reevesr1

Oh yeah, well I'm gonna catch me some Big 'Ole Cutties on Hoppers this weekend just out of spite!! I spit on stoneflies! Wait, I know, Hopper/skid bitch double dry. Now for the more important question, should I swing it or dead drift it?????

I didn't forget about the zodiac. I was going to mention it, but I honestly thought about how kindly SilverDoctor treats other users of the river and how our actions put us in a lesser light! He gives people flies, we yell at them. Then I thought about how his stories are well thought out, almost lyrical creations and mine are told in a rush in single, poorly constructed paragraphs. I could feel a severe inferiority complex developing. That, in addition to Max's casting and your manipulation of line was causing me to rethink whether I should be fishing or telling stories at all. So to avoid these feelings of inadequacy, I decided to skip the zodiac part. How's that for convoluted logic? The case of Pike fever may be severe. And I just thought of what the Rainbow was actually saying..... BEEEYAAAHHH Beeeatch!!

So this weeks' story of the week happened this week. Today in fact. Went out today with Max, MissinTheBow, and a friend of mine from work. We fished around Policeman's and while we did not catch a ton of fish, we certainly had a blast. Everyone caught a few, biggest maybe 22". Lots of fish lost on jumps and some break-offs. It was a blast with lots of laughs and I learned a ton, again, from a couple of outstanding fishermen. But that is not the story.... Towards the end of the day, we have worked our way into some pretty fast water. MTB, my friend, and myself are pretty much done for the day. Max, however, can't seem to get off the water without one big fish. So he pulls off this one handed spey, super ninja, feakazoid 60 ft cast, into a light wind. After I had spent the last hour trying to roll cast 25 ft (at best!) with lots of cover behind and wind in my face, I see this cast, and think, KMA you young whipper snapper (but I thought something other than whipper snapper, with less letters, like 4 with an er on the end). Anyway, he hits the seam perfectly, a fish hits and Max sets the hook. And breaks off. Ha-Ha, serves him right for the Ninja cast! Well, Max turns around in frustration and while his back is to the run, a very large, very pissed off rainbow clears the water, like by 3 feet. MTB, my buddy and myself make noises of amazement. Max says, "what, did he jump" turns around, and he jumps again. These are high jumps with not much side to side motion. I know he is trying to shake the hook, but I swear it was like "look at what you missed buddy!" Now, this is where the story may slide into legend over time. MTB says "he's over 20" I say "yeah, by like 6 inches" and Max is literally moaning. In the end, this behemoth jumps 4 or 5 times over 30 seconds or so. Max is giving him the middle finger and claiming the fish is flipping him off! MTB changes his length assesment to "at least 12 inches". I'm silently applauding the Rainbow cuz I'm still mad at the ninja cast! Anyway, it was a pretty awesome sight that I'll remember for a long time. And I know where he lives (hey Max, race ya!) And in the next couple of days, I'll post a picture. My buddy got a shot of the fish as it is just clearing the water. Just an amazing shot. He is going to send it to me, hopefully tomorrow.

Brent, If it was after 8 PM or so, that was probably them! Particularly if the soaked one was a big bald guy.

Congratulations! Welcome to the club.

Taco, Great news since I'm going tomorrow!!

When I was out yesterday afternoon, I saw a couple of Kayakers, one of whom had rolled his kayak. When I saw him, he was hanging on and drifting downstream in the middle of the river. I started to follow and thinking how/if I could help when his partner saw me, smiled, and said everything is ok. Still walking down the bank and watching, the guy tried to roll the kayak back upright, which he did, but since it was full of water and instantly rolled back over. He tried several more times and you could see him getting exhausted. Fortunately, the first kayaker found a shallow path back to the opposite bank and when I left (and I had been summoned by the wife, so leaving was important) he had made it almost all the way to the opposite bank. The guy had a lifejacket, so was never really in any danger, but it did get me thinking...Should you kayak the Bow in a non-river kayak, ie, one that fills with water?? The guy was not having any fun at all! Though the Bow can certainly look benign, it is anything but.

I would say 25% of the time. The majority of my trips are on the Bow, and I pick up stuff maybe 1 in 4. The few times I have fished streams, I have picked up whatever I could hold and/or stuff in my vest on the way out. BTW, way to take matters into your own hands!

