Cool fish: My first ever wahoo

Silver beauty: Jimmy Jack and a wahoo

This past Thursday, I joined my wife and three kids on a five-day getaway to Barbados (we head back to Canada today). The deal was she would write about the island’s offering for kids (Jackie works for Today’s Parent magazine), while I would cover off the fishing end of things.

One big problem (for me): Saturday and Sunday were the opening days of the Barbados Game Fishing Association International fishing tournament, and that meant most of this small island nation’s charters had already been seconded to the competition. In turn, that meant there were few available boats to take me fishing

The solution? Thanks to the BGFA’s president, Frank Armstrong, I was invited to join Brave Heart, a boat from St. Lucia that was short on crew. And so I ended up fishing the weekend with boat owner Jimmy Jack, a Scotsman (hence the name of the vessel), and his captain, Griffith David from St. Lucia, where Jimmy keeps his boat. In all, we logged some 19 hours on the water together.

At any rate, our two days out on the roiling Atlantic made for quite a tale, and one you’ll have to read about in an upcoming issue of Outdoor Canada. In the meantime, special thanks also must go to Maria Bovell, marketing executive with the Barbados Tourism Authority, for teeing me up with Frank Armstrong at the BGFA.

And, of course, thanks go to my new fishing buddies, Jimmy and Griffith, not to mention Frank Armstrong. You guys are top drawer. (And Frank, special congrats also go out to you and your associates for the BGFA’s 50th anniversary.

If anyone’s looking for a now slightly experienced crew member for next year, you know where to find me. Jimmy, you get first dibs.

Registry foe: Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner

Canwest News Service is reporting today that the Conservative government in Ottawa is planning to once again extend the amnesty for those who have not signed on to the federal gun registry. Apparently, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews will officially announce the one-year extension during an  address today to the Manitoba Wildlife Federation.

The one-year reprieve will mark the fifth extension granted by the Conservatives since they first gained minority rule in 2006. The current deadline was set to expire May 16.

Meanwhile, the private member’s bill designed to scrap the registry, courtesy of  Portage la Prairie Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner, continues to wend its way toward passage having made it past second reading prior to the proroguing of parliament. According to the Toronto Star, Deputy RCMP Commissioner Bill Sweeney told a Commons committee yesterday “there’s strong evidence the long-gun registry promotes police and public safety” (to quote the Star).

Honoured: Bob Izumi is the public face of Izumi Outdoors

The folks at Izumi Outdoors Inc., along with Normark Canada’s retired head honcho, Roger Cannon, were honoured this morning at the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show during the annual general meeting of the Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association.

Bob and Wayne Izumi and their crew at Izumi Outdoors, along with Cannon, were this year’s recipients of the CSIA’s Chairman’s Awards for their contributions to the Canadian angling scene. Cannon, who spent 33 years putting Rapalas into the nation’s tackleboxes, is a champion of sportfishing in Canada and continues to serve on the CSIA board.

Izumi Outdoors, meanwhile, produces TV’s Real Fishing Show starring angling icon Bob Izumi, as well as Real Fishing magazine. The company is also the driving force behind the Fish For Ever Foundation, which raises funds for fisheries conservation projects in Ontario, and the popular Kids, Cops & Canadian Tire Fishing Days, a grassroots program designed to get children interested in fishing. Congratulations, folks! Well deserved.

Also during this morning’s AGM, Shimano Canada executive Phil Morlock brought CSIA members up to speed on the controversial plans in the U.S. to potentially ban  sportfishing in so-called Marine Protected Areas—giant swathes of ocean and inland waters—under the guise of conservation. Morlock wrote about the issue in the Fishing 2010 edition of Outdoor Canada; he was also interviewed about it on ESPN (click here for that story).

