Women know the challenges of learning to fish and finding fishing buddies today, but what was it like in the 1950s, and why did three women decide to start the International Women’s Fishing Association way back then? Executive Editor Chris Woodward talks with current IWFA board members Connie O’Day and Lisa Everett about the group’s history as well as its 21st century mission.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:09 Welcome to the Women in Fishing podcast. I'm Chris Woodward.
00:13 The Women in Fishing podcast is sponsored by AXA Noble Yacht Coatings,
00:17 makers of Interluxe and AllGrip products for boats.
00:21 Today, we're going way back to 1955 to talk about an organization founded by three women
00:28 who just wanted to compete in fishing tournaments.
00:31 The International Women's Fishing Association was created at that time in Palm Beach, Florida.
00:37 That first club hosted 16 members, although within the first six months, it grew to more than 100 members.
00:45 What started as a great idea among girlfriends remains a vibrant sisterhood today.
00:51 To talk about the IWFA and what it means for women anglers, we have two current IWFA members as guests.
00:58 We have Connie O'Day of Texas, who joined IWFA in 2004 and has been a board member for most of the time since.
01:06 She currently serves on the Junior Angler Committee and is membership connection chair and president of the Scholarship Trust.
01:14 We also welcome Lisa Everett of North Carolina, who served as IWFA president from 2013 to 2015
01:22 and is the outgoing president of the Scholarship Trust.
01:25 Welcome to the podcast, Connie and Lisa.
01:28 Thank you.
01:29 Thank you.
01:30 It's great to have you.
01:31 I want to start out with a little bit of background, and then I really want to talk about what IWFA is today
01:40 and what it means to women who are members.
01:44 First of all, Lisa, can you give our listeners some perspective on where the IWFA has been and where it is today?
01:52 Well, it's like you had started in 1955.
01:55 Three women, Kay Rybovich, Jenny Sherwood, and Denny Crown and Shield, A&D Crown and Shield,
02:02 all were a little tired of fishing the ladies-only day during the tournaments.
02:07 They wanted to compete. They didn't understand why they couldn't.
02:10 So they decided that they would fish a tournament in Cuba called the Hemingway.
02:16 And they turned in their names, and they were able to use their nicknames, making it gender nonspecific entry.
02:24 And when they got down there and their entry had been accepted, then the men realized it was too late to say no.
02:31 So that was their first year to enter.
02:34 And the second year they entered, they actually won the tournament.
02:37 And so the rest is kind of history from there.
02:40 And we've had some more historical times.
02:43 Joan Vernon and Nora Schofield were the first to enter the Costa Rica International Sailfish Tournament.
02:50 They were the first women in 1988 or '89. Joan didn't quite remember.
02:56 And we sent our first entry into the ILTA, or International Light Tackle Tournament, in Isla Mujer, Mexico in 1993.
03:05 So from then on, women have been entering contests and fundaments and that kind of thing all over the world.
03:13 And some of them have done really, really well.
03:16 We have women in the IGFA Hall of Fame. We're getting ready to have one inducted this fall.
03:22 We have some that have held over 100 IGFA world records.
03:27 We have our own world record division. It's not quite as large as that one.
03:32 But we do have some phenomenal anglers in our club.
03:36 And we have our own tournaments now, and our members have a really great time.
03:42 So we've come a long ways from not being able to fish.
03:46 Yeah, that's pretty amazing that they sort of snuck in there.
03:51 They didn't use their actual first name, so nobody would know they were females.
03:57 And then, ba-boom, there they are.
04:00 So I can't even imagine what that must have been like.
04:03 And it is also quite interesting to me that men just said, "No, you can't participate."
04:11 I was born during that period of time when they were forming this.
04:17 So I do go fairly far back, but I don't remember ever really being told I couldn't participate.
04:25 I actually had that happen not that long ago, maybe 20 years.
04:31 And my father had shown me how to sow baits.
04:34 And so we were doing a refresher, and it was a group of us girls that were fishing with a large amount of men.
04:41 And we did it every weekend.
