A Wonderful Walk Back Into The Past

If you are a flyfishing history buff, you owe it to yourself to plan a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia. British Columbia has an excellent reputation for great fly fishing opportunities. It also is home to the Canadian Sportfishing Museum, a wonderful gem of a place that any die-hard angler will want to book a whole morning or afternoon to see.

I discovered the museum by chance. On my recent trip to Vancouver, I had heard about the quaint and charming Granville Island, and thought it would be a good place to visit. I had no idea that I would discover the Sport Fishing Museum, which houses an amazing assortment of antique rods, reels, flies, personal collections, art, and more.

Upon entering the museum, I was greeted by the friendly and knowledgable attendant, Ken Coulson. I noted Ken's charming Northern Irish brogue and it wasn't long before we were talking about fly fishing, and after describing some of the collections in the museum, Ken was providing advice about where I was most likely to have some success fishing in the Vancouver area.

I began wandering around the museum and wasn't sure what impressed me the most. Certainly, the fact that the museum can boast of the largest collection of Hardy reels (approximately 600) is impressive! I was surrounded by very fine tackle collections that have been showcased in an obviously well thought out manner. It's obvious that museum owner/curator, John King, takes enormous pride in his collections.

Whether it was the aforementioned Hardy reels, a superb collection of Roderick Haig-Brown's personal tackle, the varied antique cane rods, or the framed Ralph Wahl photographs and other art that hangs on walls everywhere, I knew I was experiencing history.

A collection of over 1,000 (yes, that's one thousand!) beautifully tied flies, mostly nymphs that were tied by BC.s Bud Jamieson during the first half of the 20th century. An exquisite mahogany locking salmon fly cabinet. Antique gut leader and Salmon flies, tied c. 1840. Old line dryers that belonged to Haig-Brown. The photograph of Lee Wulff and Haig-Brown while fishing Silver Creek in Idaho together.

I found it all almost overwhelming. With only a limited number of hours to spend, how should I spend my time inside this wonderful musem? I passed by an 1885 edition of 'Treatyse of Fysshynge With An Angle', printed in Scotland and wanted to leaf through the pages. This book was the first copy of only 275 that were printed.

Even the non-flyfisher will enjoy visiting the museum, with the collections of spinning reels, old glass minnow traps, and assembly of "Lucky Louie" plugs. The Allcock spin reel, apparently the company's earliest attempt at a stationary spinning type reel, c. 1934 especially intrigued me.

The museum is part of the larger Granville Island Museums which contains three museums in one. Housed alongside the Sportfishing Museum are the Model Ships and Model Trains museums. Every member of the entire family will find something of interest here.

Be sure to block off at least a complete afternoon to get the most from your visit.