Entry 86-4

Emily Shaffer: Professional Angler

What Being a Woman and a Tournament Bass Fisherman Is Like

Editor's Note: Emily Shaffer from Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, a member of the Strike King Pro Staff for 14 years, has hunted and fished all her life with her dad and her brother. She actually met her husband, Larry, at a bass-fishing tournament weigh-in on Percy Priest Lake in 1988. He asked her to go fishing at 5:00 a.m. the next morning, and the two have been together ever since. Shaffer fishes the WBFA Tournament Trail (Women's Bass Fishing Association), and she began her competitive fishing career with the Bassin' Gals Circuit many years ago. Starting in January, 2004, Shaffer will compete on the FLW Circuit, one of only three women fishing FLW. When Emily was asked how she felt about fishing in the male-dominated FLW, she smiled and answered, "I'm not competing against the men. I'm competing against the bass. When I throw my Strike King lures out toward targets that I believe hold bass, the fish don't know if a man or a woman is at the other end of the line." In 1995, Shaffer won the Women's Classic Championship and was Angler of The Year in 2002, besides winning two other national women's fishing titles.

Question: Emily, what is your life like as a woman when you fish in bass tournaments with men?

Shaffer: Well, first of all the fish don't care and don't know if the angler is male or female. In a fishing tournament, we're all anglers. There are no males and females. Older fishermen always seem to be a little inquisitive about a woman tournament fisherman. But the younger fishermen treat me like any other angler. What I have learned about being a woman tournament bass fisherman is that fishing is one sport where women can compete on an equal basis with men, and I've found that generally the men don't really mind.

Question: Have you ever experienced any problems when you're fishing tournaments with men?

Shaffer: Not really. The question that most people ask is, "What do you do if you have to go to the bathroom during your 10 to 12 hours of fishing, and you're paired with a male fisherman?" I've never found this to be a problem, because if I have to go to the bathroom, I go to the back of the boat and go to the bathroom while he looks the other way. If he has to go to the bathroom, he goes to the back of the boat while I look the other way. I've never really had a bathroom issue when I've been fishing in a tournament.

One of the problems that I have experienced, however, is when I catch a limit of bass before my partner does. This really seems to put pressure on the men I fish with to try to be able to prove that they can catch as many bass as I can.

Question: What's the best day of tournament fishing you've ever had?

Shaffer: When I won the Classic in 1995 was my best day of bass fishing ever. At that time, I caught the largest bass that had ever been weighed in a national tournament by either a male or a female. That bass weighed 9.0 pounds. I caught the bass at Lake Athens in Athens, Texas, on a prototype Series 7 Strike King crankbait. The crankbait was chartreuse with a blue back. I had my boat out in deep water, and I was casting to the shallow side of the point. Just as my crankbait came across the shallow side of the point and started down the deep side, the big bass attacked.

I'd hooked this same bass on the same point the day before, but she was barely hooked and got off when she came to the surface. But the next day when I finally caught this fish, I began to talk to myself out loud and told myself, "Wear the bass down. Wear her down. Don't get in a hurry to get her to the boat. Take your time. Be calm." The bass finally laid on her side. I brought her to the boat, lipped her and brought her in the boat. When I really looked at the bass and looked at her mouth, I decided that she was not the bass I had hooked on the first day. I really believe that the bass I hooked on the first day was bigger than this 9-pound-plus bass that I actually caught.
 

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