When a call goes out for volunteers, some folks sit on their hands. Ken Brunskill raises his. In the year and a half since he became president of the Northern California Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers (the federation added “International” to its name just this last spring), Ken has shouldered the daunting task of energizing that institution, long a player in the arena of conservation issues affecting the waters of California and the fish that inhabit them, at a time when it sometimes seems as if the energies of fly fishers are being diffused into myriad different channels, from YouTube to the California Water Project.
And if that wasn’t enough, Ken took the lead in founding Veterans First Fly Fishing, a group with the NCCIFFF that brings the physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits of fly fishing to patients in Veterans Administration hospitals. Ken also helped adapt and improve innovative devices that allow a tyer with the use of only one hand to tie flies and to fish effectively with fly lines — the One Hand Tying Station and the One Hand Line Handling Platform. California fly fishing needs more people like Ken, and we wanted to find out more about what makes him tick.
Bud: All the presidents of angling-related clubs that I know are individuals who are distinguished by their voluntary commitment to what has to be an often frustrating and frequently thankless job — motivating members, guiding the group, and sometimes soothing differences among other committed volunteers. What brought you to volunteer for a leadership role in the NCCIFFF and to take the lead in creating Veterans First Fly Fishing?
Ken: Some of my friends (actually a lot of them) tell me that I need to learn how to keep my hand at my side and not be so willing to raise it when someone asks for volunteers to get involved in issues and projects, but that is my nature. Whenever I perceive that there is a potential to make a difference — well, you can guess the rest. In the year and a half since I assumed the role of NCCIFFF president, I’ve questioned my ability to fulfill that role and whether or not I can in fact make the needed difference. The members and the fly-fishing public reading this column can be assured that I will do everything within my limits — and that the NCCIFFF needs their help. In fact we are looking to fill both the education and the development positions on the board of directors with individuals who want to actively participate in helping make a difference. We want and need the energy that your readers can contribute.
Bud: For those who don’t know, could you describe the mission of the International Federation of Fly Fishers and the role of the NCCIFFF in implementing that mission?
Ken: The Northern California Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers, with its 700-plus members and 40-plus clubs, is one of the 16 councils that make up the International Federation of Fly Fishers. The IFFF and councils such as the NCCIFFF together form “the only organized advocate for fly fishers on an national and regional level,” as the IFFF Website puts it (http://www.fedflyfishers.org). The mission of the IFFF, as it states there, is eightfold:
- Advance the art, science and sport of fly fishing as a way of fishing most consistent with the preservation and use of game fish resources;
- Be a political voice for organized fly fishing;
- Promote conservation of recreational resources;
- Facilitate and improve the knowledge of fly fishing;
- Elevate the standard of integrity, honor, and courtesy of anglers;
- Cherish the spirit of fellowship among anglers everywhere;
- Establish and maintain liaison with other organizations of anglers, conservationists and government agencies concerned with the sport of angling;
- Keep its members informed of developments of interest.
The IFFF is an umbrella organization. The NCCIFFF is one of the panels of that umbrella, as are the other councils and their members. It is the members and clubs that provide the casters, tyers, and environmental watchdogs who promote the “art” and the “science” of fly fishing and do a lot of the hard work of the “conservation” and “restoration” of angling resources. The IFFF office in Montana is the central mechanism of this umbrella.
Bud: As your description suggests, both the international and the council (regional) levels of the Federation are focused on clubs. Why is that, and what does it mean? And what is the role of the NCCIFFF in relation to organizations such as California Trout and Trout Unlimited?
Ken: Clubs are important for the growth and perpetuation of fly fishing. Clubs are an excellent resource for beginner fly fishers — a lot of us got started fly fishing through a class conducted by a club. They are also important resources for improving our skills as fly fishers, as well as for promoting the sport and the integrity and courtesy of fly anglers. One underappreciated feature of belonging to a club is the camaraderie and fellowship that is the glue that holds a club together.
I’m glad you asked about the NCCIFFF’s relation to CalTrout and Trout Unlimited. We share several common goals. Both CalTrout and Trout Unlimited are huge players in conservation efforts, particularly when it comes to trout. However, the IFFF is about fly fishing for just about everything that swims, except mammals and reptiles. When it comes to environmental conservation, education, and restoration issues, we partner with CalTrout and TU as often as possible.
Bud: With regard to increasing the number of people who participate in the sport, does the NCCIFFF have any outreach strategy of its own, or does it rely entirely upon the clubs to bring people into the sport of fly fishing?
