A few years ago, when I first got excited about fishing, I joined a well known fishing website that had a forum page where newbies like me, eager to learn and become better at the sport, could post general questions and get answers and guidance from more experienced anglers. I logged onto it in desperation one day and posted the following question, "What resources are there for a woman who just wants to learn how to keep up with her husband on a fishing trip?" I waited for a few hours and then checked my post for responses. There were lots of them, all very helpful, and I appreciated that, but there was one answer I received that stood out from the rest. It simply said: "Check out a program called 'Ladies, Let's Go Fishing'." I thanked the responder and clicked on the link they provided. Wow - It was exactly what I had been looking for. As I read the information on the site, I saw the next seminar on their calendar was scheduled for the month of April in Stuart, Florida. Maybe I could talk a girlfriend of mine into going with me. I could go by myself, but certainly didn't want to. After a brief but persuasive speech about 'a girls weekend away', I convinced my good friend, Becky, to with me. She and her husband were new boat owners themselves and did a little fishing on the weekends, she could use a little extra help, too, I figured. So we drove down on a Friday afternoon and spent the weekend in Stuart. We attended the Friday evening Meet-&-Greet, the seminar on Saturday, and spent Sunday morning fishing before we drove back to Ocala. We learned so much and had a great time, too! It was well worth the investment of money and time. Since then, I began to get e-mails from that organization letting me know the seminar schedule for the remainder of the year and each year after that.
Shortly before the NCLA club was organized, I received an e-mail from the LLGF organizers. They had added a 'mini-seminar' to their regular annual schedule and the location would be a place called Matlacha, pronounced Mat-la-shay. Not a location I was familiar with, but some of the other ladies there were. When our first NCLA meeting took place back in February of 2013, I shared the news about the LLGF organization and it's mission to educate women in all things fishing related - or at least as much as they could in the scope of one weekend. Although the NCLA club was in its infancy, the plans to attend that seminar one day weren't completely eliminated, they were just put on the back-burner for about a year.
Shortly before the NCLA club was organized, I received an e-mail from the LLGF organizers. They had added a 'mini-seminar' to their regular annual schedule and the location would be a place called Matlacha, pronounced Mat-la-shay. Not a location I was familiar with, but some of the other ladies there were. When our first NCLA meeting took place back in February of 2013, I shared the news about the LLGF organization and it's mission to educate women in all things fishing related - or at least as much as they could in the scope of one weekend. Although the NCLA club was in its infancy, the plans to attend that seminar one day weren't completely eliminated, they were just put on the back-burner for about a year.
Fast Forward to March of 2014
The beginning of 2014 brought a new e-mail from the LLGF site with all of the 2014 seminar dates. The first one on the list was the 'mini' - a condensed version of their usual weekend-long seminars, located in Matlacha, FL. about a 3-4 hour drive from Ocala / Crystal River. The notice was quickly forwarded to the rest of the NCLA members to see if any of them would be interested in pooling finances for a 'girls-weekend' in Matlacha. Four women answered the call, Delores, Dot, Liz and Marilee. Liz had already taken a short vacation there some years ago and recommended a place to stay, so reservations were made at the Bridgwater inn and the finer details of the trip were hammered out over the course of the next few weeks. It was just a matter of waiting for the 5:00 whistle to blow on Thursday, March 6th. That's when the festivities actually began.
An Insider's Guide to Matlacha
Marilee and I both work full-time and had to make advanced arrangements to be off work both Friday, March 7th and the following Monday, March 10th and that worked out just fine for the both of us. Liz came up with a great travel plan. She had invited us to a sleep-over at her house in Homosassa Thursday night so that we could all get up the morning of the 7th and head straight on down the highway from her house. It was an excellent plan and I'm sure glad she thought of it. Marilee drove to my house at around 5:00 p.m. Thursday evening and we spent the next hour loading our kayaks and gear into my truck and 10 ft. trailer. A quick stop at Arbys for a bite to eat and we made it to Liz's house just before sunset.
A few over-night essentials were unloaded as Liz welcomed and escorted us into her beautiful doll-house style home where we each had a guest bedroom to call our own for the night. Ten minutes later we were all in the kitchen, sitting at the bar drinking a glass of wine, catching up on a little girl-talk, and chatting about our expectations for the next few days. By 10:00 p.m. we had gone through a couple of bottles of wine, shared some funny stories, and were talked slap out! We called it a night and shuffled our booties to our respective rooms for the night. We needed a good night's sleep, the next morning would be a 3-4 hour drive.
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