reevesr1

The 2X broke just after I hit the bitter end of the backing. And I'm staying away from the rod size argument!

I've been going over the fight in my head to figure if I could have done something else. The only thing I could have done would have been to use my light to look at my backing so that I could have reefed on the drag earlier. But even then, I sincerely doubt that fish was catchable, by me anyway, at night using a 5 wt. And he will bring me back!! But I would've been back anyway...

Brent, Year two starts today! I just meant I have been fly fishing one year as of this month. I have absolutely no intention of stopping until it's too cold to go.

Max, Whatever, dude. You are somewhat of a legend around Hanson's. They call you their #1 Bootcamp graduate. (I may be #2, but I'm gunnin' for ya!)

After my losing battle with Goliath last night, I decided I would consider it a symbolic end to my first full year of fly fishing as I started this addictive activity last year sometime in September. At the beginning of the year, I found it very frustrating and completely and totally sucked. Now, I still find it frustrating at times, but only completely suck, without the totally. They year has certainly been eventful. I've fished the Bow, Livingstone, Crowsnest, Castle, Oldman, Wigwam and Highwood Rivers to go with some local lakes, K-Lakes, Elbow Lake and Bullshead, along with some small creek fishing. I've caught Rainbows, Browns, Bulls (ok Bull singular), Cutts, Cuttbows, along with some whitefish and some type of fish with it's mouth on the bottom. My biggest to date is a 26.5" Rainbow in a small creek, and a 22" Brown on the Bow. Aside from the fish, the country I've seen this year is nothing short of breathtaking, and would be worth it without a fly rod in my hand. After 40+ years of fishing, I can honestly say this has been my best year fishing ever. Not a small statement! More importantly, I've met lots of people whom I now call friends and with whom I know I will fish with for many years to come. And there are many on this board I know I will fish with in the future. I joke with my wife that I this board is my on line dating service. If so, I've had some pretty good dates! I have been extremely fortunate in learning from some incredible fishermen, both on the water and on this board. There are too many names to mention without skipping some, so I won't waste space. But I would especially like to thank Troutlover, Toolman, MissinTheBow, and Maxwell for taking the time to teach (and I'm sure I'm missing someone so I apologize in advance). It's been fantastic. To all the rest of you novices out there, listen to the people on this site. The information here is priceless. Finally, thanks to all of you with putting up with my ramblings over the past several months. I'm trying to scale it back, but can't seem to keep my fingers off the keyboard.

I got the chance to go fishing tonite with Troutlover and MissinTheBow for a little nighttime action. Everyone had some action, not fast and furious, but certainly enough to keep us entertained. MTB had to go early, and it looked like Troutlover would follow, but he is a bigger addict than I am and we headed upstream to swing hoppers in some quiet water. We started getting action right away, with a couple of missed fish each. Then, as I just started to raise my rod to cast, I almost have it pulled out of my hands from a big, big hit. The fish never jumps, but is moving a LOT of water. He works upstream and Jared asks "what tippet are you using" I say 2X and he says "that fish is yours" and then "I forgot my net". Can you say jinx? Anyway, I really start to feel the weight of the fish, and after a minute or so I say "this is the biggest trout I have ever hooked" and then he finally makes his move. I wouldn't call it a run so much as a decision to just cross the river. He never did anything really quickly, he was just unstoppable. I wasn't really worried at first, just let him run. He stopped for a bit, I put a bunch of pressure on him to turn him, and he just started swimming across the river again. At that point I knew I was in big, big trouble. I saw a big swirl half way across the river and I kept tightening the drag, palming the reel to no avail. Jared asks "are you on your backing" I laugh and say "uh, yeah". Anyway, I try side pressure with no change. I have the drag set as high as I dare, in fact, I am quite surprised the 2x held with all the pressure as I was applying. Then I hit the end of the backing and bye bye fish. We have no idea how big. I will say this. I have caught lots of big fish on rod and reel in my life, but have rarely felt this much raw power from any fish, anywhere. He was awesome! I shall call him Goliath. I may have to give 'er a go this weekend with my 8 wt.!

I like that. Politically incorrect, and funny.

Now Matt, is this just an excuse to post a picture of your cute girlfriend??

I gotta say, I did a google on Oarfish assuming it to be a hoax. But apparently not. Here are a couple of pics: http://castlezzt.net/Slideshow/oarfish.jpg http://www.thejump.net/id/oarfish-2.jpg And the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oarfish The world is a strange and amazing place ain't it?

