Casting for members: Kamloops association hosts fly fishing championship on weekend

By MIKE YOUDS

Teams of anglers will hit the waters of Roche Lake this weekend in a championship event that has less to do with competition than with championing the future of fly fishing.

The event was hatched by Matt Jennings, executive director of the Kamloops-based B.C. Fishing Resorts and Outfitters Association, as he continues to rebuild the 125-member organization. A second championship event will be held in October at Sheridan Lake.

“I definitely want to get a bigger mix (of anglers of all skill levels) in there, and we see a long-term goal of less competition and more of a fishing festival,” Jennings said.

“We want it open to everyone. To celebrate the sport and get people out fishing is our main goal.”

Eighteen teams and more than 40 anglers, including experts such as Brian Chan, are signed up for Saturday’s event at Roche Lake, 22 km south of Kamloops off Hwy. 5A.

Roche Lake Resort is hosting the catch, record and release event, which requires anglers to photograph their catches using a specially issued event ruler before releasing them back into the lake.

Jennings knows that derbies and championships are not everyone’s ideal of a day’s fishing, but wants to develop the event over time. There are always concerns about fishing pressure on the stocks, and Roche Lake is reported to have had significant winter kill this past season.

On the other hand, it’s a large lake and the kill is believed to have been confined to one section. People are catching fish still and there is a broader purpose at stake.

“It’s not so much of a hard-core competition.”

Proceeds from the championship support the association’s fishing enhancement fund, which provides angling education through full-credit courses offered at several local schools. Young people are confronted with a much wider range of recreational activities and often choose more popular pastimes after learning to fish in childhood.

The association’s interest, of course, is that of its members who host and guide in B.C.’s sportfishing industry, which represents about half of the revenue generated by commercial fishing activities in the province. While the sportfishing sector continues to boom on the Coast, the Interior sector has weathered lean times over the past 20 years as some resort operators closed due to rising costs, changing trends and declining business.

Like so many others, Jennings was raised as a fly angler but put down his rods as he got older. He grew up in Little Fort, the terminus of Hwy. 24, known as B.C.’s fishing highway. His father, Steve, operates tackle shops in Kamloops and Little Fort and will be among participants on Saturday.

“I’ve kind of come full circle,” Matt said. “I drifted away from it, but five years ago I picked it up again.”

For complete details on the competition – registration remains open – see the association’s website, http://www.bcfroa.ca.