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reevesr1

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Everything posted by reevesr1

  1. WAY tougher. Bass have been catch and release for many years now in many lakes. Populations are in very good shape, at least in the lakes I know of. Pretty damn hard to kill a bass. Contrary to what many trout fishermen believe, the bass guys care about their fish just as much as the trout fishermen do, Bubba's or not. I've fished saltwater my whole life. Catch and release is not catching on as fast as it did in freshwater for a variety of reasons. Biggest is how rapid these in shore species can repopulate. If there is no commercial fishing content, and intelligent limits, managing population really isn't all that tough. There are more fish on the gulf coast now, particularly redfish (which incidentally is the most released fish on the gulf coast) than at any point in my life. While it looks rough to the trout guy, these fish are way more hardy and can take rougher handling. The caveat to that (pretty nice word for a bubba, eh?) is depth. Catching fish in deep water requires some special handling (deflating the swim bladder) to ensure survival of the fish. I've seen lines of dying undersized red snapper because the party boat captain did not teach his fishermen how to deflate. Stupid and sad. That said, as more people practice catch and release the trend is for more gently handling, albeit slowly. The guys on TV could help with that. Remember that most of us ate everything we caught until relatively recently. I don't necessarily expect the tournament fisherman to handle as gently as tv personality due to the competitive aspect, but the straight up tv guys could do a better job imho. It's not that difficult to handle gently, and while it isn't as much of a necessity as it is freshwater, doing it on camera would make a nice example.
  2. Oh, there are some big bullies to go with the big cutts!
  3. I wish I hadn't read that Slignshotz! I have been trying very, very hard to resist the nymph temptation in BC, telling myself (but never truly believing it) that it wouldn't work. So now I'll have a freakin' dilemma next time I'm there! What I have found is that if you have patience, at some point they will get on the surface action. But waiting is HARD sometimes, particularly when you see some beasts in the bottom of the pool.
  4. I fish in SE BC quite a bit. There are a few systems with an outstanding average size, but in many ways they don't act the same as the cutts on this side, at least to me. Seem to be much less willing to come up to anything. When there is a hatch going on, the fishing can be prolific, but much of the time you are just scratching your head wondering why they don't act like cutts! I often wonder if it is because of a higher nutrient load in those rivers? A decent number of bigger fish (more biomass than one would expect), and more selective due to more food sources?
  5. don't think we would have been so lucky Don. It was choco milk as we crossed it on 22 about an hour after the storm ended. At least I hope it would have stayed dirty as I'd hate to think I left fish on the table, to mix a metaphor.
  6. I want one!
  7. So for anyone reading this, seems like if you have a nice telescoping hiking or ski pole of some kind it works for a lot of people. However, this being fly fishing, you really should not use simple and practical when expensive and impractical will do the trick. Fly fishing is a highly specialized sport and only equipment specifically made for fly fishing should be considered, the more expensive and specialized the better. (do I need to add my sarcasm emoticon here?)
  8. Went fishing with a couple of friends on Thursday (I have the greatest job!). My client (who happens to be a friend) and I got out of Calgary later than we wanted, around 10:30 and stopped at Southbow.We were supposed to go on a float trip that day but cancelled due to poor fishing, and since Mike was going to be our guide, I asked him to join us and he said he could since he apparently had the day off! So we get out of Southbow at 11:30 or so and headed south. We made it to the river and were ready to fish around 2 PM. Picked up a few fish, and things were looking good. Then the rain hit, followed by about an hour of marble sized hail. It was pretty intense, fortunately we did not get the golf ball sized stuff they got further south, or instead of being a bit painful from time to time it could have been truly dangerous. We did have some trees to hide behind, but it was still pretty unpleasant. Fortunately for me I had decided to wear my waders, neither of the other guys did. And none of us brought our rain jackets, though we all had them in the truck. The walk out was pretty cold for me, and really, really cold for the other guys! The river was obviously blown out afterwards. Too bad, it was looking like a great day. So after 1 hr of fishing, the long drive back to Calgary. We looked at every body of water we crossed to see if it was fishable, and none of them were (maybe the Sheep). Ah well, at least I have a story. Biggest hail storm I've ever been in, that's for sure!
  9. I've spoken to a guy with extensive experience in both. If I remember correctly, he said bear spray is like .75%, Pepper spray is like 10%. Pepper spray is much, much worse.
  10. I have a Giant 5 hybrid that I ride a bit, but mainly I ride a Ridley Crossbow Cyclocross bike. My brother in law used to race and it is his old cyclocross race bike. A bit overkill for the trails, but is sure do ride pretty. I wear light running type shirts and do ride spandex riding shorts under some lightweight wading shorts. If I wear spandex and a bike shirt to work the ridicule is almost unbearable. And while I give as good as I get, it is just too much ammo for my colleagues to shoot back at me. You can get underwear with the padded butt also. I will say that on a hot day I go without the extra shorts and try hard to make a clean getaway without being seen in the spandex. There is a shower at my work which is 100% necessary for the ride I'm doing.
  11. As they said in Blues Brothers: "It’s 200 miles to Chicago. We’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it." And as they said in Airplane "And don't call me Shirley."
  12. Sweet backpacking rod!
  13. Where do you ride from? And we need to do that lunch to discuss some nice little BC rivers don't we?
  14. I use one quite a bit. The best one I've had is one I got from Speyghillie. It's a big one piece, but I really like the way it feels. If I know I was going to some big water, I bring it. But if I'm doing a bunch of hiking I usually just bring a collapsible hiking pole. I also cross the Bow in a few places, and the hiking pole does just fine.
