All About Emily Shaffer

Question:  Why did you decide to start fishing an all-male tournament circuit?

Shaffer: I purely made a business decision. I've been fishing on the women's circuit for 15 years now, and some of my sponsors asked me to branch out and fish the FLW. I'm not crusading or trying to make any kind of political or gender statement. I'm just trying to meet the requests of my sponsors.

How I started Tournament Fishing

Question: Emily, how did you become a professional tournament bass fisherman?

Shaffer: As I mentioned earlier in the week, I met my husband at a bass tournament weigh-in in 1988 at Percy Priest Lake, and he and I started fishing together the next morning. I'd gone to the tournament with a friend of mine whose husband was fishing in the tournament. After we met at the weigh-in, for the next two years, our dates pretty much consisted of fishing together. We fished together on the PBC tour in Tennessee, which was the Professional Bass Circuit tour. I learned to tournament fish from a lot of men on that tour, and I discovered that I not only liked to bass fish, but I really liked to compete as a bass angler. My husband encouraged me to start fishing some of the women's bass tournament events. When I became involved in fishing the women's circuit, I realized I really loved it. I joined local bass clubs, and every fisherman I fished with taught me not only how to catch bass, but more about how to tournament bass fish.

Bass Fishing Isn’t Just For The Guys

Question: Emily, what do you tell the children and the parents of the children who come up to you and say, "Emily I want to grow up to be a professional woman angler just like you. What do I need to do?"

Shaffer: If I'm talking to a youngster and her parents, I advise the parents to get their daughter a really good rod and reel. These little children's Snoopy rods are fine for children. But if a youngster really wants to get serious about being a professional angler, she really needs a quality rod and reel. Next I advise them to go bream fishing. Bream fishing is the spark that lit my fire to become a professional angler. When you take a youngster bream fishing, that child will catch fish. Even if they get bored, they can play with the crickets and worms until the fish start biting. Youngsters can also catch their own baits like grasshoppers and dig worms in the backyard, but the most-important thing for a young person who thinks she or he wants to become a professional angler is they need to have fishing experiences where they catch a large number of fish almost every time they go.

What Being A Woman And A Tournament Bass Fisherman Is Like

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

Women’s Fishing Tournaments

Question: How many other women will compete in the FLW?

Shaffer: I don't know. I know several women have tried it, but you have to go in with the attitude that we are all there for the same thing. I'm no better than anybody else. I don't want to be patronized because I'm a woman.

Shaffer’s Advice for Newcomers

Question: Would you take a newcomer to fish in a pond the first time, or would you take them to a lake?

Shaffer: The first time I take them fishing, I'd rather be on the bank so I don't have to worry about any other boat traffic or anything like that. When you first start out and get in rough water, some people may get a little sick unless they've done it before. I like to be on the banks so I can show them the proper way to cast and the proper way to flip. Then when you get on steady ground, you can change hooks, and you can show them how to change the blade on the spinner bait, retie it and not have to worry about any kind of motion sickness, hopefully.

Shaffer’s Program

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.

How To Teach Safe Fishing

Question: Emily, how do you teach a youngster safe fishing?

Shaffer: Youngsters always need to wear life jackets when they're around water, even if they already know how to swim. If a youngster falls in the water and pops right back to the surface, she may come up spitting and sputtering, but if she has a life vest on, she won't experience fear or panic from having fallen in. She's simply wet. I also think that all youngsters who are interested in fishing should be taught to swim.

Shaffer On Sponsors

Question: Tell me a little bit about the life of a tournament fisherman?

Shaffer: Your hobby becomes sleeping. When you become a tournament angler, you barely have time to sleep. I start on Sunday morning getting up and going fishing. I practice all of the time. Even if I don't catch a fish, I've learned something that day, and I've eliminated water.

As I put up my rods and reels, I think about my day -- what I've accomplished, what I've caught and what I didn't catch. Then I go eat. After I eat, I get my maps out and determine where I need to fish the next day. I follow that same routine every day of the week. In the morning, I get up and get my boat ready, and I eat breakfast. Then I put my rods and everything in the boat, go fishing and just do my homework.

Shaffer Talk About Her Fishing Future

Question: Emily, what's in the future for your tournament fishing?

Shaffer I plan to continue fishing the WBFA circuit, and I want to fish all the FLW tournaments I can that don't conflict with the women's tournaments.