Haig-Brown Symposium

This past weekend saw the last of my planned seminars and appearances speaking at the Haig-Brown Fly Fishers Symposium.  Over 200 people attended the two day event having the chance to see a number of quality speakers including Brian Chan, Skip Morris, Peter Morrison, Dana Sturm, Don Freschi, Tom Johansson, Todd Oishi and me.  Talks began at 9am on both Saturday and Sunday.  I provided sessions on How to Find Trout in Stillwaters and a Hatch Guide for Lakes. 

The Haig-Brown club was top drawer in their organization and providing a great environment for the speakers.  Saturday night for example they organized a pizza and beer event for speakers and attendees to mingle.  This symposium runs every two years so if you are in the neighbourhood in 2012 make a point of sitting in.  There should be lots to learn!

Knee deep on a Vancouver Island Beach

In addition to the symposium I had the chance to spend a day on the water chasing sea run cutthroat trout.  Barry Stokes from Islander Reels and I explored a couple of beaches in the Victoria area.  The weather was pleasant and we bumped into a few other friends who were taking advantage of the sunny conditions.  Cutthroat were present, which is always an issue as these fish are notoriously nomadic.  Chasing sea run cutthroat is more of an experience trip rather than one of numbers.

The social aspect of beach fishing for cutthroat

We used either Aqualux lines or in my case Rio’s Outbound hover and small minnow patterns.  Barry managed to land a beautiful 18-inch sea run on one of his neat streamers.  Small forage fish such sculpins are popular forage items for these beautifully spotted fish.  

Barry lands a nice cutt!

A unique seaside home

Casting flies knee deep on a gently sloping beach is both relaxing and therapeutic.  During our day we saw a variety of wildlife including sea birds, harbour seals and on one beach a family of seven otters came down to inspect what we were up to.  Unfortunately they did not get close enough to snap a picture.  Beautiful creatures they are we all wondered what toll they took on the local cutthroat population.

Sea run cutthroat are gorgeous

Sea run cutthroat are fragile and as they often spawn in tiny creeks and trickles they are susceptible to urbanization and development.  Creeks most wouldn’t know existed or be aware of their significant importance as spawning and rearing habitat.  As new developments are built these small creeks are often manipulated and in some instances in the past filled in.