FRENCHTOWN — Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP) has supported a program encouraging women to get outside for almost 30 years.
Becoming an Outdoors Woman meets throughout the year to teach the basics for all kinds of outdoor sports.
During a Saturday ice fishing class, women learned how to drill a hole, use ice-fishing rods, and sonar fish finders.
"I've had people tell me it's life changing, which is just amazing that they get to get out here and try something. And this might be something they do forever and it might be something they find out this isn't for me but that just means they can go on and try something else," said FWP Program Coordinator Sara Smith.
The dozen women who showed up to Frenchtown Pond took their new skills and caught bass all morning long. Officials from FWP supplied gear, snacks and a warming hut.
Tiffany Quindry of Missoula says she hasn't fished at all since she was a teenager and hen she heard about the program, she knew she had to get involved.
"Never having ice fished I wanted to get all the basics. They supplied us with a big folder of information and it was great. I think it's more information than you'd get if you just went out with a friend or something," said Quindry.
You can find Becoming an Outdoors Woman on Facebook and the FWP websitefor more information.
