reevesr1

I don't have as much experience in the woods as many of you as I've only been fishing back country for 7 yrs now. But in those 7 yrs, I've fished in the back country quite a bit. I have bear spray, and have brought bangers. Never have I had to touch either. I've only seen one bear while fishing, and he was running away. I think the odds of shooting off bear spray and needing to shoot it again on the same trip is unlikely in the extreme.

There is not a chance on this planet I would let my kids do a multi-day camping trip without me. Like Jared, my parents would have let me do it at that age (I think). But I couldn't do it. Even if my boys had come to me with a detailed plan, I would not have been able to pull the trigger on it. And if by some miracle they could convince me, there is absolutely no chance my wife would ever be convinced. It's probably not fair to them but I don't care. My heart would not be able to take it. They would be mad at me (big time!), but they've been mad at me before and got over it.

I would imagine it is a pretty substantial undertaking. Raising enough money to fund anyone is easier said than done. This auction raised in the 5K range or so every year. I'd have to go back, but I think the first couple of years Greg did it, he was around 8K. The total slipped every year. Some of this would be due to economic conditions, ability of the auctioneer to gather donations, and frankly burnout. While this site has a load of members, it was a pretty small portion who donated items. And the portion of people bidding was only a fraction of the entire population of the board itself. In all honestly, many of the items went for fractions of what they were worth (interestingly, trips seem to go for much closer to market value than say a rod. I don't know why that would be). The fact of the matter is that people just won't spend close to retail in these types of auctions. I'm in no way trying to knock anyone here. I do the same thing at an auction, ie, try to get it as cheap as I can. So while this site can raise a good hunk of money, you need many multiples to be able to fund a program such as streamwatch. I don't remember what the numbers were that they used to publish, but I think the program was around 60K per year? That is a tall order to get funded via donation on a year by year basis. Not saying it is in any way impossible, just difficult. And would take a LOT of effort from a small group of people and I'm not even going into the administration of the project, just the fundraising aspect. I agree with everything Dave said above. My one caveat is that to make something like that work, whoever is in charge has to be a force of nature. Committees and groups are great, but the guy in charge has to be committed, willing to step on toes, and do it all for free. Not a lot of those guys hanging around.

In my defence, I was a little wet when I took that!

The details obviously need to be worked out, but the folks we are dealing with are all from Alberta. How the money we raise is distributed will be totally up to them. I personally am really excited to work with PHWFFC, and looking forward to the auction itself. Once I get the green light, I'll start calling for donations. The auction will likely be sometime in late April (I'm going to Mexico in mid April, and March is too damn busy with work!)

This place is so depressing sometimes.

I was thinking how I hardly saw any on Saturday. Attributed it to such a warm winter.

No idea. Wasn't saying anything about reelflies. Was just pointing out that the owners are local and support local causes. Wasn't trying to make it a contest.

I've bought from Icky several times. Fast service, good price, owner(s) are local. They've also been consistent supporters of the Streamwatch auctions, both donating and purchasing trips.

Bump or Slap, or whatever.

Nice! To get you pictures bigger, use a picture server, like photobucket or imageshack. You upload to the servers, then link to the picture via the "insert image" icon at the top left of the dialog box. I've never caught bass on a fly rod, but I know it must be a blast. When they start getting more active, try some sort of popper on them. Bass topwater takes are awesome!

Do not let ReelLife in. He wins everything!

Believe it or not, has't been one built in the States in 35 years. They just retrofit old ones. I also think that there is no chance that they could totally decommission an old one either. No way to reclaim the land, particularly since most of the plants are over 50 years old now and operated under different rules back in the day. And you could build a plant to pass regulations. It would just cost a poop load. Cheaper and faster to export. I agree that it would be wiser to refine here. Just will be a long time before there is any capacity to do so, if ever.

Refining the oil here sounds like a wonderful idea. Not sure what the size of the refinery would need to be, but from what little research I did, Canada currently exports 1.1 million barrels per day to the US (from Wiki, can't vouch for accuracy). I also found that the Alberta gov planned a 50,000 bbl/day new refinery, but plans are on hold. As are all plans for new refineries in Canada (again, this is from quick searches, but a good source, The Economist). I don't know what the number is for Canada, but there has been no new refineries built in the US since 1976. The industry feeling is that it would be near impossible to build one under current regulatory climate. I think there have been a few built here, but the number is very low. So the thought that 1 million barrels/day plus of refining capacity is going to be built for "value added" is likely a pipe dream (pun intended). It would be a great idea, but not likely to happen.

