5th National Fly Fishing Championships

[RangerBob]

5 November 2006

 

The 5th Fly Fishing Canada National Fly Fishing Championships and

Conservation Symposium will be held at Grande Prairie, Alberta, in late

September of 2007. The dates aren't yet carved in stone, but 18-22 September

are looking good.

 

Once the preliminary correspondence and phone calls were dealt with, John

Beaven, National Competitions Chairman, of Parksville, BC, and Mac Stark,

Sponsorship Chairman of Yellowknife, NWT, visited Grande Prairie on 7-10

October. A modern, cosmopolitan city of 44,000, it is located about 460 km

northwest of Edmonton. It is readily accessible via highway or air (WestJet

or Air Canada Jazz).

 

Their first day was spent checking out the area's rivers within reasonable

driving distance, the second its lakes. None of the rivers were deemed

suitable for competition fishing, but three lakes and one pond were

considered excellent choices. Moonshine Lake is stocked with rainbow and

brook trout, while Spring Lake and Swan Lake have rainbows, as does Kakut

Pond. The lakes will be set up for boat fishing, and the pond will have

beats established along the shoreline for casting from shore.

 

A meeting was then held with representatives from tourism, business and

recreation. The roll call at this well-attended meeting included:

 

Emilia Browne, Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Association

Louise Cote, Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Association:

Ron Dallaire, Tackle Shack

Lorraine Ehlert, Service Plus Inns

Jim Epp, Peace Country Fly Fishers

Craig Johnson, Alberta Fish and Wildlife

Jean-Marc Lacasse, City of Grande Prairie

Perky McCullough, Director of the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and

Wildlife Foundation.

 

John said the meeting went very well, and it was quite apparent that those

in attendance were eager to promote the area's recreational fishing

potential.

 

If you are interested in learning a bit more about what I'm told is now

Canada's second-fastest growing community, check out the following web

sites:

 

www.cityofgp.com

www.gpab.net

www.discoverthepeacecountry.com

 

There will be periodic updates as more news becomes available. The entry fee

will remain at $250, and the addresses for registering by mail or by

Internet will be posted as soon as they are finalized. In the meantime, if

you send me your name and mailing address, I will see that it is passed on

to the tourism folks at Grande Prairie for any future mailings they might

have in mind.

 

Congratulations to Peter Huyghebaert of Nanaimo, BC, the recent recipient of

the BCFFF Jack Shaw Fly Tying Award, which recognizes master fly tiers who

excel in the art and craft of fly tying. Peter comes by it honestly. During

his military career he had opportunities to fish throughout Canada, the

eastern USA and Scotland, and while stationed in New Brunswick, he studied

tying under Wally Doak and Frank Wilson. Members of the Ottawa Flyishers

Society will remember him as a founding member in 1983, along with Dr. Eden

Bromfield and Paul Marriner, a Past President and Life Member.

 

"A Compendium of Canadian Fly Patterns" is still available through mail

order only, with all profits destined for the Youth Branch of Fly Fishing

Canada. It's a 9x11-inch, spiral-bound hardcover edition with 240 pages and

over 1,600 fly patterns in full colour. Check it out on the Fly Fishing

Canada web site: www.flyfishingcanada/net or at www.galesendpress.com

 

If you know of someone who might wish to be added to this update list,

please send me their name and e-mail address. If you wish to be removed from

future mailings, please hit "Reply" and type in "Remove."

 

Bob Jones

Ye olde PR Geezer

Edited November 10, 2006 by RangerBob

[RangerBob]

-----Original Message-----

From: Bob Jones [mailto:bobjones@island.net]

Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 1:52 PM

To: bobjones@island.net

Subject: 5th NFFC Update 5

 

6 November 2006

 

Following below is FFC President Randy Taylor's official announcement about

the Grande Prairie event next September.

 

FFC National Competitions Chairman John Beaven informed me this morning that

the Service Plus Inn has booked a block of about 50 rooms for the event.

Check it out at www.serviceplusinns.com/grande_prairie

 

You can check out the area's other hotels at

www.abfind.com/Grande_Prairie_Hotels

 

If you have any questions or comments, fire away. That's why I get paid

these big bucks.

