Mykiss

I'v been using the spey on the bow for about 6 years on the bow things that I have noticed on the bow is: Boats will go where they please either with a spey rod in your hand or single hander lol....If the pilot/Captian/rower has the etiquette he will notice where your casting and give your the room accordingly...if he does'nt he will not simple as that. The jetsleds/seadoos(for you Brian) and or drifters in BC give you ample of room when they can..understadable your not going to pile your boat into bar's/rocks/bears(happens on the Babine) to avoid where the caster is working but within reason.. Now that said yes the water you cover for sure is incresed with the big stick however does that make a difference its still water "YOU" are covering at the moment...same as it would be with the single hander..you still expect the same respect..Just my thoughts

Yep them old boys that camp out at Wolcott sure like there jet skis.... I have seen them up there for alot of years now... Only problem with the ski's would be that they are just too damn much fun... Also when ya roll one you take out the top half of your rods... Guess the same thing can be said about a sled only in the sled all the parties rods are gone... You made the switch over to ski's yet Brian?

Sorry man the secrets been out for some time now...only most Albertans that I know poach "your" waters with jet-sleds rather than quads

Toolman, I regret to say that it has been a month since my last outing.....Pretty weak I know... however chinooks have been a rare thing this winter and between work and the call to the mountains to go downhill very fast with two missles on my feet I have suffered on my winter outings...however I am going through fishing withdrawals these days big time.. Also waiting for my Meiz's to get back to me as I sent 1 in for repairs and the other in for a lil' work on the cork. So when I get em back I'll be back in the saddle. Maxwell, My standard retrieve is strip 8 times coil around my pointer finger, strip 6 times coil around my middle finger, strip 4 times coil around my ring finger. Depending on how much line I am shooting depends on how long the strip is.... Obviously with a longer shoot the strips are longer say 2 1/2 Ft to 3 ft long the shorter the shoot then 2 ft strips..... As I load up the cast and begen to shoot line I open my hand up to allow the line to shoot as I pull the butt of the rod into my chest with my palm... Kinda a version of a underhand cast. Should also say that this retieve is with my skagit set up not my M/S. Hope that makes sense.

Tape all the way....Wax is a dirt and grit magnet and there is nothing worse than the crunching sound as your ferrules go together and you hear dirt and crap grind away at your fit!!!! Tape only ruins the finish on loops

Al, what type of knot did you use to attach the mono shooting line to your old existing running line?? I run my Skagit and M/S set up with Slick shooter and nail knot the SS to the running line...Very small knot and the slick shooter has very little friction...What it lacks in friction though it does make up in memory for the first few cast on a cold day....I find if i pull the SS through my hand a few times coils go away and I'm good for the day..(most shooting lines need this anyway).... With out line control it does not matter if your using the stock running line or any other type of shooting line your coils when stripping need to be neat and counted down or your going to shoot a massive clump of tangled line into your guides..By this I mean counting your strips......I usually count the # of strips then coil then count down from there.

Spey can mix cool with trad' me thinks...I remember on numerous occasions on the Bulkley for instance where you get alot of "traditional" people hanging out....rolling up to a run with system of a down (and if ya know system they ain't traditional) cranked up rocking out sugar and all these heads turning and wondering "who do these punks think they are"....Well I find if ya lay out a 100ft + bomb then proceed to nail a steel in the water that these "traditional" guys just ran through they figure it out mighty fast...that "traditional" can be cool also!! Next time I see those guys I hope they will be rock'n out to Johnny Cash.

I run straight maxima tippet material...Stiff enough to turn over even @ 12ft of length @ any lbs strength. But then again I never run any leaders as turn over never seems to be a problem for me anyway...Or I'm just to cheap to buy leaders..some may disagree.

Good work guys...Not bad work for first time chrome chasers...Hooked and beached some steel make the trip worth while..As you learn when and where the mykiss hangs out the more you'll catch thats 90% of the battle. That lil black bear did ya see him @ trout? There is one lil guy that hangs out there a ton!!

Din, For sure if your roll casting your ferrules will come apart if not taped up...That is probley the problem as said before if the ferrules are not that tight then they are the weak part of the rod and subjected to a fair amount of stress when the rod is loading...I'v seen rods blow apart @ the ferrule when not taped with two-handed rods and think that is your problem....I'd tape'em up to save some huge head aches.

Is this question regarding steel or rainbows....If its steel the takes at the very end or the "dangle" are usually light and you usually lose them on that hook up as they short the hit....If its in the swing 90% of the time they turn on it from bank towards river..no question on that take as your line stops dead and your rod pretty much gets yanked out from your hand... this hook up is evident as your fly will be in the fish's righ side of its mouth... I don't have a strike loop as I like to be in full control of my drift all the way through the swing and set the hook with no slack at all..But again if its in the swing the fish pretty much sets the hook itself as its a violent take..you just hang on for the ride.