Taco, Enlighten me. What is special about after Labor Day (I left the U out on purpose)? I assume: 1. Way fewer campers 2. Hunting season Leading to significantly less pressure?

Guys, This is a logo I had made for a fishing tournament I ran every year. The coloring is not all that different than what a rainbow would be, so it gives a good idea of what a fish logo could look like. The shirt came out great (it is about 4 yrs old now.)

Just wait. Hooking a big one still takes my breath away (1 yr with the fly rod). I hadn't landed a 20" fish dead drifting a dry until this morning. My arms were literally shaking with excitement. Congrats. 3 fish on a fly on the Bow is pretty impressive.

Great work both of you! Tough to judge, because Darren's really looks nice against the woodgrain, where I think the white background does a disservice to Dave's?

spoken like a guy who "catches little fish"! Very pretty picture!

That wouldn't suck would it? Like hooking lightning. My dad said the back in the 60s, they considered tarpon "trash fish", a generic term for any fish with no food value. Dad and his friend used to fish for them because, duh, they were FUN! Said the biggest one he ever hooked was in the 200 lb class and that on the first run the fish was running straight off the bow, he thought. He saw the first jump out of the corner of his eye, almost 90 degrees to his left. The fish was running so fast the line couldn't cut through the water fast enough to keep up at all. This was back in the braided line days, but could you imagine the bend in heavy diameter fly line with 100+ lb of pissed off tarpon running across at top speed? Next time I go to Texas in the summer I might give it a shot. Would have to get a 12 wt or so.

Wow. An Ernest Hemingway reference. Don't see that everyday. Sentence was too long though!

Nice. Birchy must be hearing footsteps. I'll let you get a bit of praise before I hijack the post!

Taco, I was thinking the exact same thing, as I have neither! Dave, I don't even know how to express how impressive that fly is. Thanks for letting everyone see it!!

Hey, you remind me of someone.....I know, my wife! Except sometimes she's condescending as well! As to the night fishing: 5 minutes from my house, swung dries (from the bank, you don't even need waders) for around an hour last night. Only got one, but missed several. Back in the car at 10 PM. (I know you have an early bedtime, being a grandma and all... even though you are younger than me). Bring your husband, I'll bring my wife and a bottle of nice Argentinian Red. Birchy, Sorry for the post steal again. Figured with your surgery and new baby, your too occupied to really care!!

Can someone explain to me, in small simple words, why they would allow random camping but keep the main campgrounds closed? Wouldn't it be better the other way around?? Doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that it might be easier to police the campgrounds than the random guys, or am I missing something here?

I like Brownstone's also. I did some logo's on shirts for a fishing tournament several years ago. First year I did a redfish (copper colored with many different hues). Came out like garbage, it was very difficult to embroider. Then I did a speckled trout (silver/white/some metallic blue/black spots) and come out gorgeous. I actually have a shirt at home with that logo and will take a pic and post. My point is that if you want to have a fish in the logo, my bet is a rainbow will be much easier to embroider than a brown.

Lynn, I feel great, how about you? Wanna go night fishing this evening? I must say I feel you might have been a bit condescending in your above reply. But hey, I'll take what I can get!!

How come all the girls talk to Birchy? Is it because he just had a baby? I've got three of 'em. Anybody want one?

It looks to me like most of the campgrounds on the FTR are closed, or at least the ones I know, which are admittedly few. http://gateway.cd.gov.ab.ca/firebans.aspx Hey Harps, when we gonna tilt that Guinness?

Dank, Went to Spruce Meadows to have a look. Weeds are way down, looked very fishable with a bit of algae still on the water, but very manageable. Lots of ducks, beavers, geese, etc. around. Saw a few rises, not as many as I would have expected but it was very late in the evening. Give it a shot, it has some nice fish. BTW, I saw the Saints against my Cowboys in Tulane Stadium in 1969 when we live just outside New Orleans. Roger Staubach, Bullet Bob Hayes, Calvin Hill, Archie Manning. Hayes caught an 80 yd touchdown pass (he was my favorite player) that was called back by a holding penalty. Thats the only thing I really remember except the Cowboys won, but they mostly did in those days and the Saints were still pretty much an expansion franchise. The Saints did grow on me, and I was very disappointed at the end of last year. Really looking forward to this year....