January 30th - February 1st, Vancouver
By Rodney Hsu

What better way to spend a weekend than watching a bunch of grown men fiddling with feathers and whipping graphite sticks across a hall? That was exactly what you would have seen if you were at the first Western Canadian Fly Fishing Exposition in Richmond BC. Fly Fishing Events put on an impressive show by gathering local guides and lodges, and major manufacturers under one roof. On top of that, flyfishing gurus were invited from across the nation to share some of their skills and secret with the general public!

The venue of this year's Fly Fishing Expo was the Vancouver Airport Conference Resort in Richmond. It's a relatively small venue, but perfect for their premiere event. Around sixty groups were invited to showcase their products, and that was enough for any fisher to stare if not drool over new gadgets for a few hours.

Some of the more notable flyfishing products were on display included Sage, Redlington, Dragonfly, Fenwick, Islander Reels, G. Loomis and Scientific Angler. This gave visitors an opportunity to test out all of the products, which they may potentially enjoy, in one day.

It was also an exhibition of art. If you wandered into G & L Fly Craft's booth, then you would have seen some delicately made rods. Mya DeRyan from The Framed Fish displayed a line of "Gyotaku", or fish prints, of major sportfish of Western Canada. Her beautiful work allows anglers to treasure their prized catch by having a print of it on the wall. We also had a long chat with Don Allen from Boxworks, who showed us his line of fly boxes. His passion was clearly shown in his products, which he spends hours making by hand.

A flyfishing exposition is simply not one if there are no fly casting clinics. Steve Rajeff's flycasting lessons were also crowded by those who wish to cast further. The audience were always amazed when this 13 times world champion whipped his flyline across the hall. Other popular icons include Brian Chan, Phil Rowley, and Sportfishing on the Fly duo Don Freschi and Grant Fines. Seminars ran throughout the entire weekend on topics such as fly tying, rod building, stillwater techniques and stream reading.