reevesr1

Just eyeballing it, it looks a bit Mae West-ish if you drop the top and bottom results (which skew it because their range is bigger.) I was thinking about this thread the other day, specifically about how many people refused to believe the number of people who have caught truly big (30"+) fish on the Bow. I've only fished it for 4 yrs, and have 3 over 26 so far. Biggest over 27. Why would I not believe there are bigger fish to be had? And why would I be surprised when someone catches one?

Clive, I've been around Pelicans my whole life as well. We used them as fish locators, because they would fly around searching and when they saw fish they would dive down to eat. But they didn't eat the game fish, they ate the same bait fish the game fish were eating. In flats fishing, find the bait you find the fish. We used the pelicans, and seagulls, and to a much lesser extent comorants to help us find bait. I personally have never heard any saltwater angler complain about pelicans eating game fish. Now, I fully understand that the ecology on a flat is night and day to a river. But it's not like big fish were not there, its just that pelicans never ate them. Maybe because they are harder to find on flats? Don't know, but I find myself siding with Paul (and that could be a first, at least publicly) and say that I just don't see Pelicans as a big problem. And I say that with no authority whatsoever!

Cormorants have been on the Gulf Coast my whole life. Tons of them. Fishing is pretty good there. Correlation does not always infer causation. Lots of cormorants and declining fish populations (if they are truly declining) may be correlated, but that in no way means fish pops are declining because of cormorants. That said, I've never really liked cormorants. They are ugly and you can't eat them.

Happy belated boys!

Exactly. Anyone who fishes the dog park should know how to stay away from the dogs. It isn't really hard at all. Though I would have paid money to watch what you said Lynn!

My largest bow river trout was caught this morning. I went to measure him on my net, but he was too long. The net is 26.5". So I measured him against my rod and checked when I got home. It was easy to do because he came to a ferrule. 27.5" of fat ass brown. I love dirty water. Picture to follow.

I actually bought my truck because of that day. That was effin scary. To bad I sold it. I need another truck.

Is not a 2007 Chrysler Grand Caravan. I was scouting some water along side a pretty smooth BC FSR when I came to a fork in the road. The fork was not on my map, nor on my gps. So I took the one that looked wider/smoother. Which it was for about 100 yds. As I crested a small hill at about 30 kph, I was faced with what can only be described as a small gully across the road, about 1 ft deep and a coupe ft wide with very sharp sides. With no chance of stopping I stabbed the brakes and hit it at about 20 KPH. The next two (as there were 3 in quick succession on the downhill I was on) I hit quite a bit slower. I stopped, still on a steep downhill and saw a place to turn around. Fortunately, only one tire was flat. As the road was still far too steep to change a tire on, I decided I had to go up the hill, and through the gully's on the flat. It was easier than I expected, though there was some pretty intense scraping sounds coming from beneath the vehicle that I decided that my best action was to ignore. I get to the top of the hill and pull over and get out. I look under the vehicle for the spare and remembered that I was in my wife's van with the stow and go. Where the )(&*) is the spare? So I pull out the manual, find the page, and it says "Spare Location, if Installed". I have to say "if installed" caused the first pang of real concern course through my veins. Fortunately, the spare was installed (mid vehicle!) and I proceeded to change to the temp spare. A couple stopped to talk to me during the changing of the tire (the only people I saw the whole day) and we talked about my bad luck (they said I was not the first to change a tire there!) and where I could find the damn creek I was looking for without driving an additional 10 KM or so on the temp spare! So I back-tracked a bit to a small, but again smooth, side road. I drive down and am faced with a small drop and a crossing of a tiny little side channel. With regular tires I would have gone across without thinking, but after consulting the GPS and seeing the main creek about 200 yds away, I decide the safe thing to do is pull off a bit giving anyone room to pass and just walk. So I pull off, and need to back up a bit to give clearance on the road. I back up and the back of my van takes a sudden trip down. And plants there. I get out and go back and look and my drivers side rear tire is in a 2 ft deep hole. Perfect. Real concern again. Now what? I decide to walk up to the main road and put a HELP sign up. I go back to the car, decide to jack up the back and fill the hole with wood and rocks. This plan succeeds and I get the van back on 4 wheels. Whew. I walk back up the hill, and retrieve the HELP sign. I string up, and walk to the creek. I'm faced with this perfect little body of water, tons of deadfall, and it SCREAMS cutthroat! I forget all about my troubles (but start to think about bears) Unfortunately, nobody told the cutties how perfect the stream was. 2 hrs later I get back to the car with 0 fish, lots of scratches on my legs and about 10 nice horsefly bites. Man I love exploring! I will be back, stream is too pretty to ignore. Oh, and 4 new tires got put on the van today. It needed 'em anyway! Wife has decided (again) that I am beyond redemption

