reevesr1

Thanks for the laugh Birchy. Hope you guys get your asses kicked tomorrow, I need another laugh. Problem is, if recent history is a guide, I'm unlikely to be laughing anytime soon.

Used to pull for Canada in the world Juniors. Not so much anymore. Their fans annoy me.

Imagine that. You'll go to the house of the pretty blonde lady, but not the old bald Texan. What you didn't know was I have a pretty blonde lady at my house too, she just don't fish as much.

I'm a bait fisherman. And a lure fisherman. And a fly fisherman.

They deserve it? When was the last time they lost? You guys are like the Russians used to be. Seriously, that was fun to watch. That glove save in the 3rd by the Canadian goalie was just unreal. Can't wait for the rematch. And don't skate so close to our benches after scoring a goal.

I think Douglasdale needs the honor of hosting this prestigious event this year! Lynn, let me know what I can do to help.

Might be my only chance to do this. 1-0 US. Didn't even know we played hockey. I bet I'm one of 7 Americans in the world watching.

Streak is dead. Troutlover's and Bobloblaw's live. I hooked one, lost him in my 2 hrs of fishing on the 31st. Oh well.

Trunk Road-GP to Hinton Invermere/Fairmont/Canal Flats Area Get out of town more. I spent very little time below Policeman's this year. Fish with ex-Hollanders on some tiny creek where I could get eaten by bears

Jailbreak was the song they were playing when the true difference hit me. Dirty Deeds is my fav by the way.

Buzzsaw will be back once they finish promoting the new album.

I am a Sports Talk Radio junkie. I don't know exactly when it happened, but it has. Calgary, much to my chagrin, is where Sports Talk Radio goes to die. I'm sure there are worse places, but I gotta say I've never been there. But as bad as it is, I still listened. Until day before yesterday when I installed the Sirius Satellite Radio my wife bought me. I've never been happier. I don't have to listen to Mike Richards ever again!! Horray! No lousy 1980s era impressions or Rita McNeil jokes ever again. Thank the lord. My wife is a good woman! Driving around this evening I was cruising the dial and discovered the AC/DC channel. Now, I've listened to these guys since the 70s and saw them live in like 1977 or so. (on a side note, anyone who gives Nickleback *hit for playing the same song over and over needs to listen to AC/DC play the same song over and over for 30 yrs now). I still love them, and have the new cd (haven't listened to it yet though). I always thought that Brian Johnson replacing Bonn Scott when he died was the greatest replacement singer choice ever. And while I still believe that, when listening this evening I heard some Bonn Scott songs and some Brian Johnson songs. While Brian is great, if I was him I would not allow Sirius to play Bonn Scott songs next to his. Scott utterly blows Johnson away, thought the band became more popular under Johnson. Something about the growl with the high pitched screeches (Neckties, Contracts, HIGH VOLTAGE), is AC/DC to me. Sorry for the pointless ramble. Johnson: Click here if the movie does not play. Scott Click here if the movie does not play.

Hydro, Why don't I believe that?

