A Zest for Life

Venezuela, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Panama, Australia — Gail Kennedy-McManus has chased fish around some of the world’s premier angling destinations.

She’s battled everything from 800-pound black marlin to rainbow trout, and last year won an award for most fly releases from the International Women’s Fishing Association.

Gail, who also serves as the IWFA’s publicity chair, grew up in the Southwest. She earned an MBA from the University of Southern California and lived in Chicago for 30 years. She owns a marketing research and consulting company and moved to James Island with her husband Phil about three years ago.

The pair picked Charleston as their new home in part because of the fine angling opportunities the Lowcountry has to offer.

Phil introduced Gail to the world of fishing about 20 years ago, and the pair still fishes together at least once every few weeks.

When not heading to exotic destinations, Gail often hires a Lowcountry charter captain to put her on the fish. She’s fished with a veritable “who’s who” of Charleston guides, including John Irwin, Chris Chavis and Mark Phelps.

Gail’s a fly-fishing buff now, and relishes the chance to land new species with the lightest possible tackle.

“I’m going out with Chris on Sunday, and I want to get king mackerel on the fly and shark on the fly,” she said in late September. “Those are two species I have yet to get on the fly.”

But Gail’s also got another fishing target, one she’s finding particularly elusive: Lowcountry women whose passion for fishing matches her own.

Gail dreams of putting together a local group of like-minded women anglers who want to put on tournaments, share experiences, talk about conservation and get out on the water.

So far, local women anglers have proved to be her toughest quarry.

“I just can’t find any women here to fish. And that’s my challenge and my opportunity — to find women who fish.”

Tideline caught up with Gail at her James Island home to find out more about what makes a fly-fishing aficianado tick.

Your husband Phil introduced you to fishing 20 years ago. What type of fishing did you try first?

We started out bluewater fishing for billfish. He’s taken me to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, where I got my 800-pound black — Venezuela, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Cabo, Panama — all over.

And as much as I enjoyed that, the more I fished the more that I realized that dragging baits was not a whole lot of challenge to me anymore.

So I started getting into fly-fishing five or six years ago. And it is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life! It’s the biggest challenge I ever had.

I think perhaps I’m one of those fortunate people, in that my business is great, I’ve got a great family, everything’s always come easy. And then it took me three years to even learn how to cast!

I’m still working on how to get that fly in the exact spot I want it, which doesn’t happen a lot. I think I probably casted to about 200 bonefish in Florida before I finally got one on the fly.

You’re an advocate for women anglers. Why do you think more women don’t fish?

I think it varies by where you are, and I don’t know how to say this politically correctly, but I think in the South, it tends to be perceived as a man’s sport.

And frankly, I don’t think women get much respect for their fishing skills in this area. I think that’s very unlike North Carolina, and very unlike Texas and Florida, where there are a bunch of big, strong women’s organizations.

Actually, I don’t know the reason, and I would like to find out. ... What I would really like to do is find and establish a group of women fishermen here. It doesn’t matter to me whether they flyfish or conventional fish, inshore, offshore, some of the lakes in the area.

I have just had a darn hard time finding anybody!

What do you consider your proudest fishing accomplishment?

Probably two things. My first tarpon on the fly in Islamorada (in the Florida Keys), about two years ago.

And my AJ (amberjack) on fly with Chris Chavis two weeks ago … probably because I broke Phil’s rod (a Sage).

But I got the fish! It was totally my fault — this fish was so strong, and I like to fish with light-weight tippet if I can. I couldn’t hold the rod, the rod laid down on the gunwale and just snapped.

The first thing Phil does is jump over and grab the butt section, and without a word to each other Chris reaches down into the water and grabs the other section, and I’m trying to hand-line the fish in … I know it can’t count as a fish caught on fly, but we got the darn fish!

Pound for pound, what’s the toughest, hardest-fighting fish you’ve ever encountered?

Tuna.

I would have thought you’d say AJ.

No, tuna’s tougher. But AJs are tough, AJs may be right up there, second behind tuna.

Did you catch the tuna on the fly?

Yes, in Islamorada.

Do you have a go-to setup, in terms of rod and reel?

Sage rods.

(Thinks for a moment) and I’m having problems with my reels … I have a Van Staal reel that I really like on a 10-weight, but I’m seeking a better reel.

But Sage rods, hands down.

Are you superstitious? Do you have a lucky charm you take fishing?

Just Phil! I almost always catch fish when Phil’s with me — changing my flies every third or fourth cast; telling me not to step on my flyline, to watch my feet; telling me the hook’s in my ear or stuck on my shirt (she says with a laugh).

He’s constantly challenging me. He really is my mentor.

For more information about The International Women’s Fishing Association, visit iwfa.org. To contact Gail Kennedy-McManus, send an e-mail to kennedyinc@bellsouth.net.