Ken: The NCCIFFF does everything we can to promote fly fishing. We participate in the Sacramento International Sportsmen’s Exposition by assisting the organization and coordinating the demonstration tyers. We also conduct our popular Learning Center at the Fly Fishing Show in Pleasanton. Not all of the members in the NCCIFFF belong to clubs, but we operate our booth not only to promote fly fishing, but to tell attendees where they can find and locate a club in their locality and how to contact that club. It is amazing how many people are not actively interested in fly fishing, yet come to these shows out of curiosity. This is our golden opportunity, and if we can connect them with a club, they have a better chance of becoming fly fishers and, we hope, members of the IFFF.
Bud: One of the tasks you face is rejuvenating the NCCIFFF and raising its profile. What has been the history of the organization, and what directions are you and your board seeking to pursue in the future?
Ken: That’s a harder question for me, being a relative newcomer to the NCCIFFF. Initially, I was only peripherally involved with the NCCIFFF during the past few years, actually since 2011, and I’ve had the reins only since mid-2013. So my history does not take me back very far. As you can guess, that is both beneficial (a new broom sweeps clean) and has its challenges (new ideas are not always readily embraced).
The 2015 board is starting with a good foundation, and we recognize that 2015 is time for rebuilding. We understand the need to bump up the communication level with NCCIFFF members and with the fly-fishing population of Northern California. The federation has so much talent and knowledge, but it is imperative that we identify and utilize our members’ skills and apply them through shows, fly-fishing festivals, seminars in fly shops, and youth organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Veterans First Fly Fishing, as well as partnering with other like-minded organizations. The IFFF and councils such as the Northern California Council are uniquely positioned with our casting instructor certification program, fly-tying instruction through the new Fly Tying Awards program of the IFFF, and our conservation efforts to be the standout spokespersons for fly fishing and all it means to the public at large.
Bud: My sense of the current state of the local angling groups that I know is that they are faced with somewhat declining membership, and their demographics also tend to skew toward older members. Some of the latter may just be attributable to the ways in which jobs and families leave little spare time for younger persons, but I’ve heard the Internet blamed for the decline of local clubs, enabling those interested in angling to connect in other ways and on a different level. What do you think of that claim, and what is the NCCIFFF doing to build a vibrant membership in the Internet Age?
Ken: Observing the prevalence of handheld devices not only among the younger folks, but among the middle-aged, as well, and everyone’s need to be constantly connected, we have a huge hill to climb. Undoubtedly, the NCCIFFF is no different from any other organization, with high-profile periods and great growth and lower-profile periods and slower or no growth. The economy over the past four to five years, in conjunction of the disappearance of local fly shops, has contributed to a falling off of excitement about fly fishing and shrinking club memberships. With respect to the demographics skewing away from the younger generation, the fly-fishing community will benefit significantly with more great clubs such as the Tri-Valley Fly Fishers, who this year organized 24 volunteer instructors, many of whom are NCCIFFF members, to teach the skills for achieving the Boy Scouts of America fly-fishing merit badge to approximately 40 scouts at the Willits Scout Reservation. This is but one such instance of what can be done, and I had the good fortune to participate in it.
There is one thing I would like to get off my chest in this regard — probably something that anyone who is a club president or leader of any volunteer organization would say. President Kennedy had some eloquent words about people and the government that apply to organizations: “Ask not what can be done for you, but what you can do.”
Too many people want to sit on their backsides and expect others to do all the heavy lifting. We have some serious environmental challenges ahead of us. I really do believe that education of the younger generations is the key. Why? Because if we can find the way to involve more young people in fly fishing, they would begin to see, as I did, that the quality and quantity of our waters is the canary in the coal mine telltale indicator of our environment. Young people have the energy and the resourcefulness to make the difference, I hope!
Bud: As with most angling groups, conservation plays an important role in what the NCCIFFF does. How is the council responding to environmental challenges?
Ken: We are but one part of a much larger effort to educate the public and vigorously advocate for better management of all waters for our fisheries. The IFFF’s slogan is “All fish and all waters.” We have some excellent and talented people on and off of the NCCIFFF board actively participating in dam relicensing issues, working with agencies on regulatory issues, supporting clubs with education of our youth through Trout in the Classroom and Steelhead and Salmon in the Classroom programs, and partnering with many conservation-action groups far too numerous to mention here. All of us understand that the major water consumers are corporate entities and by virtue of that will always be more concerned about their bottom lines than they are about the quality or quantity of the water for fish.
Bud: As all fly fishers know, fly fishing can be a form of therapy. There are several groups that help bring its healing powers to others. How did Veterans First Fly Fishing get started, and what does it do?
Ken: Great question. Veterans First Fly Fishing holds a special place for me. Being a U.S. Navy veteran who had the good fortune to have served in the late 1950s, even though America was not at war with anyone, did not alter the kinship feeling I share with every veteran. After I retired in 1998, fly fishing rose to a much higher status in my life and came to consume more of my leisure hours and days. In 2008, following double bypass surgery, with prescription costs skyrocketing, I turned to the Veterans Administration and its medical facilities. After becoming a VA patient and hearing about how fly fishing could help veterans heal, I appealed to my home club, the Mission Peak Fly Anglers, and quick as a wink, we began volunteering at the Livermore VA hospital. Eventually, that work became the Veterans First Fly Fishing (VFFF) program of the NCCIFFF.