04:42 And so he was thinking he was teaching us what we were doing, and we all were sowing baits.
04:47 Then, instead of telling us how we did or what we had done wrong, he started laughing at us.
04:53 And I was so hurt and so mad, because I'm like, "You know, in this day and age"--it was in the late '90s--
05:00 "it shouldn't have been like that. It shouldn't have been that way at all."
05:04 Good grief, yeah.
05:06 I am not surprised, however, that this group formed in Florida, because as we all know, Florida is a major fishing state, especially for saltwater.
05:16 I'd like to say I think it's quite interesting, because if you were to ask a captain or a guide today,
05:21 who would they prefer to fish with, what is the answer?
05:25 Always. It's always women.
05:27 Oh, really? Okay.
05:29 Because I don't know if you've ever asked, but any boat I've ever been on or heard other women talking about,
05:35 the guides or captains are very quick to tell you they prefer women, because women listen.
05:42 Instead of being the he-man on the boat, women will do what they are asking you to do or trying to help you to do to be successful, and we listen to that.
05:52 So, when you were just talking about that, I thought, "Well, today it's not like that."
05:58 Yeah, I know. It's been a slow process over the years, and there are still a few holdouts, obviously, that I'm sure all of us run into that have a somewhat condescending attitude.
06:11 But the fact that there is a group of women out there who have gravitated together to kind of create this strength in numbers,
06:20 especially when it comes to competing and being on different boats, that's pretty cool.
06:27 Connie, what's the current membership like for IWFA? Number of women, where they're from, age, fishing skill, fishing style, freshwater, saltwater?
06:36 I think I have one of the most fun jobs on the board. I'm the membership connection chair,
06:41 which simply means that once you've joined, and you can go online and join from the website, there's an application process that you fill out.
06:49 Dues are $150 a year, and once you've joined, I get to connect with them to connect them with our club and all the things that we have to offer,
07:02 and the other women that might be living in their area, things that they could do, all the things that we provide for them.
07:09 I get to visit and find out their fishing experience, if they're a recreational angler wanting to get into it more,
07:16 or if they've done it a whole lot, different places that they fish, the kinds of fishing they like to do.
07:22 We currently have 164 members from 21 states, and then four internationally.
07:30 We have eight states in the north, six in the south, two from the west coast, five from the east coast,
07:38 and then we have Japan, Guatemala, Bermuda, and Germany. So, yeah, there are women from all over.
07:46 We have members who are guides and captains, marine biologists, lawyers.
07:52 We have a judge. We have teachers and authors, stay-at-home moms, several who own and run their own business.
07:59 They run lodges. They own boats. They hold the world records, like we were discussing.
08:05 They range from ages 18 to the 80s, actually, probably 90s. I bet we have one in the 90s now.
08:13 I didn't double-check that. Our youngest member, Emily, went through our Junior Angler Program.
08:18 She just graduated high school this past May, and she holds almost 50 world records already.
08:28 Wow. Absolutely amazing. She fishes conventional fly, inshore, offshore.
08:34 I've even laughed to tell her that I think you could pull a tarpon out of a ditch.
08:39 I mean, that girl fishes every day. I said, "You still go to school, right?"
08:46 And she said, "Yes," and she makes very good grades. So, she's our youngest at 18.
08:51 And then Joan Wolfe, the first lady of fly fishing, I'm sure you know her.
08:56 She's an author and educator. She holds our oldest membership of 62 years.
09:01 Wow. Yes, and we have at least six others between 40 and 55-year memberships.
09:10 So, that just tells you, you know, kind of once you join, it's just hard to ever leave us.
09:16 It's just too much fun. Most of the women do all of the fishing styles,
09:22 even if you don't start with that fishing style.
09:26 For myself, I simply did bait casting being from Texas. That's the way we fish here a lot.
09:34 But fishing in Florida, with the wind and everything, I gravitated over to the spin, a lot less knots and whatnot.
09:43 And then I thought I would get froggy one day for a tournament that we had down there in Fish Fly,
09:50 because I'd done very little, and, "Oh, that would just help me."
