Conor

Don- What is Marinaro's hackle style? Footprint?: http://www.beaucatcher.com/Foot_Print_Mayfly.html Thorax?: http://www.flyfishersrepublic.com/patterns/thorax-dun/ Both? Gary F- I think people forgot to mention that a standard hackle when tied with a bunch of wraps, floats like a cork. A para will get drowned pretty easily in faster water. Also, you asked about 'wings.' Are you talking about split wings/posts, or hackle? I'd say that para patterns the hackle is pretty well what the fish sees as a wing (ie cripple, spinner). Standard hackle really just looks like legs in the surface film.

Frog hair is better than any other mono tippet I have used. The diameters are smaller, it is more suptle, and ties better knots. The floro is as good as any I have tried, but I haven't tried as many of those. You should be able to put a lot of pressure on good 5x. It should be difficult to break with your hands, and you should be able to really lean on a big fish if you rod is not too stiff. You should replace mono tippet every year-ish. It does break down. It might seem a bit expensive, but what is point spending $20 in gas to get to the river just to break fish off because you didn't want to spend $15 once a year. If you find your throwing out full spools, stop buying that diameter. Buy from a store that sells a bunch of tippet. You can still get the odd bad spool, but a decent shop will let you swap it out.

They are very reclusive. It is rare to see one, much less be harrassed by one! I have only ever heard them before. Very cool, distinctive gurgling/gulping call.

Sounds like an American bittern, by your description. Wierd behavour, but birds do wierd things and show up in wierd places this time of year.

Thanks for the vicarious adventure. Very cool. More info on the raft, please. 5 lb!

Tiger salamanders are mainly terrestrial, except to breed. They breed in still ephemeral ponds. Not a trout food source, really. I'm sure tadpoles are eaten by trout in some waters. A small leach pattern would probably do the trick.

Sweet. Game on!

I'm hoping to do a trip up in this neck of the woods in September. I don't have a 4x, and I have never seen the road types up there, so I was hoping for some general info. I'll be kickin' it in a minivan for about a week, so anyting more than rough is probably not a good idea. What is the FRT like N and S of Hwy 11? How about the 752 b/w Rocky and the FTR? Are some of the industry roads around there useable for a car? I'm mainly worried about washout prone areas etc. that might trap me in there. Or shale type roads that are rough on tires. I won't push to hard to get in to a spot; I can walk a long way.

What surprised me most about the comments was how many people are willing to put human-level emotions on fish. One guy even went so far as to call it 'empathy.' Like he can sympathize with what a fish is feeling, and still be able to read the NYT!

24" is a tough mark to beat on the Bow. Breaking 22" in your first Bow season is plenty good. Keep at 'er. You'll find certain age/stage structures in different areas of any river. I agree that the 21-22" brown stage is doing pretty well in the city.

Who in town has decent lumber? Looking for straight, clean, dry pine boards. Tall order, I know, but most of the big box stores have horrible stuff. Thanks for any tips.

I don't usually use the tips of marabou. I'll tie it in long and rip a few chunks off (with fingers) to length. You can use less marabou to get the same tail bulk, which helps keep the butt end of the body less bulky. Great bugger for a newbie. Keep at it.

The blues and most of the bass just move through on migration. Probably starts in May, definitely June, and continues through the summer. Fall would be just resident bass (big and picky), not sure about winter. It was just awesome. I hooked that blue at about 20ft. Saw him suck the crab back then peel the fly line off the reel. Through some head shaking jumps in once I got him back close. Can't wait to get back out for another 'family' vacation.

Did some flats fishing this past week. Nothing but sand and water for miles. Knee deep flats fishing crab patterns to picky fish. Permit? Tarpon? Nope. Stripers and bluefish on the Monomoy Island Flats, Cape Cod Massachusetts. I was blown away by the fishery. We were the only anglers on the flats and saw over 500 fish with a few dozen solid opportunities. Too bad I suck. I caught a small bass, as well, but didn't get a pic (early in the morning). Missed a half dozen good takes, too. Fish were really picky. Lots of nose turning. Definitely worth checking out if you're in this neck of the woods. I used a walk and wade guide named Randy Jones; he was top notch and has been out there every summer for 25 years. Big tides so safety is important.

