And now you have not only the right but for public health reasons to tell someone to GTFO of the run....

Early BWO Hatch

I went down this rabbit hole on refugia Grayling populations in Alberta and area. Interesting stuff to me https://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~etaylor/Stam&Tay2004.pdf A grayling fossil was found in January Cave ( Cataract Creek Region) that dates from if I remember correctly ~23,000 thousand years ago so I guess they were once native to southern Alberta

Folks,The Hunter Training guys have put together a real good educational program c/w an exam and certificate.AND ITS FREE!!!!!!! Not sure how that happened but my hat off to those that made this possible. It took me about 3 hours to do the program and answer the questions. This type of program has been requested by many individuals and fishing groups for many years. Clear evidence exists many anglers do not do fish identification well making species management all but impossible. https://319.yssecure.com/cart_builde...roductID=60179Hint, look to the right side and click FREE. Have fun,Don

It should be required for all anglers irrespective of age or presumed experience levels. it could be lodged on line and require a passing grade to fish. There could be a nominal charge or even none, however the course would include evidence of passing that you must carry to fish in Alberta. There should be no “by” for anyone. Don

Perhaps 25 years ago I caught a Grayling of about 10” in the Belly River while fishing with Dean Baaynes. Heard fish Fish and Wildlife captured another near Glenwood. Don

I appreciate that the government has recently shown far greater interest in the Bow river trout population. The river has been ignored for a long time because it just seemed to look after itself and we were blessed with awesome fishing for decades. I understand the complexity of the problem and the difficulty of narrowing down a short list of the most powerful factors putting pressure on the trout population. I just wanted to clarify that I have trouble going along with the suggestion the angling is THE MAJOR contributor to the population decline. For me, I have a feeling that it has more to do with the environment/water quality/habitat/disease than the number of hooks in the water. In the short term, it would seem prudent to try and do something in an area we can actually control.....angling. It would make sense that any help we can offer to the river would be wise. I guess time will tell if the trout populations will bounce back. I have seen significant fluctuations in the condition factors of the trout in the past, both rising and falling, since the 1970's. There have been years that produced huge fish even while the nutrient input from the sewage plants was decreasing with technological advancements. There are so many pieces to this puzzle. On a positive note, the rainbows that I have seen caught in the last month look to be in much better condition than they have been in the last 2 years. There are a few more fish breaking 20" and they are much heavier. Hopefully something good is going on

As some of you may know I love vintage FF equipment and have a modest collection. Here is a cool documentary on Hardy

I pulled this from albertarelm.com Can I have my fishing license on my phone? Yes, you may take a picture of your license and store it on your mobile device as proof of having a license. ... However, we do have a mobile optimized website and those who purchase their license via a mobile device now download their license to their mobile device rather than receiving a printed license.Mar 17, 2016

Here's my tubing. Here's what the final product looks like. I like to keep a small loop.

Head over to B&E Electronics.. They have many colours and sizes.. SE Off of 42 , West of Blackfoot Cycle..

The important question is will I catch whirling disease by kissing Trout? I sometimes walk into another room and forget why I went there and immediately whirl arround.

I caught a couple 10-15 cm ones in the Belly just downstream of the 49th Parallel. Area locals also confirmed to me that there is or was a population of Arctic Grayling much closer to the Belly headwaters on the Montana side. I remember reading somewhere that Barry Mitchell and Don Andersen caught one in a irrigation diversion on the Canadian side of the Belly which is what sent me on my quest to catch a native southern Alberta grayling. I have no idea of their current status as all this was 20-25 yrs ago.

Holy firecrackers Debbie Downers, The actual Influenza FLU killed over 51,000 people last year around the world. Was there a panic? Turn off that stupid device, go walk the routes, stare at those awesome Springtime holes, remember why you clean your wading boots and gear and stuff.... Shake someone's hand, open a door and forget the media. -M.

This is quite the leap without any evidence: period of 2003 to 2013. Although the cause/effect for the decline was not determined, it was suggested that angling effort could well be the major contributor to the decline. Really??? Angling is THE MAJOR contributor to population decline. Do we know who made this suggestion? Was it the author of the paper that summarized all the bad science from the past?

No need for public consultation according to Nixon because they clearly ran on a platform of “modernizing” the parks system... and we all know that “modernizing” means closing down a quarter of the parks in the Province. At least it will save five million bucks though! That’s enough dough to keep the war room stealing copyrighted logos and insulting people on twitter for 8 whole weeks!

I know that Quarry Lake in Canmore is stocked with Grayling, but I have never caught one. Not sure if this stocking programme is still running either. -M.

