Entry 27-4

Emily Shaffer

Shaffer's Program

Editor's Note: Emily Shaffer of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, won the 1995 Bass-N-Gal World Championship (the Classic of the women's bass-fishing circuit), and since has caught the largest bass ever weighed in at a Classic (male or female) weighing 9.01 pounds. In 2000, she won her first Women's Bass Fishing Association (WBFA) tournament.

Question:Tell me a little about this program that you mentioned earlier.

Shaffer: It is called Single Mothers as Reel Teachers. We started it so I could teach a lot of single mothers, but we've opened it up to any woman who wants to learn how to fish because it really wasn't fair singling out just single mothers. I give two hours of instruction on how to tie on a hook, the differences in the hooks, the rods and reels, how to put the line through the eyes and all that kind of stuff. We have two hours of instructions and four hours of fishing.

Question: Do you travel to teach? How does this program work? Do you travel everywhere?

Shaffer: I hold this program in Tennessee. Right now it is just in middle Tennessee. The most I have ever done is four in a year because of my schedule. But if I'm in Wal-mart, and I see a woman in the fishing section, I like to go up to her and talk to her and show her whatever she may need. She may need to know how to tie a palomar knot. I'll do everything I can to try and get more women involved, but it is definitely an interesting lifestyle. Sometimes I feel like a country-music singer because I'm often on the road and living out of the truck and living out of a motel so much.

Question: How many women have gone through your program?

Shaffer: About 1100.

Question: Have you gotten a positive response to the program?

Shaffer: Yes, I've gotten very positive responses from the women.

Question: What steps do you take when teaching a woman to fish?

Shaffer: I try to teach a woman to start off with a spinner bait. I'll show her the rods and explain why we use that type of rod. You want a rod with a wimpy tip, but you also want your rod to have backbone.

A spinner bait is one of the most-versatile baits you can use because you fish it right underneath the surface or slow reel it off the bottom. You don't have to add a trailer to it. I have eliminated using a trailer because I've eliminated short strikes. When you are bringing a spinner bait back to you, it looks like a minnow so you can relate to what you are trying to imitate. The best thing that anybody can do when they start fishing, male or female, is if you can't visualize your lure, find a swimming pool. Throw the lure in the swimming pool so you can see what that lure is doing under the water.

If you are throwing a crankbait or a spinner bait, throw it in a swimming pool so you can watch the lure work. You don't have to spend a fortune to become a bass fisherman. You really just need two rods -- a flip-n-stick, which you can use for a Carolina rig or for flipping and a good spinner bait rod, which you can use for your smaller worms. So, you really don't have to go broke even though professional anglers may make it look that way when we have 20 rods out on our deck.




 

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