While the 3rd one has a decidedly redneck feel to it, and therefore makes me think of home, I think I have to go with 2. In it, I can drift though anyones water and just dare them to say anything! In my version, those red things would be real rockets! With them, I could shoot Fish-Rite Power Drifters. Just kidding there Fishhead!! Couldn't resist.

That's them. Anyone seen them for sale? I wonder if you could retrofit an existing boat?

The one's I saw were not low profile. They were like pontoon boats with paddlewheels mounted on either side of each pontoon. They were nothing like a lake paddleboat. Edit: I cannot find a picture, but here, I think, is the a patent application for it: http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6083062-fulltext.html

Sweet!

I saw two paddle boats on the bow last week. I didn't get a great look, but they looked specially designed. It looked like a regular pontoon boat with big paddles on the side When I saw one guy paddle, it sure looked maneuverable. It looked like it could work.

Brent, You pretty much hit it on the head. Not exactly chaos theory, but there are so many variables, mixed together in so many different ways (combinations and permutations for you stat guys), that for us, it is essentially chaos. I blame Chinese butterflies.

I thought the same thing, but since I was quite sure it would show me looking stupid (and I was right!), I figured I had to sign up. Just sign up and don't pay attention to all the "find your friends" stuff.

OK, I'll add my $0.02, I think part of the pullback by the majors, aside from the low gas prices, is a lessening of the perceived volatility in the rest of the world. Outside of Venezuela, there has been no new major world event to shake up the industry in the past several years. Same old crap in Russia, Nigeria, Middle East, etc., but nothing really new. So when that happens, capital starts to look really attractive in area where margins are MUCH higher than in Canada. I think of Canada as a bond fund. Small but safe returns.When the stock market (in this case more politically unstable parts of the world) is booming, you take your money out of bonds (Canada) and put them in stocks. Wait until the next big scary event, and the money will roar back to nice, safe Canada. All that being said, if gas stays in the $5.00 range all bets are off....

HopperDropper, That is a fantastic picture of the big cutty. I gotta say that is one of my favorite fish pictures on this forum to date, and that is saying something. The rest of the photos are great as well. Thanks for sharing them.

Thanks Hiketofish. I loved the story! I will never hike with you!!

Brett, Maybe if you were taller, you could see me over any obstructions (you know, like little rocks, shrubs, stuff like that). Seriously, I LIKE to chase them, in case you haven't noticed. Actually, I think it is because I have never had to chase a fish in saltwater for obvious reasons (lots of line, no flowing water), so chasing them is very fun for me! But I'm starting to get over it, as it seems to often end in pain!

There is a book by Bill Bryson called "A Short History of Nearly Everything". If you like unusual facts, or learning how and why things are the way they are, I highly recommend it. He is a travel author who decided to take a year of his life learning about things he had always wondered about. It goes from Astronomy to Plate Tectonics (more interesting than it sounds!), evolution, big bang, etc., etc. It is a very entertaining read. In it I learned that one of the biggest active volcano in the world is Yellowstone National Park, or at least a very big part of it. Goes off every 600,000 years or so and changes the planet when it does. It is overdue (but since we are talking geologic time, overdue is a relative term)! Here is a link to the Yellowstone volcano http://www.solcomhouse.com/yellowstone.htm

So since Copper is worth more than Zinc, did you just call me stupid?

Betsy did it way long time ago. Through the gulf coast somewhere, out through the Carolina's I think then back into the Gulf. Another one did it years ago as well. But the same type of way, out the Atlantic seaboard then back into the Gulf. Don't think I've ever seen a predicted path that goes in the Gulf coast, out the Gulf coast, then back into the coast. Forget the wind, think of the rain. Flood-o-rama! By the way, I'd love to talk to you some day about Katrina. I've spoken to a couple of old friends from outside of NO, but no one who was actually there. Can't even imagine. Maybe we could get SJW involved, talk about Katrina, New Orleans, and make fun of Louisiana politics!

Don't know about flowing water and trout (yet), but pre-frontal (falling pressure) was just the best for saltwater. However, my two experiences pre-frontal on the Bow have both been disappointing. Not enough info to form an opinion yet however.

Yep. And a boat dock in the back. Perfect!