09:54 Well, that was pure torture, but I did fine.
09:58 They were very helpful on the boat with what I was doing.
10:03 And we just are very supportive of one another if you're on the boat.
10:09 The great thing is when I first started, I was scared to death because I wasn't an experienced fisherman.
10:16 But it doesn't take long to increase your skills if you fish our tournaments and the things that we have to offer.
10:25 So, it's a lot of fun.
10:27 One of the fun facts, in 2022, we caught and released 18,223 fish.
10:39 And that was for 2,453,000 points in 105 species.
10:46 Wow.
10:47 That's really cool because not all 164 obviously turn in what we call affidavits.
10:54 When we catch a fish, we have to fill out a form stating that this is truthful,
10:59 and the lines that we used, and where we caught it, and all that.
11:03 So, there's a lot of information we have to input.
11:06 So, that's not the entire 164.
11:09 So, we're serious about fishing, and we do it a lot.
11:13 Well, answer me this just in general.
11:17 The club obviously hosts a number of tournaments every year.
11:22 I know that as a fact.
11:24 But what you're talking about sounds like ongoing through the year, people submit catches,
11:29 and they get points, and that adds up to something at the end of the year.
11:33 Is that what you're saying?
11:35 Yes, ma'am.
11:36 It's our annual luncheon.
11:38 We have an annual meeting and luncheon in April, and we've been hosting them in different places.
11:44 It originated in Palm Beach, Florida.
11:47 We've been down to Alamorada.
11:49 We've been to Sarasota.
11:50 We've been to Miami.
11:51 We try to change it up so people can attend if they live close by.
11:57 So, that's when it culminates your hard work for the year.
12:03 And we also have two special awards, membership awards.
12:06 One is the Hall of Fame.
12:09 It was established in 1978 to honor members for their individual contributions to the success of the Association Conservation and Sport Fishing.
12:19 We all tend to do things in our own areas that are outside of the IWFA.
12:25 So, we try to honor that, and it's based on a point system, the length of membership, if you've been an officer or a board member, active participation on the scholarship trust, you've been a tournament director, fundament organizer, if you can recruit new members, and then projects outside of the club.
12:44 We also have a distinguished lifetime membership, and it goes to a member that's been a member for 45 years or a member that's 35 years membership and 85 years old.
12:57 Goodness gracious.
12:58 Yeah, so those are very prestigious awards that you earn over a lot of years.
13:04 Yeah, yeah.
13:05 Well, Lisa, why do you think women gravitate to and join IWFA?
13:09 What does it provide for members?
13:12 Well, the first thing I think is you meet so many diversified people that some of them are, you know, are going to be lifetime friends, and providing the tournaments and fundaments and the luncheon gives people an opportunity to travel, travel with their friends,
13:30 go to places you might not normally go to foreign countries like Guatemala or Costa Rica or something, specifically for fishing.
13:39 And I think that that's a big part of it, but just just knowing that you've met new people and you have the same interests, and you don't have to be around men who are wanting to be the best or the machismo image or whatever.
13:53 It just, it's very comfortable atmosphere.
13:56 How many fishing events does IWFA schedule in a year's time, for instance, and how does that work?
14:02 I mean, what, what, describe what those are about.
14:05 Well, it depends on the health situation of the world as to whether they even get to have them or not.
14:13 But we usually have three to four tournaments a year we have a light tackle tournament every year in October in Alamorada.
14:20 We try to have a billfish tournament, and this can range Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, it just depends on the state of the country at the time and and where we've decided to have it.
14:33 Then, sometimes we'll have bass tournaments a lot of times they're like Okeechobee dependent on the water level of the lake once again and whatever's happening with the lake.
14:43 And then we have a Louisiana tournament down in Venice at the end of the boot. And that's for redfish and trout bass and flounder and that's a lot of fun but boy is it hot down there that's in June.
14:57 And then besides those tournaments we will have fundaments, sometimes as many as two or three during the year, and someone that you know there's no major awards for that.