I have a ticket to IF4 that I can't use. Turns out I had other plans I can't break that night. It is free to whoever wants it, on the condition they make a contribution to TU, or Project Healing Waters at the value of the ticket, which is $15.00.

I've never had a tracker, but there were TONS of them in Texas and I've never heard anyone knocking them. As some said above, my personal preference would be for something wider, but if you are using it as a car topper, then I think you would be fine. I have had both riveted and welded aluminum. If I had my choice, I'd go with welded. But my experience is more with saltwater, and I beat the crap out of my boats (windy all the time, big water, didn't have the sense to slow down, ran pretty big engines). If I was buying for lake fishing up here, I would have no hesitation in buying riveted if the price was right. $890 for a new Jon boat doesn't sound bad to me (though it's funny how it is $700 in the states).

Grab a Hardy Zenith while you are at it!

Nope, the retarded one was me. Fixed.

Here is the latest rod review from George Anderson's Yellowstone Angler. I'm not endorsing this list one way or the other, just putting it out there. This was done before the Sage One came out. The second link compares the winner to the Sage One and Z Axis. 5 wt Shootout Vs the Sage One

No. And I'm not showing you any other spots. Those of us who can should try to do something, somewhere to help out. My wife did a kitchen shift at the Drop In Center, and my son and I drove gifts and foods the church donated to a couple of families. There are so many opportunities to help your community, and the smiles you get are so worth it!

That's fantastic. If you find out for sure before the regs come out, let us know. Great work to all involved.

Nope. I've retired from these.

I can donate a couple of nights at my condo in Panorama during the ski season, as long as the "winner" is willing to be flexible on dates. If I have an open date < 2 weeks out, I can let it go. Weekdays only. Sorry to be so restrictive, but I'm not the only owner!

Hmmm, great idea. When I get home I'll see what I have.

Shamelessly stolen from John Scalzi. Appropriate to many discussions on many message boards. I particularly like 6, 7, and 8. Regarding Snobbery NOVEMBER 30, 2011 BY JOHN SCALZI Apropos of nothing in particular, a few thoughts on the subject of snobbery. 1. One is perfectly within one’s own prerogatives to feel snobby about things, if one feels invested in them in one way or another. 2. However, being a snob often makes one look like an ***hole. 3. It especially makes one look like an ***hole if the basis for one’s snobbery lacks an adequate foundation. For example, if despite rhetorical flourishes and handwaving, one’s critical thesis devolves to “This stuff is awesome because I like it; this stuff sucks because I don’t; those who like the things I do not are stupid,” then one will look like an ***hole. 4. If one’s critical thesis exhibits this level of foundational poverty, no amount of rhetorical flourish or handwaving will hide it. One’s pleasure at the presumed rhetorical cleverness will likely be noted, however, and added to the tally of things that make one look like an ***hole. 5. Likewise, gathering friends of like-minded snobbery and exegetic facility will not make your common critical thesis better. It merely means that as a group you enjoy the smell of your own farts. This is nice for you, and likely obvious to anyone outside your circle. 6. If one’s feeling of snobbery leads one to believe that one is in fact some way superior to those who do not hold the same snobbery, then one is at severe risk of crossing over from merely looking like an ***hole to actually being an ***hole. 7. A reason for this is that one is exhibiting a childishly binary way of looking at the world, and while that is fine for a child, who may not know better, one is an adult and should have the ability to exhibit complexity whilst thinking. Because it is polite to assume that an adult is, in fact, not stupid or incapable of complex thought, the maintenance of such a binary classification system relating to people suggests one might be an ***hole. There may be other reasons for this choice besides being an ***hole, but if Occam’s Razor teaches us anything, it is that the simplest explanation is often the correct one. 8. If one uses such simple, non-complex binary sorting to classify others as inferior in some manner, it does not make one any more of an ***hole, but it may mean that one’s sense of irony is not as finely tuned as one would hope. 9. If one declares oneself publicly to be a snob, then one actively invites scrutiny of the sort detailed above, often by those with the means to determine whether the snobbery proclaimed is warranted by anything other than one’s own estimation of self-worth. There are more of such people than you may expect. 10. It is worth considering what benefits one ultimately receives in declaring one’s snobbery. They may be fewer than one thinks.