reevesr1

Easy one. She's my avatar. Springtime on the Bow, still a lot of ice around. I was having just an excellent morning. Most of the fish had been on the worm, a couple on a wolly bugger and nothing on whatever other nymph I was using. I decided to try a hare's ear. Tied on the new fly, and while making my first cast with it, slipped on a rock, missing my target by a couple of feet and leaving a lot of slack on the water. The drift looked really nice as the slack essentially made a great mend, and I decided that since I would have drifted that line eventually anyway to just let it go. I picked up a bit of the slack when the indicator bobbled. I set the hook, felt the pull back and really just laughed that I had hooked a fish on that POS cast. Until she jumped, then it wasn't so funny anymore. After an intense, but shorter than I had envisioned fight (she got totally wrapped up in the line), I was landing the 26.5" Brown on the left. Oh, and on the hare's ear! She was so fat she looked like she had swallowed a 20" brown! My biggest trout to date. I hope I get her twin this morning!

Looks like New Orleans is in for it again. Funny how these things can stay away for 20 yrs, then 2 majors in 3 yrs. I sure hope they are wrong about the strength and storm surge. Looks very nasty. Here is hoping she veers a bit west and hits somewhere with lower population density along the Louisiana cost.

BPS is not competing with the local shops, IMHO. The big box stores have been in Texas for years. The specialty shops still thrive. Different customer base. People buying $600 Sage rods and high end reels are not getting them at BPS. It could certainly have an impact on Wholesale, or midsize, less personal shops. But for us shop rats, the vast majority of our purchases will still be at the specialty store. I like to know the person who is over charging me!

Paul, Damn, I like arguing with you! I just do not have the time to be "ethical" when I shop. It takes too much research to determine who is or who is not ethical. Some companies are obviously ethical, some are obviously not. Most lie in some grey area in between. Pretty difficult to figure out how ethical/unethical they are. I will say I do not blame any big box store for being what they are. The reason they exist is they make money. People like to shop there for the convenience. It's not the store's fault. Its ours. I also would question the change in water flow. Is one big parking lot inherently worse than 10 little ones? I'm not saying you are not correct, just that I would need to do a bit of research. And I'm not completely convinced about the extra driving as well. While you may bike/walk/use transit when you shop (which I certainly find commendable) I would venture that the vast majority of us do not. So in many cases, my bet is one big trip is often better than 5 little ones. I drive a Saturn. But I think I'm getting a 2006 Ram 1500 SLT with the Hemi. When everyone else goes big, I go small. And vice versa. You can sure pick up a nice truck for CHEAP right now! Environmentally friendly? Uh, probably not. But sometimes (3 kids and university approaching) economics rules out, when shopping for flies or trucks.

I like Splenda. But for some reason just hate it in coffee. Don't know why, it seems good in everything else.

Sort of confusing the issue here, isn't it? I go to Fish Tales. Seems like lots of people drive big trucks there too. Is it just ok to drive the gas guzzler to a local shop, but not BPS. Is it ok to drive the guzzler from Calgary to fish in southern alberta, but not north to Airdrie to shop? I would also question the entire waste of resources comment. If I can get camping, fishing, hunting, etc at one store instead of several, aren't I saving gas? Also, isn't Canadian Tire a big box store? Don't they sell much of the same stuff BPS will? Is that ok? Oh wait, it has CANADIAN in the title. Must be ok then.

I know some of you out there have the Olympus 720SW. I've lost my download cable. I bought a xD card reader, problem solved. Except I took some pictures this afternoon of a friend and his first Bow River trout and forgot to put the xD card back in. So the pics are on the internal memory. Anyone know if it is possible to transfer from the camera memory directly to the xD so I can use my reader?

Well crap, there go the good prices.