BBT, I think you need more candles. Happy Birthday Al!

I've caught blues before, but never on a fly rod. They are brutes, and would be awesome. Very jealous as well, never thought of flats fishing for stripers and blues. Did he say how seasonal the flats fishing was?

Do $200 sunglasses count? And I drive a mini van. Lord knows I have to compensate somewhere. Already got a trophy wife, picked her up about 22 yrs ago.

My son also has an Amundson Midge and loves it. We will give it a good workout in BC next week!

I had a buddy build me an 10 ft 5 wt Amundson Wind Warrior. It is a very good rod (is my go to Bow River rod), and certainly won't break the bank.

Wish I could Brian......

Pretty big hail stones. If you live in the south, may want to get your car under cover. Figure it's coming your way.

If anyone is downtown right now, look outside. It is almost as dark as night, blowing, and temp has dropped significantly. Looks like summer was a couple of days last week. Welcome to fall.

Fishing and otherwise would both be cut off.

Usually.

The most expensive bottle of wine in my basement is a bottle of my wife's Chateau Montelena Cab, coming in at like $100 or so. If I was to bring that to your house as a offering to the fish gods, I would REALLY need a slumpbuster, because that slump would last for the rest of my life.

Birchy gets it! But I think he just cured me of the s-word, the laterals, the el-hosels, you know, the shanks. Jayhad, I think you are probably right, like most things in life when it goes south it is typically attitude, or confidence, that is your worst enemy. But it's more fun to tie your left shoe in a double knot!

Ok, so I am officially in a fishing slump. Couldn't land one right now if someone killed it before hand and stuck all three prongs of a barbed treble in the fish's mouth. Somehow it would get off or break off. Back in my younger single days when I was in a slump of a relationship kind, I had a shirt that I only pulled out when it when all hope seemed lost. I figured it only had so much magic in it, and I didn't want to waste it. So if figured if I had a lucky shirt that got me out of some lean days back in my single life, there should be a fishing equivalent. So if anyone has any suggestions, I'm game. I'm not looking for technique here, but superstition.

Nice. Too bad I had to leave. If you caught 16 I might have managed 3 or so. I feel like Cleveland right now. Thanks for rubbing my face in it.

Made it out with Tungsten this morning. Fishing stones, master vs. novice. Outcome was never in doubt, tungsten 5, me 2. And neither of mine on a dry! Gorgeous morning, we were back at the launch at 10 am. Mike went back out for more, I had to go home to go to the rodeo. Thanks mike, fun as always. Glad I could show you what real frustration looks like!

Is this all a bit of a mountain out of a molehill? Maybe it has something to do with the times I fish, but in my 4 yrs of fishing this river I've only had a couple of times where I thought a drift boat got too close. Once was when they stopped and fish the run just upstream of me (that I was going to fish as soon as I finished the run I was in), and once a guy cast pretty close to where I was fishing. But other than that, no real problems. In both cases it wasn't a big deal. In the first case I caught a fish 5 minutes after the guys left the run and in the second there was no impact to the fishing I could see. So while I understand it can be frustrating (and I have been frustrated before) if someone drifts through your water, it doesn't really happen that often and from my limited experience doesn't really adversely affect the fishing. All that said, I do believe boats should give waters some berth. But that's because I wade all the time. My opinion could change if I had a boat (see post #1). Anyway, that's my pollyannish opinion.

If you buy it, they will come.