I'm pretty sure that most attendees of my Creative Mornings lecture on Friday, April 13th got up and headed to W2 thinking that they were in for a breakfast talk about all of the things that make Vancouver an "awesome" place, and that I was going to stand up there and reaffirm what we've been telling you all for the past 4 years - that your city is, indeed, Awesome with a capital A. Luckily for them (and you, as the video is archived) I had decided months before that I was going to bring them something I hadn't yet flogged and deliver a subject far from what most would expect to come out of the lips of a person considered to be an urbanist. I flipped it on its ear, essentially "coming out" as a lifelong sportfisherman and sharing some stories about how people who do work in the conservation of the great resource are perhaps some of the most creative folks in our province.
Below is the video of the lecture about fishing and creativity as well as the Q+A that followed. Somewhat to my chagrin the dialogue with the audience ended up being mostly about Vancouver Is Awesome and not about fishing, but as most people were likely ready for a talk about V.I.A. they were also likely armed with questions regarding it, and not some random story about creativity and how it's being used to further conservation efforts. Fair enough!
http://vimeo.com/40637077
The main subjects of my lecture were the Pacific Salmon Foundation and the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society, and I ended on a project of my own that's loosely tied to fishing and conservation: my efforts to convince my friend Jesse Keefer to allow me to help him stock the pond at his resort (Bodega Ridge on Galiano Island) with rainbow trout. As you might already know if you were there or watched the video, Jesse said yes and the wheels were set in motion to make it happen.
And happen it will; BC Ferries is helping me get over to Galiano Island tomorrow morning so I can prepare the pond with Jesse (pictured below, in front of said pond) because the fish are arriving on Friday! Stay tuned for my reports from the field as I plan to take you inside everything involved in stocking a trout pond located roughly an hour out of Vancouver.
