FishnChips

Some nice information here. I certainly believe that protective lenses are important for your eyes - UV light range, and especially the potential for injury from an errant cast. I have to wear corrective lenses with two prescriptions, (bi-focal or progressive lenses as they are known). This means sunglasses are expensive. So, for fishing I use those Cocoon brand glasses. They are bit expensive at the big box stores in Calgary and Balzac, but the local glasses shop sell a non-brand name with the same specification and size for about 25% less. I will buy my next pair there when my Cocoons break. Those Cocoons just fit right over my clear prescription glasses and work well all day. I have even used them driving and skiing satisfactorily.

I have an Outcast Stealth frameless pontoon. It weighs 35 lbs stock. It has a 450 lb load capacity. It fits (easily) into the accessory bag and I can lift it into my car without much effort. It has the pin type oars, which I find fine for still waters and slow rivers. The oars won't allow you to set any speed records, but they stow nicely out of the way when casting and are easy to reach when you need 'em. I really like this thing.

I have used the Angler's Atlas MyCatch app since retiring. It is useful to me, I get a catch log with average catch rates, ie: xx fish per hour, all the species I have logged and their percentages. I log my locations too. An added incentive is that the site claims they share weather (if you record) and catch data with fisheries professionals. I look at it as a great substitute for traditional creel reports, which seem to have become a thing of the past. In my personal opinion the Province should have been way ahead of the curve on this and implemented something like this themselves. They could not police it, but if they offered some kind of incentive for participating, then perhaps citizen data gathering would contribute something useful for us all.

That is a nice tool. Thank you.

This past winter I tackled Ernest Schwiebert's biblical epic Trout. Near the end of volume 1 (800+ pages!) there are many tables illustrating the relationships of line weights and definitions. As early as his writing, (it was published in 1978), it was evident to the eminent Mr Schwiebert and his peers, that fly line definitions and rod weights' traditional criteria were becoming distorted. I am not a technical fly fisher in any traditional sense. I have fly fished for 48 years and am self taught (except for two great days with one of Jim McLennan's instructors in summer 2019 to help me finesse minor errors), and I do a couple of things which are unconventional and would make a purist weep. However, as old Dylan wrote all those years ago, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and I do have a good feel for things. My professional life evolved to take advantage of my proprioceptive and kinaesthetic abilities which I implicitly trust. A dear friend, now passed, once gave some profound, gentle counsel to his daughter who was struggling with relationship issues. Dirk wrote to her, trust your organism. In context it was a very thoughtful bit of advice. This is all a roundabout way of getting to the idea that for better or worse, and this is not just true for fly fishing, but established criteria for a great many things in our present era have been mightily eroded. A prime personal example for me, that I have considered in depth and consulted expert writing on is the old idea that a rod must be balanced by it's reel mass. The old school idea was that with about 30 feet of fly line out the business end, the rod should balance in level equilibrium, at a point somewhere on the forward grip. (Purists please forgive my philistine ways). Anyway, on a long rod, the mass gets large very quickly and you need a darned heavy reel to achieve that balance. As rod materials got lighter, so did reels and the idea of basic weight (mass) became pre-eminent. So, trust your organism. Casting a modern hyper light alloy reel on a composite rod is waaay easier than any old balanced set up. If one fishes for a few hours, the difference in muscle effort is gigantic. Against all this intuitive information I have stored inside my brain I still have a pressing issue with a new/old rod I bought last spring. It is a 12'6" switch rod. I have not cast it yet because I cannot make my mind up and all the information, as Don has aptly and succintly demonstrated, is highly confusing. There is also the problem that a huge amount of stuff made in the USA is in short supply. My present plan is to wait a bit longer. I have some fishing arranged with a friend who had a huge number of reels fitted with a large array of rod-weight-suitable lines and I am going to experiment with a selection and let my organism decide.

