reevesr1

Check the ski reports. Lots more snow predicted this week. Gotta say, as a skier I've loved this season. But there sure is a load of water coming our way!

Saltwater fishing at night can be fantastic. I used to fish full moons (flats fish feed heavily in full moons) and new moons, often with great success. It is also very, very eerie to wade fish in saltwater at night. Sharks, stingrays......... makes a fella nervous.

Some really nice fish there Rev, particularly the one I caught! I still say he was bigger when I caught him.

Awesome! "Maxwell's Reviews over at Silverhammer.com". Too funny!

A Birchy sighting!!

The Hardy Ultralite is an awesome reel. I fished with it yesterday and was fortunate enough to hit a pretty nice brown who gave the drag a good workout. Very smooth (as you would expect), very large and sensitive drag adjustment. I adjusted it several times during the fight just to check sensitivity and see if it changed as the drag heated up. It didn't. Very solid reel, very nice price. If you are looking for something a bit less expensive, I have a Greys' (Hardy's little brother) GX-300. I think they are like $70 or something? I got one to try out last spring, and after I was done with it pleaded until I was allowed to keep it. It is still my primary reel. It's lasted a full season now, and has caught some really big fish. The only thing that is different from when it was brand new is the clicker is pretty quiet now. Large, narrow arbor, aluminum frame, ridiculously smooth drag (I would say that even if it was a $500 reel. The drag is just spectacular). For the money, in my limited experience there is nothing like it. I am very, very rough on gear. So for a $70 reel to last a season with me is saying something.

Oh that I could be as succinct as you Taco. And Smitty, I'm very well aware it took two tracks. It was the other track I have a different viewpoint on.

Depends on what you call using the internet. If you mean using it to tell you where to fish, ok. That is possibly doing it wrong. But I use the internet as an aid to scouting new areas. I think I'd be crazy not to. Google Earth/maps in coordination with my garmin is a pretty powerful combination. I've used it to find productive looking water in areas I've never been (and in some cases I'd never even heard of) and as a way to find possible access points. And while we are on fathers, they certainly did not have the internet, but word got around pretty quick in those days as well. People used to literally follow my father and his friend Ken around. They called them "Richard's Army". This is back in the day that the top speed of an outboard might be 15-20 MPH. He said he would go to a flat everyone knew about and anchor. The boats following would anchor up then the people quickly get in the water and start wading. Dad would act like he was getting his stuff together and then when people had waded sufficiently past him, start the engine and get away as quick as he could. He would also have outdoor writers from the Houston papers call him for fishing reports. While he would not give specific location info other than bay system, he never had any problems giving tactics. He used to say "it doesn't @$@#ing matter, 90% of 'em don't have the slightest idea what they are doing anyway." And I have no idea how many people he taught to fish in his lifetime, or if not taught them, significantly shortened their learning curve (mine included). I have pictures of a father and son (the kid was like 8) that he took out after he met them at the dock with no fish. Took them right back out to nearby reef, showed them a few spots, and caught a few fish. The smile on the kids face showing his trout is priceless. So today, we complain that the internet is ruining fishing. 10 years ago it was TV, before that it was magazines. Before that is was outdoor sections of newspapers. Before that it was mouthy guys like my dad who were not afraid to share their knowledge with pretty much anyone. Listen to the folks in the fishing shop and every one of those methods of communication were going to kill fishing. Still seems to be a lot of fish around (and where I'm from there are more now than there were 20 yrs ago), and to repeat myself for the 1000th time, sure doesn't seem to me to be too hard to find solitude if you want it. So I guess I am curious as to what we are talking about here? I am obviously a huge proponent of sharing knowledge. Most everything I've learned in fishing was built upon something or someplace someone showed me, including the ability to scout new places or try new tactics. I would feel like an utter hypocrite if I then hoarded my knowledge. That in no way means that I am going to give out specific locations. And I don't think hardly anyone does. But take away the ability to share knowledge, tactics, and flies that may be working (as some on this thread has suggested) is wrong, IMHO. There is also this undercurrent of "if you don't find it and figure it out yourself you are doing it wrong." Really? How many of you really, truly figured it out yourself? No dad, no books, no magazines, no maps, no instructions, just picked up your fly rod and went out and figured it all out. I'm pretty safe in saying that number is zero. So what is the acceptable amount of knowledge sharing? Only stuff you learned from your dad counts? Roderick Brown Haig? Barry Mitchell? Your buddy at the fly shop? SFOTF? We all have our methods of gathering intel. Every previous generation thinks the current generation is getting their information too easily. I bet some medieval fisherman bitched when books were invented and those damn kids could learn just by reading. Cheating bastards. Pretty amazing that through all the changes in technology and in communication, the fishing, at least to me, still seems pretty damn good around here.