As I posted recently, I am reading "The Longest Silence" by Thomas McGuane. In a chapter entitled "Henry's Fork" he describes in exquisite detail fighting, and loosing a big rainbow. Here is the description of the start of the fight: "When the fish eased out into the current to the slack water, it rolled once and I saw that it was an enormous rainbow. At first it fought, as large trout sometimes do, like an annoyed dog, shaking it's head in the current and planing off at a leisurely angle to turn and shake once again. I had enough sense of the fish's size to resist making him mad. Then, with one sand filled boil, he turned and ran downstream." A couple of equally descriptive paragraphs of the fight follow. The trout takes him to the end of the spool and stops with a couple of wraps left. The author feels a moment of elation, like the universe had aligned. Unfortunately his joy is short lived as the fish makes a final move an straightens the hook. He also mentions how much bend was still in the rod when the fish came off from all the line in the water. Here is the end of the description: "The more line I reeled in, the less bow there was in my rod, and finally, with nothing to commemorate the fish except the whispering river around my knees, my rod nothing but a straight, dead stick. But there was a terrific evangelical silence." This got me thinking of big fish I have lost, big fish I have landed and which ones are more vivid in my memory, and maybe more importantly, why. To do this, I need to talk about three fish. The first was hooked while fishing with my friend troutlover, swinging a big dry in the darkness of late summer. The fight is now even more memorable to me because of how closely it mirrored the fight Mr. McGuane described above. After the strike, I was instantly aware of the size of the fish. He was unmovable by my puny 5 wt. For the first several minutes he just moved around the run right in front of us shaking his head and making several big boils. Since it was night, I had no visual evidence of his size other than my inability to make him do anything I wanted him to. But after these several minutes, I thought he must be wearing down. Unfortunately, the trout had other ideas. He just decided to leave. Not quickly, but no matter how much pressure I applied, he just ignored it and kept running across the river and it seemed like upstream. I was getting very deep into my backing, and I was getting very concerned. Then he stopped. I had a short moment of elation and thought "time to come back". I pulled back and started to reel. The fish must have sensed my hubris and took off again. And this time, I knew it was going to be over shortly. I say to troutlover "I'm in trouble here" or something to that effect. He says "put the boots to him." But I already was. Several seconds later I'm at the end of my backing and feel the fly break off. Like Thomas, I now have a significant bow in my rod just from the weight of the line. But there was no evangelical silence as troutlover and I are saying various versions of "holy *hit, that was awesome." I have no idea how big this fish was. In my mind, he's (or more probably she) is a big over 30" brown. But that's the beauty of not catching the fish. I'll never know. And I'm not sure I want to. The second fish was from a trip to a small creek earlier that year. I was with my son who was upstream of me, around a corner and out of sight. I was having trouble keeping my nymph string free of moss from the bottom. Dry fly fishing was very slow that morning and I was making a weak attempt at nymphing. My lead nymph was a small weighted SJW and I decided it was the source of my problems, so I switched it for a chenille one. I tossed it into the fast, shallow run and hit the bottom again. But I dutifully set the hook and was immediately rewarded with a shockingly big pullback. I thought it had to be a bull, but it didn't make sense with how shallow the water was. As the fish crossed to the opposite side of the creek it rolled, and I was amazed to see the biggest rainbow I had ever (and still have ever) had on the line. A long fight ensued. But the fight was rather unremarkable because the fish had nowhere to go. The stream was small and wherever she went, I had no trouble following. So other than it's length, there is nothing to tell of the fight other than the fish did anything she wanted to until she tired out. I landed her, measured her against my rod, and let her go after several minutes spent reviving. She is memorable due to her size (26.5") and location (Frenchman's creek), but I didn't get any special feeling of accomplishment over the fight itself. Doesn't diminish the fish, but it does diminish the memory of it a bit. The third was hooked in the surf of Louisiana about 30 minutes before nightfall. I was fishing with a traditional bait casting rod and reel (my old reliable Shimano Chronarch and custom made spiral rod) with a live finfish for bait (don't judge!). I had hooked and caught a couple of trash fish and was starting to wonder if my idea of late evening fishing in the surf with live bait was the slam dunk I thought it would be. I was on the first day of my what became an annual trip to Louisiana, and the fishing had been great. I tried to get a couple of the guys to come out with me on the late evening excursion, but they were already in to the beers, cigars, and appetizers and told me we would be here for 3 more days and to relax. Screw that, there were fish to be caught. Anyway, like the two fish above, I knew the fish was big the instant I hooked it. Unlike a trout, the big fish spent no time shaking it's head or doing anything leisurely. It just ran. And ran. And ran. My Chronarch holds just over 100 yds of 12lb test, and I got very near the end before I really cranked down on the drag. I was at the point of turn the fish or loose it. And turn it did. As I'm getting line back I was really thinking about what I was hooked in to. Could be a small shark as I knew these waters were infested with them. Or a jack crevelle. But the fish didn't seem fast enough. It could be a redfish, but if it was it was a huge one. I got the fish most of the way back in remembering to loosen the drag as I got line back, but it turned and took off again. In a replay of it's first run, I turned the big fish after I cranked down on the drag near the end of the spool. This time as I'm bringing it back in (and again remembering to loosen the drag) I am becoming very aware of the fact it is getting dark and these waters have lots of sharks. In fact, I had lost a nice trout to a shark earlier that day. So I back up to the shore, and feel more comfortable. The fish, however is still not cooperating much and makes another big run. After about another 20 minutes or so of this it has become pitch dark and the fish is finally showing signs of throwing in the towel. Which was great news as I was getting exhausted. But a new problem had reared its head. On the Gulf coast, there are sandbars. The fish was just outside the first bar. Once across the bar it is only about another 10 yds to the shore, and me. But the tide was going out and the sandbar was now only about 1 foot deep and the fish was too big to get across easily. Normally, I would just walk out there, but I had shark on the brain (either ones free swimming or the possibility that the fish I am fighting is a shark). No way I was venturing out into the water. I spent several minutes trying to pull the fish across with no success and I started to seriously consider breaking the fish off. Finally, I hear a decent sized wave coming in and as the wave breaks across the bar, I pull as hard as I think I can and the big fish comes across the bar. A couple of minutes later I am looking at the biggest redfish I had ever seen caught on rod and reel. I will never remember how small the #4 hook looked in it's gaping maw of a mouth. I removed the hook, measured the beast against my rod, and spent several minutes reviving it. But I knew that it would not be able to cross the bar, so I screwed up my courage, waded out past the bar and let her go. To this day, I can't remember how long she was. I say 48", but my buddy swears I told him 52" when I got back to the barge. Doesn't matter really, I remember the fight. And the fact that she was HUGE. I remember reading in a book called "American Gods" that the secret of Las Vegas is that people don't go there to win, they go there to loose. I can't remember why he thought that, but I think it's certainly true, at least for people who like to tell stories. I think it's because that the loosing stories are usually much better stories. And to me, the same can be true of fishing stories. The stories where big, hard fighting fish are lost are generally more interesting. More speed, more power, gear testing runs, etc. This quite often results in the angler being empty handed, but with a great story. Conversely, a big fish that doesn't fight well and is landed looses some of it's luster. We somehow think less of the fish if if did not fight well. At least I seem to. But, in the end, the most memorable fish are the big fish that fight well, test you to YOUR limits, and is landed in the end. You get both closure and the sense of accomplishment. Anyway, that's how I see it. I would rather loose a big hard fighting fish than land one that doesn't "put on a show." But the pinnacle is landing the one that puts on a show. Hope some of you can share stories of fish gone by, landed or not.

