Based on a belief that those who fish with a fly frequently become actively involved in the conservation and management of the freshwater fisheries they visit, Trout Unlimited Canada’s Northern Lights Fly Fishers Chapter, has a long history of offering fly tying instruction to children and adults with a view to promoting interest in recreational angling and furthering that involvement.
With funding support from the Alberta Conservation Association and space provided by Canadian National Sportsmen’s Shows the Chapter once again set up a Kids Fly Tying booth at the 2017 Edmonton Boat and Sportsmen’s Show. Twenty Chapter members provided approximately 190 volunteer hours helping 320 kids and a few adults tie a Woolly Bugger to take home with them. At the same time, club members were able to pass on to both children and parents some of their interest in and enthusiasm for fly fishing, catch and release, the angling ethic and the conservation of freshwater fisheries. In addition, a brochure containing the benefits, key elements and processes for introducing kids to fly tying was developed by members and distributed. This brochure is now available to all TUC Chapters at no cost through the Chapter’s website.
For the fourteenth year in a row a main exhibitor at the Show, The Fishin’ Hole, helped the Chapter with its conservation work by persuading their suppliers to donate over $3000 worth of merchandise for the Lloyd Shea Fisheries Enhancement Fund bucket raffle and by providing booth space for the Chapter to run the raffle. The fund was established by The Fishin’ Hole President, Dave Johnson, in honour of Lloyd, an ardent fly fisher, hunter, advocate for conservation and founding member of the Edmonton chapter of TUC. Monies raised for the fund are administered by the Chapter and have been used to support riparian protection projects and brown trout redd counts along the Raven River in central Alberta and a study of arctic grayling populations and habitat conditions in the upper Pembina River watershed.
While it’s good to see so many people at the Show buying boats and fishing gear, it’s great to also see ongoing efforts to promote the conservation and protection of those freshwater ecosystems on which they use them.
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