ELDER RIVER: REFLECTIONS FROM AN OLDER RESIDENT
I consider myself to be a most fortunate person because, at the suggestion of a friend, I arrived in Campbell River from various points east for a few days in late August 1973. He had said, “You might like it,” and evidently so, because I’ve resided here more or less ever since! Entirely from within and with no external guidance, from about the age of eight, the desire to go fishing was the defining direction of my life, so what better fate for a young man so inclined than to end up in Campbell River?
From pier fishing to professional guiding
Going fishing was easy enough and I started catching a few chinook salmon off local piers fairly quickly. I heard about this “guiding” thing where locals took visitors out fishing, and, in a classic case of “not what I knew but who I knew,” by the summer of 1974, I had been taken on as a rookie guide at Painter’s Lodge. It all seemed too good to be true, but I kept being asked back. I guided there through the 1978 season. That year I managed to save some money and bought my first real boat, a 15-foot Boston Whaler, which was the ride of choice in those days, and in 1979 I decided to try my luck as an independent, self-employed guide.
My good fortune continued, and by the early 1980s I was contracted to a US company, managing their waterfront property and taking care of their guests—nothing like getting a steady paycheque while doing what you love in a beautiful place! Courtesy of the company, from my Campbell River base I was frequently able to fish much of the coast, including Blackfish Sound, Rivers Inlet, Hakai Pass, Haida Gwaii, and even into the bottom end of the Alaska Panhandle. This happy state of affairs lasted 13 years (its ending had nothing to do with me), after which I reverted to being an independent fishing guide; a “me, myself, and I” state of affairs that has continued right to the present day.
Fisheries advocacy, policy and conservation
One outcome of the stability afforded to me during those 13 years was that I became involved locally in the Sport Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB), the advisory and consultation process between the regional recreational fishery and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). One thing led to another, and by the late 1990s, I became chair of the entire region-wide process for ten years, with my involvement continuing to the present. My activism in this forum led to other opportunities, including being appointed in 1999 to the Canadian delegation to the Pacific Salmon Treaty (Canada/US) process, a position I also continue with today.
Like many fishing guides I had to have other seasonal work, and I was fortunate in being able to work spring and fall for 26 years at the nearby Quinsam River Hatchery. This was more than just a job to me; it was satisfying to contribute something back to the salmon resource, and my experiences there have informed much of my fish and fishing life.
In my guiding life, I met and fished with many interesting people, including a scientist involved in the Manhattan Project, various business titans, and ex-US president George Bush with his wife Barbara. I have too many memories to share of hot fishing and, inevitably, some notable skunks, catching a wide variety of fish large and small, and watching wonderful wildlife like albatross, puffins, ocean sunfish, and various marine mammals. Like I said to begin with, I’m a most fortunate person. Campbell River has been so good to me, providing not only an enviable work life but a partner with whom I’ve been able to share a wonderful family life as well!
