reevesr1

Gee, I wonder why it's so damn hard to have an intelligent discussion about anything on a message board. Multiple people and the worlds smartest bull trout all have the same end goal, the protection of native cutthroat streams (though I must questions the bull trout's motive, I really think all he wants to do is eat.) But throw in a difference of opinion on any project and out come the gloves and people dividing into teams (probably mixed my metaphors there, but whatever). I'm not smart enough to know the issues as I have no idea what the "research" goals are. But I can say that I'm no better informed after reading this, though I have a much higher appreciation of the etymology of Bullshit.

My fish was caught pretty early, before anything was on surface. So I might have been fishing down deep. On a cutty stream. Whatever, sue me. Steve's was on a dry fly, late in the day. So since dry fly fish are at least 1" bigger than nymph caught fish, his is bigger. And he ate all day. So Steve caught the biggest fish of the trip. All kidding aside, that's pretty awesome. In the morning he was in deep holding water as you would expect. In the afternoon up toward the head of a shallow run near some deadfall maybe 50 yards up from where I got him. If i hadn't stopped to tie my shoes I'd of caught him twice.

Born in Galveston, Texas. Could cast an open faced Ambasseduer bait casting reel by the time I was 7 or 8, fished with my dad and brother too many times to count. We moved to Louisiana when I was 7 and I can remember sleeping in the back of my dad's Malibu while we towed the boat 2.5 hrs south to fish Timbalier Bay. This was back in the day where you kept everything and sold what you didn't need. We counted our fish in boxes (coolers). As in "we caught 3 boxes today." I cannot remember ever being bored even though some days I likely caught 100 fish. I used to think fishing was pretty easy. Your dad drove the boat to a spot, you got out and started catching fish until it was time to go home. Little did I know I was the offspring of a fishing savant. In all the years and 100s of trips I fished with him, I maybe caught more than him on one or two occasions. Seriously. And he ALWAYS caught the first fish. I used to call it the fishing gene (he says it skipped a generation to my oldest son!), and the more I think about it the more I believe it exists! Its the ability to remember every trip you've ever taken, recognize patterns without thinking about it, look at tide, wind, structure and act upon it without being able to really explain what you are acting on. You just know "they should be right there." Not as easy on flats as a river, trust me. Anyway, we did everything from pleasure fishing, to doing some commercial netting (always fished for fun first), then my dad bought a shrimp boat, bait camp, and we moved back to Texas. I joined the military and didn't fish much for a long time. Dad continued to fish for recreation (stopped commercial netting when we saw populations start to decline, which honestly we would not have thought possible in southern Louisiana) and got involved in some fishing conservation groups. Ran the shrimp boat for 30 years, the last year all cancered up. Said he'd rather feel like *hit on the boat and have a few minutes each day where he forgot about it than feel like *hit at home and never forget about it. Very long story short, ended up in Alberta in the Oilfield. Got into sales. Moved to Calgary. Had a client want to do a float trip on the Bow. Made me try a fly rod. Fished with client and Dee Chanti. Hooked rainbow on streamer very early in the trip. During the fight I said "there is no telling how much money this fish is going to cost me." And I was right. Fell in love with a fly rod and flowing water. Don't really have the fishing gene, but what I lack in skill I tend to make up for with perseverance. Im the guy at the end of the day will realize not only did he not eat, he also didn't drink any water. Also got lucky enough to meet a pretty eclectic bunch of characters, all of which can utterly out fish me, but are such joys to be around I can take it. And they know lots of spots! They provide the fishing locales, I provide the comic relief. Everybody wins. Wish I could have brought the savant up here to fish once before he died. He would have loved it. I do also get the pleasure of fishing with my kid (the one who did get a bit of the fishing gene) when he's not at university. In the life long battle between my golf clubs and my fishing rods, the golf clubs are currently winning. Did not fish nearly as much this year, but did get the handicap down to just over 5. But I'll be back at it hard eventually. It's just a matter of time.

There is a Ask the Pros sections with lots of info, and also Featured Articles. I wrote this nymphing primer back on 09. Good Luck! http://flyfishcalgary.com/nymphing_primer.php

Oh crap, I totally forgot my favorite part. In Steve's edited version, he never did see the fish he was casting to. He just layed the fly out where I said to cast and let it drift. As it neared the fish I said " should be ......now" and perfectly on cue the fis rose and ate. It was really cool.

Ah, the "tying my boots" fish. Nice. Here is how that fish worked. Rick finds several very nice fish rising near some deadfall and catches two of them. Steve arrives and Rick says "have at 'em." Steve catches nice fish and says "your turn". I decide that it's a good time to tie my boots and say, "nah, you go ahead. I have to tie my boots." The result is pictured above. Which is now quite possibly the last time I'll tie my boots when fish are rising. I did get one fish (actually the first fish of the trip) that may have been that big, Maybe that big. That fish Steve holding was a beast, and had to be drug away from deadfall. Really cool.

