BlueNorther

Best thing you can do is pick up a copy of Barry Mitchell's Alberta Fishing Guide,available at any sporting goods outlet,Walmart,Can. Tire.Then supplement that with the Backroads Maps of Alberta and you'll find all the available water you want to fish. As far as clean water,there's not a lake that I fish that I wouldn't eat a fish from.

The bigger bucks will start dropping their antlers in early March,most are already starting to grow this years rack.Some spikers and fork horned bucks can still be wearing theirs till the end of this month. Those deer in the pics are most likely all doe's,fawns and yearlings.The older bucks form up bachelor herds and won't be around the females till next October.

Rainbows do spawn in the Elbow,not in great numbers but they're there.I've seen them on redds below the spillway many times. Last year I fished it 2 days before the closure and caught 3 bows along the Calgary Golf and Country Club section.

Got started when I was 12.Used to toss spinners and chunk bait on the Elbow river below the dam and was getting tired of catching suckers or nothing.Saw guys casting flies and catching trout and knew that was the way to go. I saved my meager allowance and bought a Berkley Cherrywood 8.5' 7wt glass rod (still have it).I believe it cost $25.00 bucks then.My oldest brother had been FFing for a couple years already and donated an old Diawa reel and some D.T. flyline. Went to the school of hard knocks and taught myself to flyfish and was catching trout my first season out.A couple of older gents I met on the river took me under their wing and started showing me some of the finer points and my success rate soared by the end of the season.I haven't looked back since.

Haven't seen an albino moose yet,but I've seen a white mule buck three times this year near my place.It's not an albino as there is some light brown on its rump by the tail.Been trying to get some pics of him but can't quite get into range for my camera,closest I got was 75 yards in late october.Had to talk my friend out of wackin it with bow,give it a few years to grow and then go for him.The genetics are good for big bucks there and he seems to have the right stuff to grow a big rack.

I haven't taken a bull out of the Tay,lots of browns and brookies.The Clearwater has given up a fair number of nice bulls for me. As mentioned above,the Clearwater is a dangerous piece of water,use utmost caution if you're going to wade.

Not a bad show,can't believe I walked out of there without spending a dime this year,the Missus on the other hand tho..... , 2 fly boxes a new vest and other sundry items.Glad to see her get excited about fly fishing. I did stop and talk to the guy at the Andrew Lake Outfitters booth and might book a caribou hunt thru them for next year. Did anyone do the fish I.D. test?I got one wrong,it was an adult bull trout and I didn't follow my instincts and went for a brookie knowing full well it wasn't .

They never cease to amaze me to watch them fish.We see ospreys in action everytime when fishing Alford or Philys lakes.Last year my wife and I had one dive between our boats on Alford,we were maybe 30 feet apart.All's I heard was the rip from its dive and the splat as it hit the water,startled the wits out of me.It was unsuccessful on that attempt but between that one and its mate we watched them do 5 successful dives that morning.

It would have to be when I took the Missus up to Alford lake in early september.She just started fly fishing this year.She wanted to try out her new Fish Cat 4.I rigged up a 9' 5wt for her and tied on a boatman and gave her a basic casting lesson. The day started off sunny and warm,much to her liking but didn't stay that way for long.We'd get 10 or 15 minutes of sunshine then a squall would come blasting out of the N.W. and last about 20 minutes before calming down,it was like this all day.The good thing was that it chased all the fair weather fishers off the water and by noon we had the lake to ourselves. It took about an hour before she got her first hook up and I coached her on fighting the fish and then the handling of it after I netted it for her.I was pleasantly surprized that she wanted to unhook and release the fish,a 13 incher.After that she never looked back,in two hours she hooked and released 12 more,two that went 18 inches.She was leaving me in the dust,at one point she was 5 fish on top of my take and enjoyed rubbing some salt into the wound.Everytime I'd hook up and think I might catch her,she'd catch another one.Finally I had to go to a dry fly and overtake her,she says I cheated . We fished for 7 hours and only took 1 break for some grits and a pee break.The days total was over 30 trout. Now the really best part of this is she wanted a flyrod of her own,so for Christmas Santa gave her a TFO package,9' 5wt Signature series.Now she can't wait for ice out to try it out.