Finally at this morning’s meeting, the slate of directors for the next year was formally approved. Set to serve one more year in their current two-year terms are:

• Kim Rhodes (President), Lucky Strike Baitworks, Manufacturer
• Tom Brooke (Chair), Shimano Canada, Manufacturer
• Steve Dorey (Vice-President), Maurice Sporting Goods, Distributor
• Ray Sriubiskis (Sect/Treasurer), Cnd National Sportsmen’s Shows, Media
• Roger Cannon, Normark Inc Manufacturer
• Cam Thomson, Pure Fishing Canada Ltd., Manufacturer
• Shawn Glowka, KTL Canada Ltd Distributor
• Nelson Murakami, Natural Sports, Retailer
• Jim Estabrooks, Fishing World, Retailer
• Mark Harrison, Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd., Retailer
• David Johnson, The Fishin’ Hole, Retailer
• Jim Gourlay, Eastern Woods & Waters, Media
• Mark Stiffel, Brecks International Inc., Manufacturer
• Brent McCallum, Redl Sports, Distributor
• Salim Sachedina, Canadian-Sportfishing, Media
• Steve Sherman, Shimano Canada, Manufacturer

Not the giant: one of my little fellas

A young 'un: Ted with a smaller Tobin northern

Tobin tubby: Kyle with the big fish of the trip

I’m sitting here in the Saskatoon airport, sun-burned and tired, but with fresh fishing stories to tell. We’re about to board, and I know I’ll be way too tired to post another blog once I’m back in Ontario, so here are the photo highlights. To be honest, the fishing was a tad slow for Tobin Lake (up north at Nipawin, Saskatchewan), but we had a great three days running-and-gunning. Kyle Grona got the big fish, a 21-pounder (pictured here), plus the second biggest (16 pounds) and the third (15 pounds), all proof positive as to why Tobin is renowned for producing massive northerns. I guess Kyle had the hot tip-ups! My old fishing buddy Ted Cawkwell and I followed up with the smaller guys, including three eaters (under the 27-inch slot). In all, we landed 15 fish and put up almost as many flags that didn’t produce. I swear I got the monster of the trip, but got stumped (literally) when my fish wrapped around a chunk of timber and broke off. Okay, looks like we’re about to board. Enjoy the snaps!

Father and son: Shawn and Chase Galea

At the recent Spring Fishing and Boat Show’s Conservation Dinner, among the folks sharing my table was Shawn Galea from Advanced Taxidermy & Wildlife Design. I’d certainly been aware of Shawn’s reputation as a masterful artisan when it comes to replica fish mounts. In 2002, in fact, we here at Outdoor Canada magazine named Shawn and his business partner, James McGregor, among the 33 most influential people in the Canadian outdoors (click here for the article).

The way we continue to see it, their incredibly lifelike mounts have no doubt played a significant and positive role in the catch-and-release movement. I’d never spoken to Shawn personally, however, so it was great to finally get to meet him.

You can learn a lot about a guy just by the way he talks about his kids, and sure enough conversation turned to children, and in particular Shawn’s two-year-old boy, Chase (he turns three later this month). Like any good father, Shawn speaks of his son with immense admiration. But what really struck me was how proud he was of his little boy, in particular his determination.

You see, Chase was born with quad cerebral palsy, as well as auditory neuropathy, a condition whereby the signal from the inner ear to the brain is impaired. But even at age two, Chase has shown a remarkable capacity to make the most of his life, his physical impediments notwithstanding—and Shawn’s admiration is palpable. “He does therapy five hours a day without one complaint,” Shawn told me, his eyes welling up at the thought of what his son must endure. “He’s amazing.”

Of course, it’s not cheap to properly care for kids with such disabilities—the therapy alone costs $1,000 a week, and then there’s the specialized and expensive medical equipment, such as walkers, hearing ads, bath chairs and so on. So, to help raise funds for Chase and others like him, as well as raise awareness about CP and the attendant financial burdens, Shawn and his family launched the Chase Galea Fund.

Among other things, they’ll be holding a gala fundraiser event—“Chase” the Dream—on March 27 at La Primavera in Woodbridge. Tickets are just $125, which includes giveaways, live entertainment, a four-course dinner and open bar. There will also be live and silent auctions.

So far, the response has been overwhelming. “I’ve been doing taxidermy for 25 years, but I didn’t realized how many people knew us—and were willing to help,” says Shawn. “I really didn’t expect it.”

Visit www.thechasegaleafund.com for complete details regarding tickets and donations.