You are supposed to pronounce it with a French accent (TarJAY). Sounds better that way. And Whataburger is the freakin bomb. When I go home, I need the 3 main food groups: Whataburger Popeyes Fried Chicken Pappasitos And I guess I really don't understand the issue with the flag. Would everyone prefer an American flag? I mean, I'm pretty sure the store is located in Canada (in Texas, they fly a big honkin Texas flag, no one seems to mind), and will employ a lot of Canadians. Fly the flag, someone has to. I like BassPro. Good stuff, pretty good prices. They didn't get as big as they are by being crappy. If you don't like them cuz they are the big bad wolf, and going to shut down the local Canadian fly shops (they certainly will not), then don't shop there. Console yourself by feeling smarter than the stupid masses (me among them) who will shop there, if only to look at the big giant aquarium. But I'm just a ignerent heathen Merican.

Talleho, I've painted the bottom of an aluminum boat once with anti-fouling paint once (we kept it in saltwater for extended periods of time). It wasn't easy. Here is a link explaining the process of painting aluminum boats: Painting Aluminum Boats

Birchy, If you are willing to buy on eBay, then you can probably get whatever rod you want (within reason) in your price range. I only have 4 pcs. I do have a Finesse 3 wt, 7'6" (or maybe 7'9"?) and really like it. If I want to high stick, I bring the 9 ft 5 wt. I too have an aversion to really high end stuff. Probably unreasonable, and an artifact of my working class parents, but so be it. I'll never own a Sage. I'll probably never own a Lexus either though both are quality companies who build quality products. Just not for me.

We are slowly (ok, maybe not so slowly) taking over. I can't wait until Whataburger gets here!!!!! Or Popeye's Fried Chicken. edit: You will be assimilated. Sorry.

I suppose I'd have to throw him back? Looking at the rod, I have to question your claim of 22"! Congrats Darth. Hope little Luke appreciates you as his father. Try not to cut off his hand!

Were you in a tube or on the shore? We spoke to some of the fishermen and they seemed to be doing ok. My wife absolutely loved it and we will probably go back soon.

Matt, I will certainly help in any way I can. I hated to bail on this before, so I hope I can redeem myself. BBQ is great. I can help with some of the shops. PM me.

Next day, we headed up to a hike in lake. The hike was around 3 KM, and mostly uphill. We were rewarded with some willing cutties, and some spectacular scenery. We only stayed up there for a couple of hours. Next time, we'll spend the day! We had a blast, but I realized that my brother had not caught a fish over 12" during the trip. So at 10PM last night, we headed to the bow for a quick night fish. As we were starting, my brother said "this might be a bit above my pay grade." I told him casting distance isn't much of a deal, it's all about location. On his first cast, I heard the tell tale splash and said "did you feel him?" "Feel what?" "You didn't hear that fish?" "What fish?" So he makes another cast, and he sure heard and felt that one, but he was only hooked up for a couple of seconds. This is the outcome of cast 3: I didn't measure, but it was right in the 20" class and fat. Didn't do anything spectacular, but it gave him an idea of the power of these fish. But after 3 hits in 3 casts, we didn't bring up another fish and was home by midnight. Had him at the airport at 5:15 tired, but already planning the next trip!

My brother made it up for several days from Houston to join us on a camping trip at Mt. Kidd. He blew into town on Wed and I picked him up at the airport and carted him up to the Kananaskis golf course so he could enjoy a round of golf in the rain and cold. He loved it so much that him and I played on Thursday. I used to beat him pretty regular (read: always), now not so much. He's playing a lot, me just a little and it shows. Anyway, it was cold and rainy. Gotta love the mountains in August. In case we weren't cold enough, the wife dragged us to the street festival in Banff. +8 and raining. Nice. Here are a few shots of us enjoying the festivities: I call this one "I kissed a boy, he didn't like it, Should have tried cherry chapstick" The next morning broke clear. My son, brother and myself headed south in search of willing trout. I originally planned on the upper Highwood, but I haven't fished it much and wasn't too sure if he would have enough casting room (he's only fly fished once before), or how educated the trout were. Instead, I opted for a creek I have a bit more confidence in. Small fish, but not as concerned about presentation. We ended up with around a couple dozen hookups in the 4 or so hours on the water. My brother proved more than adept at catching suckers! I wish I had some pictures to prove it, but he lost his camera late in the day on a tiny little creek, much to his consternation. Here are a couple of pics of the day: Probably the funniest part of the trip was when he hooked a pretty nice little rainbow that ran straight at him. He backed up the bank and fell right on his ass. Kept the rod up and was still trying to fight the fish! I took the rod from him so he could get up, but the fish ran under the bank just below my feet and hooked the line around a small branch and got off. My brother's response: "I'd a got him if you would have just stayed out of it!"

