reevesr1

Nice fish Mr. Steve.

People often confuse selecting the size of the rod to the fish instead of selecting the size of the rod based on what you are presenting, and how. IMHO, in most of the flowing water I've fished, there really are not that many fish that will over power a smaller rod. If you are fishing delicate/small dries to selective fish and are using light tippet, I like smaller rods (my smallest is a 3 wt.) because I think they present better. I also think that if you are not afraid of breaking off the odd fish, if you put a lot of pressure on the fish with smaller rods, you can land them just about as quickly. Like anything, there are limits. A 28" brown on a 3 wt wit 5x tippet would be tough. But you know what, they are tough on a 5 wt with 3x also, and if they are being spooky in clear water, good luck hooking him on 3x. Sometimes you may be overpowered, but really, not very often. The majority of my fishing on the Bow is with a 4 and 5wt. I'll use a 6 if it's really windy, and maybe my 3 if I'm fishing small dries. Cutty streams are almost exclusively 3 and 4 wt. I watched BigBowTrout land a 28 or so bull with his 3 (only rod he had with him) in about 2 minutes once. I think it was harder on him to cast that big ass streamer than it was to fight and land the fish! I remember a fish I caught with Brian--a 22" rocket of a rainbow on 5x with a 3 wt. Landed quickly (or at least as quickly as I would have with a 5) and released. I in no way felt under gunned. Breathless after the fight, but not undergunned.

About a month ago I lost my GPS coming down from a hike to Jumbo Glacier. I did look for it on the trail for awhile, but the area I might have lost it in was just too big, so see ya later, GPS. Nice knowing you. I sent a note to a hiking club for the East Kootenays and they sent out an email to their members, but no luck there either. I downloaded a nice hiking app onto my phone, and it works ok. But battery life is a big issue, and you have to pay attention to how big the map is you download in advance. So it worked OK, but I was resigned to the fact I would need to eventually by a new GPS. Last night I got a phone call from Kimberly, BC. Seems that a couple of hikers (father and daughter) found my GPS a couple of weeks ago, and meant to call me but forgot until last night. GPS going in the mail today! Just reminds me that people are for the most part much better than we give them credit for. It would have been easy for them to keep the GPS (it's a really nice one!). Instead, they took the time to contact me, package it up and send it expecting nothing in return. Can't wait to get it back. Unfortunately, it won't work at Uber's house, what with the EMP and all.

I've called RAP a few times. I can't think of an instance when the callback was more than 15 minutes later. One instance the CO was there <15 minutes after the call and poachers were busted.

Sounds like someone set off a directed EMP at your house. Have any enemies in the government?

Hey, DRock is Hank Patterson! The best cutbrowbow fisherman around!

Corb? Is that you?

Holy crap CJ. Next time I see you at the farm beer is on me!

Launches are much busier places where I'm from than they are here, the one I went to the most was a big triple launch. If you got there late, there might be 20 vehicles in front of you. Seen many arguments, been involved in one myself. No fist fights or guns so far though. But with soft lovable guys such as us, it's no wonder. Sorry for the BS, I'll try to do better. As an aside, if my count is correct, I've fished with 12 people who've posted on this thread. I don't think the terms they would use to describe me would be "soft and lovable." Well, maybe bobloblaw would, but he's too busy looking at flowers to really notice.

Well aren't you just sunshine and roses today. At least you are thinking right through winter and into next spring!

You'd get crucified for hogging the run with the hover drift boat, and also hated for having enough money for being able to afford a hover boat. And you would be assumed to be from Edmonton, unless you were using your hoverboat on the Crow, or worse yet BC, in which case you would be assumed to be from Calgary, or even worse, Wyoming. Then there would be fist fights, because everyone knows that's the only way to settle fishing disputes.

Moneychanger? Come on man.

It's been a really tough year in the flowing water around here. If you have been fishing flowing water in Kananaskis, particularly the K river, it is fairly barren (or if it isn't, it has me utterly fooled). I haven't fished much up around Banff so don't know how the flood affected the fishing there, but if it's like anywhere else it certainly had an impact. The Bow has been much, much, much tougher than usual post flood for me at least, particularly on bigger fish. No idea if it is lack of fish or total change in behavior, but they have me fooled. So be comforted in the fact you have a lot of company this year. And also that it is sure to get better as everything starts to recover and you start to figure out what works, and what doesn't. But I don't think the rivers here require different significantly different tactics than trout rivers anywhere else in the west.

Had the el hosels for awhile many years ago. They go away. (And without buying any Tin Cup inspired contraptions!) Those putting woes seem to stick around, and around, and around. Weirdest mental thing ever. What is hardest for me is how they start to impact all of your game. Since you have no faith in your ability to scramble (can't scramble if you can't putt), every bad shot becomes a potential disaster, making each shot feel more important than it is. And while you know intellectually that it really doesn't mean anything, that stupid reptilian brain of ours thinks otherwise. 66 huh? Sweet. Have had a few rounds before I sort of quit where breaking par was a strong possibility, but have never broken that barrier. I'm confident that if I get the putting woes put to bed, sub 70 is certainly in the cards. 66 though? Hard to imagine.

