I remember sitting at the closing awards ceremony in Devon, England 2 years ago at the CWFFC when Jim announced that the next championship was coming to Canada. After finishing 12th out 77 anglers in 2014 it left me hungry, knowing I would have a chance at redemption on home waters. In the spring of 2015 the selection between the Eastern and Western venues had concluded and the championship was coming to Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. This was exciting news as I have had extensive experience on these waters and held a lot of confidence on these venues. The championship was to be held on the now infamous Diable river, and three lakes at the Pouvoirie Baroux including Renversis, Barriere and Des Iles. My longtime friend and fly fishing mentor Donald Thom had told me that he was going to captain one of the two teams which was extremely exciting as he is one of the most experienced competitive anglers in Canada with international credentials to his name. The other captain would be Norm Godding, another well respected gentlemen on the Canadian and International competition scene. I knew there was going to be a large list of guys applying for this once in a lifetime opportunity to represent Canada on home turf.

The selection committee decided upon 12 anglers to be split into two teams and unfolded into these.

Canada Red Canada White

Norm Godding – Captain Donald Thom - Captain
Sorin Comsa                                                       Ivo Balinov
Clint Goyette                                                      Todd Oishi
Andy Larkin                                                        Colin Huff
Jean-Francois Lavalee                                        Keefer Pitfield
Cipirian Rafan                                                     David Forgeron
Ken MacAulay                                                     Ian Troup
Jim Iredale / Manager                                        John Beaven / Manager
Jeremiah Hamilton / Fly Tier

Throughout the summer of 2016 I tried to put in as many hours on these venues. Between provincials, mini comps, stocking the river, guiding and many day trips I felt pretty solid and left no room for wishing I had put more effort in. Mind you, this is a team sport and it was going to take a group of guys to make this dream work. After the team was selected there were speculations that it might not be a collaborative group with an array of conflicting personalities. Well, was that ever wrong. After a few days fishing together and spending time together duking it out onpacman it was evident that this team was meant to be and we had the tools to do something amazing. With everyone evolving around the theme of teamwork, it made preparation easy as we all worked together. Our game plan was to get everything out of the way before the competition in order to ensure ample time for rest throughout the comp. With Donald providing comic relief through the stressful times it was easy. Before we knew it, it was time to put all our efforts on the water!

If I had to pick my ideal venue rotation, it would be just the way I got it. Starting off on the Lower Diable, moving to the Upper Diable in the afternoon. Day 2 starting on Lac Des Iles with Lac Renversis in the afternoon and finishing on Barriere on the last day.

When group B got to the first drop off point I was looking down at beat 28 thinking about the poor soul who was going to get that beat. 2 days prior all 5 of my team mates and I had absolutely pummeled the limited amount of fish in that beat. Not to mention every other team who had fished it, as it is the main access point for the lower part of the river. As our awesome bus captain, Monica Gallagher began; “Beat #28, Team Canada White”. This was not the start I was looking for, but it was time to play the card I was dealt. The river was only 10 minutes from the hotel so I had a good 2 hours to set up, scour my beat for rises and develop a game plan.

This beat is marked as 27 but it is 28. Starting on the bottom, there was a succession of pools formed by large boulders which made for ideal holding water as whitewater transitioned into a long glide. On river left it got really skinny with lots of little pockets and riffles. Above these pools was a long set of mixed currents that rolled at a slower pace which is great dry dropper water but challenging nymphing water as it is hard to keep contact and control drifts. Towards the top of the beat along river right were a few nice pockets that generally could produce a fish or two with shallow pockets and runs on the opposite side. With prime water running right up to the upper limits of my beat. My game plan was to work from the bottom up, the near shore (river right) with nymphs then return to the bottom and fish the pools across and work the other side up with nymphs, coming back down with streamers. Then as the session neared end and the fish began to get more active go through the gut with double dries or dry dropper.

It was 9am and the whistle blew. I meticulously began working up the near bank hitting every bit of water as the fish really could have been anywhere after the amount of traffic it had received. Working right up to the top of my beat I didn’t receive any interest. I was running an Ireland fly (my A1 confidence fly) on the point with a pink bead hares ear on the top dropper. There was a nice seam between two currents just below the top of my beats that looked fishy. It was 35 minutes in and I was still searching for my first inquiry. Dumping my flies into the top of this run I gave it slack, letting my nymphs sink then quickly regaining tension and as I raised my rod there was an irregularity in the drift. I set down stream into my first fish, it darted towards the tail out nearing the overflow into the next pocket. Attempting to redirect the brown trout’s intentions I relocated my right side pressure across my body upstream to try and change his direction. Well, this didn’t work as the hook released from its little mouth. This was disheartening and not the start I was looking for. (I marked this fish on the map, furthest to the left.)