My take on fishing the big stick on the is to have 2 types of line systems...Same as I run on BC steel waters...I run a Skagit for tips. From type 6 all the way to my 24ft big boys as I would like to see anyone cast 90+ ft with 15-20 Ft of t-14 with a long belly line 12 hours a day... For my dry lines to type 3 I run a midspey. Now all that is on BC waters where it is practical to cast 100ft+ of line.. Now on the bow my take is anything above a short head in the 50-55ft range is pointless. The sweet spot on the M/S is with 12" if running line out from the top guide now that is 66 ft of line out alot of line to fish on the bow. A long belly with a head of 85ft again loads best with just the head hanging out the top guide thats 85ft again alot of line to fish the bow...My skagit set up that I run loads the rod up best with 15 ft of running line out the top guide add in 27 ft of head then 15 ft of tip thats 57 ft then the rest of the line I shoot...much bigger window to fish short and long range...Yes mid bellies to long bellies have there place with light tips and rivers such as the Thompson where you fish a fixed length of line and its either to cold to strip line or your too lazy, but on the bow I would get a skagit and go from there.

flyangler its picking up on the bulkley right now...Fresh fish are moving in... Hooked into 5 chromers today. Everything else up this way is out so pressure is pretty high on the bulkley but still lots off water to fish....don't run too much tip as the most I have run is a type 6...fish are pretty aggresive at heh moment..goodluck

Yep headed up that way for a couple of weeks.. Rain/showers in the forcast maybe good maybe bad depending on amounts. Most rivers are in rollercoaster mode out there right now with levels going up then down...then up and so on. Hopefully that will put a charge into the fish to stop being lazy and move on up.

Hey Silver Doctor did you manage to hit some fish on the Skeena??? Most of those shots look like the copper..execept for the moose crossing that looks like the Skeena. Reports from up on the Skeena drainage are pretty bleak so far... O well high water and my theory is the run is about a week late, due to the high water.

Toolman, I have cast the TFO DC 13 7/8 very nice casting rod.. compared with my MKS the tapers are very much the same with the progressive taper...big time snap in the lower part of the rod... The fit and finish as expected is not the same. I cast a 550 skagit which was a good match for that rod and a 7/8 MS that was also matched well. I did find the TFO a wee bit stiffer in the tip than the Meiz but that maybe just the half foot that is missing. Both rods would be good for pretty much all steel on the coast, a tad too much for most bow river fish but a few have loaded up my 7/8.. And for atlantics I have no idea but would guess you would have enough rod there also. Call Meiz and he'll hook ya up with some test rods..best way to see what works for ya.

Toolman, The BB's really don't load the rod up all that much more compared to when I throw the 5' cheater and the dry tip. As I am really only arializing the the head of the skagit and yes some of the tip however not the full grainage of the tip...Hope that makes sense...as I said the 550 has no trouble pulling the tip through the cast..the 450 has a little trouble pulling the 24' tip through the cast...100 grains makes a big difference....that said I can really accelerate on the "D" loop with that much grainage as an anchor. Yes the MKS is a very sweet casting rod..she can throw any lines from skagits to midspeys.. and she eats grains and begs for more with the reserve in the butt section. Meiz and Mike have hit it pretty good with this rod.. What 13'6 rod are you looking at??? And for what water?

Toolman, Yes the BB's that I am using are a full sink 24' 250 grain, 300 grain, and 500 grain tip. Try a snake roll with 500 grains, like lifting a piano out of the water. Perry poke works good, the double is the staple cast thu... I can tell you trying a circle/snap t or z is bloody dangerous.

The system I run on all my tips from intermediate all the way through to my t-14 is 2-4 feet max of maxima....the reason for this is mono floats and the tip sinks so if you run longer than that it kind of defeats the purpose of running tips....Turn over is never a problem as maxima is a pretty stiff mono.

550 skagit throws the 24' tips pretty much effortless...When I use the big boys on my 450 it labours a tad if I leave my anchor too far downstream...key is to land it the staple rod length down from you and your in business. My 550 is matched up with a MKS 13678 and the 450 is matched up to a MKS 12667

Knotlikely, Don't kill yourself trying to make the perfect "V" for GP's your going to use on the Kitty...You pave bottom there hard core and end up losing a few flies...Look up a half GP half the time to tie and a good looking prawn pattern..I run intruders out there and have some luck..orange and pink they really seem to key in on

Streamers where killer in the spring...fished deep on 24' big boys.... Summer switched over to a type 8 tip and ran with intruders...knocked fish down with that set up...Now is time to run the backswimmers on a type 6-8 tip keyed in on tailouts...and the fish are responding...Oct I go back to the streamers and hit em pretty good then. Thats all I got for swinging...