Harps

And otters eat baby beavers...

Yeah, biggest recorded was just over 100lbs.

Hey guys, Some of you may know that the Alberta and Federal gov'ts are looking at increased protection for sturgeon (and habitat). Let me be clear... You will still be able to fish for sturgeon! To help, especially with the angling side (angling is fine for sturgeon as long as they are caught, handled, and released properly), it would be great to get info from folks catching them. If you don't mind, it would be great to get lengths, weight (if you take them) and locations of sturgeon caught. You don't have to send it to me if you're not comfortable with it, but if you send me a PM, I can flip you the contact info of the folks in charge of the sturgeon side of things. If you get a sturgeon with a tag, please, please get the number and report it!!! The good thing for you guys is that you'll get to talk to the sturgeon researchers who have caught hundreds of sturgeon already this year and might be able to provide pointers. Plus you'll be helping to protect Canada's oldest fish so that future generations will have a chance to fish for it too!

Why don't some of you Bow River fishers get together and write up a 10 or so point list of etiquette that you can post at boat launches (or even ask SRD to put on signs). You could do some for Boat Launches and some for Wading Accesses, targeting each type of angler. If you create signs, put the FFC logo on it, and put them up it would be a good service for the river and might alleviate some of the issues. I think we could even put some down here... I'd chip in on behalf of the Chinook Waters Fly Fishing Club for a few signs for the Crow. It would be nice if SRD would create signs though... As a start to the list try the Montana guide association website: http://www.foam-montana.org/etiquette.htm they have a list that Montana Guides are supposed to follow: Floating anglers should yield to bank and wade fishermen. Wade fishermen should yield to boats when there is only one navigable channel. Drift anglers should never pass another boat to cut in on water being fished. Avoid wading in spawning areas. Pick up trash, even if it's not yours. Motorboats: no wakes please Keep access points and ramps open by launching boats quickly. Conserve the resource. Know the fishing regulations. Do not trespass on private land. Stay below the high water mark. Don't let your actions affect someone else's fishing pleasure. Treat everyone as you would like to be treated, but understand that they may not share your sense of ethics. The gov't of Montana also has this: http://fwp.mt.gov/recreation/ethics/riverRecreation.html Clive even wrote a good bit about it here: http://flyanglersonline.com/features/canada/can23.php **It's another reason that fishing guides should be regulated in Alberta...

No fishing within 25m of the base of waterfalls... Below Lundbreck and Castle Falls included. Hmmmm (And its a crime to waste burbot meat!!)

Since when are Rex Murphy and Lorne Gunter (incoming president of Civitas - a society for conservative and libertarian academics, think-tankers, lobbyists and journalists) experts on scientific process let alone climate change? And average temps in Calgary... Above average 1 month, dead on for 2, below for 10... doesn't mean much in 100 years of data... or 1000, or 10,000. May 0.4 below average, Apr 2.5 below, Mar 4.3 below, Feb 3.5 below, Jan Right on Avg, Dec 0.8 below, Nov 1.6 below, Oct 2.4 above, Sep 1.5 below, Aug 0.4 below, July- right on average. In June with 13 days of data we are 1.7 days under the avg. Plus... you increase arctic ice melting, push cold water down towards the tropics, change pacific+continental+arctic air masses and everything inland is F'd. More precip, more cloud, more storms. Or not... the earth is a pretty complex system with a few billion too many pollutn' folks screwing it up. We should be doing everything we can to minimize our footprints. This gives me a headache...

mtbkr, Any action on this?

Any environmental spills or complaints in Alberta (work around rivers that you think are questionable, spills, anything) should get called into the 24 hr hotline: 1-800-222-6514

It had to start somewhere...

Seed. Sod is for the generation of instant gratification. Sod farms (industrial factory farms) rape the landscape, taking water from rivers and topsoil from the land. Better yet, go with a more drought tolerant ground cover... clover, moss, even thyme.