Very nice job!

I fished this morning south of town. Well known spot. Had it to myself. Caught fish. Just like most days.

As many of you already know, Streamwatch is no longer a functioning entity. So we had to look for something new to do the charity auction for this year. We have chosen Project Healing Waters Canada as the charity for this year. Many of you are familiar with them, if not (and even if you are), go to their website to read about the incredibly good work these guys are doing. So what I am doing now is beginning the legwork (or is that fingerwork) in asking for donations. Many of the same people have donated time and again for the Streamwatch auctions (and I will be hitting you all up again!), but my true hope this year is we get some new blood in this. No donation is too small. You can donate items, a trip (you don't have to be a guide), whatever. Be creative. For those of you who read and rarely post, this is a great way to get involved. Anyone who knows people not involved with this forum who may want to donate, ask them. If you know people in a local fly shop, equipment rep, whatever, ask them too. I will run the auction over several weeks, and will try to keep auction items from competing with each other as much as possible. And remember when the bidding starts, the goal is not to get things as cheap as possible-the goal is to donate to a great cause. Anyway, I hope lots of people participate. This is a great way to give to a great cause! Anyone who wants to donate, please PM me instead of posting here. I will try my best to keep my mailbox as empty as I can. If anyone wants to help out in gathering donations, please have at it! I am working out the details over tax receipts with PWHFFC, and maybe should have waited until I had that detail sorted out before starting this. But I saw on their website that they are a registered charity, so I know we will be able to get the bugs worked out. Look for the auctions to start in late April, after I get back from Mexico! I'll be posting this on the auction forum as well.

Really nice. Thanks for those.

Wish I could! Can't fish Saturday.

Maybe you could lend me some of that kinked up 20 lb tippet you use and maybe teach me how to plane trout across the water much like the bass fishermen do. That way I would never have to move!! I'm pretty old and chasing fish is getting harder and harder.

The problem with catching and landing zombie fish is that when no other members are around, what's to stop the fisherman from reaching down and putting one's, ahem, worm in the fishes mouth and pulling it, uh, in? So I think to truly qualify as a properly landed zombie fish, you have to have an unassailable witness. As there does not appear to be one in this case, I'm afraid your "catch" does not qualify. I know that sounds harsh, and I hope you don't think I'm questioning your character. Well, I'm totally questioning your character, but don't take it personally. Except that it is totally personal. Whatever, tough shiz, nobody saw it, doesn't count!

Your pm is not working. It will not accept messages. I tried to reply to your pm but it bounces back.

All this comes down to the purpose of these boards. To me, the purpose is to share information and help people learn how to fish with a fly rod. If we are successful in sharing the information then more people who try the sport will stick to it, and in some cases it may mean more people on "your" river. Good, I say. I can't think of a better thing that could be said of someone than he introduced xx people to fishing. I hope I have a lot of xxx's in my life. Some will be people I took out personally, and I can only hope some will be because of something I said on this board.

Oh no. Now every person with a fly rod will be in Kenya. Stupid hotspotting.

Who is hotspotting really? Most people who fish the Bow say the Bow. Or maybe Fish Creek Park, or may say in the city or south of the city. Some will say where they floated (which is a shocker!). But not too many people say what creek they fished, other than the Liv, or Crow, or Oldman. When and if they do, they get shouted down pretty fast. I see no issue telling people flies either. For the most part, it is a generic "stone fly" or "worm" or "EHC". Not too often does someone say "a #16 flash back PT with the tail clipped fished in moderate water and fish were taking it on the swing." Sometimes people tell me that cutties are taking #12 green drakes in August and September. Really? I better go buy some. I fish some busy rivers, and I fish remote ones. The remote ones I have to myself. I'd never put them on a forum, nor have I ever even read of them. If I want to be alone, I know lots of places to go, including the heavily fished bow river. And I've been doing this for a grand total of 5 years now. It ain't that hard. I live 5 minutes from the Bow. I fish some of the most heavily fished water there is. I almost never have to change plans on my trips. But I don't leave my house at 1 PM, get to the river and say "holy crap, where did all the people come from?" I fish off times, learn the water like the back of my hand, and don't often leave disappointed. If I get to a spot where people are, I have never not been able to find fishable water near by with nobody there. Tempest, meet teapot. Edit: By the way, I'm keeping my dead burbot spot to myself!

