Debra Bevaart cannot recall a time in her life when she was not an artist. Her earliest memories include a childhood spent sketching and drawing British Columbia landscapes. At high school she branched into three-dimensional art by sculpting in clay and later in stone, an artform she continues to explore at her gallery in Lund, B.C., where she works primarily with hand tools on single blocks of stone. Taking her inspiration from the wildlife-rich area she calls home, she is recognized for her uncanny ability to capture the essence of her subjects, whether sea lions, wolves, bears, eagles or fish. Her many highly detailed pointilist-style drawings depicting aquatic environments grace the pages of this book.

Ian Forbes has cast a fly on every major trout stream in British Columbia and is diligently working his way through the minor flows. Combining his 35 year B.C. Forest Service career with as much stream prospecting as possible has provided him a unique opportunity to explore B.C. He has written and illustrated outdoor magazine articles for more than 40 years, and many of his paintings hang in private galleries. Besides extensive annual forays within B.C., never more than a year goes by without a trip to at least one of several favorite fishing haunts, including Alberta, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Australia and New Zealand. A fly tier for 50 years, many of his innovative original patterns are known to B.C. fly fishers. He has contributed more than 80 of his fly pattern pencil sketches to this book.

 

Ken Kirkby is an internationally acclaimed Canadian artist, perhaps best know for Isumatq, the largest original oil-on-canvas portrait in the world, measuring 152 feet across and standing 12 feet high. Terming the work his "homage to the Canadian Arctic and its peoples," he spent five years in the High Arctic living with nomadic Inuit and 20 years painting to complete the project. Isumataq is an Inuit word for "an object in the presence of which wisdom might show itself." He was awarded the Commemorative Medal for the 125^th anniversary of Canadian Confederation in recognition of his significant contribution to Canada. His paintings have been described as "wonderful works of mystical simplicity" and several are in the possession of the Royal family, including the private collections of the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. He has contributed paintings to assist the Inuit, the Steelhead society of B.C., as well as a number of his many angling works illustrate the Journals which close each chapter of this book.

Ian Roberts has a degree in still photography from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, spent a year of post-graduate study and work in Italy, owns a Victoria-based photography business and has been fly fishing since he was 10. He merges his love of photography with his passion for fly fishing in images which have appeared in various publications, including the color fly photography that appears in this book. He specializes in estuary fishing for sea-run cutthroat and salmon, but rarely misses and opportunity to bonefish and other warm-water species. His various written contributions to this book mark his first foray into the field of angling writing.