Editorial by Chris Marshall
Publisher, Canadian Fly Fisher Magazine
Last September, Fly Fishing Canada organised
the first ever Canadian National Fly Fishing
Championship in the parkland area of western
Manitoba around Roblin. Despite a few teething
problems and uncooperative weather, the event
was a great success.
This year, the second FFC National Championship
will be held at the world famous Fairmont Kenauk
Lakes Preserve at Montebello, Quebec from October
17 - 20, and the organisers are enthusiastically
inviting fly fishers from across Canada to
participate.
While nationally organised competitive fly fishing
is extremely popular in Europe, it's relatively
unknown in Canada and the USA. In fact, most North
American fly fishers tend to shy away from anything
other than local, fun tournaments, and most of us
have a tendency to shy away from anything competitive,
preferring to fish for relaxation and escape from
the stress of the daily round.
However, we would be wrong to saddle the FFC National
Championship with the kind of frenetic activity typical
of the tournament bass circuit and fishing derbies.
There is no comparison between the two. For instance,
there's no money or gadgets to be won. Sure there's
competition, but it's friendly and fun. Just ask any
of those who took part in last year's competition.
If you join us at Kenauk in October, you'll get to
mingle and make new friends with fly fishers from
across the country (most of whom will be as
inexperienced as you at competition), sharing
techniques and experiences, relaxing together
in the evenings to tie flies and swap tall tales.
You'll also be able attend the Conservation Symposium
(a major component of all competitions, both national
and international), which, this year, will focus on
Kenauk's successful management programme to restore
native species to the Preserve. And, last but not
least, you'll enjoy some friendly fly fishing
competition—you might even rank as one of the
top three individuals in the tournament, which
will qualify you as a member of our national team
for the World Competition in 2005.
Moreover, the fishing in Kenauk's many lakes and
rivers is among the best in the province, and at
the end of October, the trout will be active and
the biting bugs long gone. For a detailed
description of the fishing, check out Duane
Radford's feature in the January/March 2004
issue of The Canadian Fly Fisher.
Fly fishers can enter the FFC National Competition
either as individuals or part of a team. Last year,
only one team arrived as such, from the NWT.
Manitoba put together a provincial team from
competitors who had signed up individually,
while others were made up from scratch from
competitors from across the country—one, which
named itself the Double Hauls was a mix of
Newfoundland and BC. While scratch teams are
definitely a possibility for 2004, we hope
that there will be more team entries. These
need not be from the same geographical region.
For instance, The Canadian Fly Fisher
will be entering at least one team made up of
fly fishers connected with the magazine. In fact,
I'll most likely join it myself, even though I've
always shied away from competitive fishing in the
past, for this competition involves so much more
than merely trying to catch more fish than the
other guy—it's a unique opportunity to fish with
and learn from and relax with fellow Canadian
fly fishers. I'm hoping that I'll meet many of
you there.
You'll find all the necessary details about Kenauk,
the competition and how to enter on page 48 of this
issue and the Fly Fishing Canada Web-site at
www.canflyfish.com
~ Chris Marshall
Credits: This article is from the
Canadian Fly Fisher magazine. We appreciate use permission!
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