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Hi Everyone: Been reading Don's thread about the changes in the Oldman, then the thread about the Castle. Seems like most of you are enjoying more peace and quiet down south. So, if you think gov't policies are contributing to your increased enjoyment, why not send along an encouraging note to your MLA, Minister Phillips, and Premier Notley? You never know, might encourage them to maintain a sense of steadfastness in ensuring the right changes are kept along the Eastern Slopes. Shannon Phliips: AEP.Minister@gov.ab.ca,Premier Notley: edmonton.strathcona@assembly.ab.ca , premier@gov.ab.ca, MLA's here: https://goo.gl/H2T5zS

scel....great, well considered reply!

I grew up in Red Deer. I watched the RDR change over my lifetime. I must admit, however, that I did not fish it when it was in its brown trout prime. As a teenager in the late 80s, it was possible to catch walleye, pike, goldeye, whitefish, and rainbow trout (yes, rainbow trout) in the city section. So, as long as I can remember, unless you were very specific (like bottom bouncing a sz16 fly tipped with a maggot for whitefish or chucking a big red devil for pike), at least to me, it has always been a piscatorial roulette. Oh, the things a kid could catch with a small panther martin spinner! I had not fished the RDR since 1992. I took up fly fishing about 12 years ago. I immediately started fishing the RDR, mostly for whitefish and goldeye, as a homage to my childhood. I remember the first brown trout that I caught. I had a WTF moment. I was expecting to set the hook on a 12" whitefish, but was actually a 24" brown trout. Since then, I have caught a steady 1 or 2 per year in an average of 4 or 5 outings per year. They do not live in your typical brown trout lies---those places are occupied by walleye. They live with the whitefish---kind of like a herd of house cats living with a lion. There is no doubt the brown trout population is in a tenuous balance with all the other species. The brown trout fry have a gulag/gauntlet to run to outsize the walleye, but if they can make it to 12", really, they only have the pike to worry about, and a big brown trout predator has a veritable cornucopia of food sources. They are very wiley; they would have to be to survive in the chaos of the RDR. But if you can catch one, they really are an archetype of the species---very beautiful.

You don't need new rope....you need a swivel. Go to Mountain equipment

Remember the positive changes when voting comes around next year. Who will work with an admittedly imperfect conservation-regeneration approach, and who will attempt to reverse it to the days of dust, mud, and noise?