Fly fishing is everything from recreation to religion for those who wade into the water on the hunt for the bounty of the river.
"It's unbelievably humbling when you're outsmarted by something with the IQ of a grape," said Gord Lucas, one local fly fisher.
This battle of wits between surface human and aquatic quarry has been the subject of novels by Ernest Hemmingway, movies by Robert Redford and Khalil Hudson and Tyler Hughen, songs by Bill "Smog" Callahan and Grapes of Wrath, and tall tales - a surprising number of them true - by everyone who's ever been a cast member in this net series.
Brian Smith has just added 104 sleek new pages to this everlasting conversation.
The Prince George fly fishing fanatic has been writing through this ubiquitous passion for decades. In countless articles for seminal magazines on the subject, and in two previous books, Smith tells the stories and describes the techniques that fishers feed on as much as any salmon on a grill or trout in a pan.
Now Smith gets really detailed. With carefully chosen descriptors and clear photographs, Smith walks the fly fishing fan through every enthusiast's baseline preoccupation: tying the fly. The book is called Essential Fly Patterns For Lakes & Streams (Tips For Tying Your Own Flies) published by the premier bookhouse for northern B.C., Caitlin Press.
"If someone forced me to pick my favourites, these would be the ones," he said.
There are about 60 of them, arranged by the kind of water and the sort of fish they'd be used to lure.
Words like midge and chironomid, nymph and stonefly might mean little to the uninitiated, but to those who quietly wander the shorelines with rods in hand, these items can be the difference between dinner and disappointment.
"It's an art all of its own, and you're always refining," said Smith.
"I started fishing when I was just a little guy but I began fly fishing when I was about 20 in Kamloops, mentored by pioneering fly fisher Jack Shaw, a master, who passed away in 2000. We had a great friendship. Now, I've discovered to my surprise that I'm expected to be the mentor."
A compendium of Shaw's diaries, The Pleasure of His Company, was published thanks in part to Smith, and Smith was also the winner of the 2008 Jack Shaw Fly Tying Award by the BC Federation of Fly Fishers.
Smith moved to Prince George in 1992 working for General Paint, followed by long stints with ICI and Cloverdale companies, 47 years in total in the paint and coatings industry.
He and wife Lois raised his family in Prince George and through it all, fishing was his calling.
This city is a central location for almost endless fly fishing adventures.
For the past 10 years he has been the president of the Polar Coachmen Flyfishers Club where the area's enthusiasts have a large and active association.
Smith's first book was Fly Fishing BC's Interior (Caitlin Press, 2009) followed by Seasons of a Fly Fisher (Caitlin Press, 2013).
"Bob Jones was a friend of a friend, and Bob was instrumental in moving me forward as a writer about fly fishing. He was the fishing editor for BC Outdoors Magazine. He told me 'to do this, you've got to have an itch, and Brian, you have an itch' as he hacked my article to pieces," Smith laughed.
When the articles advanced him to the cusp of authorship, Smith went looking for a publisher, but he wanted one that shared his affinity for northern B.C.
There are other publishers in this region, but Caitlin is the quintessential one. It was the publishing home of prolific local storyteller Jack Boudreau, said Smith, so that was an indication to him that Caitlin was the one to go with, if they felt so moved.
They did, and now they have completed the trifecta together.
"Jack Boudreau was a bard, he had a definite style to his stories," said Smith.
"I have stories to tell, too, and they are in there, but in a different way. I'm not a scientist of fishing but I believe I have a keen sense of observation. I can see something, and put it to a hook, and I still have that itch to explain it. I just like to be creative.
"This guy here," he said, touching the new book's cover, "is my favourite - all the instructions that have come from my struggles and my testing it all out, and observing the details, all summarized. It's kind of like a recipe book."
The keen user of the book will even notice the binding of Essential Fly Patterns For Lakes & Streams is subtly double-jointed, like a cookbook, to conveniently fold open and hold in place as someone at a workbench or desk meticulously follows the instructions.
Smith isn't sure he has another book casting about in his brain, he will leave that to the natural courses, but he will certainly be out fishing this summer, putting those favourite flies to use.
For anyone else who wants to give these tools of the trade a try, the book is available now (or expected soon) at Surplus Herby's, Books & Company, Cole's Books, and the Save-On-Foods book section.
"It is about passing on, giving back to a great community, celebrating a great lifestyle we have right here all around us in this wonderful place we have, and sharing what I've enjoyed in life," Smith said.
Books, signed by the author, can be purchased directly from him via email at flyfishingnut47@gmail.com.