After covering the near bank with nothing to show for, the heat was on and I needed to make something happen. I had John Gummer from Team New Zealand above me on beat 27 and Alison O’brien on Women's South African team on beat 26, all in site of me. Both of them had landed and scored 1 fish each in the first hour. I ran down to the bottom of my beat, I had fished this part of the beat 2 days prior hard with team mate Ivo and he caught one in a nice run nearest the shore and I didn’t have a sniff. Although it was the fishiest looking water in the entire beat I knew not to get caught up in it, as I knew the lack of fish there. Beginning with the near pool, I worked my way across the bottom beat marker towards the skinny water on the far bank. Trying to put a cast in every possible lie I worked up the far bank then started making my way back into the large turbulent pools as outlined in the picture below.

Unsuccessful, I quickly waded back towards the far bank and essentially started working my way along the green line indicated on the image. The water was shallow along this shore so I downsized my flies in weight to avoid getting hung up every cast. I had a 3mm bead on the point and 2.5mm on the top dropper. Fan casting upstream along the far bank, Monica signaled to me that 1 hour had elapsed from the session. Although there was still 2 hours left I can remember thinking about blanking and how devastating it would be. When I reached 2/3 of the way up the beat I noticed that I was parallel to where I had dropped the fish earlier. I readjusted the weight of my flies and began working out towards a nice seam. There was a deep slot in between myself and the run so I threw my flies upstream ensuring I could get down into that hole. As my flies drifted through, I finally got an aggressive take and didn’t fool around with this guy. Raising his head forcefully, I skated him into my net with authority as the weight released from my shoulders. I ran the fish back down the green line and crossed along the rock shelf above the orange circles. Scoring a 27cm brown trout was the lift I needed. Running back across and back up to where I caught and lost two fish I had some confidence restored. Focusing my efforts in that area I rotated through 3-4 different flies. Our team discovered in practice that if you found a productive pool, if you changed your flies it would almost always induce another take. After rotating through my arsenal I put a squirmy on the point as a last resort before I moved on. First drift, in the run just above where I caught my last fish, I was into another one. Racing it back to Monica along the same path was made a lot easier without waders as I was up to my neck and falling all over the place. My team mates convinced me to wet wade during practice and what a difference it made. You were much more confident and not so conscious about each step because you didn’t have to worry about filling your waders. It also kept your body temperature cool throughout the session. After measuring my second fish, I ran back up to the same location and spent another 30 minutes near the top without success. I put on a streamer and quickly passed it through the heavy section of the beat down to the pools at the bottom where I re-rigged by replacing my top dropper with an orange tag elk hair caddis dry and putting a size 16 Ireland fly on the point. I then proceeded to fish dry dropper through the long glide of the beat trying to activate some fish. This proved useless as I covered everything right to the top, swapping point flies consistently. With 10 minutes left, I grabbed my streamer set up that I had left at the top of my beat. Desperately searching for another fish I hit all the deep hole, pockets and tail outs. My efforts were unrewarded and the whistle blew.

With 2 fish on my scoresheet this was a deflating feeling as I knew it wasn’t going to be enough. As I was breaking down my rods, my team mate Ian Troup arrived to congratulate me on my efforts knowing I did the best I could. As the anglers above me began to make their way back, John Gummer had 2 which were slightly smaller, Allison from South Africa had 1 and done in the first 5 minutes. Given the results from the lower beats I figured my 2 would be middle of the pack. When the bus arrived my assumptions were accurate. Three countries had 3 fish and Cirprian Rafan from Canada Red and Michael Nolan from Australia Gold both caught 4. My two fish were only good enough for a 6th place leaving me in 29th individually after the first session. Thankfully my team mates had a great first session with Ivo and Keefer getting a 2nd and Todd with a 1st. Our team was in a respectable 4th after the first session.

If I could go back to that session I would would have spent more time in the middle deep part of the beat with heavier nymphs trying to get between the rocks. Apart from that, I found that there was a lack of willing fish in this beat. However, I had the opportunity to put a 3rd fish in the basket early in the session that would have helped my moral and in the end, placing.

CWFFC 16' Session #1