OneMoreLastCast

Go thru Sundre to the Burnstick lake road, go south 'til you see the Beaver Lake sign on the left. The Alberta Fishing guide's directions are bang on.

Access on the Wigwam is tough. There are a few places that you can drive right down to the river, but plan to share those sections with a number of other people. Your other option is to park on the ridge and climb/hike in. Grab a "Backroads Mapbook" and go exploring. The other reason noone talks about it on forums is that it is very difficult to describe how to access different sections. I can suggest one spot...Just after you drive across Lodgepole, park by the gates and follow the road until you see the river. I will also say that if you are going alone, (or with others for that matter), be sure to have protective measures in place for Grizzly Bears. The Wigwam Valley is the 2nd most populated Grizzly Bear Valley and although you don't often see them because the Bush is so thick....they are there and they see you. It's a feeding frenzy at this time of year. Spray, Bells, Whistles, Bangers, etc. are a must when fishin the Wiggy. Who knows, we might see you out there. Or Just bring someone slower with you like my cousin Swampdonkey75

Ah...nice. You get my message?....You comin' or wut?

You actually can set the Olympus to take rapid fire pictures too. Just set it to "Shoot and Select". It takes 10 pictures in about 2 seconds. Worked great the other night for shots of the lightning.

Thanks for the Report Clive and the letter is excellent. Thanks also for taking the time to ride along, your efforts and time are much appreciated. It must have been tough spending the day on such beautiful waters without wetting a line. I feel priviledged to have helped out this year and look forward to helping out next year as well, (although I haven't had a chance to get out for the W & W's yet....September is best on the Bow anyways Guys, don't worry). Keep up the Great Work Clive and all involved in the Stream Watch Program.

I have the Olympus 770 SW and can's say enough good things about it. As Rickr can attest to, they take a beating and take great quality pictures, above the surface and below. Under water with the Olympus As far as which model to buy, the 1030 has more features and I'm a sucker for extras, but if all you want it for is to kick around in you fishing stuff to take pictures of fish above and below the surface, the 850 would do fine. A camera's a camera and a pixel is a pixel. Some like the Pentax, some like the Olympus. Find the best deal and pick one up.

An important point to make here as well is that you have to match your tippets to the weight of rod you are using. If you tie on 5x and a size 20 Fly using an 8 weight Rod.....Good Luck.

I've had the bucket discussion 3 times with the authorities, twice in Alberta and once in BC. Both times in Alberta the Officer would not budge, (although I actually carry one to meet the requirements). I asked them both to show me the proper use of the bucket in case of an emergency and they refused, but still insisted it is 100% necessary for my safety. In BC, the discussion started by the Officer asking me what the hell the bucket was for. When I told him it was necessary....Blah, blah, he had a good laugh at our expense. Common sense just isn't so common some times.

It has to do with the Strain/Sub-Species of Rainbow in the River as well. As shown in the latest "Humble Fishermen's" video with the big escaped Farm rainbows, fish can grow to extraordinary sizes in a short period. These fish were only in the same water system for a few years and some of them were as long as, and much fatter than your above average Bow River Rainbow. They are obviously a different sub-species. All Diploid trout mature and basically stop growing. They live an average of 4-6 years in perfect conditions and when you throw in the short season, that usually brings not so ideal Trout conditions with high water temperatures most years. Add the extreme winter conditions and it's easy to see why it is rare to see Trout over 10 lbs. Triploids don't mature in the same way that Diploids do, so they continue to grow and actually live longer. So with the recent stockings in surrounding lakes, we will definitely see some trophys again in the province. (And please nobody suggest stocking Trips in our rivers.....) Don't get me wrong, there are definitely Trout over 10 lbs in the Bow. I've been fortunate enough to land some "Fish of a Lifetime's". Whether these fish escaped from the hatchery and might be different strains, or they found some ideal conditions to grow big.....I'd post my personal best from the Bow, but I save it for stories around the campfire with friends. Plus, you wouldn't believe me. If you want to see some of the Bow's biggest fish first hand, volunteer for the Carseland Irrigation Canal Netting. I've seen fish pushing 12-13 lbs returned to the river from the Canal. Places like New Zealand, etc. are exceptions, but you'll be hard pressed to find another river with an Average fish like the Bow. So there is the chance of catching that 10 pounder, but releasing fish after fish in the 20 inch Range while you try isn't too bad I'd say. At the end of the day, it's rare to find Trout elsewhere that fight like the Bow River Rainbow's of the same size.

This topic has been discussed for decades on the Bow and Rivers like it. Forming an association is comical in my opinion and as mentioned, who would oversee it and who would enforce any "Rules" They decide to put in place. The time and energy could be better put towards more important things affecting our waters. I personally like to move around, but on occassion, I like to park my ass in a spot and fish every cycle thru-out the day, (and night if everything lines up). That's my perogative and noone has the right to tell me that I am required, or that it would be good "ettiquette", to move on. If I happen to come upon people that are in the "Sweet Spot" that I was hoping to fish, I usually ask them if they are moving up or down, or if they've set up camp for awhile. If they plan on staying for awhile, I simply pick a spot usually within a KM of so an stake my claim. As Dave said, there's no shortage of fish in the river. As for Guide Ettiquette with Drift Boats vs. W & W'rs....If a Boat accidently, (or Purposely), floats your run, I recommend waiting the 5 or so minutes it takes for the fish to return once the boat is gone. The humorous part of this to me is that these so called "Sweet Spots" are the most known "Spots" on the River, so why on earth would anyone expect noone to be fishing them. They also see the most pressure, so if someone wants to set up for the day in one of these spots, go Nutz. Think of it this way....If a Hole, run or section of a River has a Name, (ie-"Must Be Nice"), it's not a secret and you should expect someone to be there when you get there, or join you, if you are first to arrive.

