The KW Fly Fishers Hall of Fame was established to recognize outstanding contributions to the club and outstanding contributions to the sport of fly fishing.
As the first member of the Hall of Fame, Ian Martin’s contributions set a gold standard.
Ian Martin
Inducted May 2nd, 2023
Ian Martin was a giant in the fly fishing community in Canada who had special ties to the KW Fly Fishers. Along with his wife, Jane, Ian was a founding member of the KWFF and therefore instrumental in forming the Club. The first meeting of the KWFF was held in the basement of Ian’s parents house in Waterloo in 1975 and Ian was the first secretary-treasurer of the Club. He was awarded a life membership in the KWFF and came back frequently to make excellent presentations about fly fishing on the Grand and salmon fishing on his much-loved rivers of the Gaspe. Ian was also a long-time member of Friends of the Grand River and served for years on the executive of the FOGR often acting as the point person on projects involving various government agencies and the FOGR.
Ian graduated from Kitchener Collegiate Institute, then earned a B.Sc. from the University of Waterloo, a M.Sc. from the University of Toronto and a PhD from the University of Waterloo. His professional life was focused on the statistical analysis of environmental data.
He parlayed his passion for fly fishing into writing numerous articles on trout and salmon fishing for well respected magazines such as The Atlantic Salmon Journal and Peche a la Mouche. He also co-authored with his wife Jane the book Fly Fishing the Grand River which helped teach us all about the insect hatches on the Grand and how to match them.