Well, not exactly, but I did go see the Brian Chan/Phil Rowley seminar on lake fishing up in Burnaby, BC today. OK, so I drove 265 miles round trip, and spent 10 crossing into BC and 30 minutes leaving, but I got to hear from the local lake masters for a mere $19.

If you like fly fishing in lakes, well, you blew it. If only cause I offered to drive.

Chan started out with a great background on limnology and trout ecology.

Then Rowley tied a few flies. Phil is a true master fly tier, having tied commercially in a prior life. He tied a variation to his Chromie, his Draggin nymph, his Mohair Blood leach, his Water Floatman and his sparkle scud. I learned something from every pattern. He spoke endlessly about technique which I found very helpful. Each participant got a packet of tying materials to cover tying a few of each pattern that was tied, which was quite nice. Heck, I wish every pattern book was so set up.

We then had lunch which was not anything extraordinary, excepting for the nainamo bars, which disappeared quickly.

The afternoon then proceeded with Phil giving a talk on how to approach fishing a lake which was very insightful. Which then got him into the power of the fishing journal. As a committed non journalist, I think he sold me.

Brian then tied a few flies, and he is a far more pedestrian tier. His interest was in showing how simply tying lake flies could be. He tied a simple marabou dragon nymph, Ice Cream Cone, a very wild "mohair plus" leach and a frostbite bloodworm.

Following this they tag teamed a in-depth discussion of chironomid fishing which included the details on how, when and where, the various manners of fishing chiros on both sinking and floating lines with and without indicators over both shallow and deep water. This discussion was so valuable to me that it was worth all the driving and entrance fee alone.

Guess I will have to head out tomorrow, and trust me, its a lake. All the rivers are flooding anyway, and with this much mud, I bet the sound is even discolored.

Rob