HAFFT History

 HAFFT History 

         Hamilton Area Fly Fishers and Tyers (HAFFT) was founded in 1992 when 55 people gathered at the Terryberry Library to form a club based on their common passion for the sport of fly fishing. One of the first orders of business was to decide on a name for the club. The Hamilton Area Fly Fishers and Tyers was born. The stated purpose of the club was: “To share information among people with a common interest in Fly Fishing and Fly Tying and to promote the sport of Fly Fishing”. Over the years we have also met at Westmount Secondary School, Sherwood Library and currently meet at the Hamilton Wentworth Police Association.

         The club was founded by Harold Becker, of Hamilton, and Ted Knott, of Ancaster. Both men were very dedicated to the sport of fly fishing, and to the club.

         Harold Becker was very concerned with the environment, and the conservation of our natural resources, including cold-water ecosystems. While he was an active member, he was the chair of Conservation. At that time he initiated, in conjunction with the Hamilton Conservation Authority, stream rehabilitation in the Spencer Creek watershed.

         Under the supervision of Harold Becker, HAFFT did many hundreds of hours of conservation work. With the unfortunate car accident that took the life of Bruce Duncan of the Hamilton Conservation Authority, the conservation work was drained of it's focus, although HAFFT still does work with other groups. A garden is named after Bruce Duncan on the Conservation Authority grounds. 

         HAFFT members have rolled rocks, planted trees, completed spawning surveys, monitored water temperatures, spread gravel, built deflectors in streams, raised funds through grants and raffles, built beaver bafflers, and collected old Christmas trees to be used as silt sweepers.

         Ted Knott was a very concerned and patient teacher. He taught all aspects of our sport including fly casting, fly fishing, and fly tying at Mohawk College and other venues including the Isaac Walton Fly Fishing Club (IWFFC) Forums. Ted was instrumental in fostering the art of split-cane building in Ontario, giving instruction freely to anyone who was interested. The work Ted Knott did with fly tyers across Ontario was incredible. Ted taught hundreds if not thousands of people to tie flies. Ted was one of a few Canadians to be granted a Master Instructor designation by the American Federation of Fly Fishers for his casting instruction. 

         Our volunteer work in the early to mid nineties included teaching children to tie flies at the Spring Fishing show held at the International Centre near Pearson airport. One year the show decided to have a fly tying competition open to all tyers with a number of categories. Ted was a very quiet man, but he was extremely proud of the fact that the small club from Hamilton walked away with a number of first place finishes and presented well in all categories against some of the finest fly tyers in Ontario. 

         Both of our founders are now fishing on the other side of the river. While they were active, they initiated the "Becker & Knott Founders Award".       

    The Becker/Knott Founders award was brought into being to recognize a club member, who it was decided by the executive, represented HAFFT in any or all of it's activities as a dedicated volunteer. The main plaque is inscribed with the recipients name and a smaller plaque is presented to the recipient. Traditionally names are submitted and the award is presented at the last meeting of the year.

         HAFFT quickly developed a reputation for energetic volunteer-based activities in conservation. HAFFT has worked with organizations such as the Hamilton Conservation Authority, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Credit River Conservation Authority, Friends of the Grand and the Grand River Conservation Authority. HAFFT members have participated in projects ranging from stream-side litter pick up to tree planting. Members have stocked Atlantic Salmon from fry to adults. They have transferred Brook Trout by electro-shocking and they have worked on hundreds of meters of stream bed to clear feeder springs and channels to aid in lowering water temperatures. 

         The members of HAFFT have also taught fly fishing and fly tying to hundreds of people; particularly children. We have assisted with the Ontario Get Outdoors Program, the Caledonia Fishing Derby, and many other events. To our great satisfaction the majority of members actively participated in attending meetings and our volunteer work.

A History of the HAFFT Conservation Program

January 6, 2005

    The HCA and HAFFT agreed in 1991 to mutually undertake a remedial cold water project in the Spencer Creek watershed under the umbrella of the conservation authority and with the advice of appropriate Govt. biologists. HAFFT would raise money through raffles and various grant such as CFIP etc. and HCA would provide the necessary bookkeeping.

We began in 1992 by recording weekly max./min temperature readings from six locations in stream, on property owned by a dairy farmer who had agreed to some serious and costly upgrading of his property, to eliminate manure run off into the creek and to fence his cattle out of the immediate area of the water channel. He also agreed that we would install proper tiling at a cattle and implement crossing ,which was causing flooding and impeding water flow Additionally, the provincial natural gas pipeline company agreed that we could remove a rock rubble dam that they had built some years earlier, which was causing a serious back up, warming and a heavy accumulation of silt upstream.

 In the course of the next five years we accomplished our mission, eliminated stream braiding by removing obstructions, narrowed the water course, increased water flow and thus lowered water temp. We planted trees, and with cattle denied access, this stretch of water runs faster and cooler than it did before; to the extent that the MNR assisted in a transplant of wild brook trout from the upper watershed in 1997.

With input and advice from our club, HCA has included a cold water and fisheries component in their watershed plan and we have continued our work to this date further up in the watershed with similar results; including restoration of a section completely destroyed by a tornado.

In addition to the above, we have devoted a work day to road side trash and garbage collection in the upper reaches of the watershed. We assisted with the transplanting of mature Atlantic salmon in the Credit R. and the planting of fry in Bronte Cr.. With funds raised through raffles and grants, we have employed university summer students to assist in further studies.

    An educational initiative by members includes fly tying instruction for young people at various fishing shows as well as our regular classes at club meetings. In my opinion, a singular success story and an initiative I hope will be continued

Harold Becker

Contributors: George Genyk, John French, Bruce Wainman, and Rick Crawford