Egmont Heritage Center ‘Fishing Stories’

Last Saturday, Kent, Pop and I went to the Egmont Heritage Center Museum for a ‘Fishing Stories’ discussion panel. Pop was asked to be one of the members and he gladly agreed!

The night before we found his old fish logs from the 40’s which showed the daily catch, numbers and pounds of each species and of course the price. This was invaluable information and of great interest. He also had pictures of 3 of his boats (which he built). This is his troller, the ‘Mary Ann W’ which he built the year before I was born (1951). It is set up on an easel at the museum right in front of the painting of his boat!

Beverley Saunders was the moderator and started off by giving a short introduction then asked each of the 3 fishermen to tell how he got started fishing and about his various boats. Pop of course, is 95, but the other 2 members were both in the 70’s so they all went way back in time and had really interesting stories to tell of a time when fish were plentiful and commercial fishing was a major industry in British Columbia.

Billy Griffith and Leonard Silvey were the other 2 panel members and grew up fishing together in the local Egmont area – their lives parallel in many ways – and both still seining as independents today.

This is Leonard standing in front of his boat, the ‘Silver Sides’ which is painted in the mural.

Something which impressed me so much was the fact these 3 men who are all long time members of the community of Egmont are each represented in the mural with paintings of their boats. To have them together in the museum, in front of the mural was an incredible experience.

The discussion lasted over 2 hours with the audience of around 25, asking many interesting questions. I’m sure we could have sat all afternoon listening to these 3 recount story after story of their ‘most frightening experience’, ‘biggest catch’, their views of the ‘future of the fishing industry’, and other similar topics.

Billy’s boat, the ‘Tzoonie River’ is above Pop in the mural.

I was very proud of Pop (and told him so) as he spoke clearly, eloquently and stayed on track, relaying his entire boat building and fishing history and answered questions easily and humorously.

The entire event was videoed and when I receive a copy, you may be sure I’ll post it! It will be a treasured family heirloom.