The Polar Coachman Fly Fishing Club is on fire - so it's a good thing they are experts on the water.
The group recently made their second contribution to area accessibility with the installation of a new dock at Tory Lake.
"It's always had a very steep hill access and a bit of a mud hole to get into at the bottom," explained club member Brian Smith. "It was always very uncomfortable, especially for older people, trying to get in and out of there."
The lake, about 43 kilometres from Blackwater Road, is stocked with rainbow trout and is most commonly fished from float tube, pontoon and belly boats or kayaks.
These crafts are trekked down to the water by hand, and the unforgiving terrain didn't make it an easy task to get down or back up without getting covered in mud.
"You had to sort of climb up the bank because the roots were giving away," said Smith. "The original access was pretty difficult."
After raising $25,000 for a new fishing platform at Shane Lake in Forests for the World installed in June, the volunteers used money leftover - about $6,000 - to make reaching the water at Tory easier.
The project received funding from Sinclar Group, Canfor, Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, Integris Credit Union and the Public Conservation Assistance Fund.
Smith, also a fly-fishing author, said after obtaining permission from the original project's contributors and the provincial government, a team of 10 volunteers installed the wooden platform - built by Omenica Fabricating - north of the existing launch site of the lake.
In addition to the t-shaped platform that floats to the edge of the weeds, the club also widened the existing trail "so it's not as steep as the one going down that was there originally," Smith said, noting the majority of the volunteers were over the age of 60.
"And some guys were 80," he laughed.
With the addition of the dock, Smith said the lake is much improved.
"It's tremendously more accessible now," he said. The platform also eliminates the need for a lugging a boat down to the water altogether.
"Somebody could sit on the dock and fish if they want to. Just cast a bob or a worm or something out in the lake and sit there."