3 guys out on a Monday night... looking to shoot a black bear and instead shoot a Griz... They look like real proud hunters. But they are alive... there is a shortage of young "adults' and too many bears anyways.

I prefer the RFU Method... http://www.sexyloops.com/picofday/revoluti...olution23.shtml Catch a whole bunch of materials in the thread wraps when finishing the head.

Depending on how and where you fish longer can be better than shorter. Longer rods are better for reaching out over the water and dapping the fly. Also better if you are crawling through a meadow to cast streamside. Personally I've really liked my entry level Sage Launch... Great colour (blending in is key with tricky small stream fish), great medium action (the progressive flex is a perfect fit with how I cast), and perfect length for the type of streams I fish with it (Yes Stauffer, but more the thick beaverdam stuff in the foothills). Its a 3wt and I went up to a 8'6" because I like the extra length to reach out above the stream. If there's no room to cast a 9', there's probably no room to cast a 7'. If I was to redo it, I'd stick with Sage or pony up for one of Don's Bamboo rods!! Then again there is great fiberglass out there that looks very interesting! In regards to weight, 3 is good. Less just limits your ability to throw on a hopper and cast through the wind on that perfect beaver pond, plus, really with most small stream fish, the fun isn't in the fight, it's in getting to the fish and tricking it. Less than 3 and you are just buying because of an advert. I've used 4-6wts on small streams with tiny fish and had a blast too.

The FTR will be closed from 532 down to the Livingstone Falls as they are fixing a culvert and not building a temp bridge. You could drive up from the south if the snow isn't bad. I was suppoesed to be up that way last week, but I heard the road wasn't great. Was going to check today, but now it's put off to Thursday (I hate meetings). I'm not sure about the conditions up 532 from 22?

Robert, You mistake this gov’t as on that cares about the fish. There will be no increased enforcement unless the people of Alberta demonstrate that they care about the fishery. A directed campaign in that regard will get that point across. Fishing should not be for the elite, but it should be sustainable so that our none elite kids can fish in the future. And if people don’t care about the regs and just want to catch fish then they can pay more to support the resource that they are likely abusing… and stick to those put and take lakes. The few waters in Alberta CAN NOT support that type of attitude anymore, especially with the massive increase in population (and no reflectant change in regulations). Troutsteaks, As to the brookies, most populations in our foothill streams are stunted from overcrowding. Not enough people keep and kill and too many miss guided people push for killing their predators (found 3 ospreys shot last year on one brookie stream that could have used them plus I’m tired of al the BS talk about otters). There needs to be a liberal limit imposed, especially on eastslope streams where their fecundity is impacting the native cutthroat and bull trout populations (yes brookies hybridize with bulls and weaken the population). The bull trout were decimated by angling, but what nearly “extinguished them” was the inability of them to rebound due to the destruction of their habitats by logging, culverts, dams, and agriculture. And the fact that you find Smitty’s comments “brash” confuses the heck out of me. I though it was well written and respectful, despite being the opposite opinion of yours. As to Non-natives being wiped out… they won’t be. Ever. But there is no reason to let the course of extinction carry on. Westslope cutthroat trout are at risk of becoming extinct in their native range in Alberta. If people want to catch and keep fish, why not get 2 birds with one stone… keep and eat brookies and save cutties from the over populating specks. Rainbows and browns won’t be targeted as they are a fishery being protected. Clive, you know that no Eco hippy biologists will ever take the province down the route of getting rid of fishing. Brookies can handle the fishing pressure, and it serves 2 purposes. In cases where rainbows and cutties exist, the genetics are mixed and you can’t get the cream outa the coffee as they say. There will be no mass killings. And PGK, a letter is not nearly enough… but it is a start to get folks thinking. I hope mtbrk can continue in the direction he is going!