Nice Pics Dave. Wow, the Pup got big.

Just need to carry some steelies like the one I gave you.... Funny thing is that my biggest so far was caught on 5x because I was too lazy to switch up....Plus, I had the "Fever". BTW, you owe me a beer for sharing that spot. Leave a few for me, I might be in Friday.

Just a little warning.... Ask Max what it feels like to get the "Fever". You may end up passing up some beautiful Trout if you happen upon a Pod of big Pike.

I found a few pictures from this Spring of his boat. The smallest guy in the boat is over 6 feet and 200 lbs. It also packs up to fit in a hatch back. Sorry about the Plumber's butt in the second pic....

Check out Ebay. My Buddy picked up a Zodiac Knock off for just over $500 brand new, delivered in 2 weeks. It appeared to be pretty good quality and held 3 grown men fairly well. I don't have the exact information for you, but I'm sure if you search Ebay, you'll find the boat He bought.

It's on at 7 pm on SCN. Channel 266 on Bell ExpressVu

Yeah, I tried a search and got nothing. It's no big deal, just strange. I back all photos and video up as soon as I put them on my computer, so I didn't lose anything important. I have only put pictures on from one camera and have only been using this laptop for less than a month, so there isn't a lot on it so far. Windows response was simply..."There are some bugs with Vista we are still working on. Thank you for your inquiry and hopefully it will be fixed now that it has been brought to our attention...." Between Vista and having to adapt to the changes made to Office 2007, I'm not the biggest PC fan at the moment.

That was my first thought, but after running a number of checks, I eliminated that possibility. No Trojans, Worms, etc. Plus, even if it was a hacker, it doesn't make sense. To just randomly delete a few fishing pictures from folders wouldn't really prove anything. Maybe it is the work of the worst hacker in the world.... I think it is just more Vista BS myself. Oh well, more reason to back up all of my pics on my External HD as soon as I save them.

I got a new laptop recently and just discovered something very strange, (and very frustrating), happening. The folders on my desktop that I saved pictures to for various fishing outings have no pictures in them anymore!!! They somehow deleted themselves.... I know they were there and I know I didn't delete them, but they're gone. Luckily, I saved most of them on my Photo Bucket page, but the ones I didn't, seem to be gone for good. I am the only person that uses the laptop, so I know it wasn't someone else deleting them. The fishing pictures suck to lose, but I also lost the pictures in the folder for my youngest daughter's Birthday party. Must be another one of Vista's bonus features! Has anyone else had this happen?

Thanks for the great day Tim. Wish I could have made it for Saturday as well, but maybe next time. I actually didn't take too many pics to post, so I'll just enjoy your's. Next time we'll have to include a camp fire for sure. It's just not the same if you can't BS around the fire after a day of fishing. Thanks again guys.

Smoky Trout Farm in Red Deer sells Brookies. I am sure that Bull Trout would not be legal being that they are a threatened species. Also, when your fish outgrow the aquarium, (and they will), make sure you just cull them or have a private location arranged to move them. It is not legal to move them into public waters.

Years ago I kept some trout in a tank in my basement, where it was pretty cool, so I didn't have anything set up for cooling. The water temp stayed around 55 Degrees and the trout thrived. (Ignore the Thermo on the Aquarium below...it was wrong. It was too influenced by outside ambient temp). I believe you can buy aquarium chillers though. They actually outgrew the small 25 g aquarium pretty fast and I was constantly replacing them with smaller trout. I would move the fish to my backyard ponds when they outgrew the aquarium. I tried different species individually and also tried mixing species to see what would happen. It didn't take long to see how aggressive Brown Trout are. You can actually set up an entire ecosystem in the aquarium. I had Mayflies, Stoneflies, Damsel flies, Scuds and a number of different insects that would actually hatch to adults on occassion. Some advice....don't bother putting Dragon Flies in the tank unless you only want Dragon flies.... Between my aquarium and ponds, I learned a lot about the habits of Trout. I mentioned how aggressive Browns can be....here's a picture of my little Brown that did what was needed to have the entire tank to himself. He took out 4 Rainbows, 2 Brookies and 2 Cutties of the same size to have his solitude. This was the very beginnings of my Trout Aquarium experiment. After adding plant life and trial and error, I ended up with a fun little project. Here's a link to some places you can get fish in case you don't have a source. http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$departme...nsf/all/div6187 Have fun.

It is terrible. I was at Suncor in September when the leak occured and it turns my stomach every time I hear of something like this happening. Things will get a lot better in the future once Suncor's operation starts up across the highway, further from the river. BTW, Suncor has only been in operation since 1967, so the pond can't be 60 years old. The article I read said it has been leaking since the 1960's... Either way, something has to be done about the older plants. The newer plants like Albian Sands take a lot of care in making sure they do the best they can to protect the environment and the wild life affected by their operation. Hopefully others follow suit.

Well done Kid. I like fishing in this weather for the lack of other people myself. Did you hike your boat into that spot? Oh to have a nice strong young back again....

I couldn't be happier than I am with my Scadden. I'd recommend it for sure. http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/index.php?showtopic=4410