kill fish, and there's so, so much we've talked about it to start with of ways that we aren't killing fish and we're actually trying to keep more fish in the water for future generations. That seems to be the driving goal for all anglers. Now Don't get me wrong getting a feed for the family. Everyone has a right, as a Kiwi, to be able to do that. Sadly, the state of our fisheries, through different reasons, have been somewhat depleted. So as a competition organising committee, you can kind of hang your hat on some of these principles that you are doing the best thing you can to keep more fish in the water.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely and going forward. We're working on some new software in the club that'll be able to actually update catch records as we actually weigh them at the weigh station. So if we think about a competition that runs over a few days, or one of our competitions runs for a month, as soon as a big fish does go over the weigh station, everybody kind of knows that and immediately you won't bring in a fish that's smaller than that because you know what you're up against.
Speaker 1:Because we have new technologies and ways of communication, we can actually get that out almost instantly to our members. Yep, that's right, and you just got me thinking. You're a committee member. You've got a lot of responsibilities in the club here. You also work a nine-, nine to five job on the side. Clubs are built by volunteers. How do you juggle all of this and and also find time to go fishing yourself and I'm putting that to the wider group as well? You guys are so involved in the club, but how do you find a bit of personal time, like you're not fishing girls in the bay, for instance?
Speaker 4:you're here, you're not doing the comp yeah, so it's a little bit of um. I think the five knot rule is first and foremost, so its first priority is fishing if the weather's good, um, and then you just make time for the rest of it. And yes, it means that some weekends I'm working because I might take a day off going fishing.
Speaker 7:But you know that that's just life, that's's what we do and we love it and it's all about having like a great boss and great family behind you. Maybe the weather's not going to be great today, but it's going to be great tomorrow, so my boss is more than willing to give me a day off and mum's at home looking after my dogs, so it's okay, see you later. Land, I'm off for a couple of hours. It's having that support where you can do that sort of thing, and the lifestyle up here is just that.
Speaker 1:What would you say to someone listening who's not a member of a club, a female listener who wants to kind of get involved? What does Mercury Bay do to mentor these kind of people if they've just walked in the door and they're saying, hey, maybe I'm retired, maybe I'm working part-time, I've got some spare hours, I want to get involved in the community. What can I do? What are your suggestions to someone coming in like that?
Speaker 6:I mean, we don't say no to anyone who wants to help, and I think that's the important thing is, you know, if somebody is keen to get involved and somebody does ask, it's never saying no and always just saying absolutely, we'll take whatever you're willing to give. You know, one thing we've really learned with us is we all come from different walks of life and we all have different perspectives. You know, when we do run into a bit of a brick wall, there's always somebody with a different, different way of getting out of it or a different solution. So that's really great. So, from a volunteering perspective, um, you know, mercury bay is really big on volunteers in all forms of life. You know, coming from environmental perspectives in town and to the fishing club.
Speaker 6:You know, there's also a lot of people who have done volunteering work all their lives and they just want to relax and we kind of get that. But those who have come here to settle down and just want to give something back, they don't have any responsibilities other than trying to stay busy, make some new friends, just hang out, have a bit of social contact, by all means. You know, just, there's so many projects around. All you have to do is ask. I say you know our town wouldn't run without volunteers. People just not aware of how much volunteering is going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's just at the fishing club yeah, it goes back to that kind of idea of being part of the community and being embedded and coming and thinking to give something back. So there's been studies that have come out that said volunteering actually makes your life richer in ways that are not measurable by money and you live longer as well. So there's a lot of and mental health benefits as well as coming in saying what can I do, and I know for myself. When I took this role, I think I came from a place of. I've taken a lot from the ocean. I have something inside me that makes me feel like I have to give something back, and when the job opportunity came up to be involved with clubs like this, I felt scratching that itch, that I've had to give something back, taken a lot out of our ocean historically and I want to feel like I'm giving something back. Is that kind of a feeling you guys get, as well as very competitive anglers that are part of it. It's a part of giving back to the community.
Speaker 6:I think Anne's probably the most volunteered person around the table so I think she should answer that.
Speaker 1:Or yours, Anne.
Speaker 4:A volunteer queen? I think I'm just a volunteer because I can't say no. But yeah, I agree. I mean talking to people who retire and they just want to. They just want to be involved. And you're not going to get involved or you're not going to be accepted by the community if you don't actually get involved. If you just walk the streets of Whitianga, you're going to be accepted by the community if you don't actually get involved. If you just walk the streets of Whitianga, you're going to be just, you know, some person who just pitches up to the New World or the Countdown or something like that. But as soon as you walk into any of our clubs or get involved in any of the community projects around, you know, suddenly doors open and you get accepted.