As I'm driving into Calgary, I see your SUV and a few fellows with really long rods standing around it. What happened too "too much ice dudes?" I am thinking of going tomorrow as I did not get into town in time today. But I did read a part in my book yesterday where he talks about turning fish into numbers, in other words instead of appreciating the fish for what it is, you think of it as "number 7". I'm concerned that if the weather is too damn cold, I'll just be out there to catch "December" instead of enjoying a fine morning spent fishing. Going to have to think about this.

Not as many fishing presents this year, as I'm not really sure I needed anything. I did get a new wading jacket from Wright and McGill that seems nice. Big breast pockets, a really big pocket in the back and one in the sleeve. I should be able to stuff in with everything necessary, and many things not necessary. I also got a book called "The Longest Silence" by Thomas McGuane. I've read part of it so far and while I find him a bit on the "fishing as a means to discover one's soul" style (which I typically don't agree with that much), I'm quite enjoying it. Very, very well written. Here is a quote I particularly liked: "He had given up ordinary fishing and replaced it with extremely infrequent high-profile trips meant to substitute in intensity what he lacked in time. This in angling is a snare and a delusion. Angling in extremely time consuming. That's sort of the whole point. That is why in our high-speed world anglers, as a kind of preemptive strike, call themselves buns, addicts, and maniacs. We're actually rather quiet people for the most part but our attitude towards time sets us at odds with our own society." Or our own wife's! Anyway, I really liked the quote as angling to me is extremely time consuming. And it brought to mind how fortunate I have been in my life in living much of it next to very fishable water. Particularly now. For you fly tiers, he has an excellent discussion on different types of fly tiers. And a great telling of hooking, and loosing, a big rainbow. I'll discuss that later in a story of the week format. It reminded me of some battles I've had. Anyway, how did everyone do this season?

No competition to some of the photos already posted, but this is my favorite of the year.It will always remind me of a great trip with better friends. That and the fact my wife loves it.

One would hope.

I would say from a fishing perspective, my highlight of 2008 was in learning that the Bow is a year round fishery. Run off and winter included! That and the number of people I got to fish with this year. I would try to list them all here, but I'm afraid I would miss someone. To all of you, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it! Can't wait to do it again next year! Thanks to all, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! Edit: Oh, and this 26.5" pig!

I echo BBT's sentiment. All the best to everyone. 'Cept Lynn.

I have my fun by getting pretend mad at those making fun of me.

Just signed up the wife and two kids on Rogers. Bill is exactly what they said it would be, which in my experience is strange for a wireless company. I signed them up at costco of all places. 3 Sony-Ericsson Walkman phones, no connection fee. Got $75.00 per phone ($225 total) in Costco money as well. Did have to do the 3 yr contract thing, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to pony up for unlimited texting eventually. But I was pretty happy with the service.

I would complain about the speed at which this post has been hijacked, but I could see where some might find that a tad hypocritical.

You're an admin. Couldn't you have just fixed it for me?

I have a pretty long streak of catching a fish on the Bow every month. I think I'm at around 2 yrs and 3 months or so (which coincides with when I started fly fishing), not exactly sure because I didn't really pay attention at first. If I wanted, I could probably track it by fishing reports, but that would take too much work. Whatever the case, the streak is pretty long. So looking at the forecast out to Dec. 30, the highest temp is -4 on the 29th and 30th I'm not the biggest fan of guaranteed iced up guides and fishing in slush, but it's looking like I'll have to deal with it to keep this thing going. Hope the forecast isn't too wrong, or I may be forced to pull a Hawgstoppah and go out when it's really cold just to catch one trout. I'm getting real tired of this. On the bright side, my mom is coming up this week. She's never been to Canada in the winter. She's probably never been north of Dallas in the winter! I'm thinking of parking far away from the terminal when I pick her up just for the fun of it! I'll probably chicken out though. As funny as it would be, I'd hear about it forever. Anyway, it will be fun to watch her reaction. Maybe I'll take her fishing!