15:08 And so you don't feel like there's this high competitive motion within the membership, and they just go to have a really good time and sometimes they're held in Montana trout fishing so people can try something new with a fly rod.
15:24 We've had them in Sarasota before and during COVID when we actually couldn't do anything in person. These fundaments were like a lifeline to keep our membership together, and we would have them all done with virtual.
15:40 Our fantastic sponsors gave us things like ditty bags that we could put all kinds of gifts and membership participation awards and all of that stuff and mailed it to each girl so that they felt like they were being a part of it.
15:55 And the best thing about those was each fish you caught no matter what tackle you use was one point, be it a bluegill or blue marlin, though it had an even play and feel, we did two months at a stretch.
16:08 Every single day you could fish for as many fish as you wanted until you reached a cap on that specific fish, but we had most of it we had probably 50 some people I think doing those fundaments during that time frame.
16:23 >> Connie, what are the ongoing projects that IWFA conducts throughout the year that may or may not be fishing related?
16:31 Do members also kind of keep in touch informally? Obviously, if you have a point system that you're going to win awards for, then maybe some of the ladies get together and fish in different regions. How does all that work?
16:43 >> Well, we actually have two that we're very proud of. We do other things as well, but the two I'd like to discuss with you, one is our scholarship trust.
16:55 It was established 10 years after IWFA was established. It was established in 1965. And it was established because the women wanted to give back to a sporting industry that we're so passionate about.
17:11 And it also furthered the objectives of IWFA to promote conservation. It's a 501(c)(3) nonprofit for the purpose of providing financial assistance to postgraduate students who are studying in the marine science field.
17:28 We give to male or female, whoever applies. We are governed by a board of 13 trustees, and we normally have between 10 and 25 applicants that apply.
17:43 And we normally give an average of $30,000 a year to these students, and they must be matriculated to the university. They must be approved by the faculty with their research project.
17:56 And then we go over them and make sure that their research is relevant, it's interesting, and that it's needed. Their personal qualifications, their aptitude, the ability of their studies, their character, their accomplishments, and just how much do they need it.
18:14 This year, the 2023 recipients attended 11 different schools, which I think is very interesting. This year we also gave five scholarships that were named after IWFA members or a family member, someone, depending on recognition or their donations that they gave.
18:35 So it's a real exciting thing that we do that we feel like is just so important to these kids, and they report back to us, send us pictures. They thank us throughout the year.
18:47 They can, if they apply, I believe three years in a row, they can receive scholarships from us. So we can give them a substantial amount, and it comes from donations from our members and other sources.
19:02 So we're always in need of help with that so we can support these upcoming future marine biologists and help with the environment.
19:13 Yeah, and what's the other program you were going to mention?
19:16 The other program, super exciting to me because I have five granddaughters is--
19:22 Wow.
19:23 Yes. I have six granddaughters, I'm sorry, seven grandchildren, one grandson, but six granddaughters.
19:30 We had a junior angler program a long, long time ago, and it's just kind of gone by the wayside. So I decided that it was time to bring it back. So in 2018, I put together a plan and brought it to the board and with their input and all, we developed that.
19:48 And our mission statement is to provide opportunities for young girls ages six through 17 to learn about conservation, develop their angling skills, and participate in competitions.
20:00 So we would teach them along the way, they have to have an IWFA sponsor to mentor them during this process, and they follow most things that we do, the rules of conservation, they have to cast for themselves, they have to release the fish alive.
20:18 They get one point for a fish under 12 inches, five points for fish over 12, 20 for a sailfish, and 25 for a marlin. So it keeps it simple for them, and they live all over as well. We have 13 junior anglers right now. We've had more, but they transition up.
20:38 That's one of our other purposes that we can teach them the love of IWFA so that they'll move up. Their dues are $50 a year for the first year because they get a hat and a nice little packet, and then just $35 a year to renew after that.
20:54 Once they turn 18, then they join our club. I have one granddaughter that she's 20 now and she transitioned up at 18, so we compete against each other, although she really had time to fish.
21:09 I said, "Don't think you're ever going to beat me, it's not going to happen."
