“Can you get me some of that mango (or watermelon) claw claw? Cause we going fishing!!”, I said.

She agrees, makes a quick dash into the store. Meanwhile, I’m straight relaxing, minding my business. I have a purple fly rod in my hand, with the tip lifted so its not protruding into traffic, and I’m sitting in the back of a 1990’s golf cart, just daydreaming. Wow, Catalina island is absolutely magical. The brown, green mountains with a purple tint in the foreground. Bright orange fish (our California state fish- Garibaldi- Hypsypops rubicundus) coming to greet you. Beautiful luscious giant kelp just waving from the surface, “stay safe, my earthlings”.

Then all of a sudden this random, old, white dude (pushing 70 years old, palm-tree shirt, cheap reading glasses) brakes so hard in the middle of the street— that you could the smell the rubber steaming out from his shower, curtained golf cart— to shout with his full chest:

“You know you’re not going to catch anything, right?!” 

Me: “oh, okay 💅🏽”

2 hours later…

Fuck! Is he right? Who is this old white man telling me that I can’t catch anything? It’s legal to fish here, I triple checked. What was it about me that he needed to have so much negativity towards me? How have I threatened him? Was I a woman? Was it because I was fly fishing? Was he jealous? Has he never caught a fish here before? Does he hate fishing? Why spell his hate on me? Arrgghhrrgghh, fucking asshole. I’m gonna change my fly, I got this.

5 minutes later...

YAAS!!! I caught a juvenile kelp bass!!!! A top predator of the kelp forest ecosystem, and here it is as a little baby!! My heart is so warm! I gave the kelp bass back to the ocean, thanked it for coming, and watched it swim away. 

It’s not big, but it makes a big point. Don’t let some white dude, or anyone, discourage you from doing something that you love. Women experience this type of negativity all the time in their everyday life, it is unacceptable. Fuck him for projecting so much negativity, fuck him for being such a hater. I don’t care who you are, women should fish, they should fly fish. Women are anglers, and it’s about time we normalize this shit. 

Ladies, keep your claws like you keep your hooks! Confident!