  15. When I started, I thought of it as a good way to stay in shape and get to look at the river. I expected to hate the riding itself. Well, one year later I'm looking for the quickest routes and not worrying about riding next to the river, and I find myself enjoying the mechanics of the ride more and more.
  16. I've been biking in quite a bit lately, riding from Chaparral to downtown. Shooting for 200 miles (or 330 some odd k's!) this week. Currently at 123 miles with 2.5 days to go. Commute in is 15 miles, with the more scenic route going home of 18 miles. Legs are sore!
  17. Any time anyone votes it goes back to the top.
  18. Totally having a love affair with my Hardy.
  19. Gretat pictures! I've seen more bears this year in the valleys than I've ever seen before. Between a trip to Jasper and another to Panorama, maybe 10? When we were coming back from jasper, therewas a total bear traffic jam. I saw the bear in the grass on the left hand side of the road. A young grizz,being almost chased by a lady with a camera. She could not have been 10 ft away. The bear did not seem to care thankfully. People just forget these are wild animals and the risk they are taking and the risk to the bear if he gets frightened or annoyed and takes a swipe at her. The story in the paper the next day would be about the lady recovering in the hospital and how they had to put the bear down. Everyone please give them their space.
  20. The only time the Yeti saves you in ice consumption over the extreme 5 is long term storage. So for the sake of argument, lets say I use 1/2 more ice with a Yeti (and I think that is an exaggeration, but it's a starting position) when Im camping. So if I use 20 bags a summer camping (which is also a stretch), the Yeti saves me 10 bags. I could run through the math for you, but if I assume I invest my $200 cost savings (and it is likely more like a $300 cost savings), then the yeti pays for itself in a "cool" 12 years at $3 ice. If I assume 7% interest, the answer is it never pays for itself. If I assume a $250 price difference, it never pays for itself. So, if you are camping a BUNCH, or just don't like changing ice and have a lot of cash lying around, or are a guide and using is it all day every day (and I'm assuming you never change the ice because if you do, you are defeating any savings), or just like cool white coolers with a nice seat, then the Yeti is for you. If not, then I would submit I don't see it. Plagiarized this from another fishing site: "I have been seeing Yeti coolers on every fishing show there is it seems. I have searched and searched but could not find a lot of reviews. All the reviews I seen said almost the same thing word for word. It will be the last cooler you will buy. So I bought one. I got the Tundra 110. The cushion for the lid was $135. I think that is pricey for a cushion. The cooler was $449. It seams very well built. I like the seal and the latch. Now for the real test, does it really keep ice longer? I have a Coleman 100 Marine Xtreme. Coleman says it will keep ice for 5 days @ 90. Yeti doesn’t say how long it can keep ice. They just say longer. I put both cooler in my shop. Let them sit over night. Temp had been down in the 40’s. I put 35lbs of ice in each. I did not open either for 6 days. We had lows in the 30’s and highs between 55 and 75. On the 6th day both still had ice. The Coleman had about an inch floating and the Yeti had about 3 inches. On the seventh day the Coleman had completely melted and the Yeti had about an inch I removed the ice from the Yeti and drained the water. There was about 6 lbs of ice left. I tried to be completely fair. Both cooler sat side by side from a day before until the end of the test. All the ice was kept in the same freezer. I used the same amount of ice in both coolers. The Yeti is very well made. The drain will not break but screws completely out. I can see it getting lost. I don’t see the hinge breaking. The Coleman 100qt with cushions was $215.98 compared to the Yeti 110qt at $584.98. That is 2.7 times as much. I have had the Coleman for a few years. I have had to replace the hinge($4.95) and have replaced the drain($3.39). The drain still worked but the retainer broke and figured I would lose it. The Yeti doesn’t have a retainer. My conclusion so far; The Yeti did keep ice longer like it claimed. Just not much longer, maybe 18 hours. If you are going to use the cooler often for many years I would say it is worth it. They are built heavy duty. That comes at a price, this one with cushion weighs 40lbs. I was disappointed with the results. Once I get some more ice stocked up I will fill it full and see just how long it will keep ice. So far I don't regret the purchase, I am just not as sure about it as I was." I bolded the pertinent statement. 18 hrs out of 6 days or 12.5% more "ice time". For around 2.5x the cost. If I was a bit younger I would say "bitch, please." Edit: As I'm maybe in the market for a cooler myself, I did a bit more research. Here is another review I found. 5 coolers, 8 days with a 6 pack of pepsi (probably should have used beer for a more accurate test, but close enough).
  21. Amazing what a man can learn when he reads instructions. Not that I have a lot of practice in it, as befitting my gender, but it seemed to work in this case.
  22. I bought it too. If you pay for the upgrade it can analyze the fishies stomach content, including size and color and time ingested. Particularly useful on BC Chironomid lakes. It also has an xray vision option that is pretty cool (and illegal in some countries).
  23. All kidding aside, I've heard the Yeti's are great, I just cant bring myself to spend that much money on a cooler. I have a Coleman Extreme and an Igloo (can't think of the model, it is similar to the extreme, cost a bit more). In truth, I like the Extreme better. I have had stuff in it for up to a week (which is the longest I've camped). Key is to keep it sealed! My kids will just close the lid, and on these coolers you have to push it down a bit. We do use ice packs, but really I've found the best way to extend is to chill it the night before you leave. I dump in the contents of my ice maker the night before I pack. This chills the insulating material. The next day, I'll dump the ice out (and there will be some water), pack it up with a couple of ice packs and the new contents of my ice maker. Good to go for a week.
  24. I was thinking the same thing Monger. Really showed them working inside seams and pools. Really well done video. Hey troutlover, watch where they catch the brown. Remind you of anyplace? I love dropoffs!!
  25. But it might be cheaper to buy a used honda generator and a nice refrigerator than a big Yeti!
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