The Franklin Club is committed to the finest professional onsite training and informative workshops with The Franklin Club Pros
Dave Forgeron
At the age of ten, introduced to fly fishing by my uncles during summer holidays at my father’s homestead in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, I returned to Niagara with a handful of flies and a new interest. At that time I knew of no one who fly fished in Niagara and did a bit of what I could on my own, and with the help of the rare articles in “Field and Stream,” started a slow journey.
Through my teens and twenties, I enjoyed fishing but typically used other fishing methods since, as intriguing as fly fishing was, it was still the most inaccessible.
All this was about to change with my discovery of the World Wide Web and the website of a dry-witted Scott, Ian Colin James. His sense of humour and informative articles caught me. Ian was living in London. Now at this time, my daughter was attending Western University and I travelled to London often. I had booked a guiding session with Ian and when I suggested we meet for a coffee, Ian in his gracious style was up for it and so began a great friendship. Over the next several years Ian and I had numerous two-hour coffee sessions, during which he would generously fill my head with fly fishing wisdom and often he would hand me a kit bag of materials from which I was to tie up my “homework”. Ian was a world-renowned fly tyer and certainly motivated me in that pursuit as well.
Today I believe I am recognized nationally as a tyer and classic loch style patterns and delicate CDC dry flies are among my most enjoyable. Flies of my own creation have also found their way into many competitor fly boxes.
During one session with Ian, I mentioned that one of my greatest appreciations for fly fishing was that it was my only non-competitive pursuit. Two weeks later Ian asked me and a number of other rookies to band together and to try our luck at the Canadian Fly Fishing Championships in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. And so it began…
Competitive History:
- 2008 Canadian Fly Fishing Championships, Mont Tremblant, finished dead last
- 2013 CFFC, Individual Silver Medalist, Bronze Team Medalist (Dredgehogs), Calgary, Alberta
- 2014 Team Member, Team Canada, Commonwealth Championships, England
- 2015 CFFC, Individual Bronze Medalist, Mont Tremblant
- 2016 Gold Team Medalist, Commonwealth Championships (Team Canada) Mont Tremblant
- 2017 CFFC, Team Bronze Medalist (Dredgehogs), Parklands, Manitoba
- From 2013 to 2017, these are the most medals won nationally or internationally in Canada.
- 2018 Selected to Team Canada to defend our gold medal in Northern Ireland.
Techniques: Loch Style or Bank Styles: lures, boobies and blobs, buzzers and chironomids, dabblers and classic wets
River Styles: euro nymphing, swinging wets, spiders, soft hackles, streamer tactics, dries
Coaching and Club Experience: Professionally, I coach squash. Presently I am at Ridley College. I competed at the national level and have medalled several times at the Canadian National Masters. I work with athletes from the age of eight to masters in their seventies. I am certified as a squash coach by Squash Canada and the USSRA at an elite Level III and have been Ontario University Athletics, Squash Coach of the Year on three occasions.
Connie Wells Graham
My father’s passion for Fly Fishing and the movie “a River Runs Through It” were all part of my inspiration for pursuing this hobby but ironically due to my lack of maturity, it took several years for me to become really passionate. I have been fishing with a spinning rod since I was 10 years old but didn’t get into fly fishing until about 3 years ago. My only regret…it took me so long!
Though I am a “rookie” by all counts, I have already had some incredible experiences and caught some extraordinary fish. I have fished a little bit locally but fly fishing has become my excuse to travel and see some amazing places, experience some interesting cultures and “stalk” some extraordinary species.
To date, I have fished the Grand Cascapedia and the Miramichi for Atlantic Salmon, the Cowlitz in Seattle and the Cattaraugus for Steelhead, West Yellowstone, and the Madison in Montana for trout and Panama for Tarpon and Snook.
The introduction to fly fishing has changed my life. I’ve made some awesome new friends with deep connections, learned a lot about the sport and myself and I can’t wait for my next adventure.
Sheldon Seale
Sheldon Seale has been fishing all his life and fly fishing for nigh on 30 years. He is a past president and director of the IWFFC, a long standing member of T.U. Canada and Friends of the Grand River. He has written numerous articles for the Canadian Fly Fisher magazine and other periodicals and is the current Fly Tying Editor for the New Fly Fisher E-zine. He is an instructor at the WILSON’S fly fishing school (an Orvis endorsed program), a fly fishing guide in southern Ontario and frequently demonstrates and lectures on fly fishing and fly tying at sports shows and clubs. He has fished over much of Canada, in the U.S. and Caribbean but, most of all, enjoys introducing the arts and skills of fly fishing and fly tying to the public.
