Weekly Fraser Valley Sport fishing column; Jan 19 to 26, 2015


We begin this week in the Battenkill Valley of the 1830?s, where a young Charles Orvis learned to hunt and fly fish under the tutorage of old war veterans.

?I remember well my first trout; I remember as well, the first fine tackle I ever saw, and the genial old gentleman who handled them? I devoted my time that afternoon to what to me was a revelation, and the quiet, cordial way in which the old gentleman accepted my admiration and the pleasure he evidently took in lending to me a rod until I could get one??

As the story goes, that act of kindness inspired young Charles to take up rod making: a craft he became extremely good at.

During their teens, Charles and his brother Franklin, involved themselves in the tourist trade, with their hobby of guiding anglers and supplying tackle. Later while the boys were in their early twenties Franklin opened a hotel; the Equinox house. Charles would open his own hotel, the Orvis Hotel, eight years later.

With a brisk tourist trade at hand, Charles decided to turn his hobby of rod and tackle making into a legitimate business and formed the C F Orvis Company, right beside the Equinox Hotel in 1856.

Do you or someone you know, own an Orvis rod or tackle? Well, now you know where it came from. But before we close the book on Orvis, there is one interesting turn of events that sets this old east company apart.

The year is 1872 and Charlie?s (yes I am taking a liberty, my apologies to those offended) daughter, Mary, after graduating high school, has taken an interest in fly tying. In response Charles brings prominent fly tier, John Hailey of New York, to his shop in Vermont to teach Mary Orvis the skills of fly tying. Four years later, 1876, Mary takes over as manager of the companies fly tying operations.

The company flourished and in 1890, the Orvis Company was tying and selling four hundred different fly patterns. Charles decided it was time to set a standard for North American flies and fly fishing, and put his daughter Mary Orvis Marbury, in charge of the task. Two years after Mary took on the task, ?Favorite Flies and Their Histories?, was published in 1892. Over the next four years, this book would be published nine more times. Orvis and his daughter Mary had become legends and their company became an icon in North American fly fishing.





The Report

Our lower mainland lakes fishing slow to fair. Try a slow troll or retrieve close to shore, around the north east section of your favorite lake, with a: Wooly Bugger, Leach, Dragon nymph, Halfback, or Baggy Shrimp.

The Fraser River is fair for cutthroat and dolly Varden. For cutthroat try: Rolled Muddler, Flesh Fly, Anderson Stone, Eggo, Chez Nymph, Big Black, black Stonefly Nymph, or Micro Leach.

The Vedder River is good for steelhead. Try GP, Squamish Poacher, Polar Shrimp, Popsicle, Big black, Flat Black, Eggo, or black Stonefly Nymph.

The Harrison River is fair to good for rainbow, and cutthroat. For rainbow try: Rolled Muddler, Zulu, Eggo, Chez Nymph, Big Black, Black Stone Nymph, Micro Leach.