I've been fishing a long time, and I've had the pleasure of spending time with some pretty impressive fishermen in my day. And while I by no means I had thought I had seen it all, I would never have expected that I would see this. All of us can catch fish when they are feeding actively. Many of us can catch fish when they are a bit lethargic. All of us know people who seem to be able to coerce even the most reluctant fish to bite. But ever met anyone who has hooked and landed a dead burbot? I have. Ladies and gentlemen, fisherman du mort, Troutlover and his dead burbot. And he was hooked very near the mouth. Damnedest thing Ive ever seen. I actually said when he was reeling in what looked like a stick "that thing fights like a Burbot." How right I was!

Anytime I see something like this, some form of the following conversation forms in my head: Dude #1, sitting around the house in the dead of winter somewhere inside the Arctic Circle, almost certainly after a few beers (all the stupicd stuff in the world happens after a few beers). "Man, I'm getting tired of caribou meat. Know what I could go for? Some fresh mussels. Too bad spring is 6 months away." Dude #2 (whos had a few more beers) "Dude, you know what we could do, after the tide goes out we can tunnel through the ice and pick some up off the seabed. It will be sweet! I bet we'd have 20-30 minutes to pick up all the mussels we could eat before the tide comes back and you know, kills us." Dude #1 "Thats stupid, why would we risk our lives for mussels. I like them, but not that much. Dude #1's pregnant wife: "For some reason, I'm really craving mussels right now. And I mean NOW! And if you come out alive, pick me up some damn ice cream at the store." May not have happened exactly like that, but close. I've often thought Clamato juice came about the same way ("Dude, we should totally put some clams in the tomato juice. That would be sweet!")

The river really isn't all that complicated Travis. There are literally hundreds of spots as good as this one. Honestly, from the weir in Calgary to the weir in Carseland, The Bow is loaded with fishable water. On this day, we started fishing in slow inside water (walking speed current, 3 to 4 feet of water). That was good through the early afternoon. As the day went on fish moved into slightly faster water than I would have thought as the day never got very warm. The brown was in what I would almost call summer water. No deeper than 2 feet, and pretty fast current.

I'm not arguing with the sentiment or the science, I'm arguing with the methodology. And I am not singling anyone out here by the way. I have no issue with people arguing their position, doing everything they can to change others behaviour, and proposing changes in regulations where appropriate. But attacking people for doing what is legal is not the way to go about it, in my probably could be humbler opinion. I just feel when we do that, we are on a slippery slope. I will say that to say 1/2 the people on this board are yanking bulls off their redds is maybe just a skosh of hyperbole. I have fished with lots of people on this board, and been on rivers where bulls were obviously paired up and on redds. I've never seen anyone fish for them. We have watched them though.

Thanks for the day Steve. And too bad Steve did not land his brown. It was certainly bigger than mine, and put on quite the aerial display for the first weekend in March.

My issue with these topics is always the same. I find it troubling when we criticize someone for fishing within the regulations. I am not a giant fan of the hands in the gills to say the least, and I think it is ok to say something about it as long as it is done with some form of tact (which I fully admit all of us lack from time to time). But these discussion always degenerate into discussions of whatever else the posters find offensive, be it fishing for bulls in September, or Rainbows at the Highwood, or whatever Steelhead methodology is not in favor at the time. While I don't think it is an issue to call attention to "ethical" practices the poster may want changed, and advocating regulations to bring about those changes, it is an issue to attack people who are fishing within current regulations, whether you like the way they do it or not. Remember, there is ALWAYS someone more "ethical" than you are that would like nothing better than to shut down fishing everywhere for all time. Discourse in no issue. Trying to change regulations is no issue either, as long as they are done with the health of the fishery in mind, not to satisfy someones view of what is "ethical" for the fish. In the end, the most ethical thing for the fish is no fishing.