So the problem is these methods catch too many fish? Sign me up!

Am I the evil one on the seesaw?? I would venture a guess that the number of visitors angling in Montana are far, far greater than in Alberta and consequently the angler density significantly more there. But that is just a guess. You will have to agree that it is pretty easy to find water to yourself here if you are willing to spend 30 minutes or so hoofing it (which leads us back to the original thread). So is crowding truly an issue here? Depends on your reference I guess. If your experience is from here, and you've been fishing here for years, then the answer is yes. If you are from pretty much anywhere else, then no. The angler density is sure to increase. I think that is a good thing. I think fishing is the best past time I can imagine, and I do my very best to promote it. This probably pisses some people off. Too bad. That said, I completely agree that we must do what we can to protect the resource itself. Licensing guides is a good idea. I personally don't think the number of guides today is a problem, but it could be in the future and licensing is the only way to monitor/control those numbers. Monitoring the rivers/streams, the Streamwatch program, ingraining catch and release on all flowing waters, etc. are necessary actions. On the River Rage front, in my 2+ yrs of fishing here, I've only had one unpleasant river confrontation, and that was mostly my own doing. I think if one routinely finds river confrontations here, then the issue is probably with the person finding the problems. In other words, if you go out looking for things to be mad at, you'll probably find them (and I am not singling anybody out with that statement!)

Damn, that thing is pretty impressive! I don't have the best resolution on my blackberry, but those look like the new jumbo red thingamabobbers as well. Know where a fella could, ahem, get him some? Just curious.

A facebook picture of Dave's what? If its a picture confirming dave's "super honesty", the I'm super honest in saying "glad I'm not on facebook" ya bunch of degenerates!

How exactly did that conversation go? "Hello Lynn, my name is Dave. I have a big crank that I use to hold up my trousers." "Hi Dave, nice to meet you and thanks for sharing. Can I introduce you to my husband Mike?"

So I've fished with a number of guides here in Alberta (its a tough job I have!). I haven't met one yet who wasn't conservation minded. They do most of the fish handling unless you make them stop, and every one I have dealt with treated the fish with the utmost respect. Same for the resource. I can't imagine any of them allowing me or my guest to leave any litter behind. I think having guides introduce a new fisherman to the resource and showing him the proper way to treat the fish and environment is a good thing. I also found the etiquette of the guides I dealt with to be outstanding. As far as guides taking up someones spot, what difference does it make that its a guide? I did not have the privilege of being here back in the day, before there were people and all. My bet is there were lots of fish and very few people fishing them. It must have been paradise. Unfortunately for those who have lived here for a long time, those days are gone. Can I tell you that the days we have now are really, really good? Any comparable trout streams in Montana would have >10X the number of anglers, yet they still seem to produce fish. My bet is that as long as the mortality is much less than the fishes ability to replenish back to carrying capacity, the resource is completely sustainable. The fish may get harder to catch. I would be willing to bet that poaching is a far greater threat to fish stocks than mortality. And an increase in C&R anglers would probably lower the number of poachers, because they would be more likely to be seen and called in. I also think guides should be licensed, mostly so you can keep track of numbers. The money that would come from licensing fees would be minuscule in the big picture. If you make it too high, the cost would just get passed on to the customer anyway. Sorry for the re-hijack after Lynn so politely tried to get this back on track.

If I had a sharper wit, I could come up with some witty way to ask "and just how do you know it's big?" using innuendo and double entendres. Unfortunately, my wit is not up to the task. Rev, wanna step in here??

Maybe we could market "Dave's Ass Net" as a sustainable resource device. No way anyone would keep a fish after landing one with that!