 

Bob Jones

PR Geezer

 

 

5th FFC National Fly Fishing Championship & Conservation Symposium - Grande

Prairie, Alberta

 

Ottawa, Ontario, 6 November 2006 -- Fly Fishing Canada (FFC) is pleased to

announce that the 5th FFC National Fly Fishing Championships and

Conservation Symposium (Nationals) will be held on 17-22 September 2007 at

Grande Prairie, Alberta. Partners working with FFC on this event are The

Peace Country Flyfishers Association and the Grande Prairie Regional Tourism

Association.

 

The schedule of events is anticipated to be as follows:

 

Monday, 17 Sept. and Tuesday, 18 Sept. 2007 - Practice days.

 

Wednesday, 19 Sept. - Registration Day (No fishing).

 

Thursday, 20 Sept. - Fishing Sessions 1 and 2

 

Friday, 21 Sept. - Fishing Sessions 3 and 4

 

Saturday, 22 Sept. - Fishing Session 5 and Conservation Symposium.

 

The actual fishing locations will be announced prior to the competition.

 

John Beaven, FFC National Competitions Chairman, said, "We have been very

impressed with the enthusiasm and capabilities of both The Peace Country

Flyfishers Association and the Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Association,

and are confident the event will be well supported by the community. We

expect the Nationals will have superb fishing and attract competitors from

across Canada".

 

Jim Epp, President of The Peace Country Flyfishers Association, said, "The

Peace Country Flyfishers Association has been in existence since 1984. It

has hosted many fishing competitions and is currently involved with local

conservation projects. The Grande Prairie region has traditionally been a

vibrant community, and is used to hosting world class events. This will be

an excellent opportunity to showcase the Grande Prairie region, and promote

fly fishing and conservation"

 

Competitors will fish in teams of five persons, which may consist of

official teams representing their province, region, or a fishing club.

Individuals arriving on their own may get together with other singles to

form a five-person team, or they can wait to be assigned by the committee.

 

The events are strictly catch-and-immediate-release using only single,

barbless hooks. A fish is led into a release cradle, where it is quickly

measured and unhooked without removing it from the water.

 

The marking system is simple: Each valid catch counts for 100 points, and

each centimetre of body length counts for 20 points. Thus, a 35 cm trout

would be 35 x 20 + 100 = 800 points. At day's end, administrators compile

the tally sheets and credit them to the appropriate teams and individuals.

 

Members of the winning teams will receive gold, silver and bronze medals,

and similar medals are presented to the top three individuals. In addition,

the individual gold medalist is awarded the highly coveted Doug Austin

Memorial Trophy, which honours the memory of an early and beloved member of

FFC.

 

The top competitors at national events may become eligible to represent

Canada at international fly fishing events, such as the World Fly Fishing

Championships and Conservation Symposiums, the Commonwealth Fly Fishing

Championships, the Oceania Fly Fishing Championships, and the North American

Fly Fishing Championships.

 

"An important objective of the nationals is the sharing of angling

information and techniques," said FFC President Randy Taylor. "This raises

the skill level and enjoyment of Canada's fly fishers in a competitive but

friendly environment. It's a great opportunity to catch up with old angling

friends, and make new ones from across the county while learning more about

fly fishing and related conservation issues. Most of all, we want everyone

involved to have fun."

 

The Conservation Symposium showcases local projects and initiatives, such as

habitat reclamation, water preservation, and fish stock rehabilitation, and

provides a forum in which ideas are shared with the attending competitors,

volunteers, local conservation groups, sponsors, invited guests, and the

news media.

 

Information concerning team and individual registration will be posted on

the FFC website <www.flyfishingcanada.net> in the coming days.

 

A FEW WORDS ABOUT FFC

 

Fly Fishing Canada is a not-for-profit organization aimed at using national

and international fly fishing championships to promote issues concerning the

sport, not only in Canada but worldwide. Although some anglers still balk at

the concept of competitive fly fishing, these strictly catch-and-release

events provide a focal point that brings fly fishers together from

throughout Canada and the world, not only to exchange technical information

about their sport, but also to address problems concerning conservation,

water quality, habitat loss, and other environmental problems. Through these

exchanges, many of the problems that plague freshwater fisheries in several

countries may someday be beaten, or at least controlled in a meaningful

manner. FFC has since been instrumental in introducing the mandatory

inclusion of a Conservation Symposium at every international World Fly

Fishing Championships, successful events that attract participation by noted

scientists, biologists and conservationist from around the world.

