Past, Present and Future

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Past, Present and Future
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BCFFF - Beginnings

• 1972 -The idea was hatched - Bill Yonge Rex
  Schofield (Totem FF) John Bokstrom Ken Ruddick
  (Dogwood FF) Granville Airton Pete Caverhill
  (Osprey FF of BC)
• 1973 -Actually began (incorporated under
  Societies Act in 1979)
• 2003 - 30 year Anniversary

Bill Yonge Coquihalla R.- 70s
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BCFFF Reasons for Being

• Fisheries conservation/Quality angling
• (we attend to issues related to these)
• Formation of new fly fishing clubs
• (we assist)
• BCs rich fly fishing heritage
• (we collect, preserve, display and promote.
  Knowing where weve been gives a clearer path
  into the future.)

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Good healthy fish, caught in a challenging way
BCFFF Quality Angling Quality Angling Waters
In BC- 2003 available website
Angling in pleasing, un-crowded places
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BCFFF - Membership

• 600 to 700 members (2007/08)
• Several member classes ( club direct
  lifetime honorary supporting)
• Club member 95/ Direct member 5
• Annual Dues Club Member (15/club and
  10/member) Direct Member (20)
• Other classes no cost

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BCFFF Member Clubs

• 17 clubs (2008) member clubs increasing
• Spread throughout the province

of Total Membership
Coast/Lower Mainland -21 Vancouver Island -
46 Okanagan - 18 Kamloops - 14 Other - 1
With this geographic spread the angling and issue
interests of the membership are extremely varied
!!
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People
Who...
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Who will look after all of the things that need
to be done? Who will run the show? Who will
attend the important meetings? Who will
represent the membership? Who will speak out for
the fish? Who will be concerned about the places
where fish live? Who will ensure the future of
all the beautiful places? Who will clean up
after the less caring? Who will build the
habitat? Who will write the letters and take the
notes and produce the newsletters? Who will run
the meetings? Who will negotiate access to our
waters? Who will make the coffee?
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BCFFF - Structure
Committees - 8
Direct Members
Clubs
Executive Pres./VP 1 VP 2, Secy Treas.
Membership --Plus 6 Directors
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BCFFF Membership Benefits

• Affordable liability insurance
• Affordable membership
• Advocacy on behalf of members and BC fly anglers
  in general
• Access to BCFFF Gilly Fund for projects
• Newsletter (4X/yr) and website
• Assistance with club formation
• Assistance with local issues

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BCFFF Membership Benefits (contd)

• But. Perhaps the most important benefit is
  .membership in BCFFF provides you with an
  established, credible and structured avenue to
  work on behalf of the resource, upon which so
  much of your lifes enjoyment is founded!!!

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The BCFFF Gilly Book Project

• Alf Davy conceived project in 1985
• 12 volunteer authors and an artist
• Canadian best seller many times over (between
  1985 and present)
• 11 printings (was the last now out of print)
• Proceeds and royalties over the years have
  created the Gilly Fund (now over 130,000)

The Gilly trade and LE versions
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BCFFF Funded Habitat/Education Projects 2004 to
2007

• Gilly Fund
• Penticton Fly Fishers - 10K (Penticton Crk)
• Lonely Loons Fly Fishers Club - 3.5K (Spring
  Lake aerator)
• Island Waters Fly Fishers Society - 1K ( Jingle
  Pot Marsh viewing platform)
• Upper Squamish R. bank stabilization - 5K (07)
• BCFFF Operations
• Mid Island Castaways Fly Fishing Club - 4K (
  Fanny Bay- habitat work on Wilfred Crk.)
• Nicola Watershed Community Roundtable - 1K (
  WUMP for Nicola/Coldwater (Thompson steelhead
  recovery)

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BCFFF Operations (contd)

• Youth fly fishing camp (Sooke) - 1.5K
• Jack Shaw diary project - 2.4K
• Kamloops City Museum - 1.5K (fly fishing history
  exhibit)
• Hatchery Forum (BCIT, Bby) .5K (with BCFDF and
  others)

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BCFFF Club Projects(funded by the Gilly Fund)
We arent very good at getting pictures from the
various projects!? Its definitely a work in
progress.
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BCFFF - Communications

• Newsletter Fly Lines (4/yr)
• Website www.bcfff.bc.ca
• BCFFF Club Contacts
• Annual AGM (changes locations)
• Considering how the internet can play an
  effective role for BCFFF???? (BCFFF now a
  player on fly.bc 2008)
• (communications are a constant Challenge!)

