"[It’s] an all-encompassing passion for challenging yourself to catch a trout, particularly here in Southland."
Fish & Game New Zealand field officer Ben Febery said it had partnered with New Zealand Fly Ferns captain Dr Rachel McNae and Ms Placko — one of the nation’s top fly-fishing guides — to offer the first Southland women’s fly-fishing academy this weekend in Lumsden.
The collaboration aimed at empowering female anglers in fly-fishing, he said.
Ms Placko said she had recently paired up with Dr McNae to deliver the new venture and between them they brought up to 40 years’ experience with them.
She came from Australia, bringing her guiding experience and instructional experience with her, while Dr McNae had left her full-time academic career to focus on fly-fishing education.
"So now we’re sort of going in all guns blazing," Ms Placko said.
"We’re trying to make it more accessible and more comfortable for women to try it — give them the tools and the knowledge to excel at it and stick with it.
"The one thing I can’t guarantee is that we’re going to catch a fish," Ms Placko said.
Mr Febery said research done by Fish & Game on licence-holders revealed a significant number of women did not feel confident about the sport, compared with male anglers.
Nearly 10% of Southlanders had a fishing licence, but it was a sport dominated by men, "but that’s slowly changing".
The new event would run with 10 spots on both Saturday and Sunday in the Lumsden area but if there was demand, "we’d run another one in a heartbeat".
Dr McNae said there was more to the academy than learning how to cast a rod.
"It’s learning about the behaviour of a fish and where they sit in the river and why. Then ... how you are going to trick them into taking your fly."
The day would include how to select flies, entomology fundamentals, life cycles of an insect, what fish populated the river, what they were eating as well as providing casting instruction and on-river experience.
By Toni McDonald
