reevesr1

Yes, made the exam. And the grade must have been pretty good. I actually got straight A's my first year of university. I found it incredibly easy after the Navy's Nuclear training. In fact, that'll be next weeks story. Its a good one.

Hey now, that spot is a secret!! Dank, Anyone who has Geaux Saints has my permission to fish Spruce Meadow Pond. What part of town do you live in? The only problem could be weeds, but this cold temp may take care of that. If I get a chance I'll drive by (I live very close) and have a peek.

Carlodabroads, I like the way this cuts across generational lines "I pity the fool" for us more mature folk and "who ain't down" for the younger crowd. Plus, I like Mr. Ts lily white arms, tiny little shoulders, and his striking lack of bling!

Hah, no way you should share! Tell 'em they shouldn't have any catching one on a prettier fly. My dads favorite line when someone asks him where (as opposed to what on) would be "most of 'em in the side of the mouth, but I did foul hook one." When I was using anything lure I deemed special on the bay, I would always switch it out before I hit the dock on the way home, and replace it with some very common lure. So if anyone asked, I could just point. Edit: Of course if I see you around Secret Spot #2479, make sure you have a couple extra!!

I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to write about this week. I had decided on skipping the story and just talking about like on a Submarine, but then I spoke to my mom this weekend. She asked me if I would write down as many of my dad's stories as I could think of so she could compile them into some sort of book. I told her I've already kinda started doing that here, and will send her a link to the website. However, this puts a bit of pressure on me to write a story knowing my mom is reading it, and probably critiquing it! Anyway, it got me thinking about what makes a good story, or more specifically, what makes a good fish story. Everyone has stories about their biggest fish and while these are interesting, if nothing special happened while catching the fish, they are in the long run forgettable other than "my biggest brown is 26"". When I got to thinking about it, I realized I don't even know how big my biggest speckled trout is (our primary species back home). I have a pretty good idea, but I cannot point to any specific fish and say that one was the biggest. But I do remember many individual fish I caught who for some circumstance seared themselves into my memory. One of my dad's favorite stories was about a couple of such fish. I'll add one of mine afterwards. This probably happened in the late 80s or early 90s, after we had moved back to Texas from Louisiana. Dad was fishing by himself late one afternoon at a place called Dollar Point, probably our favorite reef system in Galveston Bay. He was chunking a big plastic mullet imitation when it is slammed by what he thinks is a huge trout. But it pulls so much drag so fast, he decides it cannot be a trout and it had to be a jack crevalle (a much bigger and much stronger non-game fish). This would be like thinking you had the brown of a lifetime only to discover a pike on the end of your rod. Anyway, the fish almost spools him before he turns him and starts to get some line back. Around that time, a ship wave (the reef is a couple of miles from the Houston Ship Channel) rolls in and he sees a trout in the wave, approximately where he thinks the jack is. When he sees the trout, he thinks "nice fish" but since it only looks 24" or so, does not for a second think that it is his fish. He picks up a bit more line, and the fish hits the surface for the first time and he realizes that what he thought was 15-20 lbs of jackfish was actually 26" or so and maybe 6# of trout. He said he could hardly believe his eyes. After 40 yrs or so of fishing, he had never had a 6 lb. trout pull like that, or even close. Anyway, he lands the fish, and just couldn't believe how "little" it was. (I think he released it, but cannot remember exactly. In my memory he does release the fish, but that could be wishful thinking.) For reference, the type of trout we caught and brown trout in the Bow are very similar in size. So a big spec in Galveston would map very well to a big brown on the Bow. So a 26" fish is a very, very nice fish, but not spectacular, particularly for someone who had caught hundreds bigger. Anyway, shaking his head in awe, he makes another cast. And hooks another fish, and the same story is repeated except for the wave part. Said the second one was a twin of the first in both size and fight. Both big males and both pulled like a fish twice its size. Never caught one before, or since, that compared. In all my dad's fishing stories (and lord knows there are a bunch) this was one of his favorites. Not because of the size, but really because of the lack of size. Here is my addition: One early winter morning I headed out by myself to a secluded bay shoreline. I only had a few hours to fish as I had an exam that afternoon (was in college at the time). When I got to the bay, it was totally locked in by fog. The depth break I wanted to fish was 1/4 mile or so off the bank and I could not take the chance of fishing it for fear of getting lost in the fog and missing my test. So I decided to throw some big topwater baits near the shore in hopes of maybe scaring up a big girl or two, but holding out very little hope. I spotted a big pod of huge mullet "rafting" (a big school of bait fish huddled very close together with their mouths right on the surface). Sometimes big trout would hide under the mullet for protection, as the mullet were too big to eat. So I cast into the pod and kaboom, start hooking massive trout. Had the best day of my life catching fish between 25 to 28". I only caught one trout under 25". And that one is the single fish I remember from that day. All the big fish were females. The little one was 3.5 lb of the most acrobatic, hardest fighting male I have ever caught. Took me twice a long to get him in than it did the big girls he was with, and I couldn't believe how little he was to have all that go! I caught 25 fish that day and have had nothing like it before or since. It was truly a day of a lifetime (or maybe several lifetimes) and would equate well with someone catching 25 trout over 25" in 3 hours on the Bow. But I couldn't tell you how big the biggest one was other than "big!" and odds are the biggest trout I have ever caught was caught that day. But the one I will always remember was the smallest, and boy, was he a stud!! Edit: It would be cool if some of you guys/gals could add your memorable fish stories. There are some awesome story tellers on this board, and I would love this post to start a round of 'em.