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BCFFF Fisheries Issues
Skagit R. Lower 10 Km saved!
From looking like
Present Ross Reservoir drawdown
They are in our hands
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Issues what are issues?? Issues are those
pesky items that keep coming up and interfering
with our fishing. They are events and
developments that put our personal and BCFFF core
values at risk. They threaten what we love to do.
They therefore need to be attended to. Issues
are always there, they always seem to get more
complicated and they will never go away, no
matter how hard we work on them (behind the
present issue is another, then another and
another and so on).. Issues are probably the
most important thing that BCFFF does as an
organization that is concerned with quality
angling waters, quality fish and access to waters
that deeply interest fly anglers.
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Those BCFFF members and clubs that work on issues
are truly the unsung heroes of our organization.
Their work is often tedious, frustrating, time
consuming and stressful. In todays world,
issue work usually means sitting on planning and
advisory committees established by government.
However -------- this is probably the best way
to express the concerns and positions of BCFFF
and to ultimately influence the decisions of
government.
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BCFFF Issue Involvement

• Past
• Skagit flooding
• Kemano II
• Quinsam coal
• Stein Dean logging
• Hat Creek
• Skeena SH kill fishery
• Rec site closures
• Stewardship panel review

• Recent
• AG/Classified waters/Quality waters
• Thompson SH recov
• GGB SH recovery (SCSC)
• Declining angler participation
• SH Stream Classification
• Prov hatchery program/quality small lake
  fisheries
• Cheakamus R. toxic spill

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Fighting..
Overharvest
Pollution
Habitat Loss
The good fight !!
Apathy
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Issues Yes but
You gotta get out a bit more!!!
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Where are the warriors??
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The challenge of finding people to take on BCFFF
jobs

• Our geographic distribution of membership works
  against finding volunteers (Interior happy
  Coast unhappy all the issues)
• Our club structure (90 club members 10
  direct members) also works against finding
  volunteers (our 17 member clubs are involved with
  their own things, therefore little time for BCFFF)

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BCFFF Age Matters
Hey Kid! Good to see you out here. Why dont you
get your friends to join you?
The problem of declining angler participation
and youth involvement in angling!!
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Typical BCFFF Gathering
Where will our future come from???
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BCFFF Booth at the 2004 and 2005 Western Canadian
Fly Fishing Show Lower Mainland, BC
Tie a Fly Catch a Kid
Danie Erasmus BCFFF Education Director,
presents a special certificate to a young tier
for her Wooley Bugger
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BCFFF/Superfly Tradex 2008
The older guard and the new-bring on the young !!
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Earle Anderson Harrison River
William Nation
Tommy Brayshaw
BCFFF
BCs Fly Fishing History
Bill Cunliff
Rod Haig-Brown
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Bill Cunliffe Fly Box (1930s)
Cliff Welch built cane Fly Rod (1940s)
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BCFFF Publications

• Vancouver Islands Fly Fishing Heritage
• (A.Lingren May 2004)
• Quality Angling and Quality Angling Waters in BC
  (2003)
• A History of BCFFF (A.Lingren 2003)
• Angling Ethics Brochure
• Guidelines on How to Establish a Fly Fishing Club
• Angling Closures on Wild Steelhead Streams (BCFFF
  Position Paper Sept. 2004)
• Hatchery Culture of Steelhead Trout in BC
  (BCFFF Draft Position Paper Sept. 2004)

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Kamloops City Museum BCFFF Fly Fishing History
Section Spring 2008 Display Opens
Location of Fly Fishing Gallery in model
Gary Cutler photos
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BCFFF Future (What about it??)

• Convince volunteers to work for the cause
• Join forces with others
• Work on youth involvement
• Find efficient effective ways to provide our
  concerns to government
• Find ways to better ensure internal stability
  (extinction always lurks in the shadows)

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THE END THANK YOU!
Upstream dry flies in storm water
The Future of Fishing ---- hopefully Not!!!
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BC Federation of Fly Fishers Website www.bcfff.b
c.ca Look for a revamped website this spring -
2008