21:14 I'm that kind of sweet person.
21:17 So there's lots of friendly competition, is that what you're saying?
21:20 It is. They only have three awards, well they have four. Top saltwater angler, top freshwater angler, and the top species award.
21:30 So we kept that part simple for them, and it's just all dependent on their point system for what they turn in.
21:37 A special award that we have is a top service junior angler award, and that's for anything they might do during the year that is helpful or something outside of the box to help with conservation.
21:50 They just write us, they send us a picture and a one-page summary of what they did, and our last recipient went offshore with wounded soldiers and helped them to catch fish and teach them about fishing and talk to them about just whatever they wanted to know, answer any questions and things like that.
22:11 That's a very cool thing and we want to encourage that with these young ones as well.
22:17 Definitely volunteerism is very important in the fishing world for sure.
22:22 Right, and these kiddos, they released 4,372 fish, and Emily, the youngest that's 18, before she moved up, she caught 62 species in one year.
22:36 And McCartney, who was eight at the time, released 56 species.
22:43 Wow.
22:44 We have some serious little anglers, and summertime we do a virtual, we did a rod squad last year where they fished for two months and turned in fish, and this year because it's so hot, we're doing a fishing photo contest.
22:59 We have the biggest, smallest, most creative, some fun things like that, and then we'll give them awards.
23:08 We have Zoom meetings where they can all see each other since they don't live and aren't able to fish together.
23:14 Yeah, I was wondering about that because, you know, obviously if you can't attend a fundament or a tournament or the luncheon or whatever, how do you kind of keep in touch and involved in the mission?
23:28 Lisa, do you participate in virtual meetings and such too?
23:33 All of our meetings for our board are done with Zoom, because obviously we're all over the place and we have a meeting every month except during the hot summer.
23:44 And so that's a Zoom meeting. And then when we had a reason like COVID to not be able to get together at all, we used Zoom for the fundaments and we had a virtual luncheon.
23:57 It was actually a virtual cocktail hour one afternoon. And if we have a certain project that we want to do, like maybe teach people different aspects of fishing or discuss the rules, because we do follow all of the IGFA rules.
24:14 We have all of their game fish species are also ours. We've also adapted that a little bit and added a few more species just to make it simpler, like all the flounder, instead of limiting it specifically to having to count spots on a flounder to know which one is which.
24:31 We just decided we'd count them all. But that's about all. We don't really do a whole lot more with the Zoom than that, because people do have the opportunities now to come to the luncheon.
24:43 We do try to have a fundament or sometimes a bass tournament or something like immediately thereafter, so that there's a reason for somebody to fly all the way across the country besides just the luncheon.
24:55 We usually have a pretty good turnout.
24:58 Do you all get together at any of the trade shows like ICAST or the fly fishing shows or do you all do booths at those things, for instance?
25:07 We've done a little bit in the past. I know I was at a fishing seminar held off the coast of North Carolina.
25:14 And other than the IWFA women who were helping me in the booth, there was no one there for no women. And the men stayed as far away from that table as they could.
25:26 It was actually kind of comical, but we enjoyed it anyway. We got to go to some take turns going to the different classes and we enjoyed it.
25:34 But some of the women who do own their own tackle shops and some of the captains do go to the trade shows, not just for their own benefit, but to try to help us to get sponsors.
25:45 We have some very large tackle sponsors, and so it's always good to be able to stay in touch with them and up to date about what's new and what they might be willing to provide for us to use and that kind of thing.
25:58 Who are your tackle sponsors?
26:00 Let's see, we have Orvis and they actually sponsor a very large award, the Orvis Overall Fly.
26:07 So it's the most points with fish caught on fly and they give a rod and I believe a reel and a couple of other things that go along with it.
26:15 I think, don't they sponsor Junior Angler too with some products or do they?
26:20 Not as much Orvis. St. Croix does. They're good too.
26:26 St. Croix, Luz, some of the Hell's Bay boat, some of the boat sponsors, a lot of the clothing sponsors, Columbia.