OK, here we go... (fortune favours the brave and all that). I believe it is more important to buy the best quality fly line you can afford. The rod and the reel, not so much all things considered.

tman, After rubber waders as a kid, hodgman neoprenes as a younger man, I finally owned two pair of Simm's breathables, at the same time. One with zipper and the other just pull up. As I age I am less and less comfortable in deeper/stronger current. I recently bought my first pair of wading pants. No zipper. Patagonia is the brand. I keep the belt loose and keep them up over my beer belly with suspenders (from Mark's). I love them. Something to consider. Good luck.

This kind of crap is bad for everyone. "Survival" not the word for this kind of stuff with long wood saws, complete fly fishing kits and so on and so forth. Any Alberta outdoorsperson with an IQ above their shoe size must be able to rank this with all-star wrestling and that kind of pseudo sport entertainment. Complete and utter garbage. And as posted above, the poaching aspect - fish and game - makes me want to hurl. I did not even watch both videos, just skipped through. I do feel bad about contributing to the "viewed" statistics... like it was a good thing. I hope these persons get busted.

Hi Smitty, yes, there were significant upgrades more than 15 years ago. I have lost track of that time. It has had a direct impact on insect life and the fishing quality. I have discussed this with local COs and they are in agreement. It happened so long ago that nobody cares anymore. Currently, the river is still blown out and visibility is poor. Wading is treacherous. As of last week the local pros at Wapiti sports in Canmore were not yet guiding. They wait until the Conservation Officers have taken a helicopter ride with Alpine Helicopters down the river to identify jams and areas of risk. If required, Conservation officers then launch a boat and take a ride downstream with chainsaws and clear areas where watercraft may be threatened. Once that happens (it is imminent), guiding will commence, though water clarity may still be poor. I have fished these waters for years and the catch rate per hour is very low. I keep stats and my personal rate is about 0.6 fish per hour. Small to medium sized browns and brookies and the odd RM whitefish. I have to admit, the Wapiti guys know their craft - they get their clients into larger and greater numbers of fish than I get walking and wading. Something which astounds me is the number of tourists floating the river - the high waters in some ways offer a couple of advantages when drifting at present. The mass flow and velocity are high. Sometime dangerous submerged features are well under water and beyond the shallow draft of most devices. But for my money, I am sticking to foothills creeks and still waters until things become a bit tamer. The maxim that one nevers steps into the same river twice applies in your circumstance. By all means check out your old spots but you may find them not recognizable by now and do exercise caution. I hope you post what you discover, without of course disclosing your secret spots! Still lots of French Creeks around

I finally upgraded my ancient tube for an Outcast Stealth Pro, frameless pontoon a couple of weeks ago. So far I have only used it on still waters. I love it. - it fits in it's bag (not included but a good accessory buy) with room to spare - it fits in the back of my car easily (weighs 35 lbs) - inflates easily in about 5-6 minutes with the foot pump (aftermarket accessory) - one is seated well above and out of the water. Fins or no fins, the boat is moved easily with the built in oars. I also use a Scotty anchor lock and a 10 pound pyramid anchor. - plenty of storage in the kit bag (included) which mounts to the boat, off either the left or the right shoulder. Lots of space behind the driver too. I bought it from The Fishin' Hole in Calgary. The service was perfect, a young man there, name starts with an "A", owns one and can answer questions and provide suggestions based on his own ownership experience. I could not be happier with this new piece of kit.

I had trouble with a brand new, unused for 10+ years Ross Reel (CLA 6). I sent it back this past winter and they absolutely treated me like a king. Communication was superb, I was just so impressed. I have a bunch of Hardy reels, some 50+ years old. To date, no requirements for any service at all. A fantastic array of quality stuff.

Utterly impressed!!!

What a great idea. Good luck and I hope to be in a position to rent, not this season due to other bucket-list plans, but perhaps next year.

A nice film from our community to the west. Honest, clear and true.

Some very nice footage and fish in this clip. Glad to see Terry hard at work.