On the topic, I have to sign in every time on the same computer using Mac OSX/Safari. What up with that?

Water weighs nothing in water. A life jacket will float you for sure. No difference in weight, it is just harder to swim around in full waders due to the bulk. I wear an inflatable pfd when in a tube, most times. In warmer stillwater I don't often bother. I'd like to get one that activates with pressure for when in floating rivers.

Maybe I'm old fashioned... Asking local fisherman about public knowledge locations will get the info one needs. It's not hard, and that is how relationships form. Talking to people. The person asking may learn a thing or two along the way. If talking is not your thing, the backroads map, Barry Mitchell's fishing guide and google earth (sometimes all at once ) have given many hours of pleasant winter evenings. Between the three all the info you mentioned is there. I've found some real gems with those resources. I'm a huge Mapsource fan, but I think the list your thinking of is a bit redundant. I bet most of the average Joes out there looking for a fish pond would stumble on paper resources before they found a Mapsource file. Maybe Google Earth would be more accessible than all of the above.

Do you mean the flies come unraveled, or off the tippet?

I thought I had gout. Same deal as you last year with my big toes. Turns out it is psoriatic arthritis (is this what you meant by SRA, Pipestone?). My father dealt with gout the last half of his life, but, looking back, it was more likely psoriatic arthritis. Just pointing out that if you have a an itchy scalp and a fat toes, don't let a Dr. tell you it is gout without a second opinion. My father's Dr. was a quack. He was dealing with kidney stones, and his Dr. told him it was the Clap. He didn't know what the clap was, and came home and anounced he had the Clap. Ha! Quite a scene. My mother did not find it as funny as it was. He passed a stone a few days later, which got him out of the dog house. (Shameless promo) My wife is a private dietician and has done a few gout consults. If you're feeling overwhelmed by the diet change, she could help. We're in Calgary but make it out to the Hat regularly to see family. 10% discount to you because you fly fish!

Tomatoes grow plenty while flowering. The last thing you want to do in Alberta is delay fruiting.

I liked the other poll about number of patterns. Got me wondering how many flies I carry on an average day. This spring I got a new dry fly box, and I unloaded the old one to get rid of the junk and re-organize (by the way, a small cube ice tray worked great for this job). I was shocked to find I had 2-300 flies in the box. I usually carry a dry box, a caddis box, a nymph box and a streamer box. That is on a random in-season day, not when I'm out chasing hatches or winter nymphing etc. I'll bet I'm in the >500 category. Silly. I'll give a rough count before I vote. I recommend you do too. You'll be surprised how quickly they add up.

Man. I hope you guys don't carry too many patterns. Say you have 12 patterns, 3 sizes, 3 colors- thats 648 flies! I prefer to carry more patterns than 12. I probably carry 6 or so of my favorites in each pattern (maybe 4 patterns in that category), maybe each size, maybe each color. But I have a ton of patterns in my box that I have just one or two of each size, random colors. I guess I'm a bit of a pack rat; you'll never know when you'll need something. I guess I kind of like the idea of paring down to just the basic patterns, but I am not even close to that organized. The pack rat thing, too. This winter I started tying a dozen at a time. Worked well. But I don't load them all at once.

Try sharpening the worm hook and setting harder. It is not easy to set a big worm hook into a fish.

I found some bead containers from Michael's that are perfect. They have about 18 or so small compartments that have individual lids and sloped sides. Golden.

I use a tool box and organize materials in zip locks and hooks, beads, tools in plastic hobby boxes. Vise with a wooden mount and wrapped in bubble wrap. Works great.