By Amanda Keilar (fishing_nanna)

The Women in Recreational Fishing Network (WIRF) in Victoria have been very busy on lots of levels.  WIRF has its five year Anniversary on March 8th which happens to be International Womens Day. It will be celebrated with fishing events run by WIRF locals groups across that state.

The WIRF network has over 4000 members and is expanding to include recreational boaters, with the support and expertise of Better Boating Victoria. The expanded Women in Recreational Fishing and Boating (WIRFAB) will aim to assist more ladies in to boating.

Leaders from the WIRFnetwork recently attended the Utlimate Fishing Expo at the Melbourne Exhibition centre where they had an info stand where they held fishing talks throughout the weekend. WIRF also helped with Womens and kids casting clinics, provided talks up on the main stage and participated in Q&A panels. The WIRF leaders truly shone bright in sharing their fishing passion and inspiring others to take up the sport and were inundated with visitors to their stand.

The ladies got to network with Industry leaders and representatives as well as Fishing celebrities, including one of the worlds best known Fisherman, Robson Green.

Following straight after the Expo, WIRF then attended the World Recreational Fishing Conference 2023 right next door to the exhibition centre,at the Melb Conference centre. There were 360 delegates plus virtual attendees, keynote speakers from across the globe and workshops that looked at fisheries across the world.

The results of the National Recreational Fishing Survey were shared with Fishing being rated at the 10th most popular recreational activity in Australia, on a par with cycling! 4.2 Million or 21% of the Australian population fish!  It was awesome also to see female participation rates almost catching up to the men!

There was a Gala dinner and awards night held at the conference and The WIRF network won an award for being the “Best Project in Promoting Diverse and Inclusive Participation in Recreational Fishing”   We were super proud to be recognised amongst our peers on the World stage!