People here understand that stocked fish are closer to "domestic pure breeds" than wild fish. Right? A pure fish in this instance is a fish that has evolved in a cerain situation for thousands of generations. No human selected traits, just traits that have allowed it to survive. Stocked fish haven't undergone that selection (most of the time). In Danhunts instance, the purebred represents the wild selected fish, with traits allowing it to survive being passed on and other traits and mutations failing.

No takers, of course… how about I start a letter? Contact for Minister of Tourism, Cindy Ady http://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p...&rnumber=22 Contact for Minister of SRD, Mel Knight http://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p...&rnumber=56 How many of you will actually read the letter, edit it to your liking and send it to some ministers and local MLAs? Or… I hear there is a federal election on right now? You could always ask you local potential MPs what their parties stance is on Alberta Fisheries. 3000 members on the site...

I think PGK was just offering "off the hip" suggestions that there are things that 'we' as a fishing community and flyfishing group could be pushing. They were just examples. I have 10 quick suggestions: 1. I think we need an east slopes stamp to fish the east slopes and it should cost ~$20 a year and an identification test should be required. 2. Licence fees should go up (by at least $10-$20), but a "Conservation licence" could be implemented if you want to fish cheaper and don't want to use the very liberal keep limits in Alberta's dated management scheme (C&R on flowing trout waters and special reg lakes (wall, pike and trout), half the limit on all Lakes and warmer waters) 3. Guides should be licenced- After we know whos guiding who and where, the gov't could consider limiting rod days. This doesn't make water more "exclusive", but it does give locals a chance to fish there own home waters. Regulations on the Beaverhead in Montana are a perfect example. 4. Funding for special stamps should go to the area they are funding. 5. Licence fee systems need to be transparent. 6. Non-resident fees should increase, but they should remain low enough to still allow folks to come. 7. Non-resident Kids should not be able to fish unless they are with an adult with a licence. 8. Seniors should have to get a licence (cheap, but we need to have the info about how many people fish in Alberta). 9. We need to diversify angling options (more delayed harvest lakes, more gear specific stretches of stream (no bait, not fly only), more C&R sections (to allow fish to get technically difficult to catch). 10. The gov't needs to dump more money in improving access and improving amenities (paid campsites, outhouses, garbage cans). This will improve the overall experience and the fishery (look at some of the great access and gov't management in Montana on the Missouri. There are ~140 folks on the board with more than 200 posts each. There are over 3000 people registered as members of this site. That is a substantially sized group that could have a decent voice in the ears of the tourism and srd ministers. Now who will step up to draft a letter with some suggestions that board members can send (and edit to personalize) to their local MP, MLA, and the SRD and Tourism minister? We are a destination for anglers from around the world- Let's start acting like it.

I'm very sorry for your loss, Lynn. Heartfelt sympathies

Hedgehogs have a dubbed body with 2 or 3 hair wings and a spun and clipped head. Goddards have a fully spun and clipped body with a hackle thorax.

It is a great symposium! Let me know if you guys are interested in the next one... it will be fall 2013 in W. Yellowstone again (excellent fishing!!). Bob Jacklin has taugh an afternoon of casting at the begining of the workshop and many of us manage to hit the rivers throughout the week. I've helped on the last 2 with the Canadian side and 2013 I'm co-chairing a committee. http://www.wildtroutsymposium.com/ Short drive from S. Alberta and a cheap and Great time!

I have an older 2560 (the predecessor of the 4500 series) which balances my z-axis 690. http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/index.php?...c=14354&hl=

No

The native cutthroat trout in Alberta are pure Westslope Cutthroat trout (WSC). The population of WSC in Alberta is distinct from the population of WSC in BC, but they are the same subspecies. They are separate from Yellowstone Cutts found on the Eastslopes in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. YCT were stocked in some places in Alberta as were non-native WSC (don't know where they came from and may have been stocked in fishless watersheds). There are still pure populations of WSC, there are still near-pure populations (>95% WSC), and there are hybrid pops (mixed YSC and RNTR) in Alberta.

They're all the rage in Beaver Mines...