He's awesome. I've fished with him like 4 times now. He has a couple of my rods and reels. I traded him a 8 wt TFO and a Akuma (I think) reel for a trip two years ago and gave him an old (but trusty) Shimano Chronarch SF100 for a tip this year. I have a couple of them and really never use them any more except when I go to Texas, so it felt really good to see it go to a place where it will be well used and appreciated! He told my wife it was like getting a Christmas present. Most of the pictures of fishing around the rocks was a trip he brought me out on to show him how to adjust the casting controls, etc on the reel. We had a "Mexico vs America" fish off! After that day, Elias and his wife went into town and bought my wife a nice present, and I got some 100 yr old Tequila. He is an fantastic guy, great fisherman, always smiling. I agree Muay-I could not recommend him more.

Well, maybe a bit more than two. I ride quite a bit as well. I haven't done anything as big as a fondo yet, but I have done around 220k over a couple of days. That and a bit of hiking.

I was a 5 before the fly rod took over. Hope to get back there (and honestly, my tee to green is as good as ever-but my putter seems to be experiencing that dreaded y word). I went on a golf trip this weekend-played really well first round until I turned a pretty sure 4 ft birdie into a soul crushing, multiple skin losing bogey. Putted like crap the rest of the trip, considered throwing my clubs in the gulley on #6 at Greywolf. Stupid game. And bobloblaw-that is still my spot. Treat it with respect and mild usage!

Wish I knew who the guide was so I never, ever use him. Lincoln guy sounds like a tool, but I would never employ someone who would criminally assault someone for being a tool. He better hope he doesn't get charged.

I started fishing when I was 4 or 5 years old, and with the exception of a notable time in my 20s when I did not fish much (getting up early in the mornings to fish salt water was not conducive to my mostly nocturnal existence), I've been doing it pretty much all my life. I picked up golf a little later (I was 12- but in the early 70s if you were a kid you had to hide any golf obsession), and the two of them have battled for supremacy ever since. My first fish on the fly rod, coinciding with my "discovery" of flowing water 6 or 7 years ago swung the battle decisively towards fishing. I still played some, but maybe 5 or 6 rounds a year, and mostly in scrambles. I played enough to know the game was still in there, but not enough to have it come out to stay all that often. My wife is of the firm, unshakable opinion that I can only have two hobbies at a time, and that one of them needs to be her. So my golf game languished in favor of my new and shiny mistress, the Bow River. That and the fact I had the yips! Over the past few months, I've been playing around with a new putting grip I've seen Mickelson and Garcia use, and it seemed to have cleared up the yips. I played in a scramble a month or so ago, putted great, and thought "ok, that was fun. I remember why I love this game." Played a couple of rounds on my own in Panorama, and continued to put good, and at some point the switch in my brain decisively swung from fly fishing as hobby in primacy to golf. Went out, bought a new set of Taylor Made clubs, a couple of new Cleveland wedges, and a new fat ass grip for my putter. I realized how much I'd been focusing my attention to golf when I was here on FFC on saw about 20 threads I hadn't read at all! Anyway, don't know how long it will last. Not like I'm going to quit fishing or anything, but I can see the number of trips taking a decided turn south (though I am starting to really like hike in fishing, and my wife joins me on those so she is ok with it). I do hope to get out once more this year with my sons to chase cutties, but I think that I'll mostly be on the sidelines watching from afar. That is, at least until I start reading stories about fantastic fishing a few years from now when all these little fish on the bow start to grow up........

Reese just keeps getting sadder and sadder.

I'll try to watch. But I really wanted to see them swoosh by me on a straightaway somewhere near the end so I could see just how slow I really am on a bike!

I'm out of town on a fishing trip this weekend and will miss this, which is too bad. I would have loved it!

Fantastic pics there Biggy!

There is a picture of Henry Winkler at the Hanson's farmhouse on the Bow. He fished just upstream of Police a couple of years ago.

I guess it would be possible that suckers survived the flood better than the trout so proportionally there are more now, which actually may not be surprising since they are native aren't they? And do they eat eggs? Not surprising either, but so do most (if not all) trout species. But there are certainly no more suckers this year than the year before, or the year before that? Not that I"ve noticed. Now that I think of it, seems to me there may be less? Or maybe I haven't been fishing water that they hang out in as much (which is more likely). Whatever the case, we shouldn't do anything about it. If they've survived the flood better than trout, and have some small impact on the future trout population (which I doubt), so be it. Good for the suckers.