Introduction to fishing
I grew up in the Florida Keys, where my dad owned his own charter business for most of my life and ran other boats. Much of my childhood was spent with him on the boat, fishing. One of my earliest fishing memories was from the week after catching my first Mahi-Mahi. I was 4 years old, and I remember walking up to my dad for a week straight, reminding him of the Mahi I caught and how awesome it was.
Experiences and challenges
I am in my last semester of college at the University of Central Florida, serving as Vice President of the college Bass club and Treasurer of a local B.A.S.S Federation Club. I spend every minute I can fishing. How did I get here? I obviously grew up saltwater fishing, as there isn’t much freshwater in the Florida Keys.
My dad and uncle had a lot of experience fishing in tournaments and made sure to get me involved in tournament fishing from a young age. My first tournament was a local summer tournament in Islamorada in 2008. I ended up winning the women’s division in that tournament as an 8-year-old little girl. From then on, my dad and uncle entered me in as many tournaments as possible, from Mahi-Mahi tournaments and Sailfish tournaments to Inshore tournaments. I’ve fished almost all of them.
I almost always walked away with a trophy and became extremely addicted to fishing competitively. When I graduated from high school, I moved to Central Florida for college, started fishing new bodies of water, and learned how to fish for species I had never really targeted before. Then came Bass fishing; I started bass fishing in 2020 and quickly got hooked. I began bass fishing on the St. John’s River, which is an extremely tough fishery.
I learned the basics of bass fishing in Florida, like flipping lily pads, and got pretty good at it. I joined a local federation club in 2021 and ended up as AOY in the club in 2022. I really enjoyed competitive bass fishing so much that I joined the college bass club and started fishing collegiate bass tournaments. I spend most of my weekends fishing for Largemouth Bass one day and Redfish the next.
Representation and visibility
As an accounting student here at the University of Central Florida, I see where the fishing industry has identified women anglers as the next big push for the industry. There are very few women fishing competitively compared to men, and getting more women into the industry is an avenue to promote growth for companies and organizations within the industry.
That being said, women hold a lot of power entering the industry. Companies and organizations want to help women bring more women into the industry, so I see many opportunities for women to advance relatively quickly.
It’s obvious that there is a push for more women, especially in leadership roles. I feel like because the gender disparity in the industry is so large, it seems like there are no women here, but we are here, and we are making sure the guys know our names and how we love to fish just as much, and maybe even more, than they do.
Personal achievements
I have a lot of achievements, especially in the last couple of years. I caught a 10-1/2-pound Largemouth Bass earlier this year on a public lake. I’ve qualified for the 2023 Bassmaster College National Championship, and I was the 2022 AOY for Tuscawilla Bassmasters. Each achievement just makes me want to achieve more; it’s pretty obvious that I’m very competitive.
Advice of aspiring female anglers
My advice would be: don’t be afraid to work hard. You must work hard for anything you want, no matter your gender. Offer to back in trailers and fish as much as you can because all those moments act as experience and opportunities, and lead to more and more opportunities.
You can follow Samantha on Instagram: @samhowell10