An Index of Internet Files of Interest to Alberta Trout Fisherpeople Please free to pass along this link to your fishing buddies. To view at full screen, remove sidebar and use “+” to expand. You can copy or transfer any folder or file to your phone or tablet. Please comment (Pro or Con) to neilstuartsutherland@gmail.com Link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/rh06jqfzubmn3mp/An%20Internet%20Index%20of%20Links%20to%20Trout%20Fishing%20Information%20for%20the%20Northern%20Aloberta%20Angler%20-%20Copy.docx?dl=0

Mayfly Genus Baetis (Blue-Winged Olives) hatch throughout the year, in the spring and fall thy do tend to be smaller than in the early spring and fall. There are in fact dozens of different types in our province. I have often chased pods of Rainbows and browns during these hatch cycles. You also have to look at stages of nymphs that are pre-emergers for a complete cross section in your box. Often anglers look for that one magic fly that works all year instead of looking at what is on the water at different times of year and differnt nymphal stages(an insect screen can be your best friend to determine size and color). Here are a few that work for me throughout the year. Some are original others specific to well know patterns. I tend to bend my patterns to what I see on the water. Red Headed Step Child mentioned here in #16 and #18 My Doc's BWO (personal favorite) in Size #20 Suspended BWO Nymph #18 - #20. The large tail is pre-shuck Bars Emerger is a good one fished in a Leisenring Lift manner. Tie it in Green and brown. Doc's Gilled Baetis Nymph Hope this helps a bit in chasing the BWO hatches. keep up your social distancing and keep safe and may wee all meet at some time on sparkling waters.

Pretty good course. Lots of information that many anglers could use

Brian, how about we all do it. I suspect based on nothing more than the lousy success rate of FF types IDing fish species for Quirk Creek experiment we all need a tune up. Don

i'm sure the province can borrow at a much lower rate but interest would still far exceed the $5,000,000 savings on park closures. know what else far exceeds those savings? the alberta war room at $30 million a year. each and every year for 4 years. yeah yeah the budget was cut yesterday but only temporarily. that has to be the BIGGEST WASTE OF PUBLIC FUNDS EVER. even worse than when klein handed out cheques to every person 16 and older - twice.

Thanks Don, just took it, good course, I quite enjoyed it. It should be mandatory to be able to get a license.

Coming soon to a river near you: My brilliant plan for keeping my sanity this summer on the water isn’t looking so good. Fishtancing I’m always good with but what’s next...

I work from home at 80% of the time anyway so my days are not that different. Wife and I haven't left the house hardly in 11 days 'cept to walk the dog around the block ( she, the dog, is recovering from knee surgery) I did get out ice fishing last Saturday and prob again this Saturday ( direct trip no stops). I have been trying to land a Tiger trout at a lake north of Athabasca for 3 years now but all I get are rainbows including some decent sizes. Also got me an underwater camera which is a game changer. Not only does it alleviate the boredom of ice fishing it is really interesting to watch the trout behavior when they do come in for a look see. Might have to drop it into one of those sweet Bow river holes to see what is going on someday. And as a PSA especially for urbanites...do not wait until you have symptoms to self isolate, then it is too late for all those you may have engaged with prior to your self diagnosis. Let's all shut down hard ( excepting essential services) for the next few weeks to negate the communicable capability of this thing so that we can not only save lives of people you will never meet but also allow our health care workers to catch up while they risk their own health to save others. This is not a drill and will be a major point of human history forever.

I originally picked mine up at a Radio Shack type store years ago that was across from PM Hobby next door to Redhart Shoes. Don't think its there any more. Seems to me I looked for it when I was driving by and didn't see it. But you need to look for thin wall transparent Electronic tubing. Transparent so you can see it happen and not burn it, thin walled so you can easily cut it. . It came in 4 ft lengths and I believe it is by 3M.

Hay Jay, you could certainly buy a fancy heat gun and I have used an old heat gun of mine that I used to strip paint works well. But… I like to use an ordinary tea candle. I find I can control it easier. You do need one other thing for this and that’s some narrow light clear shrink wrap tubing a bit wider than your fly line. This method is great for all coated fly lines and gives strong, small and neat loops, which will glide noiseless through the guides. Here’s a step by step, if you have an old line you can use it to experiment with. It does take a bit of patience and practice but not hard to do. 1. Cut a piece of tubing approximately about 2 to 3 inches long. Pass the fly line through the shrink tubing so a few inches protrude out the other end. 2. Loop your fly line and pass it back through the tubing you should end up with 1/2 inch from the end of the shrink tubing. Adjust the loop size to your liking 3. Slowly apply heat to the shrink tube with the side of a candle. Heat the line in short intervals and gently. The coating of the fly line will melt together. Only heat the shrink wrap tubing not the fly line protruding. Repeat this slowly until all the fly line connection is smoothly merged and melted together with no gaps between the two lines, take your time and work at it. I like to roll the melted line between my fingers a bit when it is still warm. careful not to burn yourself. 4. When the coating of the fly line cools a bit, you can remove the shrink tube carefully. The shrink tube is best removed while it is still a little warm. I use a fine pair of scissors and cut from the loop down. 5. Don't apply too much heat or you will burn the line. If the line burns or browns clip it off and start again. Hope this helps and makes sense. Started using this method a years back. Never had one fail, just like factory made loops.

