BIRTH OF A BOOK:

A new book is available on the market, but Island Fly Fisherman (Harbour Publishers) actually started out to be a special edition of Island Fisherman magazine. And thereby hangs a tale....

It started in 1998, when I began compiling and editing Fly Fishing Canada - From Coast to Coast to Coast as a fund-raiser for Fly Fishing Canada and the Outdoor Writers of Canada. While doing so, I noted that 81 of the 150 patterns included in the book were of Canadian origin. This planted the seed for A Compendium of Canadian Fly Patterns, which I started compiling nearly six years ago as a fund-raiser for the Youth Branch of Fly Fishing Canada. By 2002 it was obvious that I couldn't handle it alone, so Paul Marriner of Mahone Bay, NS, came on board as co-editor and took on Quebec and the East Coast. It has been a long haul for both of us, especially Paul, who did the layout, but this book will finally be published later this year.

Publisher Larry E. Stefanyk and I connected in late 2001, and I have been editing the magazine since January 2002. Two years later, I mentioned to Larry that several contributors to the Compendium live here on Vancouver Island. I suggested that we think about compiling a special edition of Island Fisherman devoted to fly fishing for the following reasons: Interest in this facet of fishing is increasing annually; thanks to the saltwater component, we are blessed with a wider range of fly-fishing opportunities than anywhere else in BC; and being a general-interest fishing magazine, we can devote only a percentage of our articles to fly fishing.

Depending on location, Island lakes offer native rainbow and coastal cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden and kokanee, and introduced brown trout and smallmouth bass provide trophy fisheries in some lakes. Although some east coast steelhead stocks are in a state of serious decline, many Island rivers offer fair to excellent fishing for summer-run and winter-run steelhead. Several also have runs of Chinook, coho, pink, chum and sockeye salmon, rainbow and cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden, plus brown trout in the Cowichan, Little Qualicum and Adam rivers. Then there is saltwater beach fishing for pinks, coho and cutthroat trout, inshore saltwater fly fishing for coho and Chinooks, plus several species of bottom fish that are worthy opponents.

As some Compendium contributors are writers whose works appear in Island Fisherman, I liked the idea of blending their fishing knowledge with the patterns they have developed. Larry doubted that there were enough dollars in the advertising community to pay for the production costs. I countered that we could always use the stories as features in Island Fisherman, so he decided it was worth a try. I started developing my "dream team" of writers and the topics each would be asked to write about. I was more than pleased when every one of them accepted my proposal.

As it evolved, Larry was right about the lack of advertising dollars, but after seeing the project's draft he approached Harbour Publishing about doing it as a book. They liked what they saw, and the rest, we hope, is history in the making. Here are the writers you will meet in its pages.

Bill Luscombe, a Professional Forester with the provincial government, currently lives in Crofton. An award-winning writer, his articles appear in various outdoor magazines, and he is Island Fisherman's fly fishing columnist. Bill started fly fishing and tying his own flies over 25 years ago, and being an admitted smallmouth bass fanatic made him a logical choice to write about his experiences on several southern Vancouver Island lakes containing them.

Frank Dalziel tied his first fly before he was 10, and is still at it 40-some years later. A former saltwater fishing guide, the Lantzville resident is now a Fisheries Technologist at Malaspina University-College in Nanaimo. A chance meeting with Larry Stefanyk at a Victoria outdoors show a couple of years ago, resulted in Frank submitting his first article about beach fishing for coho. Based on his obvious knowledge concerning this topic, he was my first choice to cover it for the project.

Ian Forbes is a retired Professional Forester who has fished throughout British Columbia for over 40 years. He has invented dozens of freshwater and saltwater patterns over the years, many that remain in popular use. An outdoor writer since 1958, he is also an accomplished photographer, illustrator and water colourist whose paintings hang in numerous private collections. A Duncan resident of long standing, Ian probably knows the Cowichan River as well as anyone, which includes its trophy-sized brown trout. Bingo!

A resident of Miracle Beach, north of Courtenay, realtor Kevin Reid started fly fishing about 30 years ago at age 11. A year later he received a fly-tying kit as a present, and ever since then he has been trying to develop "the perfect fly." When I learned a few years ago that he is a dyed-in-the-wool beach cutthroat fanatic, I suggested that we work together at developing his writing skills. He accepted the challenge, and I think that after reading his chapter you will agree the results have been more than satisfactory.

The elder statesman of this project is Ralph Shaw, who was born at Cold Lake, Alberta, in 1926. He started dangling worms from a willow pole as a 6-year-old, and eventually graduated to crudely-tied flies. A competent fly fisherman by the time he arrived in Kamloops as a young school principal, he eventually met Jack Shaw (no relation), considered by many to be "the father of wet line chironomid fishing." The two became close, lifelong friends, and under Jack's tutelage Ralph became a master fly fisherman and tier. Ralph retired in 1983 and moved to Courtenay, and in 1984 he was awarded the Order of Canada for his work in conservation. His weekly outdoors column in the Comox Valley Record has won several writing awards over the 20-some years he has written it.

Parksville resident Rory Glennie started tying flies in 1962 at age 10, while growing up in southern Ontario. Since moving to BC in 1970, he has developed several popular freshwater and saltwater patterns, and earned an enviable reputation as a freshwater and saltwater fishing guide. A dedicated conservationist, Rory spent several years as chairman of the Comox Valley branch of the Steelhead Society of BC, and served two terms as president of the SSBC. His articles have appeared in various outdoor magazines, and he is currently the West Coast Field Editor of The Canadian Fly Fisher magazine. Equally at home on freshwater or salt, he is an ardent steelhead angler who enjoys Spey casting for them.

Tim Tullis lives in Qualicum Beach, BC, and manages the Surfside RV Resort in Parksville. For 22 years prior to that, he owned and operated Hatheume Lake Resort, west of Peachland in the Okanagan. Several of his Interior patterns remain in popular use. Tim grew up in Seattle, Wash., and started fly fishing at 8 and tying flies at 10. He served as president of the Evergreen Fly Fishers in Everett, Wash., and is a founding charter member and the first president of both The Lonely Loon (Kelowna) and the Mid-Island Castaways (Parksville/Qualicum Beach) fly fishing clubs. After moving to the Island in 1995 he became happily obsessed with inshore coho, and his saltwater patterns continue gaining in popularity.

Born in Edmonton, Alta., in 1949, Larry E. Stefanyk started fishing as a youngster. After graduating from the Alberta College of Art with a Fine Arts Degree, he worked for Joseph E. Seagram and Sons in public relations and sales. A year after moving to BC in 1992, he became involved with advertising sales in the magazine business, and founded Island Fisherman magazine in 2000. If not fly fishing a river or lake for trout, or on the ocean fishing for salmon, Larry can be usually be found in his studio drawing, painting in water colour, engraving, or making hand-pulled prints. His work is hanging in several private and corporate collections. A former Parksville resident, Larry recently moved to Campbell River.

Courtenay resident Bob Jones was born in Vancouver, BC, in 1935. He left school at age 14 to work at a remote sawmill in the North Okanagan. One of his first purchases was a fly-fishing outfit, and ever since he's been trying to learn how to use one properly. A former Weapons Air Technician in the RCAF, his 27-year military career allowed him to enjoy fishing pretty well across Canada and various European countries. When he started writing for outdoor magazines in 1975, he did so under the name Robert H. Jones as there were already several other writers in North America named Bob Jones and Robert Jones. In an effort to conserve ink, after returning to BC in 1980 he went back to Bob, but Robert H. still crops up in national publications and books. Yes, he's confused, too....