Franky Brings Quebec to BC!

-By Francois Blanchet

Have you ever thought about how awesome it would be if fly fishing was used as a way to educate our kids through schools, programs and summer season camps??

During the Summer of 2010, I decided I was going to do just that... help a small group of teenagers accomplish their lifetime dream of 10 days of Spey casting on the Skeena while fishing for summer-run steelies with me!!!!

The kids were based out of Montreal, from a rough area known as Verdun. One of the coolest youth centers I have ever seen, the main focus of this group is one sole purpose....to fly fish around the world.

The center is called "Point de Mire". A Quebec based company, the face behind this longtime vision is writer and talented angler, Mario Viboux. Mario, who notably received the 2009 Roderick Haig Brown prize for introducing youth to fly fishing, started the organization in 1993.

Since this 1993 beginning, the youth center travels around the globe in search of different fly fishing destinations to experience.

Funding for these trips isn't an easy ride....in fact, the kids work hard to pay their way! They have to raise money for the program by publishing and selling a book/DVD based around learning to fly fish. Made "by kids, for kids" their product sells at local events related to fishing.

 

Within no time, these ambitious teens had the respect of the Atlantic Salmon Federation and countless other fly fishing companies that offer them assistance of all sorts.

Their scheduled trip to BC was mildly overwhelming...most of these kids had never caught a fish heavier than a pound...now, they were on their way to some of the biggest steelhead in the world!

A Quebec native myself, I was ecstatic that I had the opportunity to take them all out on the water! Knowing they'd need to be well prepared for their week ahead, I made sure they were prepared, well prepared...

First thing was to show them how to Spey cast...

The second thing was to show them which flies to tie.

I stopped by the youth center and spent an evening tying and talking about how tricky steelhead fishing could be, but reassured how equally rewarding these very same tricky steelhead are.

Though it seemed like forever, the kids showed up around mid-August in the small town of Terrace. Fortunately, the 2010 steelhead season was the most productive year the Skeena river has seen in almost 40 years!

Fishing was epic!

These kids had the raddest trip, got to try a little of everything: rafts, jet boats, intense hikes, bush walks... but the real fun was watching them talk about their day at the campsite while tying flies until 3 in the morning...5:00 am and they were up, excited, and ready to do it again!

So the next time you have the opportunity of giving back to the world of fishing....it’s not about the money to be made, rather the assurance of future to our sport found in the hearts of our children. If they fall in love with it, you may just have made a new fishing buddy for life...I know that I did.

-Francois Blanchet

1% for the Planet...We Did It! (And So Can You...)

We are excited to announce that Fly Gal is officially part of the 1% for the Planet Team!

We are committed to making a difference and are confident that this is a positive first step.

Please find it in yourselves to do the same and join to contribute to your organization of choice.

If we all team together to put forth just a little, we can build a community that will change a lot.

www.onepercentfortheplanet.org/en/

Fly Gal Ventures Face Book Contest

Hi All!

We’re trying to grow our Fly Gal Ventures group page and are having a “contest” for those who are part of the page! Join the Fly Gal Ventures group page here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fly-Gal-Ventures/139229632111

and on Feb. 24th we’ll be choosing a random person off the page to win a fly box of saltwater flies, tied and donated by Mike Rice of Mud Dog flies

http://www.muddogflies.com/index.php

Fish Farming- The Debate Rages On……and On….and On....

By Steve Morrow of Fly Gal Ventures

The issue of aquaculture is one that resonates with this author. As a fishing guide, environmental science major and person that just plain likes fish (including to eat!) I am constantly monitoring the ongoing debate.

Aquaculture is a blanket grouping of such activities as fish farming, shellfish farming and aquatic plant farming.

In British Columbia, fish farming always seems to be in the hot seat. Farmed salmon is BC’s largest agricultural export.

On the BC coast, fish farming is done predominantly in open cages in the mouth of rivers, up inlets or in bays where the waters are usually quite calm.

The open cages mean that seawater is permitted to cycle through the pens.

