The Revelstoke Rod & Gun Club’s annual banquet packed the Revelstoke Community Centre on Feb. 26, featuring dinner, prizes, draws, raffles, speeches and dancing into the night.
Hunters and fishermen received awards for the biggest and the best catches over the 2010 season. See the photos this page for details.
Guests of honour included Revelstoke mayor David Raven and Columbia River – Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald, who thanked the club for their efforts protecting public lands: “It’s a real treasure that we have here in British Columbia,” he said.
The huge number of raffle and draw items is a testimonial to the broad community support the club enjoys in the community.
Food is always a focus of the event. Tim Boaz and Ryan Bobroske of the Grizzly Sports Bar & Grill served up dinner including buffalo roast, bear ham, elk lasagna, moose meatballs, elk stroganoff, bison stirfry, moose cabbage rolls and much, much more.
Harvey Hantula helped raise funds with several auctions while George Buhler emceed the proceedings.
Club president Gary Krestinsky provided the Times Review with an update on the organization’s ongoing activities.
The club is seeking to relocate their rifle range from its current location on Camozzi Road to a new location above Revelstoke Dam off of Westside Road. Krestinsky said there are a few reasons for the planned move. Lots of new housing has sprung up around the existing range, creating safety and compatibility concerns. Also, the existing range is about 160 metres long, while the proposed range is 900 metres, to be located in a gravel ‘borrow-pit’ created during dam construction. The club is in the middle of negotiations and consulting with the provincial government for a long-term, nominal-rate tenure. “We should know what’s going to happen this summer,” Krestinsky said.
The club hosts its annual Family Fishing Day at Williamson’s Lake. They are currently completing the process to have the lake added to the stocking list to supplement the naturally-occurring fish with sterile Rainbow trout. Krestinsky reports the club has got the go-ahead to do it this year and is hopeful that their efforts will result in annual stocking.
Junior fisherman Ashton Todds was the first winner of the Harley Foat memorial trophy at the Saturday banquet. The new award is presented annually for the largest fish caught by a Junior. Foat, who passed away in 2008, was “one of the great local fisherman” says Krestinsky. “It’s a tribute to Harley and his fishing ability.”
The club is also pursuing efforts to improve the kokanee spawning grounds in Bridge Creek. The small, man-made channel near the Revelstoke industrial park is becoming silted over. The club is exploring options for restoring the site, which is a popular place to view the spawning redfish. Krestinsky said the effort to come up with a plan is ongoing.
The club is also working on access issues at Shelter Bay and Sprague Bay. Krestinsky said the B.C. Comptroller of Water Rights is scheduled to meet with them and tour the area to discuss options this month. The boat launch at Shelter Bay is deteriorating and the club has long advocated for improvements to the facility as a resource for Revelstoke sportfishers. Sprague Bay is located north of the Mica Dam off of the Big Bend highway. The main problem has been jurisdictional issues around road maintenance to the site, which provides access to the Kinbasket Reservoir.