I had to opportunity to do something pretty special this weekend: fish a river that I am very familiar with that has been essentially untouched for two years due to no access caused by bridges still out since the floods of last year. I don't doubt that some quads have made it back, but the river showed very, very little evidence of anglers. Lots of big hoofed animal footprints though! Anyway, it was a chance to see if the behavior of the fish had changed with the absence of us. I realize the evidence is highly subjective, but here it is anyway. 1. The fish were super fat and healthy. Now, they are always pretty fat there, but seemed more so. That said, the hatches when we were there, even this late in september, were pretty amazing. So they ain't lacking for food. 2. Size was not that different than what I remembered, though the fished seemed to fight harder. That could be imagination. 3. They didn't get as stupid as I'd hoped. The first day was cloudy and the fish were as a buddy of mine likes to say "cooperative." Certainly more cooperative than I remembered in general. But the second day was sunny and the fish most certainly went back to what I remembered on that river. You better give them what they are eating, or they will ignore you. No change there. I bet I changed flies 100 times. (I tended to cycle thru the same 4 or 5 flies in every run. There were multiple hatches going on, and I think that different fish were hitting different things. Catch one or two on one fly then nothing. Change and catch another, etc. etc.). So what did that tell me? Not sure really. They certainly did not get all that 'uneducated' in the time anglers were away, which is a good thing. Same picky little suckers they were before. Makes it fun when you are not swearing at them. There was certainly evidence to suggest that lack of pressure let them get healthier both in size and energy, but that could just be coincidental to an awesome food year. Anyway, thanks to bobloblaw for the assist in the experiment!

I was pretty far up a Bull Trout spawning river in BC this weekend. We saw multiple (like many multiples) of redds, but no spawning bullies. Did see some single fish, but no evidence of pairs. At least up there it looks done. There were likely some we could have fished, but too busy chasing cutties to mess with the bullies.

Yawn.

Two years ago I was standing on the rocks directly across from your second picture. I had the bay to myself for about an hour as everyone was scouting around. One of my group came up to me and asked if they could fish above me. I said absolutely. The wind was blowing pretty strong across that little bay and he asked me "how long are you letting it drift". I answered "until one comes up and tries to eat. I have either hooked a fish or missed one every cast for the last hour or so." Most unreal place I've ever fished. Big, pretty, and plentiful. Thankfully it is a 6 hour walk in!

i'm thinking of the V6 ecodiesel, but the cherokee sure isn't on the cheap side!

How fishermen measure fish: My fish jumps and I say its 24", then it's at LEAST 24". Your fish jumps and you say its 24", then its 18". Maybe. Lighten up. Who cares?

Outstanding!

Here is all Steve needs for flies: Light SJWs that he can cast with his 2 wt. He may be a pig, but he is a pig with style! Ants and beetles. Really, anything little and black that floats. Some red in it for visibility is always a nice touch. Ice cream cone chronnies That's it really. Everything else will just gather dust. If those of you who contribute can figure out a way to infuse the flies with a creek amnesia substance so he can forget where his favorite creek is, that would be nice. His favorite creek correlates pretty much exactly to my favorite creek. Since I'm barely fishing this year, I was hoping the creek gets a year long break so I can fish the hell out of it next year. He is ruining my plans. I thought that if I stole all his flies (which is really all I wanted, I just took the spinning gear to be an ***hole) he would quit. But no, all you nice people gotta give him stuff. Stupid Canada. Sorry to hear you lost your stuff buddy. Come to Panorama next week (seriously) and I'll show you some new water to poach!!

Aw man, I really need to get back up there!! Awesome story and pics. The bugger is awesome on that lake. Do yourself a favor next time and put on a dry also. The fish will be a little smaller but the visual makes up for it.

Catching fish is supposed to be fun. Critiquing others methodology choices, not so much.

Fingers crossed for everyone

Way, way too many. What I find the funniest is when I'm going thru my giant catch all box of fishing crap, find some random package of flies I have not even opened, look at them and think "what the hell are these supposed to be?"

Just wanted to give a final (maybe!) update. Currently, I am just over $5500 in fundraising, and just outside the top 10 in overall fundraising (540 riders I think) for the ride. My team, Schlumberger, consisting of only 4 riders is in the top 10 at $11,200. Even though the auctions are over, any donations would be accepted and are tax deductible! My donation site is in my signature. Thanks once again to everyone who bid, thought about bidditng, won or contributed prizes (Hanson's Outfitters, Troutlover, and Pipes). It would be great to get some more and crack to top 10 personally (I'm not that far away), but regardless I am truly thankful for the generosity of the members of this board. And thanks to the admin's for giving me the platform to do this!

New auctions now running.

Not sure how I missed this. Laugh it up funny boy. Sounds like a great day Everette.

FYI, once this first round is over, I do have another float trip to auction off. And is anyone else wants to donate.....

Damn. If I'da known that I would have worn the shirt more often.

Hey Trouscape, if fish are truly like women and can spell desperation, I can tell you what used to work for me. I had a pink (way before pink was a common shirt color) shirt that I called the slump buster. Only brought it out when truly necessary. Gave me confidence and somehow my deal closing ration went up. So you need a go to fly that you believe in, use it to catch your fish, and put it away until you need it again. Another method would be to throw money around, but I'm not sure how that would work on fish....... Edit: or go out during high water and float big ass stoneflies 3 ft under an indi close to the bank.

Guys, I am getting a donation or two for my MS charity bike ride coming up. Check in the fundraiser area in the next day or so and I should have something going. Trying to decide if I want to do it raffle style or auction style. The first one coming up is pretty nice, if you like floating the Bow......