Maple Ridge resident Matthew Mikes is a national champion in fly fishing.
Mikes took first place at the Canadian National Fly Fishing Championship held from July 1-4, in Merritt and Princeton.
The competition was held at Corbett Lake, Batstone Lake, Face Lake, and the Similkameen River, between the town of Princeton and the highway bridge seven kilometres west of Hedley.
There were three lake sessions to the competition, two river sessions, and a rest session.
Mikes said he has been competing for the past 14 years in the sport and participated at the nationals four times.
“This recent individual win was supported by a team win,” he said, as his team, Kingfisher White, won gold as well.
The individual competition saw Brian Danilkiewicz take second place, and John Wilkinson nab the third spot.
In teams competition, the All-Stars took second, and Mark Anderson team took bronze.
“Along with having other local anglers participate, a highlight was having a youth angler from our community participate on another team and encouraged by all anglers,” said Mikes, pointing out how the fishing community supports one another.
Ann Thompson of Corbett Lake Resort hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.
“This was an excellent event that brought Canada’s finest competition anglers together from across the country to compete and test their skills over 3 lake venues- Batstone, Corbett and Face lakes and 1 river venue the Similkameen River,” said Stanton Jack with the B.C. Fly Fishing League, thanking all the anglers that made the journey from abroad to compete in the event.
The event was open to all Canadian residents who held a Fly Fishing Canada membership.
For more information about the sport go to: https://flyfishers.ca/, https://facebook.com/groups/512880659985241/, or https://www.flyfishingcanada.net/.