Our name is our mission statement. Our program leaders determine their own programs (we call them “workshops”) and schedules in conjunction with the VA’s recreational therapist. Primarily, the workshops consist of fly-tying or fly-casting instruction. Then, when funding and participation allow, we get the veterans out fishing, mainly in locations within California.
Bud: You have a background in mechanical engineering. How did the One Hand Tying Station and the One Hand Line Handling Platform come about? How can interested groups find out more about them? The way the tools are put to use is truly ingenious. Have you ever thought of marketing the system to two-handed tyers, who sometimes could use a third hand?
Ken: My friend Gene Kaczmarek, who has been with us since the very beginning of VFFF and who at the time was part of the national federation’s tying committee, learned of a one-handed tying platform called the Evergreen Hand, conceived by Jesse Scott of Evergreen, Washington. He and Jesse communicated, and we received some photographs. Gene then asked another member of Mission Peak Fly Anglers, Ed Huff, who is a wizard with wood and metal, to see if he could fabricate a copy of the Evergreen Hand. Ed, as he often does, improved the design significantly, adding a base and making the entire device into a stand-alone fly-tying station. The device is a natural evolution and improvement of the original concept. We like to call our version the Evergreen Hand / Fly Tying Station, giving a deserved nod to Jesse. My own contribution has been several of the material-handling devices — the Hair Grabber has been particularly well received. Designs of all the tools are on the Veterans First Fly Fishing Facebook page and through the Federation Web site at http://www.fedflyfishers.org/Tying/Projects/TheEvergreenHand.aspx. These designs were purposely posted in the public domain to prevent any efforts at patenting them, making them free to everyone.
Bud: What effect has Veterans First Fly Fishing had on the veterans it helps? How does fly fishing help deal with the physical and mental traumas of war?
Ken: These are common questions and are easily answered. Here is what we hear from the VA’s therapists. Fly tying and fly casting provide an activity that is stimulating and that requires two things simultaneously — focus and active participation, both of which provide the therapist with another tool to use, demonstrating to veterans that there are other healthy activities to occupy their time. As those of us who tie or cast know, the mental and physical components of these activities involve learning and concentration
— how to control thread and material or hand-eye coordination to place the fly softly where we want it, all bringing subtle satisfactions and rewards.
Bud: I’ve been dwelling on policy wonkery and programs here — let’s talk about just plain ol’ fly fishing, finally. I gather you began angling as a kid, then returned to it later in life. When and how did that happen, and what did you find in fly fishing that has fueled your commitment to groups such as the Northern California
Council since then? And with all that you do, do you still get to fish much? Where and for what?
Ken: Correct, I began fishing with a fly rod in the late 1940s, but was casting a worm or a salmon egg. I did not know there were any other kinds of rods until the early 1950s, when open-faced spinning reels became in vogue. I was a conventional-gear fisherman for a long time, but something kept pulling me back toward lighter gear, ending with two-pound-test line and a flyweight rod with large guides casting the smallest of spoons and spinners. Around the late 1980s, my kids were through college, my career was approaching a close, and I wanted to find more of a challenge. A chance fly-fishing trip with a colleague brought the conventional-gear phase to a close and the fly rod back out, closing the equipment circle.
That change bought about an increased awareness of the environment. Now that I think about it, I suppose that entomology and fly-tying had a profound affect on me. How could one not be aware of the microorganisms and how the whole food chain ties together? Then, as I said earlier, attending meetings of the Northern California Council . . . being at the election board meeting where nobody wanted to take on the leadership my propensity of not being good at keeping my hand at my side I ended up here as the current president of the NCCIFFF.
I do get out and fish, although not as much as before — maybe it’s age, certainly it has been physicality. After achieving the three-quarters-of-a-century mark with arthritis, getting around and hiking in several miles is not in the picture as it once was. Thankfully, a wonderful wife of 52 years who still puts up with a few extended trips a annually, when I’ll fish any water any time in any weather for just about anything. I get out about 60 days a year, and from what I observe and hear, that is more than average, making me a fortunate individual. Where else but in America can one fish for surfperch, stripers, shad, steelhead, bass, and multiple species of trout in the space of a few days and on public land? We can and should thank our veterans for this privilege!
Bud: Here we are at the traditional Silly Tree Question. If you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be?
Ken: I’d want to be a coastal redwood near a fern-lined stream where steelhead would swim by and wave their fins, saying, “Hello, Ken.”
