EKWOK LODGE FLY FISHING + GUIDE ACADEMY

Learn how to fly fish. Get hands-on job experience.
Find employment in our growing tourism industry. For young people ages 15-22 in the Bristol Bay region.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO
HELPED MAKE ACADEMY 2008
A SUCCESS!

Twelve young people, almost all from the Bristol Bay region, learned how to fly fish and guide on the Nushagak River during the rigorous four-day Ekwok Fly Fishing and Guide Academy Aug. 3-7. Seven young women and five young men from Aleknagik, Manokotak, Togiak, New Stuyahok, Portage Creek, Ekwok, Anchorage and Gakona, gained hands-on instruction from guide Nanci Morris Lyon and others. This first-ever academy, was part of a regional initiative to boost sustainable, local economic development in Bristol Bay and provide visitors with an authentic, local experience.

The academy included safety, first aid and CPR training, fly tying and knot tying workshops, Bristol Bay history lessons and local stories, tips on incorporating traditional knowledge into a guiding service, as well as client-guide role playing and many hours of fly fishing instruction on the waters of the Nushagak River.

Organizer Tim Troll, Executive Director of the local Nushagak-Mulchatna/Wood-Tikchik Land Trust, said this first academy was a success in that it fully engaged students in learning about what it really takes to be a guide. Most students arrived with “little or no” fly fishing and sport fishing experience, he said, “at the end of the academy, most didn’t want to leave.”

He attributes this to the instructors who were “skilled, loved their sport, enjoyed working with youth, and genuinely wanted to develop local guiding talent for the sport fish industry.”

• Read more from the Press Release
• Academy Curriculum + Rough Agenda
• Instructor Bios + Ekwok Lodge Information
• Photos from Academy '08

WHEN + WHERE

Ekwok Lodge at the old village site of  Akuluriqaalleq
on the Nushagak River in Ekwok, Alaska
The next academy is being offered Summer, 2009

The next Fly Fishing + Guide Academy will be held next summer in the Bristol Bay region. Check back here for updates! We're hoping sponsors will again donate and volunteer enough resources so that there will be no cost to Academy participants.

WHO

Instructor: Professional Guide,
Nanci Morris Lyon

Nanci's been fly-fishing and sport guiding in the Bristol Bay area since 1986 and in the Kenai Homer area for a few years before that. Her passion for fishing secluded streams and the Naknek and Nushagak rivers as a professional guide is paired with her passion for caring for the waters she loves and the people who depend on them. She speaks to students, offers seminars and gives fly-tying and casting demonstrations nationwide. Nanci founded and owns Katmai Fishing Adventures in King Salmon, is on the G. Loomis professional fishing team and has been featured in major, national fishing magazines and television shows. She’s also a pilot and holds numerous saltwater fly-fishing world records.

NOMINATE A YOUNG PERSON FOR NEXT YEAR'S ACADEMY!

We're looking for motivated young people, ages 15-22, interested in learning more about guiding or other tourism and ecology-related career in the Bristol Bay area. Please complete the application and submit it either by:

• fax: 907.222.5426
• email: shelly@agnewbeck.com
• mail: 441 West Fifth Avenue, Suite 202; Anchorage AK 99501

Priority placement will be given to applicants from the Bristol Bay region.

SPONSOR A PARTICIPANT

This Academy is part of a Bristol Bay regional initiative aiming to train local youth who will become the next generation of home-grown leaders Bristol Bay's tourism industry. Those successfully completing the camp will have opportunities to work as a guide next summer. Funding has been generously provided by regional sponsors but it doesn't cover the costs of fishing equipment or the full airfare to Ekwok for some participants.

Waders, fishing equipment and a fly kit for each student costs about $250. Please share a small donation to help a local young person in a big way if you can. Any amount, $25, $50, $100 will help fund gear and travel scholarships. Students will learn to use their fishing equipment at the camp, and keep the gear to continue practicing their skills so they'll be prepared for a job next season.

Donations can be made to:

• Ekwok Lodge Fly Fishing & Guide Academy
  c/o Nushagak-Mulchatna/Wood-Tikchik Land Trust
  PO Box 1388
  Dillingham, AK 99576
  Attn: Tim Troll  
  
• Phone: 907.842.2832
  
• The organization is a tax exempt nonprofit 501(c)3 organization (Tax ID# 31-1721762).
  

Your support for the Ekwok Lodge Fly Fishing and Guide Academy helps aspiring guides develop practical skills and find a job in the region they know so well.

• If you're interested in being a camp sponsor or want to volunteer, please contact Agnew::Beck Consulting at 907-222-5424 or e-mail shelly@agnewbeck.com or Tim Troll at ttroll@tnc.org. If you'd like to make a donation to help sponsor an aspiring young Bristol Bay fishing guide, please contact the Nushagak-Mulchatna Wood-Tickchik Land Trust.

Sponsored by the Nushagak-Mulchatna/Wood-Tikchik Land Trust, Bristol Bay Native Corporation and Trout Unlimited. Additional funding or volunteer support was provided by the University of Alaska Bristol Bay Campus, Ekwok Natives Ltd., Nunamta Aulekestai, Ekwok Tribal Council, The Nature Conservancy, Ekwok Lodge, Agnew:Beck Consulting, Chris Casey of Juneau Flyfishing Goods, Chris Carr, Evan Franulovich, J.J. Pilgreen, Mike Kroenke, Luki and Paulene Akelkok, Peter Walcott, Buck Williams, Randy Hastings, 6th Avenue Outfitters and Cabelas.