I second BBB's comment. If you live in Chaparral, or any of the far SE communities, access through Sikome was just fantastic. Oh well, time to relearn the poop hole, hullswood, etc.

Great looking fish! You think if I posted I pic of a Bow River 'bow on a Boga Grip, I'd get a few comments? I'd sure know just what he weighed!! Nice lookin' lake house also. I have some great memories playing around with sunfish down south when I was a kid. They can get up towards a 1/2 to 3/4 of a lb. in weight. Pound for pound, they are fantastic fighters. And cooperative!

ULTRAlite, Love the Avatar. Welcome to the world of Fly Fishing. Hope you have a deep wallet! Pretty awesome bunch around here. They will shorten your learning curve substantially. Good Luck!

Ladystrange, I would look at both the Pentax and Olympus. But if you can, I would highly recommend taking each one outside to test drive in bright sunshine and also scrolling through the features. I don't know how often you are in Calgary, but there is a camera shop downtown next to Hanson's that carries both and will let you take it outside to play with. Their prices are pretty fair as well.

Hey Ed, The reason that I didn't have to pay duty on the camera, I thought, is that Olympus (from California) charged me GST. Just like a purchase in Canada. Not sure how they pay it to Canada, but whatever. But now that I think of it, I don't really remember paying duty on anything I've bought from the states on eBay recently. Don't know what it is charged on. I just asked my wife and she has bought books from Amazon. No duty. Mayber there isn't duty anymore, or maybe if the purchase is small. Good question!

As soon as I heard the song (and spit coffee on myself) I thought "I'm not playing Ned Beatty in this video am I?"

Dave, 1 of each. Size L.

Hey there ladystrange, Olympus SW720.Got it on eBay from Olympus (a refurb) for $400.00, shipping incl. no duty. I absolutely love it. MTB has one as well and really likes his as well. Troutlover has a Pentax W30 (I think) that he swears by. From what I have seen, the Olympus has the best screen in direct sunlight, but all of them suffer some in those conditions. You often will have to point and hope. But if you put the Olympus in burst mode (about 5 pics per second), the problem is solved. Burst mode is just fantastic for underwater shots. Check out my Livingstone posts http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/index.php?showtopic=762) and http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/index.php?showtopic=764) for an idea of what the Olympus can do. These were my first day with the camera. Edit: I'd also ask LK2 what he is using as it is pretty awesome.