No fishing gear this year but lots of hunting gear which is more my passion anyways.Polar Tech fleece pants and jacket for warm weather bow hunting.Luepold rangefinder bino's and a few books,one being Patrick Mcmanus latest writings.

Nice lookin snot rockets.I enjoy eating winter pike too,fried up in a beer batter and with onion rings. Was on Severn on saturday,it started off pretty slow, drilled 20 holes and finally started to get action in 7 feet of water.I caught 4 that went over 20 inches and 3 that were 12 inchers.My pard got one that was 23 inches.We each kept one to eat.I baked mine stuffed with a mushroom ,onion and celery dressing,that was mighty fine cuisine.

Used mine (Streamborn) all season for fishing plus for migratory hunting with no problems whatsoever.Soles still fit as tight as the day I bought them.

Gonna be a blast and cast weekend,shoot ducks and geese fri. evening and sat morning and fish the afternoon and then more ducks in the evening.

Looks good.What wood are you smoking with? I'm smoking up about 30 pounds of moose and elk sausage this weekend and then got some jerky to make.

We saw 5 turkeys down on Drywood creek last week when elk hunting,2 big toms and 3 jakes.Sure wished they'd expand the zones and allow more tags than 50 in the spring.Merriams (which we have here) are the nicest and biggest of the five species in N.A.

Looking forward to the hard water season.Bout the time that big game and duck hunting are over I'll be gearing up for it.Last year we were on the ice at Severn in late November.It'll be a longer wait this year as we almost used up all our tags on a hunt down in the West Castle last week,6 deer and 1 bull elk.

100%,I pick up trash every time I go out.Discarded fishing line really annoys me.I saved a mallard duck a few years ago that was entangled in a huge wad of mono.It faced an ugly death if I had not found it.

Dutch I can probably help you out there pretty quick.The mule deer are changing now and should have their fall coats in by mid sept.Right now they're kinda patchy looking but I've already seen some that have lost their summer red and are greying up nicely. What part of the hide are you looking for?

Pheasant doesn't open up until mid oct thru to mid nov.Partridge opens here pretty quick till the end of nov and migratory opens next week right thru to the middle of dec,so I'd say you'll have plenty of time to hunt. Like fishing,I don't know too many guys who'll give up their favorite hunting grounds willingly.I have some pheasant hunting spots for wild birds that I worked hard to find and can't take alot of pressure so I won't pass that info along but if you go anywhere east you'll find lots of huns and some sharptails,saw alot of huns this morning while out scouting for deer N.E. of Airdrie.I find most land owners are willing to let you on to bird hunt. Do you have a dog?Walking up pheasant without one is tough hunting. I'd be willing to help you out where I can and if you'd like we can get together for a meet and greet over a coffee or your favorite adult beverage.PM me and maybe we can arrange something. Next saturday is the migratory opener and I'll be out for the morning shoot,not sure what the rest of the day will bring so I can't commit to anything then.

Archery,rifle or both?How far do you want to travel? If you mean the area surrounding Calgary it's strictly an archery zone,WMU 212.The other WMU's are open to rifle and offer lots of deer,white tail and mule deer,draw only for mule deer.There are quite alot of elk in the area west of the city but it's all private land and hard to get permission but not impossible.

I don't know about down south but the elk aren't bugling N.W. of here.Was in 420 and 326 on saturday,saw 7 cows with no bull to be seen with them and a nice 5x5 bull still in velvet in 420.Couldn't put the extra point on him to make him legal.We're waiting with bated breath about down south.We have a 10 day hunt planned for an elk hunt.Got a couple of ranches to hunt on in 302 & 300 but I'd like to be able to get into 400.

Hitting 48 in November

Never leave anything in my truck.

35 years for me.

Hope all goes well and you have a speedy recovery.