Hunting and fishing enthusiasts are preparing for a weekend full of workshops, demonstrations and vendors, all centered around the great outdoors.
The B.C. Interior Sportsman Show is coming to the Capital News Centre in Kelowna, April 5 to 7, with about 6,000 people expected.
In attendance will be fishing enthusiast Beverly Rice, who is a pro staff member at Westside Stores, an outdoor sports retailer.
“I’ve been going for the last few years and it’s just my love of the outdoors,” Rice said. “We talk about fishing, we talk about hunting, we talk about the outdoors.”
Rice has been fishing since she was a toddler.
“My dad was a fisherman and, in order for him to go out fishing when my mom was working on the weekends, he had to take me with him,” Rice said.
The fishing guru has noticed a growing trend, with women becoming more actively involved in outdoors sports.
“It’s definitely getting more popular,” Rice said. “You start to see women getting out with their friends and their boyfriends and their husbands, and just getting out on their own.”
Rice will be manning the Westside Stores booth, chatting with attendees about best fishing practices and fishing licenses.
“As of April 1st, the new fishing licenses came out, so everybody can go online or you can go to your local fishing store and pick up your licenses there,” Rice said. “You need to make sure you always have your fishing licenses on you at all times.”
Rice says every region in B.C. has its own unique regulations.
“Right now in Kelowna, we’re in region eight, so it has its own specific guidelines as to what you can fish,” Rice said.
So what’s in store this year the sportsman show for fishing enthusiasts?
“The Kalamalka Fly Fishing Association is going to be there,” Rice said. “I think they’re doing some fly casting demonstrations. There’s a lot of fishing and outdoor stores demonstrating what they have.”
Other fishing topics include elements of the fly cast, filleting your fish right and fly fishing lake techniques.
Admission to the fourth annual B.C. Interior Sportsman Show is $10 per day for adults while kids 12 and under are free.