From grit to backing yourself and facing the mysteries of the sea, Ashley Mullenger reveals what it takes to become a female fisherman
After a chance fishing trip, Ashley Mullenger quit her office job in logistics management to become one of the few female fishermen in the country. It was in 2018 that she left the nine-to-five world behind for a career involving 1am starts, boats, skippers, the joys of a catch and the challenges posed by the unpredictable waves. And now, six years later, she is giving new audiences a feel for the daily life of a female fishermen on Instagram and TikTok, and in her new book, My Fishing Life. Here, she tells us what she’s learned along the way…
Becoming a fisherman was a complete accident…
I joined some friends on a sea angling trip and got totally hooked (pun intended). It took me around 10 years to ditch the warm and stable office job for cold, unflattering oil-skins, but there’s a raw, unmatched peace I find out on the water that keeps me coming back.
Succeeding is a gritty, hands-on journey…
Picture scraping mud out of whelk pots by hand and hauling them out of the water. Success isn’t just about a decent catch; sometimes it’s about getting back to fishing after a storm. The unpredictable sea demands resilience, adaptability and resourcefulness. If you’re considering this career, brace yourself for the real, often tough, challenges, where success is measured in sweat, grit and determination.
My favourite part of the job is…
Standing on deck and wondering what’s happening below me. There’s a whole secret world underwater. Pulling up pots is like peeking into that hidden life, and it never gets old. Trying to understand what’s happening on the seabed based on what you can see in the pots, relying on past experiences and factoring in weather, tides, and temperature – it’s a bit like solving a riddle. And just when you think you’ve cracked it, Mother Nature throws a curveball, and you have t