26:38 I don't have a list in front of me, but they are very good about it.
26:42 Awesome. Well, and there are obviously men involved in the process because when you go someplace to hire guides, you might find a female guide, you might not.
26:53 I can't think of having a female guide in my almost 20 years of being in the club.
27:00 Wow, that's interesting because I know, especially in Florida, there are a lot more female guides now than there ever have been for sure.
27:09 We have some, but the guides that we use in our light tackle tournament, they could probably tell you more history than Connie and I both.
27:19 They have come, basically come with the tournament and very seldom do they get changed out.
27:25 And, you know, it's, I guess, a rite of passage to be able to come in and be a guide for that tournament.
27:32 Okay, well, Connie, you first. What has IWFA done for you personally?
27:38 Personally, I don't know what I ever did without IWFA because all of my very best friends are there, even though I don't live by most of them.
27:48 We have a few members in Texas, one that's close enough that I can visit, but everybody else is someplace else.
27:55 And I think what drew me, I didn't start fishing until I was at least 40 years old and I worked in a dental office and they needed one person for a tournament for a redfish rodeo.
28:07 And it was just a chance to get away. My children were finally, I think the oldest was 12.
28:13 So I said, sure, it was for a weekend. Well, it was about the third year after that, that I fell in love with the whole process of fishing, the tackle.
28:23 How do you choose? You go into these academy or Bass Pro or whatever, and you see this gazillion pieces of tackle on the wall.
28:32 How do you choose colors and weights and all that? And so I spent a whole year fishing artificial.
28:38 And soon after that, one of my best friends invited me to join the IWFA and they're very serious, most of them, and competitive about their fishing.
28:52 And so every time I went, I learned, they taught the pride in the club and the tradition.
29:01 And I'm big about that. We just let so many traditional things go and things that, you know, it's kind of hard to hang on to.
29:09 But the rich history we have, all the sacrifices made before we got there, it just makes me just so proud to be a part.
29:18 We're not called a prestigious club. We're not exclusive. We invite anybody in, but we teach them, I think, right off that this is a club to be taken seriously for all the things that they do.
29:33 I love the competitiveness. I used to say I'm not competitive, but everybody around me would fall on the floor laughing if I said that.
29:43 You discovered your competitive side, then I take it. I must have.
29:48 And the role models from the women, I'm drawn to older women.
29:55 They have so much wisdom and I've made everybody promise that when I can't walk anymore, you better put me in the wheelchair and roll me down to the dock and help me onto the boat because I still want to go fishing.
30:08 And it's provided me opportunities to fish in places I never would have gone on my own.
30:13 And it's just fun if you fish on a boat in a tournament or a funnel, actually, with someone, you're with another angler and you're there all day long.
30:22 So you get to really know them. Women that you never would have spent time, you know, in a room just visiting or whatever.
30:30 You really get to know those people. And then there's a silly side for me with IWFA.
30:35 We dress up a lot. And our last tournament in Venice in June, we put on shark costumes, the one that blows up with the air.
30:43 And we did a dance for everybody. And that's sort of very traditional for us at all the tournaments that we do silly things.
30:51 So for me, I get to be a girl, you know, not a mom, not a grandma, not a wife, not a you know, it's I don't have a sister.
31:01 I had two brothers. So I've really loved that.
31:06 There we go running any time when you said, how do we communicate?
31:11 If anybody's going any place that sounds like fun, they put the word out and go.
31:16 We do. Awesome. I love that. You get to be a girl. Lisa, how about you?
31:21 What is the IWFA done for you personally? Well, I think Connie's stolen a lot of my thunder.
31:27 But I have to say that it it really gave me a focus because I'm always one of these people.
31:34 Even at my age, I go, what am I going to do when I grow up?
31:38 I've had a lot of shoes on and my husband and I actually fish together in one of our members.
31:45 Joan Vernon has the presidential billfish series. So my husband and I were fishing that.
31:50 And Joan came up to me and said, have you ever thought about joining the IWFA?
