A Year in Fly Fishing, 2018 – David Lambrougton

Every fly fisher needs a calendar to mark important events in the up-coming year. Like dates for New Zealand and its big browns. Or an annual camping trip with friends to a special Elk River spot. Or in search of big steelhead on a secret stretch of the Bulkley. Or your first trip to fabled Patagonia. Or…

Then there are mundane things to remember, like your significant other’s birthday, children and family, who you’ll likely present with some new dry flies, or skaters for summers on a canyon river all to yourselves. And there’s lots of room for even less significant dates to keep, like doctor’s appointments, that become more frequent the more years you have serviced your GOFO avocation (the Gods of Fishing Office). 

My favourite annual of most important duties with a fly rod, is David Lambroughton’s twelve months starting January 1. David has travelled all over the world, and fished some pretty stellar water. He’s also a stellar photographer, with colour saturation that is out of the world. His natural talent for composition brings some satisfyingly large shots to his big calendar that opens to 12 by 24 inches.

2018 begins with a good depth of field, tack sharp, of Swedish versions of dries we tie just a little differently on this side of the pond. And hence to a Kiwi dimple in an open blue-green stream in a grassy green field beneath white peaks. The sage advice beside the days suggests that large browns are loath to spit a really good fly. The other line of text points out that old timers advise singing the first line of God Save The Queen before striking.

Every month has a one of a kind image for you to salivate over for as many as 31 consecutive days. And another of his self evident, yet vital truths of life on succeeding pages: “I fish not to escape life, but life not to escape me.” Sage advice David.

I have had the great good fortune to fish the entire BC saltwater coast, its long fjords, coho, and chinook you can hardly lift from the water. Check out Maximum Salmon for me and good buddy 50-pound spring from Milbanke Sound. I have also done the Inside Passage at 9 knots allowing me to put all the individual fishing destinations into a single overall picture of the entire BC coastline.

David has also spent 30 years on the road. He’s done more than “2,000,000 miles of Global Angling Travel to everywhere in the world I ever dreamed of and many of them multiple times.” The countries include Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Fuji, Tahiti, the Seychelles, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Russia, all over the U.K., Ireland, Europe and North America. 

“My favourite places are B.C. and N.Z. and I love the photography every bit as much as the fishing.” This year will be his 38^th winter in New Zealand. I plan to join him in an upcoming year.

To see some of David’s images go to: https://www.facebook.com/dlambroughton. His calendars are sold pretty much all over the world, including Canada, the U.S., England, Germany, New Zealand and Australia. Locally, they can be found in Victoria at Robinson’s Fly Shop on Broad Street or in Vancouver at Michael & Young on Broadway.

David has a similar past to mine: “Fly Fishing has done so much for me. I got to travel the world and meet all kinds of incredible people that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I would have gladly done it all for free.”

David holds the view that “The best anglers in the world are the ones who love it the most and share it the most.” He also supports various conservation societies and has donate calendars to groups like the Federation of Fishing, The Henry’s Fork Foundation, and others. He’d like his legacy to be turning his work into non-profit charitable causes. 

Help the grand vision by contacting David for a calendar at: davidlambroughton@telus.net. He lives in Armstrong, BC, but can be found pretty much anywhere in the world fulfilling the aims of GOFO. Sounds good to me.