Have been in self isolation for about a week now and have completed many projects that were needing to be done. Organized my fly boxes, inventoried my rods and reels, organized all my tippets spools (where did i get all of this tippet form?), and binge watching breaking bad. Taken a few drives to get out but the weather has only been so so as of late. Lornce, thanks for the flies, they all look great and i look forward to trying them out. Hopefully the weather will warm and a guy can get out on the river soon. Maybe try to learn the spey fishing and take you up on your offer Doc! Be well everyone, stay healthy and be positive! We will get through this! Cheers

We had already prepared for a couple of weeks as Sandy doesn’t drive anymore. The local coop delivers so we can stock up on vegetables as needed. Don

TUC collected one small Grayling in the canal exiting the Belly River in 2011 according to this report. guess there is some spawning occurring? http://www.tucanada.org/files/1/2011 FR Report.pdf

I remember catching a 10" male Grayling at the Belly River Campground in Waterton in the early 1990's. Another note here, I have never heard of a Grayling showing up in the Trout Unlimited Fish Rescue on the Belly River either, that said I participated in only a few but one would think you would here of a Grayling if it occurred. My understanding is that the Montana Grayling were plants from the Au Sable River in Michigan which are now extinct.

What do I do with the semi load of toilet paper if we all forget the panic? Don

Well there ya go! Learned something! Thanks BBH,

Arctic Gray-ling do exist in the Belly although more-so on the Montana side of the border.... however these are considered exotic as they were introduced to the drainage. They do exist naturally in the upper Missouri drainage and were also found in Michigan which are now extinct due to habitat degradation ....... So while they are found in Southern Alberta occasionally they are introduced vs the native ones found from the McLeod river north in Alberta ie Arctic watershed

such a joke. We can have the loud OHV crowd kill a park through consultation, yet when the UCP decide to remove parks from the system they dont need to do boo? I would be more worried about this part: " Sites removed from the parks system would have their legal park designations removed, and could be open for alternate management approaches. "

Dr. told me about this Corona thing. Said take 2 Pils and call him in the morning.

Thanks aaa, the vest is an old Filson Strap Vest that I received as a birthday present back in '65 from the folks. Extremely well made and they seem to last forever. Thanks for the comparison.to Barry. But us old geezers look alike. yep I sure like my Butter and Boo.

I found that lake newal at kinbrook island park is great for pike. I use a clouser minnow variant and it works well, the fly just moves over or around thick weeds because the hook point is on top of the fly not under it. I have also found that you can use as low as a 6 weight rod”that’s my rod” it helps if you use a Belgian cast so get the fly out there because the rod is a little under weight for the flies that would attract a pike or walleye. Now don’t laugh but as we all know pike are not leader shy. For a leader I use 8’ of 50lbs braided line to a 30lbs tippet ring and use 30lbs nickel titanium wire tied to the tippet ring and a heavy snap swivel as my predator leader. Havnt lost a pike on that yet.

4 years ago after the snowmagedon winter in Calgary, the city of Calgary built a snow dump located near 32 Ave and deerfoot trail next to the white dome tent at the golf course, the city sends loaders and trucks out to remove snow from neighborhoods and hauls it to the snow dump to be piled up until spring when it can melt, the snow is not the only thing loaded on those trucks, all of the salt that the city lays down is collected and dumped with the snow, when the snow melts in the spring,the melt water containing all of that salt (and oil and whatever else was in the snow) flows from the snow dump directly into Nose Creek that then flows into the Bow river near the science center, last year the banks below Nose Creek on the Bow river had snow and ice free banks weeks before the banks of the Bow above Nose Creek. I have not seen this metioned but I think there is some correlation to the declining fish numbers since the snow dump went into use. Next spring have a look at the water flowing out of Nose Creek during the melt...it smells like the ocean. This mountain of snow salt and oil lasts long into the summer, usually August, the remains of what's left are there right now sitting on the asphalt if anyone wants to see the disgusting mess, I can't imagine this not having a serious negative impact on the health of Nose Creek and the Bow river.

Wire bite tippet after a morning of topwater pike fishing: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wb9N8Dy5yodYS8uu5

Those will make a trout fat! Must have been some great takes

Re:tactics...good'ol wooly buggers have hooked a few thousand Brookies for me,best guess at least 2000 on black WBs alone?WB is my hands down #1 go to Brookie searcher,usually black,2nd choice olive.....often both with a black beadhead and an olive non-weighted trailing 3' behind.....hooked many dbl headers that way. Sorry can't offer any locations.....well......more like won't?I was weened on brook trout,been chasing them 40+ years.......btw,did I mention I like Brookies.....and buggers.

There are also some good videos on the orvis site. http://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/video-lessons/chapter-five-wet-fly-nymph-fishing

Found it..... http://flyfishcalgary.com/nymphing_primer.php

http://ontariofishingcommunity.com/forums/...showtopic=65413