Although evidence exists that links fish farms to declining wild salmon populations, the BC government continues to support open pen fish farming!

Salmon waste and discarded salmon food litters the sea floor underneath the net pens. Endemic levels of sea lice and frequent disease outbreaks plague fish farm operations. The situation is so dire that sea lice have begun showing resistance to the pesticide used to treat it, called Slice.

The issue with sea lice infestation and disease in farmed fish is that cross contamination can occur with wild fish.

Wild juvenile salmon en route from river to the ocean use similar areas as net pen salmon operations, to escape the elements. Adult salmon will pass through these areas also, returning to their birth rivers to spawn. Juvenile fish are particularly susceptible to injury and death at this time.

In countries like Scotland and Norway, once famous for immense runs of wild Atlantic salmon, fish farming is often blamed by critics for devastating the wild stocks. There was a long history of the salmon farming debate before it surfaced on the BC scene.

I believe enough evidence and opposition exists to warrant the termination of open net fish farming in BC.

To the credit of the provincial government, an indefinite moratorium on fish farming was placed on the salmon abundant, North BC coast. Although it was announced along with increased aquaculture operations on the south coast, it is still a victory. It will help protect the major Nass and Skeena drainages.

Question: Does indefinite mean soon to come?

In another recent victory for wild salmon populations in BC, the federal government announced they would award $640,000 through the Aquaculture Innovation and Market Access Program to a handful of companies showing potential involvement with sustainable aquaculture projects. Included are companies with new injectable sea lice vaccines and closed net pen projects.

Closed net pens, are considered by many to be a potential solution to the aquaculture dilemma, as it would halt the transfer of parasites and disease from farmed fish to wild stocks.

Is this an example of the government listening to scientific evidence?

I’m not overly sure.

The way I see it, the government heard the evidence and opposition to fish farming and made it clear with the moratorium. However they supported and even increased operations on the south coast.

It seems like a preschool teacher trying to teach students to share. The public gets a little and fish farmers get a little. The fact is still that by creating the north coast moratorium, the government understands that there is an issue and by increasing money for research into new practice, they further understand the negative science that exists. So are they just not listening?

Although correlation exists between declining fish farm populations and wild stocks, the annihilation of fish farming and the harvest of wild salmon alone, is not sustainable.

It is my opinion that aquaculture requires increased investment to create a sustainable industry, both environmentally and economically. It seems very plausible that environmentalists, the public, first nations and aquaculture operations could all find a happy compromise that would pollute less, endanger less and aggravate less.

Steve Morrow.

Keeping it Real

Every once in a while I find myself lost in deep reflection…

It’s usually around two o’clock in the morning when it happens…

My brain starts ticking, as a compilation of thoughts and events that occurred throughout the previous few months begin to pound at my head, and beat through my body until my fingers can’t help but allow them to escape through the ball point tip of my pen.

Tonight is one of those nights.

The past six years in particular have been a blur…a girl crazy about fishing; each day spent on the water, no day unappreciated, no moment forgotten, not a single second where I doubted that this is what I was born to do.

Live, fish, laugh, love, repeat. Live, fish, laugh, love, repeat.

I was born to fish and I was born to pass it on, that’s about all that I do know for sure.

So life did its thing…I matured into a young woman and by the age of 18, I knew that fishing would be the career path I would take.

I was never the best at anything I did in the sport…
Never the best caster, never the best fly-tier, never the best writer, photographer, or TV personality….

I was never the best at anything… but I loved it. God, I loved it…

I loved it to the point of obsession. It ruined my relationships, got in the way of what had the potential to be an over-flowing bank account (I should have gone into sales, hell I should have been a lawyer…), and had me lost in a battle between Mother Nature’s rivers, and Mother Nature’s calling for me to bear children and a cute house with a white picket fence.

Fishing? Children? Fishing? Children? I hate clocks when I’m on the river, and I hate them even more when they tick inside of me like a super-charged Breitling. 
Fishing? Children?......

So I got a dog….his name is Colby and he’s my #1 sidekick both on the river and off of it.

Some years passed and I began Fly Gal.

