reevesr1

Anyway, nothing like a good debate to get some action around here.

Not questioning that b3. If someone would have told me when I was younger that I would release all my fish, I would have laughed at them, so I don't really have any trouble believing that I would be satisfied hookless, in certain situations. And I have a passionate guy in my head. But if I chose to go hookless (or barbless, or pictureless) or whatever more humane technique might arise, I hope I don't start to look down my nose at those who don't slavishly follow my path. Edit: I did not mean the above as an indictment on any particular person, honestly!

Don't know if you are serious or not, but there are people certainly advocating that. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695233521/Hookless-Fly-fishing-Angler-likes-fish-too-much-to-hurt-them.html?pg=all http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/07/sports/outdoors-hookless-fly-fishing-is-a-humane-advance.html

Before people start pointing fingers at others, try to remember one thing. We ALL kill fish in the pursuit of our passion. No matter how careful we are, sometimes fish will die as a direct result of us catching them. As we become more skilled in handling fish, we tend to kill proportionally less. But since with that increase in skill in handling fish comes from handling lots of fish, we are still killing some. So it is beyond hypocritical to hold someone or any group in contempt because you think their techniques might kill more than you do. Educate, point out different methods, whatever. But keep the contempt out of it. We are all fish killers.

there are no fish anywhere near where that last picture was taken.

Seems to me there was a study (or studies) on fish mortality vs. single, treble, barbless, etc, and that the conclusion was much like Dave said above. The barb made no measurable (or inconsequential) impact to mortality, nor frankly did single vs treble. Only difference was bait, hooked deep, for obvious reasons. The decision to go barbless, at least in light of these studies, is an aesthetic or guilt driven one more than a decision based on science. All that said, I'm used to barbless. I love the fact that the hook comes out almost effortlessly when I stick a hook in my finger, or head. edit: did a bit of further reading. Data really inconclusive and varied pretty widely with species. I did find a Bull Trout study from the Kinbasket region of BC for bulls caught trolling. Basically no mortality at all for any method (one fish died), single vs double hook, barbed and unbarbed, but bleeding was less with single barbless. Anyway, I will continue to use barbless. I'm as susceptible to guilt as the next guy.

Edmonton #3, Calgary #5. If you look at the actual numbers, traffic is the biggest differentiator. Two of the top 5 cities in the world are 3 hours apart in a province of 3.6 million. Pretty amazing. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/12/03/edmonton-quality-of-life-top-canadian-city_n_2234811.html

Hanson's does a boot camp for $225 I think, and rod and reel are included. They are currently hooked up with Hardy, so I'm pretty sure the rod and reel are both from Greys. I've casted them and they are really pretty nice. I fish the reel myself actually. If you sign them up for a boot camp in the spring, I'm almost positive they will give you the rod and reel now.

Middle shot of the first batch could go in the "Remember to Breath" ad campaign. Very nice.

I plan to run some more auctions and raffles in the new year. If anyone wants to contribute anything, let me know! In the meantime, my ride site is: http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR/Events/Alberta2013?px=3128774&pg=personal&fr_id=14I I am currently at just under $2000, or about 60% of my goal. I hope to hit the goal by the new year, and spend the months before the ride shattering it. thanks to all who have supported!

My concern with this is that is sounds we would be advocating a closure based on moral grounds as opposed to fisheries management grounds. From what I've experienced (and I could be wrong), there has been no evidence of declining brown trout populations in the past several years has there? If not, then we are advocating closure based on moral grounds. That's perfectly fine, but opens up a big can in my eyes. There are lots of folks who want fishing closed period, based exclusively on moral grounds. This could be perceived as us helping drive the nails in.....

I would support it, with the caveat being I'd like to see some study on whether the increase in angler population is actually impacting brown mortality. Just because there is an increase in brown mortality this year from whatever that fungus is called does not mean angler activity has anything to do with it. Angler activity has been on the increase for years , and from circumstantial evidence, this year is a step change in number of fish affected by fungus. The two are not necessarily related. The brown trout fishing has been excellent for the past several years even with the increase in number of anglers. (And as an aside, I biked the river from downtown to Chaparral several times a week into mid-october. Most days, I would not see an angler in the evenings until I got to Southland). All that said, I have no trouble with the idea of a closure for the spawn in a general sense, but I would like something more concrete than "I think the anglers are affecting the browns...."

Having a Hummer don't make you rich! $100,000 and the loss of the vehicle is a deterrent to almost anyone. I think the fines are certainly an appropriate outcome.

Thought I would post this here. My son Benjamin is the captain of his Movember team at University of Alberta for Materials Engineering students. I'm not going to do Movember this year since I want to focus my fundraising on the Ride for the Cure this spring, but thought I would post his site here in case anyone wanted to help out. It is a great cause, and this is his first shot at fundraising! Makes a dad proud. http://ca.movember.com/mospace/5002225 Thanks!

Pipes-a very well thought out and eloquent reply. As a guy who has spent far more time with a spin rod in his hand than a fly rod, I can only hope that a significant portion of the people who read your post come to realize that methodology plays almost 0 role in attitude toward the resource.

"Jimmy Walker Dyno-mite special!"

I have a couple of pink shirts, but no pink jacket or matching toque. Now that I see what is possible, I'm going to ask for one for Christmas. Have no idea what anyone could find wrong with that pic. Focus is on the fish, losing focus as you step away. Almost like they wanted the fish to be the focal point of the picture, not the angler or background. Heretics. Nice fish Paula. And you don't hide behind a anonymous name.

Like Cutty.

Awesome.

GrnDrake, I don't! Whether you find it or not (and the selfish part of me hopes not!!), the process of looking will get you into a lot of fish, and some amazing country.

Here are a few more: Check out the Poker Chip Jammies: Here are a few of my son Wyatt, who is now called NAFTA (Born in Canada, American and Canadian parents, works at Taco Time). For a kid who claims "not to like fishing all that much", it sure looks like he had some fun: At the "Perfect Cutty Run" Wyatt's big fish of the trip: At the "Conveyor Belt" Getting some dry lessons from BBT: BBT working the sticks in "The Perfect Cutty Run" My biggest fish of the trip, and the only one with any hook damage of the many fish I caught: The trip was as good as it gets. I'll repeat myself from an earlier post. Of all the laughs I had, the funniest thing I heard was my son saying the following to his mother once we hit civilization and the phones worked. "Chris caught a ton of fish, so did Jared. Dad caught some fish too." Pretty much sums it up. I can't believe how lucky I am to be able to fish with such good friends, and such a good family.

Maui Jim's has sunglasses with magnifiers as part of the lens. Have had mine for a few years now. Great sunglasses.

Good lord. http://vimeo.com/49735462#at=498

Ok, final tallies: Troutlover had $200, so 12 tickets, Muffin with $150, so 9 tickets and PAD with $100, so 6 tickets. The draw was done by my friendly admin assistant, and the winner was Troutlover. Thanks guys for the generous donations. I will do this again a few times between now and the ride itself.

Family and friends. The opportunity to live in such a beautiful country. The job that moved me here and allows me the time to do the things I enjoy.The support of this board for various fund raising efforts I have been involved in. All the friends I've met from this little (well, not so little anymore) website.