BC Business
On a boat with fishing fanatic and Watermark Beach Resort GM Ingrid Jarrett
WHAT FLOATS HER BOATJarrett fishes at first light for kokanee and rainbow trout
I grew up hiking, camping and fishing with my family all over B.C. Fishing Pennask Lake as a child, every cast caught a trout. We would fry them in butter in a cast iron pan and enjoy every bite. In the summer, we camped on Salt Spring Island and caught rock cod and salmon.
Living in Bella Coola as a young adult, I would hike into the Nusatsum valley and make a fishing rod, attach a fly and fish for brook trout in the back eddies and pools of the gorgeous rivers. In the winter, on Anahim Lake, ice fishing in 25 below zero, the snow would crunch with cold, and we would cook the fish over the open fire, the bright blue winter sky overhead.
My trip to Masset on Haida Gwaii was a trip of a lifetime—halibut, salmon and hours spent on the stillness of the Pacific Ocean. At Peregrine Lodge on Haida Gwaii, I won Most Fish Caught by a Female and a beautiful bronze medal.
The past few summers I have been renting a house on the ocean with my family on Hornby Island, and we ride bikes, read and go fishing. My super exciting catch last year was a green lingcod, the most beautiful turquoise green, which turns a bright white when cooked.
For my father’s 80th birthday, my sisters and I took him fishing on the 22nd of December with Rod from Rodney’s Reel Outdoors as a guide. We caught some beautiful kokanee in Okanagan Lake.
The Okanagan sockeye salmon is the story nearest and dearest to my heart. I have championed the regeneration of this ancient [species] around the world and went on the inaugural fishing voyage with the Okanagan Nation Alliance fisheries team when they launched the commercial fishery in 2012.
With a long and varied career in the hospitality and tourism industry, Ingrid Jarrett is vice-chair of Destination BC Corp.’s tourism advisory committee, on the board of Destination Osoyoos and past president of the British Columbia Hotel Association. Jarrett promotes South Okanagan culinary and agricultural tourism, is vice-chair of Slow Food in Canada and supports Slow Fish and sustainable fishing practices. Watermark Beach Resort features Okanagan salmon on its menu