On 2017 December 5th we had our annual Awards Banquet at the Dunes. Fifty Nine Members & Guests attended.Awards were presented to;

John Bowers - Member of the Year.

Taylor Culver - New Member of the Year.

Tracy Murdoch - Largest Trout.

Tracy Murdoch - Largest Steelhead. Award was presented by one fo the Donors Sinc Dalgleish.

Tracy Murdoch - Largest Salmon. Award was presented by one of the Donors Carl Ottosen.

The OOPS Awards went to;

Steve Phushak - Hard Luck

Wayne Deptuck - Douig Mark Humor award

Conservation Trophy was presented twice;

Leonard Piggin & Gordon Bacon - Community Advisory Group Members on the KGHM Ajax proposal.

Ron Anderson - Fly Tying sessions at Clearwater School

Taylor Culver was presented the Fishing Report award which was a reel. Bob King won the House Split of $95.00.

Photo award will be presented to John Bowers at our January monthly meeting. His photograph was selected from the three submitted.

Fly of the Month award was presented to (The award was forgotten at home so a poinsetta was used); The 2017 Executive, The Spouses of the 2017 Executive and to Jim Campbell.

Opening Address KFF Awards Banquet – 2017

On behalf of the Kamloops Fly Fishers Executive, I would like to welcome everyone to our Awards Banquet. This banquet celebrates our award winners for their outstanding service to our club.

Our Awards Banquet Committee is comprised of Jim Campbell, Gene Ebata, John Bowers & Myself. We thank you for all your work in putting on this Awards Banquet.

Our Photo Contest will be judged tonight so each Member can vote for one photograph only. Please put your vote in the container. The presentation will be made to the winner at our January monthly meeting. The winning photograph will be used as the photograph on our Thank you etc. cards. Thank you, Tracy Murdoch, for the use of your presentation boards.

I would also like to review the events and that occurred this year.

We started with ice fishing fishout that included hot dogs & smokies around the fire at Edith Lake. We had the bobbers at our Fishout at Shuswap Lake and the foggers at Red lake, yes, some interesting fishouts. Other fishouts occurred at Jacko, Bleeker & Roche to name a few.

Fly Tying sessions two a month were held at Henry Grube Centre with excellent attendance. Patterns tied were of course Chironomids, shrimp, egg sucking leeches etc. We even had one session at The Noble Pig Pub. No flies were tied but the beer was cold sure went nice with your supper. I would also like to thank those that presented at these sessions.

Rod Building with Mike Doutaz & Richard Bailey started in January with

Weekly sessions that ended in March. A dozen members made rods this year and we have another full session for 2018. Thanks Mike & Richard.

Fly Casting & Spey casting lessons were held with Dan McCrimmon as our Instructor. Thanks Dan.

Our monthly meetings had guest speakers such as Brian Chan & Dale Freschi from Sport Fishing on the Fly, Invasive Species Council to name a few.

And we shouldn’t forget the ten Executive meetings & the countless emails and text messages sent during the year to plan and assist with these events.

Closing remarks:

In closing, I would like to say that awards went out to worthy individuals tonight. However, a club such as ours functions with as many Members as possible contributing. We have Members such as myself attending RAAT meetings, Sandy McDonald SFAB Meetings, Myself & Gord Bacon Community Advisory Committee, Harold Braun, Stan Ashbee, Jim Campbell, Gene Ebata, Syd Krutop.

arranging Fishouts, Carl Ottosen & myself on Fly tying and last but not least we have our Executive that meet monthly to conduct the business of the KFF to mention a few. To make this club even better we need as many people as possible to contribute. In 2018, a couple of items your Executive will be dealing with are Fishouts, Fly Tying and Rod Building we not only need your attendance but your input. More Members are using the “Send Member email” out inviting Members to go fishing or to get other information out to Members this is great. Our Web Page is a great way to get information out to our Members so let’s use it.

What makes a great club is Members helping Members learn more about the hobby that we enjoy. So, come out and participate.

Enjoy the rest of the evening. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. Tight lines in 2018. Good night everyone and have a safe drive home and holidays.