31:56 And I had never heard of it. And it's interesting because I'd lived at Pirates Cove and off the coast of North Carolina and Manny for 15 or so years.
32:06 And some of my neighbors were actually members. But I think they were I know they were very, very competitive.
32:13 And I don't know that they wanted that many people from the area to be as competitive with them.
32:19 So I didn't know anything about it. And Joan sponsored me and I joined and I have absolutely loved it.
32:27 And then I kept records of all of my fish so I would know how the scoring system works.
32:33 Well, that might have been a mistake in the long run because I ended up being the scorekeeper for 13 years and it was all done manually.
32:40 But it was so exciting because I could see where people were going, what they were catching, whether it was worth going, you know, following in their footsteps.
32:49 It was it was just very interesting to see everybody. And I think even though everybody goes, oh, it's the camaraderie.
32:56 There's that little bit of competitiveness that's just hiding in the background all the time.
33:02 Even if you're fishing with somebody in a pond, you're still trying to get more than they get.
33:08 I don't care who you are. There's always that in the background. Yeah.
33:12 But I think it's friendships and it makes that you get excited when you know you're getting ready to go to a tournament or go to the luncheon just so that you'll get to see people again that you might not have seen all year long.
33:24 And a lot of us send pictures and we have a newsletter that comes out a short cast once about once every month or two.
33:32 And that keeps everybody up to date on what's happening and who's fishing, where and they'll do little interviews with some of the new people.
33:40 So you get to know them before you might have even met them.
33:44 You mentioned sponsorship. So if you if a woman wants to become a member, what does she need to do?
33:51 Well, right now you go to our website, IWF a.org, and there's a drop down up in the right hand corner, and that'll take you over to the different show us where the scholarship the junior angler our rules our memberships our history, what it's all about.
34:07 But also there'll be an application there that they can fill out and it and when they click the button, it'll go straight to our membership chair who will then bring it up to the board to to vote you in or not.
34:21 But pretty much anyone can join but you'll come in and you'll have a year's grace period just to make sure that that's what you want to do, and that we approve of the way you act I mean not everybody is cut out for it.
34:36 We are not like a great big party episode type thing so you know if that's your thing then maybe that's not what you want, want to be with us. But so we give a we give a year's time frame to get to know you and you get to know us as to whether you like it and then every year, our membership has to be re approved by the complete board, just to keep people on their toes.
34:59 Right, but we have problems.
35:03 We used to have to have a sponsor to ask you to come in the club, but we decided that it would just be a lot easier sometimes you get into personality issues if you don't accept someone's friend or whatnot so we just try to do a lot of teaching up front to let them know what kind of club we are and so everyone's accepted unless you do something really terrible.
35:28 So not not and we like we don't really have a problem with that but you're pretty much you fill out the application and I contact them as soon as I can.
35:42 I like to talk by phone. We live in a world that does not. I'm finding out that they like to text and email, and I like to hear your voice. I like to, you know, have a conversation.
35:56 I not a texting conversation but I'm adjusting to that I'm the older generation.
36:03 Okay guys thanks.
36:05 Is there anything that we haven't talked about that that you'd like to discuss before we sign off.
36:10 I think we pretty much covered it I would just encourage anyone who's listening to that, to this podcast.
36:18 Absolutely research is online at IWF a.org, and see if we would be a good fit for them and if they love to fish, and no matter what their skill level is.
36:30 We welcome all and our club only works in my opinion, is if you attend something so that you get to meet the other women that's what really draws you in forever.
36:43 You can be at home in Delaware catching fish turning in affidavits but if you don't actually come to a tournament, the annual luncheon or a fun event, something.
36:55 You're just not going to stay there's there's. It's hard to retain that membership I think, but if you can't form bonds like we were talking about just by texting you that by doing electronic things so that's part of it.
37:12 Lisa anything to add.
37:14 No, I think we've covered it all. Okay, great.
37:18 Well thanks y'all I sure hope to see you on the water someday and come join us. You know I might just do that.
37:26 All right. Well thank you all so much for joining me and everybody check out IWF a.org, and we'll catch on the water tight lines.