Speaker 1:It's just reminded me of the auction as part of Girls in the Bay, which was a charity auction for Project Mammogram. So there's another instance of the club giving back to the wider community.
Speaker 6:Being the Girls in the Bay, we really wanted support um, a charity that is close to our hearts. I mean all the, all the people we deal with to get all of the information. They're all guys, so won't comment on that. But no, I just got a message from mike from from the lions this morning saying, um, he's picked up our collection buckets and he's just blown away. There was over $500 in the collection buckets. So for me, you know, I'm just absolutely gobsmacked at the support we received this year.
Speaker 1:I guess part and parcel of having more females involved with the club is you actually get more children or kids involved with the club as well. What are these kind of changes the club's looking at to, I guess, service the kids and show them that they are also part of the club. They're not just being dragged in by mum and dad and sat down having a raspberry and coke.
Speaker 6:The Nicholson boys, their family's really driven. You know so many people like the Nicholsons also have put up their hands to help with all of that. So again, one of those situations where not one person is driving it but it needs a village in order to drive it forward. Just giving them the opportunity is really the big thing. You know there's the junior nationals, which you're also a big part of and you know that will also help with driving that.
Speaker 5:Well, that's it, and we need to look after our juniors because really they are the next generation of our club going forward, you know, not just for fishing but also for the running of the club, the committee, the volunteering part of it, you know. So we have to look after them.
Speaker 1:Look, I'm going to flip it on its head a bit here. The biggest game fishing competition, not not only for this club but in the country and some would say the Southern Hemisphere, is Tom Maxwell's Kubota, which has just grown year on year. The big money competition. Are some of the ladies going to take out the top prize this year?
Speaker 6:Well, I knew it was one of the ones Been there, done that. No, I'm just joking. Last.
Speaker 1:No, I'm just joking. Last year you did all right, didn't you Tony?
Speaker 6:We did okay. We did okay. I managed to get my one and, yes, we'll be fishing again this year. I will be, and Anne will be as well. Lisa's on board for the first time Popping the cherry for the commode. We have started a bit of a background conversation about potentially getting a ladies' boat together. There's a couple of us who are able to take a trailer boat out and we have big dreams of taking a full ladies' boat with ladies' skipper and full ladies' crew out and smashing it. But we're working on that one and full ladies grew out and smashing it.
Speaker 4:But we're working on that one, I think the last three years in a row up until pretty much about middle of January. Our leaderboard 10 highest scoring anglers would be five ladies Wow.
Speaker 1:You can go and count. Yeah, I will fat-chip the leaderboard after the podcast.
Speaker 6:Just on the back of that, the likes of Penny Murray started the Ladies Blue. And how many years ago was that Cara?
Speaker 5:Definitely in the nine years I've been here.
Speaker 6:So you know, there's some of the ladies who have been running or really driving that we see a lot of them now retiring and saying, look, some of the ladies who have been running or really driving that we see a lot of them now retiring and saying, look, we're keen to be volunteers, we're keen to help with game-based radio and all of that, and so, as a result, we have started looking at taking that on and driving that with the new generations coming through.
Speaker 4:So it's a long-running competition. It runs from 1st of December to the end of April, end of April, and it's basically around game fish, so basically bullfish, and then there's a team prize for the most points or a trophy for the most points, and there's the tag draw and then the biggest tuna.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so it really covers all the species, and the ladies are out there doing it.
Speaker 6:Yeah, absolutely. And having that over a couple of months, it gives you that opportunity to really get out there and you know, if the weather's not that great or you know some of you have a full-time work or that kind of restrictions on your life, you still have an opportunity to get out there and get some fish. We've just recently we've changed the tagging. It used to be the most tag fish. We just found that, you know, some of us just don't get out there. We love it as much.
Speaker 6:But to give everyone a fair be the most tag fish, uh, we just found that, you know, some of us just don't get out there. We love it as much. But to give everyone a fair chance and also to keep the competition live until the end, we've changed it to a tag and release draw. So even if you only get out there three or four times and you're not able to you know, tag 10 fish, but only three you could still have a chance of actually getting a prize. And, um, yeah, so, hopefully, so hopefully this year that will keep everyone motivated till the end. So, yeah, just small changes we're making.
Speaker 1:Coming up next week. We're back with these remarkable women talking safety, leadership and what it takes to run a tight ship and bring the crew home. The NZSFC Pod and Reel podcast is brought to you by the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council with support from Maritime New Zealand and the Safer Boating Forum. Thank you you.