Column: HOOKE -Atlantic Salmon Federation Film Tour

The Lake Champlain TU Chapter held a Saranac River, Landlocked Atlantic salmon publicity event on March 7th. Over 60 conservation anglers and interested citizens attended the early spring event. It all started with a fall salmon fishing trip. As a writer, I take photos to jog my memory when authoring a story. This past year, I went a step further and gave all my fishing friends an 8x10 framed photo of a fish they caught. A new friend I met last fall, Gabriel, from Quebec, caught a nice salmon. He earned a framed photo. I noticed he was wearing a HOOKE ball cap. After chatting for a while, he mentioned he did marketing with HOOKE. Cool, I thought, I asked him if it was possible to set me up with a name and email. He did and the rest followed. I contacted HOOKE, and after email exchanges, we had a great deal made. They would supply us with 4 movies to help raise awareness of the Atlantic salmon's plight. Fred Campbell, the CEO of HOOKE, also filmed an introduction to the 4 films and mentioned the Saranac River and the Imperial Dam and how it restricts the landlocked salmon's migration. With Fred mentioning the Saranac River, it really personalized the local event for us. The HOOKE agreement was that any money raised would be donated to the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF). HOOKE also contacted ASF and lined up a speaker, Bill Bullock, to open the program. The date and time were set, and we had a beautiful location for the film showing at SUNY Plattsburgh. Some of our board members are SUNY Plattsburgh professors, so they get to use one of the conference rooms at no cost, a plus for the chapter. The day of the show, the weather was on our side. For the first week of March in the North Country, we had 50 degrees and no rain. After the long, frigid winter, the cabin fever folks were ready to escape from loading the woodstove and get out to see our great salmon fishing movies. I was one of them! The first movie was "Season of Change," which discussed the salmon's plight. Commercial fishing, striped bass eating the young smolts and warming waters. They mentioned the changing attitude of anglers and how they release fish now willingly. The second movie, "Against the Current", was about Fred's mother going salmon fishing on the Delay River when she had been diagnosed with cancer. She caught a beautiful salmon and stated, "You never give up!" A film about the healing power of nature. A lesson about salmon fishing and life! "In Kind", the third film, is about a love of fishing and falling in love. Kate and Scotty Sherin's impact fishing has had on their lives, a search for meaning and connection. The film celebrates wild rivers, adventure, conservation, and friendship. The "Wild Fish - Wild Places" film has Swedish Emilie Björkman traveling into the Canadian wilderness to fish the Hunt River. In this protected wilderness, she's reminded of what a healthy salmon river can still be. She meets Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and fishes his favorite flymph. Between each film we held a raffle where we gave away fly fishing books, hats, stickers, art prints, and a wooden fly box with salmon flies tied by chapter members. The deal was to donate all money to the Atlantic Salmon Federation, which we did $1160. The films brought the community together for the day and hopefully showed the ecological value of the Saranac River and its potential as a salmon fishery. Special thanks to Gabriel, HOOKE, Bill Bullock, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, and our TU Chapter board. It's all about the Atlantic Salmon folks, the fish, and their future! — Rich Redman is a Moriah, New York-based outdoors writer. His column runs monthly. He can be reached at richredmanrangeric@gmail.com

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Column: HOOKE -Atlantic Salmon Federation Film Tour

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