Welcome to Episode 22 of The Outdoor Narrative. I’m Robert Koopmans, and every week I talk with cool people about fishing, hunting or other wild activities in British Columbia …

 Today I’m talking with Joe Cunningham, who has developed a unique fly-fishing boat that he describes as serving a niche market within a niche market. His boats, with names such as The Chironomid, the Dragonfly and The Loon, use high-end Kevlar canoes as their base.

 Many people might struggle to see a canoe as a fly-fishing boat, but Joe has added features that enhance the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages. His canoes are rowed – not paddled. They have outriggers on both sides that make them stable enough to stand in. They have rod holders, and anchors on both ends. 

They are unique boats designed to serve a specific purpose – fly-fishing on the great trout lakes that surround us throughout B.C. and southern Alberta.

 I talked to Joe about his boats and how he came up with the idea, as well as about fly-fishing and chasing trout in the streams of lakes of southwestern B.C. and Alberta….

Today I’m talking with Frank Ritcey, who is taking the concept of wildlife photography in an entirely new direction. Frank has become a specialist in the use of trail cams, which are special cameras that use infrared motion detectors to trigger the camera’s shutter and capture pictures or videos of whatever animal walks in front of it.

 He operates a network of trail cameras around his home in Merritt, BC.

It requires a unique set of skills to know where to put a camera so that you can capture a picture when you are not there. Frank’s understanding of animals and their habits has allowed him to capture some incredible footage, such as a mother wolf nursing her pack of cubs. He has captured, deer, moose, bears, cougars, bobcats, and all manner of birds and other small critters.

 He posts the videos and images on Facebook or to the BC Conservation Foundation’s Wild Safe BC website page, with the hope that by showing people a different side of wildlife, they will become more caring stewards of the environment.

 I chatted with Frank about the cameras, how to set them up and how to choose locations, as well as things such as ethics and etiquette…

Welcome to Episode 20 of The Outdoor Narrative. I’m Robert Koopmans, and every week I talk with cool people about fishing, hunting or other wild activities in British Columbia …

Today, I’m talking with Steve Jennings, one of the most accomplished fly-fishermen I know, about how he’s managed to make fishing his career...

If you’re a die-hard angler, the kind that yearns for more days on the water than life typically allows, it’s likely you have pondered at some point some way to make fishing into something more than a hobby. 

Steve owns a fly shop, guides anglers on local lakes and rivers, and has written about fishing for various publications. Against the odds, he has managed to work his love of trout and fly-fishing into a paying gig, and one that has never felt like a job.

His secret? Passion for the sport.

I met with Steve in his fly shop in Little Fort BC, and he shared with me his story – one that’s allowed him to make sportfishing, truly, a lifetime pursuit…

 Every year in B.C., more than 2,000 backcountry adventurers find some kind of trouble. Some get hurt while others wander a little bit too far off the beaten path and get lost. Some are properly prepared. Many are not. 

 The job of finding the lost and the wounded and bringing them back to safety usually falls to a small group of volunteers — B.C.’s Search and Rescue teams. I’m Robert Koopmans and today on the Outdoor Narrative, I’m talking with a search and rescue volunteer.

 Ed Henczel is a member of the Central Okanagan Search and Rescue team. Based in Kelowna, the group is one of about 80 teams in B.C. that serve their local communities. This team is comprised of about 50 people, each of whom give 10 to 20 hours of their time every week to training.

 And every year they are called out scores of times to help with all kinds of emergencies and situations. I met Ed at his team’s hall, where we chatted about what it takes — and what it means — to be a part of this kind of organization …

How do you learn to hunt, and be a hunter? For most people, the knowledge is obtained from someone else, usually a father or grandfather or some other family member. Without that support, developing the needed skills   is a difficult undertaking to envision. Today on The Outdoor Narrative, I’m talking about pathways to becoming a hunter.

***

Jason Hewlett is a friend and former colleague of mine. We both worked together in the newsroom of the Kamloops Daily News before it closed in 2013. A couple of weeks ago, Jason and I talked about movies and during that conversation, I learned Jason had an interest in learning to hunt and fish.

 I was immediately curious, since most people who hunt and fish start much earlier in their lives. Jason is in his 40s. He is not a typical first-timer. We decided it would be worthwhile to have another chat — the one you’re about to hear — to further explore what a pathway to hunting looks like for someone who has never done it before, and how he might be able to get there in time for this year’s hunting season.

 During our conversation, which happened in a boat one evening as we fished for trout on Heffley Lake, we talked about many things, including the reasons why he wants to hunt and fish, and the steps he will need to take to get there. And I agreed I would help him as best I can …

***

I don’t know what kind of mentor I am likely to be. By nature, I am not a patient teacher, and can be easily frustrated by those who show an inability to grasp things I take for granted. But I also know it’s possible to learn new things by seeing activities you take for granted through new eyes.

 My hope is that by helping Jason learn the basics of becoming an outdoorsman, I will find new insights into why I hunt, and how I can do it better. I see value in the idea of passing on knowledge in this kind of way and expect that mentoring someone will make me see things in new light.

 Stay tuned for more episodes in the coming weeks detailing Jason’s pathway to becoming a hunter. I expect we’re going to talk about everything from getting licences to gear, shooting and how to find hunting country. And hopefully, we’ll be able to put it all together this fall with a successful hunt. I’m looking forward to this series and hope it will bring value to anyone who has similar questions.

How many adults remember fishing as children? Probably most of us, because when we were young, fishing was still something people did with their kids. It was like a summer ritual, and most of us will have memories of being in a boat or on a dock with a rod in hand.

 Today, though, things seem different. Fewer people fish, and many wouldn’t know how to teach a child even if they wanted to.

 This past week, I met up with Beth and Lynden from the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, who run a Learn to Fish program for kids every summer. I talked with them about why it’s important to teach children outdoor skills like fishing and listened in as they worked with a rambunctious crew of kids at a lake not far from Kamloops.

There are many was to fish, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Today on The Outdoor Narrative, I’m talking about a particularly good way for anglers to catch fish while fly fishing on stillwater lakes — fishing with chironomid patterns.

 An adult chironomid is a small winged fly that looks like a mosquito, only without the biting parts. It is extremely common in lakes, and fish will feed on the pupal stage of this insect, when it rises from the lake’s bottom and moves to the surface to hatch.

 Chironomid fishing has become the dominant style of fly fishing in B.C.’s Interior in the spring and early summer as anglers match size and colours of this little insect to target rainbow trout.

 But learning to fish with chironomids isn’t easy. There is a short steep learning curve and many small technical details to master. Today I’m walking through the basics ….

Every so often, whether by choice or circumstance, we can’t get out on the water or into the woods. When that happens, is there anything wrong with searching for an outdoors fix from the comfort of a couch? Today on The Outdoor Narrative, I’m talking about movies … 

It’s amazing how many movies use themes of hunting or fishing to explore aspects of humanity and living. For hunters and anglers, watching movies can offer glimpses of the reasons why we do the things we do. Jason Hewlett watches a lot of movies. He’s a former film student and the host of a movie review podcast called From the Basement.

We sat down recently to talk about film and the outdoors…

Today I'm talking about the Lowrance Fish Hunter Pro castable transducer, a baseball-sized sonar transducer that connects to your smart phone electronically via built-in wifi.

It's a great idea that immediately caught my attention. I took the unit to local lake for a morning of stillwater chironomid fly-fishing and ran it through some paces...

You can also read my review (and see a screen snap of the screen) at bit.ly/lowrancereview