spectr17
04-11-2003, 11:21 AM
Fishing champ puts talents to use as a guide
By TIM RENKEN, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
4/05/2003
SHELBYVILLE, Ill. - It took Mary Satterfield-Benge two casts to catch her first crappie.
"It's nice, but I don't think it's legal," she said as she quelled the fish and swung it aboard. It was slightly less than 10 inches, the Lake Shelbyville minimum, and it went back into the water.
In less than five minutes, Satterfield-Benge caught two more fish, one a black crappie a half-inch longer than the minimum. It went into her live well.
The action one warm day recently was pretty fast, but Satterfield-Benge wasn't thrilled. "We've got to beat that," she said, whipping her jig back toward a half-submerged brush pile. She wanted a 16- or 17-incher, a "picture fish," something unusual.
Satterfield-Benge is something unusual. She is a two-time national bass tournament circuit champion and one of those years was that circuit's Classic champion and its Angler of the Year. One season she was the top money winner on two national bass circuits.
In the 1970s she was a regular on the large Red Man bass circuit. Many times in fields of 300 or so anglers she was the only woman. Sometimes she competed as a team with her then-husband, Don Satterfield, often she competed by herself in "draw" tournaments. She always stood out, the 5-foot-1 blonde in a big boat competing in a seemingly all-male universe.
Though she's been out of national tournament competition for three years, she still stands out. Boats passing by this drizzly morning would slow when their occupants noticed the red Ranger bass boat with the woman standing in the bow, one foot on the trolling motor pedal. Everybody knows her. She's lived in this area all of her 51 years.
"Just as soon as I'm out of here, he'll be back here fishing this spot," Satterfield-Benge said in mild irritation. "They always mark where I'm fishing. Sometimes I can hear them talking about it."
A woman on a casting platform is mildly unusual even in these days, but a female fishing guide is just about unique. Even more unusual, probably, is that a pro-class bass angler is working as an everyday fishing guide on a little-known reservoir far from the venues of big-league bass fishing.
For Satterfield-Benge, guiding is both a labor of love and necessity. Her husband, Chris Benge, is in poor health. She loves the fishing and needs the money. And guiding anglers in her half-day trips is something she can do while working full-time as night manager at the Eagle Creek Resort.
Satterfield-Benge says her approach to professional fishing, guiding or competing, is also unusual.
"I'm not one for long boat rides," she said. "I believe there's fish almost everywhere and all I need to do to catch them close by is to figure out where they are and what it takes to get them to bite. A person catches very few fish while going 60 miles an hour."
She said during her biggest victory, in the 1987 Lady Bass Classic on the Potomac River, she led from start to finish and never got out of the launch area cove.
She was asked how men clients react to having a woman guide.
"I don't think most of them care about that," she said. "Some of them who book through the resort are a little surprised when they first find out. I get quite a few repeat customers, though, and I assume they wouldn't call me if it bothered them."
Satterfield-Benge said one thing about guiding on Shelbyville that has surprised her is how few people come to the lake from St. Louis, just 100 miles away.
"Less than 1 percent of my clients are from St. Louis," she said. "Not nearly as many as from Chicago. Shelbyville is the best place to fish in Illinois and it's the St. Louis area's closest good place to fish."
Satterfield-Benge can be reached at 888-761-8933 or http://www.eaglecreekguide.com. Her weekly fishing reports are at http://www.midwestbasstournaments.com/shel...lbyvillereports (http://www.midwestbasstournaments.com/shelbyvillereports).
Reporter Tim Renken
E-mail: trenken@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-849-4239
By TIM RENKEN, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
4/05/2003
SHELBYVILLE, Ill. - It took Mary Satterfield-Benge two casts to catch her first crappie.
"It's nice, but I don't think it's legal," she said as she quelled the fish and swung it aboard. It was slightly less than 10 inches, the Lake Shelbyville minimum, and it went back into the water.
In less than five minutes, Satterfield-Benge caught two more fish, one a black crappie a half-inch longer than the minimum. It went into her live well.
The action one warm day recently was pretty fast, but Satterfield-Benge wasn't thrilled. "We've got to beat that," she said, whipping her jig back toward a half-submerged brush pile. She wanted a 16- or 17-incher, a "picture fish," something unusual.
Satterfield-Benge is something unusual. She is a two-time national bass tournament circuit champion and one of those years was that circuit's Classic champion and its Angler of the Year. One season she was the top money winner on two national bass circuits.
In the 1970s she was a regular on the large Red Man bass circuit. Many times in fields of 300 or so anglers she was the only woman. Sometimes she competed as a team with her then-husband, Don Satterfield, often she competed by herself in "draw" tournaments. She always stood out, the 5-foot-1 blonde in a big boat competing in a seemingly all-male universe.
Though she's been out of national tournament competition for three years, she still stands out. Boats passing by this drizzly morning would slow when their occupants noticed the red Ranger bass boat with the woman standing in the bow, one foot on the trolling motor pedal. Everybody knows her. She's lived in this area all of her 51 years.
"Just as soon as I'm out of here, he'll be back here fishing this spot," Satterfield-Benge said in mild irritation. "They always mark where I'm fishing. Sometimes I can hear them talking about it."
A woman on a casting platform is mildly unusual even in these days, but a female fishing guide is just about unique. Even more unusual, probably, is that a pro-class bass angler is working as an everyday fishing guide on a little-known reservoir far from the venues of big-league bass fishing.
For Satterfield-Benge, guiding is both a labor of love and necessity. Her husband, Chris Benge, is in poor health. She loves the fishing and needs the money. And guiding anglers in her half-day trips is something she can do while working full-time as night manager at the Eagle Creek Resort.
Satterfield-Benge says her approach to professional fishing, guiding or competing, is also unusual.
"I'm not one for long boat rides," she said. "I believe there's fish almost everywhere and all I need to do to catch them close by is to figure out where they are and what it takes to get them to bite. A person catches very few fish while going 60 miles an hour."
She said during her biggest victory, in the 1987 Lady Bass Classic on the Potomac River, she led from start to finish and never got out of the launch area cove.
She was asked how men clients react to having a woman guide.
"I don't think most of them care about that," she said. "Some of them who book through the resort are a little surprised when they first find out. I get quite a few repeat customers, though, and I assume they wouldn't call me if it bothered them."
Satterfield-Benge said one thing about guiding on Shelbyville that has surprised her is how few people come to the lake from St. Louis, just 100 miles away.
"Less than 1 percent of my clients are from St. Louis," she said. "Not nearly as many as from Chicago. Shelbyville is the best place to fish in Illinois and it's the St. Louis area's closest good place to fish."
Satterfield-Benge can be reached at 888-761-8933 or http://www.eaglecreekguide.com. Her weekly fishing reports are at http://www.midwestbasstournaments.com/shel...lbyvillereports (http://www.midwestbasstournaments.com/shelbyvillereports).
Reporter Tim Renken
E-mail: trenken@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-849-4239