 

For further information regarding the 5th NFFC contact:

 

Randy Taylor, FFC President: rt@lwlaw.com

 

John Beaven, FFC National Competitions Chairman: jbeaven@shaw.ca

 

Jim Epp, President, The Peace Country Flyfishers Association:

im@menziesprinters.com

[flycaster]

Although I see that a representative from F&W attended the first meeting in GP, I hope that NNFC understand that they must abide by the new "tournament" fishing guidelines as spelled out by SRD.

Furthermore, it will be interesting to see how they will be able to "work" within the "limit" guidelines.....It was my understanding that in the walleye tourneys this year even though a fish was "caught and released"...it was deemed to be "in possesion" by SRD. In other words if the lake limit is 2 (as an example)....the competitors will only be able to weigh/measure 2 fish in total per day....even if they are released!

SRD has said:you caught the fish, it is in your possesion to weigh it....it counts in your possesion...what you do with it (even if you release it) does not change that.

Don't know how those rules would work on a "catch and release" fishery as a fish that is entered into the competition is deemed to be in posession....so I guess technically it wouldn't be possible.

Perhaps they will be able to get an exemption because as they say they are not removing the fish from the water.

 

Anyway, these guys better hash it out with the higher ups at SRD before they get too far down the road with this....

 

With that being said, I will add my personal thoughts regarding tournament fishing events....I don't think they should be allowed in this province. I note these guys say they are a non-profit organization....and that was one of the criteria deemed to be necessary to allow these types of events in this province yet, I do not see any direct benefit from this event that would go back into OUR resource.

Remember they will be using OUR resource....effectively taking the lakes out of commission for the event time frame. I don't think you'd want to be fishing those lakes while those events are on....

Do you want any group to send 50 or 60 flyfishers down to Stauffer for 3 or 4 days for a tournament?...what if those are the only 3 days YOU can get down to Stauffer in the year. Think about it....it can happen...and has already happened to some degree.

 

Don't get me wrong...I think the conservation symposium is a great idea...but if they want to have a tournament do it on private stocked water.

[RangerBob]

More discussion here -- recent Nov 16th update:

 

http://flyangler.ca/forum/index.php?showtopic=2248&hl=

 

Doc is also looking for Team Members Here:

 

http://flyangler.ca/forum/index.php?showtopic=2255&hl=

[Flywing]

Todays update: 28 November 2006

 

With so many teams booking in early, and so much interest being shown in the

5th NFFC, the Grande Prairie local organizing committee and FFC have agreed

to raise the maximum number of competitors/teams from 60/12 to 80/16.

 

I recently wrote to Jim Epp, president of the Peace Country Fly Fishers, and

asked if he could offer any words of advice about lake fly patterns for the

fall period. In his reply Jim wrote:

 

“As this event is going to be held in the fall, most of the major hatches

will be over and the fish should be feeding well on just about anything put

before them.

 

“Moonshine and Kakut are shallow, nutrient rich and quite hard, so they

support good quantities of scuds, as well as the usual insects. If we don’t

have much cool weather, visibility can be a factor. Generally, going small

isn’t necessary, though we could have a good hatch of small chironomids as

they hatch from ice-out to ice-up.

 

“Spring is a little different. It is a smallish but deep bowl-shaped lake

with a very narrow littoral zone, so insect life isn’t prolific. What bug

zone there is, though, is very good. It has tremendous hatches along the

shoreline in the warmer months, as well as some deep-water chironomids. This

lake has a good population of five-spine sticklebacks and the trout feed

heavily on them, particularly the bigger fish. If we have an early and cool

fall we might see the weird "backward" water boatman hatch. I know all of

the books say this is a spring thing, but I have run into this hatch too

often in the late fall. This lake is the clearest of them all and sometimes

you have to fish pretty fine. A real pain when they’re on the sticklebacks.

 

“I wouldn’t leave my attractor patterns at home, either. On all of these

lakes the craziest flies are sometimes the real deal. Woolly Buggers, Doc

Spratley, etc. all have their day. We have a long winter here and the fly

tier’s imagination sometimes goes over the edge.”

 

So there you go -- get tying....

 

Cheers!

 

Bob Jones

PR Geezer