Why aren’t there any women famous for competing in professional fishing?
I was devastated to learn that Pam Martin-Wells was in hospice in Georgia. My friend Pam is the greatest female professional fisherman in the world. I believe I was the first one to call her “PMW,” a play on Kevin VanDam’s trademark of “KVD.” I told her that she ought to be as famous as Michigan’s Van Dam was.
Actually, there aren’t any famous female fishermen. It is a men’s sport almost exclusively. There is absolutely no reason that a woman shouldn’t be able to compete against men in a professional fishing tournament. I understand the popular arguments about inter-gender competition and the effect of trans athletes on sports, but neither sex has any type of advantage in fishing. So why are there no ladies on the leaderboards of any pro tournaments?
I asked Martin-Wells for a reason and she blew my mind with an answer that I wasn’t expecting. “Well, Steve, I had a lot of home and family obligations to attend to. I was very lucky to be able to fish in the amount of events that I did. Between travel days, practice days and actual tournament competition, it took me away from home many days. It was a strain on my obligations to my family.”
Whoa. Please remember that Martin-Wells told me this 10 years ago, although it sounds like it was said the in 1800s. It is hard to understand that there are people bound by societal restraints that a lot of us believe don’t exist anymore. I don’t want to argue that Martin-Wells’ husband should have raised the kids while she traveled the country fishing in big-money tournaments. I’m just stating that it is what it is and roles for men and women are not what we think they should be.
Pro fishing is a tough field to break into because of the incredible expense. I think there is a huge opportunity for a woman to step up and become an icon in the sport. There are opportunities for all anglers, male and female, in the high school and college fishing teams we have today. If a woman could win a tournament or two and get on the big stage at something like the Bassmaster Classic they’d become huge to an army of female anglers everywhere.
Can you imagine how sponsors would line up to sign over endorsement checks for a winning lady angler. I know I’d like to be her agent. I only wish I would have pushed my daughter, Michelle, in this direction when she was young.
Martin-Wells was a female who competed in the Classic and did well. She made good money, but not like what she would have banked today.
It’s funny, Pam-Martin Wells was often underrated as a fisherman because her husband, Steven, was a pretty darned good fisherman himself. I asked her about it and she laughed.
“He’s a good guy in the boat,” she said. “He listens and follows my instructions. As far as figuring things out as far as fish biting, he’s much more interested in what we have in the cooler for lunch than how to catch more fish.”
It’s a shame that some misguided people thought she was getting tips from her husband just because he was a male and she was a female.
Martin-Wells is only in her early 60s and her prognosis is not good. Her boat and house are up for sale to pay for her treatment, but probably it won’t happen quickly enough to help. If you’d like to assist a world-class fisherman, you can check out gofundme.com. Pam, I wish you the best and pray for you.
• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.