As a specialty, he will also tie flies for your “trip of a lifetime”, where he will research the patterns and tie 2 or 3 dozen flies specific for your trip.
Ian Troup
Ian has been fly fishing for over 25 years. Ian grew up fishing the Great Lakes and surrounding rivers during his youth in the Niagara region, then moved to explore the rivers of South Western Ontario and Vancouver Island.
A firm believer that you never stop learning, Ian spends all his free time improving his fly fishing skills and has had the benefit of learning from the best anglers around the globe, including World Champions and guiding mentorship from Ian Colin James.
Ian has a passion for competitive angling and helped coach the first all women team to compete in the Canadian National Championships. Ian is a current member of Team Canada – recently winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships and and individual silver medal at the Canadian Nationals.
Ian was certified as an FFF Fly Casting instructor by renowned casting expert Bruce Richard and is a Board Member of Fly Fishing Canada.
Brian Vickery
I bring many years of fly fishing experience from the waters across North America. I have lead many fly tying sessions at the Headwaters Club and The Hackle Club. In addition I am a cane rod builder with many years’ experience. My first rod was completed in 1976 and is still a delight to use.
Over the past 20 plus years I have headed up the Conservation program at the Islington Sportsmen’s Club. We raise Atlantic Salmon, Brown and Brook Trout.
Michael Wong
I became a certified casting instructor with the American Casting Association in 2009. Since then I have been teaching fly casting in my free time. I have participated in a number of casting tournaments and won quite a few.
My father took me to the Sportsman’s Show back in 1970. There was a casting competition at the show. I was intrigued by the casters of how accurate they can cast into the targets and hitting with bull’s eye. That is what got me started in joining the Toronto Sportsman Club in 1990 to learn how to cast and later compete in casting completion for accuracy. After learning how to cast with the bait casting equipment for two seasons. I took one winter season in an indoor gym to learn how to fly cast and then took up fly tying lessons from a local fly shop.
I have received a certificate from the Province of Ontario in 1994 for participation in the North American Casting Championship held in Toronto. I won my first medal in fly casting competition in 2004. I have won all round in fly casting, 3 casting events combined from 2006 to 2011. In 2010, I won the all-round in 3 spinning and 3 fly casting events. I took home 6 gold medals and a trophy for winning all 6 events in the B Division. Quite an accomplishment in my casting career. I have moved on to the A division and won 2 gold medals in 2015 in fly casting events.
I am proud to be associated with the Kasting 4 Kids event where over the past couple of years I have volunteered my time to such a worthy cause.
Rob Cesta
Born and raised in Toronto, Rob’s beginnings as an angler started on a small brook trout stream just outside of Burk’s Falls, Ontario at his family’s farm property. Like most kids, a box of worms from the local gas station and a pocket full of red and white bobbers were his weapon of choice. His passion for angling carried forward through into his teen years, leading Rob to pick up his first fly rod to hit the lakes of Muskoka for smallmouth bass. Since then, he has never looked back.
In the summer of 2012, Rob attended the Clark Fork River Guide School just outside of St. Regis, Montana, gaining knowledge and skill in aquatic entomology, Mackenzie drift boat maneuvering, and principles of fly casting. After pursuing the guide life for a few years, Rob could not pass up an incredible opportunity to own & operate his own fly shop in downtown Toronto. From fly fishing for Atlantic salmon on pristine Quebec rivers, to targeting bones, permit and tarpon on the flats, Rob has done it all and is eager to share his passion and knowledge!
Chris Krysciak
Chris started tying and fly fishing when he was 8 years old, since then he has fished everywhere from Cuba to Montana to British Columbia to Quebec and has developed a passion for not only the fishing but the history and art of the sport. Chris has been to the International Fly Tying Symposium as a demonstration tyer, featured in fly tying magazines and has won fly tying competitions abroad, his favourite area of tying is classic Atlantic salmon flies as well as big musky and predator flies.
For about eight years now he has been a commercial tyer and is now the proud custom tyer for Drift Outfitters. Whatever that effective pattern is that you’ve only ever found one of, he can tie it! Chris is also an avid competitive angler and loves all of the innovative new techniques the competitive world breeds