April Vokey lives in British Columbia and is an avid angler and steelhead, salmon and trout guide. She was born with an unexplainable passion for fishing. As a young girl she coaxed her father into going fishing and by the age of sixteen, when she was old enough to drive, she was devoting all of her free time to her local rivers.
She is passionate about Spey casting to wild steelhead, the environment and tying Salmon/Steelhead flies. She has made it her mission to encourage and introduce aspiring anglers to the sport, in hopes that it will bring them as much pleasure as it has brought her. She takes pride in being an eternal student of fly-fishing and an active conservationist.
In 2007 she founded B.C. based guiding operation, Fly Gal Ventures, where she presently guides and instructs anglers on some of B.C.’s best steelhead destinations. Fly Gal’s trips and events can be found at www.flygal.ca
April is a Federation of Fly Fishers Certified Casting Instructor and fly-fishing columnist. She is a member of the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association and is the Canadian field editor for Chasing Silver magazine and the steelhead columnist for Fly Fusion magazine. Her works and photos can also be found in Fly Fisherman Magazine,Salmon Trout Steelheader (STS),Field and Stream, Canadian Fly Fisher, Flyfishing and Tying Journal and several other international publications.
April sits on the board of directors for the Steelhead Society of BC and the BC Federation of Fly Fishers.
She is the founder and director of the popular fundraiser, Flies for Fins (www.flies4fins.com), and in 2011 she proudly joined the Patagonia ambassador team, where she continues to assist in the design and direction of an upcoming women’s line of fishing apparel.
Of all the sports and past times to participate in... Why fly fishing?
Everybody fly fishes for their own reasons.
Personally I fly fish because I feel the world is out of control; concrete buildings, cut-throat corporations, computer obsessions... This is not what human beings were intended for.
Fishing for me is the last and final activity that I can partake in where I am able to just disappear from this world and actually do what I was born to; stalk, hunt, spend my days outside, and simply enjoy my time away from the man-made chaos.
Fellow angler or not - Who has influenced you the most?
My mom.
She returned to school to finish her degree when I was a little girl… I watched her lead the way as a working woman in a sales career that was male dominated and unkind to her.
She smiled through the pains, continued to be more successful than her opponents and did so while being a Girl Guide leader, mother of two, supportive wife, survivor of a traumatising youth and a damn fine person.
She would set out to do something ambitious and she would do so thoroughly, with integrity and honesty.
She told me I could be whoever I wanted to be in this world and I believed her; my Mom is my hero.
Was becoming an instructor & guide just a natural progression for you?
Well, that is two very different questions.
Guiding came naturally… I was practically guiding full-time before I was ever actually paid for it. I took everyone I knew fishing and the paid guiding quickly followed suit as word spread. Several years later I started my company Fly Gal Ventures www.flygal.ca.
Instructing took a little more coaxing.
I refused to teach until I was certain that I was a very capable and quality instructor. I studied thoroughly, practised daily and completed my CCI through the Federation of Fly Fishers.
I am working daily on being the best instructor that I can be…
Making a living in the sport... Easy or not?
Define “living”?
For my lifestyle, one which is simple and low-maintenance, I am quite content. The truth is that I have my fingers in very many pots within the fishing industry and I own more businesses than most people know.
It’s not easy, but if a business person thinks differently and is ambitious enough, earning a “living” in the sport is quite possible.
Dead or alive... Who would you most like to spend a day fishing with?
Mark Twain.
Fishing anywhere in the world with an unlimited budget ... Where would it be and for what?
The Seychelles for milkfish, giant trevally and those magnificently yellow permit.
What organisations do you actively support?
I sit on the board of directions for the Steelhead Society of BC and the BC Federation of Fly Fishers, however I do some work with the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, Idaho Steelhead & Salmon Unlimited and several others.
I own a fundraiser called Flies for Fins and we support whoever needs our help the most at the time…
It's clear you have a passion for, and work hard at conservation within our sport... If you were given only two wishes, one to start something and the other to stop something... What would they be?
Great question!
Start - I would convince the world to operate on standards of true integrity and authenticity…
Stop - I would get rid of those who couldn’t figure it out.
I’m quite frankly tired and exasperated by the hypocrisies from the people in this world who argue sustainability yet are the first to put oil wells in the middle of our most precious resources.
There’s a compromise to this problem (after all each of us need to drive to work) but there is no excuse for blatant lies and harmful actions by some of the worlds’ most “respected” companies.
How do male anglers react to you as a female angler and instructor?
As one would expect; some love me… some love to hate me. Some simply don’t care.
How would you like us to remember you as an angler?
As one with integrity and authenticity…
One who cared and did her best to help change what she could; encouraging women, children, and men to all strive to have something worth fighting for.
Tell us something about a cause you champion
Flies for Fins
Flies for Fins is a charitable organisation whose primary mission is to promote and raise funding for specific projects dedicated to the conservation of various B.C. fisheries that are in need of help. Presently, there are numerous fisheries in the province of British Columbia that are in desperate need of funding assistance and public awareness.
While most of these fisheries are fortunate to have the aid of other concentrated non-profit organisations, these organisations often still need significant assistance with fundraising. Flies for Fins was founded with the hopes that we could assist these organisations achieve their goals by reaching out to conservation minded anglers around the world.
Flies for Fins carefully considers and partakes in discussions with these organisations before committing to assist them in order to reach their maximum funding potential. This is done by collecting details of the current proposed project (via the selected affiliated organisation) and establishing a set amount of money that needs to be raised in order to achieve the desired goal.
The Flies for Fins project works by giving conservation minded anglers an outlet to donate flies and equipment which is then added to our e-commerce system and available for purchase by individuals around the world via our website. This provides multiple ways to contribute; donations, purchases, or both.
100% of the proceeds from the sale of these items go to help fund the currently selected project.Flies for Fins is operated by a small team of dedicated volunteers that maintain the website and shipping/receiving of donated items.
Our next round of fundraising at flies for fins is for the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition and our current battle against the Sacred Headwaters issue.
Further details about April and her guided trips can be found here at www.flygal.ca