As I was browsing through my Facebook feed, I discovered Prairie Gal Fishing, a Manitoba based business that does introductory ice fishing lessons and shack rentals on Lake Winnipeg’s Balsam Bay. It has a special focus towards women, although anyone is welcome to participate. I thought this was quite a unique enterprise that covered an important niche in the ice fishing industry. I personally recall my first ice fishing outings and I definitely went through some harsh experiences learning how to ice fish.
Fishing Prairie and Shield is proud to have Roselle Turenne, the founder of Prairie Gal Fishing, share her experiences of running the business. This is her story.
The Beginnings
I graduated with a Masters in Tourism Management in 2019. My Masters study was about women who fish. That really opened up my eyes to a lot of things. By 2030, the estimate is that 50% of anglers will be female. The industry has changed a lot, even within the last 2 years. Though the industry has not caught up to the trends of female anglers. I’ve heard stories of women being ignored in stores. As for the equipment as soon it was pink, if was deemed female and it was more expensive for lesser quality.
I learned a lot about women angling and I just got back into fishing myself. I am a post secondary instructor so I get a lot of summers off. I put a lot of time on the water. Winter rolled around and I got into ice fishing in 2018. It just all came together. All this time I was studying women in fishing and seeing all these new people taking up ice fishing for the first time. Instead of getting a shack built just for me, I built a mega shack and that would be a good place to offer the lessons.
About the Business
Essentially the idea behind the business is to give women an opportunity to learn how to fish. I am by no means an expert but I had the opportunity to have someone who took me out and showed me how to do the basics. If you don’t have a mentor, how do you learn? This business essentially gives introductory fishing lessons aimed towards women. Of course I’m open to doing it for anyone. That can empower them so that they can do it themselves, take their kids out and bring out their confidence.
I just wanted this avenue where women can feel safe ,comfortable and not intimidated. I have a custom built shack made that caters to women as it has a porta-potty inside. That’s the number one question, where to pee on a lake. If they can feel comfortable and confident, they’re more likely to want to do it again. These women are not being dragged out by anybody, they’re coming out on their own.
Traditional guiding businesses are fantastic. Those guys are really focused on finding and catching the fish, that’s their primary goal. Catching fish is awesome but my primary goal is focused on how to set up. My differentiator is that it’s really based on the learning part. I’m perfectly happy even if my visitors get a sauger. A lot of these ladies have never tied a knot, not because they don’t want to but it’s always been done for them. They go out with their husband or boyfriend. Sure they enjoy fishing but they never had to choose their tackle, tie their own knot, bait their own hook or hold the fish.
The idea originally was that I’ll do lessons and then the people can rent the shacks. With Covid-19 not letting up, I pivoted into shack rentals. This year I did very few lessons. I’m basically gearing up for next year. Everything is so new, I only got my seasonal outfitters license in December so I started the business in mid-January.
Lessons on Ice
I had a shack built for the business. The shack is 7’x16’ with a wood stove, like I said before it’s got a porta-potty inside. It is called the “That’s What She-Shed”. It’s got a pine tree and fire pit outside. It’s cute and it looks nice.
How I would like it to go, if Covid were to end, would be small groups and myself. We would meet up, even go through basic ice driving lessons to get to the shack like how to take off your seatbelt. If they don’t feel comfortable driving on the ice, they can walk too. My shack is close enough to shore that they can access it without having the right vehicle.
The shack will be preheated for them and holes are going to be drilled. We’ll get them set up with a proper rod and reel and learn to tie their first knot. We’ll take them outside, auger holes, set up a tent and learn to use electronics. Then we go over structure, tackle selection and fish identification. If a fish is caught we go into fish handling and filleting. It is essentially ice fishing at a basic level.
Challenges, Surprises and Memorable Moments
Covid is a challenge for everybody. I originally envisioned having groups of strangers come together but we can’t have large groups at the moment. Code Red came into effect immediately when I launched the business. I had to pivot into rentals at that point. I had to get someone to plough a road to my shack. I’ve made so many good connections so some of the challenges became opportunities. I’ve met some really good people through this experience.
My primary issue was that I originally wanted to set up at CIL Road on the Red River and to partner with a local AirBnB . However I found out that there was a moratorium where no new fishing businesses could be run on the Red River. All of a sudden I had to change my business model and move to Balsam Bay. I wanted it to be close to the city and easy for women to access. So that was my biggest challenge. It’s worked out ok and I look forward to doing it next year.
I really feel satisfied when I get women hooked on fishing. They start thinking they would just come out for the day. This young woman who came out for a day ended up going three more times within a week. She was laid off and had nothing else to do. She was so excited to send me a picture of the greenback she caught on one of her outings. I had this one woman sign up, she had a physical disability so it was interesting and challenging to work things out. She was wonderful and I learned a lot that day. I did a lesson with a mother-daughter pair last week and that was great.
It’s fun to instill that desire into people that make them want to do it again. If I can introduce or reintroduce people and get them to go fishing themselves or with a friend, that’s awesome.
Future Plans?
My Manitoba outfitters license is limited to winter so there are no open water plans. I’ve already started to think about next winter, maybe having a couple other smaller shacks for rental. We could have almost an ice fishing village. I teach tourism management and I encountered this town in Quebec where they create roads on the ice with street signs and street lights. It’s really a community. We have something similar on CIL Road on the Red River but it’s not quite the same. They’ll have businesses set up on the ice where you can get bait, tackle and hot dogs. Overall there’s lots of places to draw inspiration from.
Special Thanks
The guy who built my shack, Jim Mills, has been awesome. He built the shack, put it on the lake, took it off the lake and is storing it for the offseason.
Travel Manitoba has been awesome. They contacted me and they’re writing a blog about this. They actually spent two days filming my shack. It will be super helpful for next year having that content for promotion purposes.
Mat Hobson from Icebound Excursions has been so generous with information and time.
I belong to two women’s fishing groups that have been my mentors and inspiration. They are Wisconsin Women Fish and Ontario Women Anglers. They helped me build up my confidence as an angler.
Final Words
Big thanks to Roselle who volunteered her time to share her experiences with her new enterprise. Overall, having new anglers being educated properly is good for the local fishing community and industry. Such a service is very helpful for women to make that first step into the hobby of fishing. I’m impressed with the whole concept and I wish her luck on the next ice season. If you happen to know someone who wants to get into ice fishing or to rent a quality shack, have them check out the Prairie Gal Fishing website for more information.
