Grizz

It's not normal but it happens. I fished the Crow on several occasions and had very nice fish right at my feet. There's so many folks wading that water some of the fish have grown accustomed to people. I turned around one day and there was a couple of really nice rainbows using me to block the current...

I'll second Clive's post. I've been doing that/saving pouches for years and crushing it. I bought some over the counter Orvis desiccant a while back and I had an old empty bottle of the same Orvis brand. I can not for the life of me tell the difference as to which is the stuff I crushed, and which is the stuff I bought... Absolutely no difference. Seems every thing I buy has those little bags of "Not for Human Consumption" silica beads - I have a shoe box crammed full of them. I figure if they put all those in the casket with me I should be very well preserved and mummified within a few days of being buried...

Just blind the little bastards and let em go... more fun that way.

I'm looking for the fellow who went by the username "HiketoFish" from the FFA board before it died. Are you on this board now? Could you PM me if you see/get this? Thank You.

Uuuuuhhmmm.....screw nature in this case - huck em in the bush! I don't think used condoms, tampons, and turds were here before the fish? It's a sport-fishery now whether you agree or not - manage it that way and eliminate it's threats. Worry about the perch in the waters in pristine areas where we can keep things the way they are, I'm not going to sit in a sewer pipe and worry about the native species. That's like telling a hooker she should work on her conversational skills.

BB King. And surprisingly Mellissa Ethridge before everyone knew about her! Less than 1/4 of the seats were filled - and she said "Screw it, I'm gonna burn this place down - and she DID!"

It's just a very nice phenotype of the rainbow trout, genotype is likely the same as usual. Same reason ugly folks will on rare occasion have a good looking daughter despite the input. Atlantic was my first thought at it's appearance as well.

Lately, Corb Lund and the Hurtin Albertans!!! -Always Keep an Edge on Your Knife -Roughest Neck Around -Time to Switch To Whiskey. -Five Dollar Bill etc. Either that or my old standby - Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions.

Also, on occasion when you coat your fly with floatant sometimes the floatant is enough to make the entire hook float (point included). I usually coat the fly and then just wet two fingers with spit and rub off any floatant from the hook bend to the point. Depends on the size and gauge of your hook though. You can also, in the vise, take time to trim or thin the hackle immediately on the underside of the fly. I found this works well for caddis type patterns and it may just improve the silhouette from the underside view from the fish to resemble an actual insect instead of a big tuft of feathers. As well if you purchase your flies instead of tying them, remember that Americans tend to over-hackle their dry flies anyway (generally speaking) this causes a less-than-insect-like shape for the fish and can cause them to float in a rather bizzare manner sometimes.

...OK, well if exposing your junk will just get you in trouble how about a stained white pair of Fruit of the Looms that sag in the back?

Great IDEA!!!!! Just create a sticky post on fly fishing ethics and such. How to behave yourself, how to release fish with the least amount of harm, etc. Call it a "MUST READ" thread. Heck how about a page where before you can register, you have to read and check a code of conduct? Check box by each paragraph though otherwise you just tend to check and hit enter.... Sorry Dave, that's really too much damn work and a dumb suggestion to put on you. How bout just a sticky thread?

Seriously, I'm telling you guys.... Take your pants off and fish with your junk hanging out and no one will come near you! You'll have the run all to yourself!

I'm with Hawg on this one. Most of these studies whether you agree with it or not do not take into account the fact that a gentle release does little long term harm to the fish. They assume the same handling techniques, on studies I've seen, as bait induced mortality studies. Handling vs. hook removal are really two different things. Yes the bait caught fish has a higher mortality, however, it certainly wouldn't if you could surgically remove the bait hook from it's gullet in under 30 seconds would it? Even then, you're hook has penetrated nearer to the vitals than a fly usually does - big difference! Now I don't know about the rest of you guys on the board, but unless I have to, I rarely even touch the fish. Grab the hook, turn it upside down, use the weight of the fish and it's gone. Further, if I have to take them out I handle them very gently with a wet net around the fish, etc. etc. Do you think this handling of fish differs from 90% of the bait fishermen out there? Handling is half the mortality rate. Part of fly fishing is about proper release technique. Geez even beaching a large fish and twisting a fly out of it's lip does far less damage than prying out a bait hook from near or past it's gills. Size of hook as well, etc. This is rarely taken into account in mortality rates and estimates. Remember, in Alberta "Excellent Fishing" was rated by our govt. as the ability to catch fish at a rate of 1 fish (of any size) per hour! How do you think these mortality rates are being calculated and what assumptions are being made? Also, locally, this is an example of a govt. that is JUST starting to realize that dumping a gazillion fish into a pond to increase catch rate rather than a few that will grow to a decent size is just not as popular as they thought! 1% might even be a bit high for fly fishing. As was mentioned, in the gin-clear mountain waters, after fishing a pool, or lake for consecutive days and not seeing a bunch of white bellies lined up on the bottom of the water body - where are the dead fish? They either float up dead, or sink dead. Either way they are visible in many of the lakes I've fished day in day out. If these fish were dying in numbers, after a few hundred fish there should at least be a handful of fish you'd notice. Instead, a couple of dead fish seems to be a reason to post a thread on this board asking "what is going on here?" and we run around worrying about how many fish we've killed after a double digit day. I'm confident I do miniscule amounts of damage on the waters I fish, I'm confident that the majority of experienced folk on this board do the same. If you guys want to quit because you're afraid to sting a few more fish - fine by me I'll be right behind you landing the ones you leave! Now, super hot weather - different story altogether! I wouldn't step into the boxing ring with a guy who has asthma....why would I fish if there's a risk of heat stress? For that matter why would I be out fishing in near 40 degree heat anyway!