Early! I recommend coffee, and lots of it. I also recommend bringing an experienced fisherman who just watches and advises. Makes catching easier! Brett, Thanks for the comments on the landing. When I was landing the fish, I actually eyeballed the exact area I wanted to pull him into as it was a bit deeper. I was very surprised by how it looked on video, and understand Brent's comment about the net. But I think it looks way worse than it was. At the time, I didn't think it really hit the rocks, but after seeing the vid, I may be wrong. Its funny because I was very aware that I was fishing with the guy who wrote the article on how to catch and release a fish. I was actually going at the fish pretty hard once I got him into the quiet water to get it in quickly. Also, for the rest of the novices out there: I have fished with some really good fishermen in the last year. The one constant among all of them is they all spend time just looking at the water before they just dive in and start casting. And they all look for bugs. I hope I can l learn from that in my zeal to get on the water.

Maybe afert I've caught as many as you two, I'll plant my feet as well! Maybe I'll get a good start chasing the bulls in a couple of weeks!

I also wanted to add the story behind the video: I was fishing a pretty shallow run, and to tell the truth, didn't really expect anything. When I hooked him, I didn't think he was very big. He worked upstream a bit and then hung me up on a rock, or so I thought. I moved the rod a bit to see if I could shake him loose when I realized the rock was him, and he was a bit bigger than I thought! He then jumped, raced down the run and out into the very fast water. I looked at Brett and said "and away we go" and off to the races. I find chasing them very fun. That was a great way to start the day!! He (or she, I don't know how to tell yet) was 19 to 20".

Knew that was coming! I've got one, just forgot it

OK, so it worked for me. A couple of points (maybe more than a couple) 1. I just spit coffee all over myself. Literally 2. God, I'm good lookin'. 3. I run pretty good for an older gentlemen 4 OK, so I pulled the fish up on the bank a little agressively. I'm still learning. But I did not pull him out of the water. 5. I can actually play a bit of that song on the guitar 6. BEEEAAYYAAAHHH! That was one fun fish to catch!! 7. He released like a dream. thanks Brett, that was sweet. Great choice of music. Watch your back!

47 and feeling it!

Hats for me are like girls and shoes. Never turn down an opportunity to buy one, as long as it isn't ugly!

All the best Ryan. Couldn't be happier for you guys!

Grannyknot, You should not smoke! I've been fishing below the city mostly. I've been in Fish Creek a bit, but always below the boat launch this summer. I have had a total of maybe 3 people in areas I wanted to fish and 2 times I knew 'em, which made them easy to kick out! Actually, the only time it was any problem at all was downstream of McKinnons I had a group walk past me and my buddy and start fishing the run directly downstream of us. Changed plans and adapted. Seems like lots of water around to me.

See what dirtbiking does to people? SJW, I would think if the hopper is big enough you may be able to get two treble hooks (that's what us meat chuckers call a "3 pronged hook") on it. Maybe tipped with some of Troutlover's maggots. The trout wouldn't stand a chance.

I did have thoughts of opening the door and stepping to the other side. As it turned out, lucky thing I didn't. One of my shipmates came at the door from the other side to close it. He saw that someone else, me, had beat him to the punch. Said that one of the vents was dumping on the Pressurizer Heater Panel which was a bank of 50 AMP fuses. Said pretty lights were shooting out of the panel and it would have been a BAD place to be standing. Lucky me, but dumb luck. What has always been interesting to me is how your training kicks in, without any hesitation, in the midst of abject terror. There were some things about the military I truly did not like. But baby, they sure know how to train.

Tear 'em up Mitch. I lived up in GP for a couple of years and only fished flowing water up there once. Dumb. I will be travelling up there for a trip at some point. Can't wait for your report!