The first inklings of an enterprise which builds on my passion for fly fishing surfaced in the mid '80s. While I was still finding my way as a newcomer to fly fishing, taking advantage of every opportunity to explore new waters, I knew something significant was happening in my life.

A series of events which lead to the initial concept of Flyfishers' Arte & Publishing began when I was laid off from a six year stint as a senior architectural technologist with an international engineering firm. The heydays of province-wide growth and expansion in British Columbia which took place during the early '80s were winding down. Undaunted by the change, I made a decision to 'go it on my own', calling a few key contacts to secure some contract work. In essence, I was returning to my roots, relishing the independence and rewards of self-employment.

Along with my change in employment came a shift in career focus from building technology to graphic design and illustration... extensive design and presentation work in the architectural field, combined with my artistic bent and imagination, made for an easy transition. For the next two years I concentrated on growing the business, while at the same time, taking time out of an increasingly busy life to wet a line on favoured waters.

Trips with angling friends often included my son, his passion for fishing nurtured from a very young age. I still chuckle when recalling his enthusiasm during family holidays to a small lake on the Sunshine Coast... an exuberant angler, one-and-a-half years young, practising his spin cast from the dock and pronouncing 'Clear!' as he warned other children his age he was preparing to let one fly. It was at this lake I found a bit of 'heaven on earth'... not only was it a great destination for our annual family holidays, the fly fishing was awesome ...just imagine coastal cutts of up to 5 pounds!

It wasn't long before my pursuit of angling by the fly began to influence my business with a few fly fishing-related clients beginning to appear on a growing client list. Around that same time, I started attending a few of the local BCFFF meetings, finding a network of anglers, many of whom were considerably more experienced and knowledgeable about fly fishing and BC's fisheries.

At one particular meeting, the current BCFFF Chairman - Harry Friesen - announced the Editor of Fly Lines, the Federation's newsletter, had just stepped down and a volunteer was needed to oversee the important role of communications with member clubs and a growing number of individual fly fishers. Already too busy myself, it was all I could do to 'not volunteer'... much to my relief, another angler stepped up to the challenge. Some time later that evening I made a point of introducing myself to our new Editor, offering to help out with design and publishing if he needed a hand.

Not much came of my offer... until the phone rang one evening some six months later. It was Harry calling to say the BCFFF was again without an Editor. The fellow who took up the call for Fly Lines at the earlier meeting had passed on my offer to help... Harry was following up to see if I would be willing to stand in his stead. It required careful consideration on my part as work was still quite busy, but the opportunity to give something back to fly fishing stirred an inner part of me... I agreed and noted the date for a pending Executive meeting.

Not knowing what I was really getting myself into, when the appointed day arrived, I collected the ideas and sketches I had prepared earlier then set out to meet Harry and other members on the Executive. From the first moment discussion at the meeting turned to Fly Lines and the issue at hand, I knew it was going to be a interesting experience.

Little did I know just how interesting and the downstream impact that the BCFFF and Fly Lines would have on my life from that point forward!