"When they pry the [rod] from my cold, dead hand...."

THAT might actually be my whole agenda!

Sooooo Lynn's fishing at Fish Creek Park is she? (...sorry Lynn couldn't resist with that new avatar of yours!)

Yes Botangles you are correct. I was honking that at the last wedding I was at as we drove the cars to the reception - no one noticed that I was aware of.

An ominous rippling wall of fur and muscle is all I ever remember - followed by a soft warm feeling in my gonch... It's almost as if they are doing the butterfly stroke across the ground - I laugh at the folks who think they're gonna "quick draw" their bear spray, aim, and fire... Most of the time...most of the time - they veer off just like Pipe's experience. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A fellow from Texas once phoned a hunting guide up in B.C. and asked about hunting grizzlies with a handgun. The guide said anything is possible - but he suggested that the fellow might be better off if he carefully filed down the barrel sight on his .44 before he came up hunting. The Texan said "Sure - if it helps!" then thought about it and asked "But why does it help?" The guide replied calmly "That way when the bear takes your pistol away and shoves it up your ass - it won't hurt as much."

Leave the dog at home and take an extra pair of gonch!! What's going through the bear's mind today "I think I'll hang out on the north end tonight after that freaking human scared me last night..." Been there Pipe - had to reach around behind me to ensure there wasn't any odd lumps in the back of my pants! shite washes off and we're both still kicking though! PS - loose the bells as bears are curious creatures and bells are likely to attract younger ones to some degree trying to figure out that tinkling sound they keep hearing. If you're really freaked, buy an air horn and let it off once and a while. It's not perfect but it's shown itself to be better than bells.

That's too bad. However, in defense of agriculture, that's the price we pay for food. To suggest as it is by the woman in the latter part of the article that we ban pesticides, is nothing short of ridiculous. After we do that we can expect to pay MUCH higher prices for our food which people will in turn complain about. PEI is a particular region in Canada that is more susceptible to this sort of thing as well, sadly. It's pesticides that allow for higher yielding crops that meet standards of McCain's and Lamb Weston, etc. these higher yields result in french fries that don't cost you 10 bucks a handful (as well as other foods too). When it comes down to it, who is vocal about this stuff? Folks that CAN afford to shop for organic foods and don't frequent fast food places. In GENERAL, lower socio-economic classes of folks feel the need to do fast food and pay less than a jillion dollars for their produce (or eggs, or meat, etc.). How do we provide this to the public? Supply and demand maybe? We need high yields of quality food (including visually) to do that. Canada's agriculture industry has always been quantity based rather than quality based. Therefore it is essential that a producer of food use pesticides & herbicides to remain afloat as a business - PERIOD! Don't like that? Then do some research and come up with a better solution. Too many urbanites shooting their mouths off with what they think are simple solutions to a complex problem. Buffer zones have some science to support their use, but it still remains basically an intuitive response to the problem (makes sense doesn't it?). The problem with legislating a buffer size is like trying to legislate how fast a river will flow. Some buffer zones need to be much much larger than 10m, while others can be as little as a few feet. It is dependant upon the topography and water body. PEI is so very proud of it's agricultural industry/lifestyle, but the trade off is that it has had to keep up to market forces over the last 50+years to remain viable. The trade off to this is fish kills, cancer rates, etc. The larger problem is that WE ALL HAVE TO EAT! If you eat, YOU are a part of the problem with respect to agriculture's impact on the environment. Every time you buy fries, a burger, or a can of peas - REMEMBER! YOU yes you are contributing to that foot print on the environment and one day there will be fish kills in Alberta, Sask. and everywhere else because we don't want to spend 50% of our salary on our food budget, just like we don't want to pay money for water to our homes. As a fisherman, I see that as sad that the fish kills occur in PEI and other places. As a human being who needs to eat, sleep, shite, breathe, etc. I see it as a sad result of our impact on the world. Trust me! People are working their collective butts off trying to find ways to reduce these impacts, but it's not an easy science when you can't eliminate pesticides and remain grounded in the real world. Personally I'd love to F-off to some commune in the Kootenays and grow organic foods, sit around meditating all day, and walk through the forest, but if we all did that the impacts to the world would just be different than the ones we face now. Reality bites! How's that for a real tangent folks?

Great Idea!! Just a cheap little mustache trimmer would work!

Unless I'm mistaken I've seen that on TV years ago. I believe it was staged as well. Nice cut to the little baby... Disney wildlife series maybe?

Trimming your deer hair once spun with: Scissors (as mentioned) razor blade Lighter (burning the hair down to where you want it and blowing it out) - careful! Plucking to get a more fuzzy kind of appearance as on some mouse patterns where you don't want that nicely trimmed looked. You can, once trimmed to your satisfaction, also coat the final deer hair with something like Flexcement to add even more stiffness to it. Experiment with what you might coat it with. Be careful though, I tried two different things once (once of them was crazy glue) and for some bizzare reason there was some kind of reaction and the fly started to smoke! Weird indeed! Also, of course different coloured deer hair too to get various combinations of colours. Once you get good, instead of letting the double loops pull/spin the hair all the way around the shank, you can hold it til it flares on the top and on the bottom of the shank allowing for two different colours, one colour on top and another on the bottom. This is great for having a lighter colour hair/fur underneath for frogs/mice/etc. Also, a needle type glue dispenser can work by stabbing the needle into the spun deer hair down to the shank and squeezing off a drop or two to secure the wraps to the shank of the hook. Makes your fly more durable over time. Cheers!

Cat leeching for smallies....never would have guessed! Worked well did it?

Just sent you a PM - seems to have worked this time. Cheers!