Primarily a guiding operation with workshops in the Spring, and a small collection of hats and hoodies… I kept my head down and my eyes on the road, growing this little company until my client lists were healthy and my goals had almost been reached; I was determined to share this passion for the sport while living it, literally.

As this “life” progressed, life’s “lessons” followed. I made mistakes, made stupid comments, took stupid advice and listened to the stupid things that make sense to you when you’re a 21 year old girl…

An interesting chain of events followed by the growth of Face Book, Google searches, and the retardation of public fishing forums….I began to be “sought out” by those looking to hitch a ride on the “female in the industry” train.

This “train” undoubtedly freight trained my way into a marketing frenzy that resulted in some fabulous opportunities and some equally devastating harsh realities.

Those with the same passion as I, turned their time with me into something special….a message, an inspiration, a reason to look outside…these relationships are Gold to me and will never be soured.

Others, focused on selling sex appeal and insulting innuendos, blushed my cheeks temporarily and slapped my wrists with the “you should have known better” ruler. Lord help me to learn when to keep my mouth shut and remember that whilst some may edit you to look great, there are those who may do the exact opposite….

Regardless, one and the same, opportunities both bad and good, they have made me who I am today….a thankful business woman, who fishes like a hot damn, has caught more steelhead than I ever thought possible, and a gal who still isn’t the greatest at anything in this sport…except sharing it and acknowledging that there’s still a whole lot more to learn.

I’m almost at my point here….bear with me…..

Amidst all the wonders and confusion of traveling, self-recognition, injuries, good people I love, and bad people I try to love…. My image bounced to and fro with industry folk, the general public and friends who hadn’t heard from me in a months’ time…

While my image bounced, my reflection was as it had always been….strong, straight, honest and unwaveringly to the point. More humbled than at 21, I realize now more so than ever just how short life is, just how little I do know, just how difficult it is to find truly great friends, and just how important my family is.

So to steady this image and maintain my reflection, I started a blog on this site. A Fly Gal Blog…. A random collection of thoughts, opinions, experiences, and updates on our fisheries.

I spoke my truth, said what was on my mind, and chuckled with the few people who shared this small online diary with me.

Then one day it happened…
As I reached for the publish button on my Wordpress, it occurred to me that professionally it might be wise for me to bite my tongue and stifle my thoughts. Regardless of how tame my thought had been that day, I decided at that moment to refrain from opening up to the public as readily as I had been, for fear of turning away those who may not understand me…

So I erased my post and put up a trip promo instead.

Once, twice, three times… I swallowed my opinion and opted for a neutral stance on many subjects that I can assure you I am not so neutral about.

I would tense up in my rib cage, hold my breath for an extra couple of seconds, and feel my heart beat fast... I was painfully selling myself out for fear of writing something off color alongside my place of business.

It was an awful feeling.

Then it hit me this evening…
True, there are some thoughts that should be left off one’s professional page (and I can promise you that those will remain on the tip of my tongue and away from my website).

And yes, there are those who have blogs unrelated to anything business related… blogs strictly designated to vulgar rants and obscene stories…"no strings attached" demonstrations of publicly displayed fishing jargon.

But when the “strings attached” come in the form of “business attached”, there isn’t the same luxury of mindless spewing and greasy headliners, rather an obligation to do what’s right for the company and its employees…

Here’s the catch.

What’s right for this company and its employees, is a mission statement that I set out for this company to abide by when I first started Fly Gal; Stay true, stay honest, stay open minded and always do your best with zero regrets.

Free speech on this blog kept me in touch with myself and allowed me to grow relationships with many who followed along with my rants and stories… even with some of you! 

It kept my head on straight, kept me from losing my mind when rumors were running rampant, and kept me in check during my late night, two o’clock in the morning reflectional tangents.

So while I can guarantee that we’ll never overstep our boundaries here, I can also guarantee that we’ll be keeping it real, light, honest, and fun… Doing our best with zero regrets.
I hope to see many of you on the river in 2011…. 

PS- the steelhead are in.

There. Now that felt good.

April.