‘Slim female records the same old story’: Newspapers, gender, and recreational fishing in Australia, 1957–2000

Abstract Recreational fishing is increasingly acknowledged as an activity that significantly impacts on marine environments. However, the cultural aspects of recreational fishing that shape its participation and practice in different geographical and historical contexts are poorly understood. In particular, the gendered nature of recreational fishing has been subject to surprisingly little scrutiny, particularly with regard to continuity and change over time. This article uses a long-running newspaper fishing column in an Australian context to illuminate women’s modes of engagement in recreational fishing, as well as the way in which a mass media platform has reflected, and at times supported interventions into, gendered cultures of recreational fishing. In doing so, it highlights the complexity and potential of newspapers as sources for understanding recreational fisheries, present and past.