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| 24 February 2005 |
| Fishing Women |
| Fishing is often thought of as a man's hobby, but in Darwin they hold a fishing competition especially for women. |
MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: This place is known as Corroboree Billabong, a stretch of fresh water that's part of the Mary River system, 100km east of Darwin. Sixty boats were queuing at the launching ramp long before first light at the weekend, their crews ready to start fishing at 6:30am. Two hundred and fifty women - one quarter of them from beyond the Northern Territory - competed in the Reel Women's Barra Classic - that's r-e-e-l. Barra is Territory talk for barramundi, a prized catch for anglers in northern waters. EMMA CARTWRIGHT, REEL WOMEN'S BARRA CLASSIC: Barramundi fishing to me is just the ultimate. Nothing beats catching a barra. The barramundi is Australia's premier sports fish and it is a magnificent fish to catch. A lot of people around Australia, keen anglers, they say if there's one fish they want to catch, "I want to go the Northern Territory and catch a barra". MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: The Reel Women's Barra Classic is the creation of Emma Cartwright, a mother of three who runs a fishing expedition business in Darwin and publishes a fishing magazine for women. She grew up in Jabiru, a mining town surrounded by Kakadu National Park, and began fishing as a child. This was the third year this competition's been run. The first began as an effort to get girlfriends into the fishing game. EMMA CARTWRIGHT: My girlfriends use to say, "you're mad, you know, "come to the pub". I said, "you're crazy, come and see what I do on the weekends". And it was just initially planned to take, you know, 10 or 12 girlfriends fishing and word quickly spread and that first year we had 250 women. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Each fishing team comprises between two and four women. NATALIE CHIRGWIN: It's good for all women to actually get out there and actually do it all themselves. You don't have many women that just get out there, they're always with their partners or someone else doing it, so it's really good to have an all-women competition. MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN: Shannon Pope, a Darwin schoolteacher, learnt fishing from her father and then coaxed her husband into it. SHANNON POPE: Ever since I was born I was out on a boat with Dad and fishing and he used to get annoyed because I'd be catching more fish than him. The move up to the Territory was a great thing It's great fishing and I've got my husband into it. He wasn't really into fishing. It's a barra. There you go. How's that for footage? EMMA CARTWRIGHT: They need to bring it in and land the fish themselves and then they measure it, we supply them with official measuring tapes, they photograph the fish and then they release it. It's all catch and release - the top winning teams need to then submit their disposable camera and that just verifies the winning teams. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: The Reel Women's Barra Classic is now touted as the biggest fishing tournament in the Northern Territory and the biggest in the world for women. By the end of the competition, a total of 230 fish had been caught - 101 barramundi, 79 catfish, 47 saratoga and 3 tarpon. |
story notes |
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known The past participle of the irregular verb know. more information: know Corroboree Billabong A very Australian name. A corroboree is an Aboriginal ceremony and a billabong is a lake or area of water that is dry when there's no rain.  Corroboree Billabong is part of the Mary River system, 100km east of Darwin, in the Northern Territory. r-e-e-l The name is a play on words. Reel sounds the same as real, spelled r-e-a-l. A reel, spelled r-e-e-l, is part of a fishing rod, like in the picture.  Real means genuine. The phrase real men means strong, tough men. So by using the phrase reel women, they're meaning that these women are as strong and tough as men and they love fishing. barra is Territory talk Territory talk means the way they say things in the Northern Territory. So barra is what they call barramundi in the Northern Territory. Barramundi is a type of big fish that lives in warm, tropical waters.  catch Catch here is a noun. It means the things that have been caught. Example: Today's catch is fresh trout. A prized catch is the best thing to catch or the thing most people want to catch. anglers Anglers are fishers or people who fish. grew up changed from being a child to an adult Example: Children grow up quickly these days. more information: grow up began The past tense of the irregular verb begin. more information: begin learnt The past tense of learn can be learnt or learned. used to When used to refers to the past it means something that is no longer true. Example: I used to go to the football every Saturday, but I don't anymore. Follow the link to find out what else used to means. more information: used to There you go. There you go is an Australian slang expression . It means what do you think of that, or look at that. You'll hear people saying it when they hand you something, especially in a shop. A shopkeeper might say it when they're giving you change: 'There you go".  land To land means to bring to the land, or to catch a fish. measure it Then they measure it. They see how long it is. photograph Then they photograph it, they take a picture of it with their cameras. release it Then they release it, they let it go. catch and release Catch and release is the kind of fishing where the fish is caught and then let go free. touted as Something that is touted as is claimed to be. Example: Melbourne is touted as Australia's most livable city. caught The past participle of the irregular verb catch. more information: catch
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