TerryH

Renew my license? Bwwaaaaaaha, I'm a geezer now, and I don't have to. I'll donate the $28 (plus a few more bucks) to Streamwatch, where it'll do more good, rather than dropping it in that big black hole called "general revenue." Terry PS for those of you who are renewing, note that if you buy your license in a store, you won't be able to print copies online. It's a dumb system, but that's the way it was last year.

Hey Don, I'm still looking . Terry

Banned for quoting a commie pinko liberal?? No way. If I'm going out, it'll be with a quote from Glen Beck.

Here are some words from the mouth of Noam Chomsky, one of the world's greatest pinko lefties -- even so, I couldn't have said it better myself. "If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don't like. Stalin and Hitler, for example, were dictators in favor of freedom of speech for views they liked only. If you're in favor of freedom of speech, that means you're in favor of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise."

Guess that's why we have BC next door.

It sort of happened to me many years ago. I was out fishing on Maligne Lake with my wife and two sons, the youngest being about 4 or 5 at the time (he's 35 now). The two little guys were sitting in the back seat of the boat, mom in the front, and of course dad manned the oars. The youngest son was using one of my fly rods as we trolled around the lake. He was letting the line out and as I'm rowing along I hear "Daaaaad." I looked up to see my full sink line all laid out in a straight line, headed for the bottom. To this day, I don't know how the nail knot came undone, but I guess it was better it happened this way, rather than with a fish on the end. Moral of the story -- check all those knots.

Score one for the "good side." It's disturbing though to see some of the comments following the CBC article. The loopy "logic" that some people use makes my head explode. It goes like this: there's a dam on the river -- the dam obvioulsy is bad and has caused environmental damage, therefore it's ok to drive your truck through the river -- oh, and it's only fish that are being bothered, so who cares?

I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately universities aren't what they used to be -- i.e. places where free discussion and debate could and did happen. Now there are groups -- mostly left leaning I should add -- who want to shout down and prevent any presentation they disagree with. The University of Ottawa has disgraced itself from the top down. Ann Coulter is a bit over the top for me (I'm a righty too), but good god, let her speak. We have a criminal code to deal with real hate speech, and we don't need some Provost sending her threatening letters. I hope the University of Calgary can do better tomorrow, although given how their Administration dealt with Right-to-Life groups a few years ago, I'm not optimistic.

Phil, get hooked up with the TUC/Northern Lights Fly Tyers & Fishers in Edmonton. http://forum.nlft.org/index.php? http://www.nlft.org/ They meet weekly outside of the summer months, and are a great bunch of folks. They'll clue you in to local fishing opportunities as well as province wide stuff. Terry

I had a similar problem with an IR3. The pawl had worn a groove in the ratchet wheel after about 3 seasons. I sent it to Islander and they were great. They not only replaced the ratchet wheel, but the pawls and spring. The reel came back looking like new. All it cost me was about $15 to ship it to Victoria. Islander all the way. Terry

Ok, now that we've had a bit of video game fun, let's get going on the real issue. Should there be a hunting season for grizzlies? As much as I would dislike meeting up with one while out fishing, my position is no. I know it is hypocritical of me, given my harassment of fish, but I can't get my head around the concept of hunting animals as trophies rather than for food. Terry

http://www.nomoregrizzlies.com/

Here's a breeder to consider http://www.clubmead.com/labrador_retriever_breeder.htm I can't comment on their breeding program, but we left our dog at their kennel facilities quite a few times when we lived in Edmonton, and they were top notch. Terry

I'm really sorry to hear that Gary. Take care, Terry.

Does anyone know details about the life cycle for black winter stones? For example, do the nymphs climb out of the water prior to emerging? What time of day does this happen? Where do the adults mate and how does the ovipositing happen? I've not seen fish taking adults -- am I missing something? Terry

Thanks everyone for the Bday wishes. I didn't get out on the Crow -- went up to Calgree to "party" with the kids and grandkids -- and of course watch the hockey game on Sunday. But the Crow is looking pretty darn good right now, and with this weather, a guy just has to get out this week. Terry

Re the IOC criticizing women's hockey because it's "uncompetitive." I think the real problem for the IOC, is that the Europeans aren't competitive. Those of us old enough to remember the alpine and nordic skiing events back in the 60's, 50's and earlier (count me out on remembering earlier than the 50's) will recall that it was all European skiers gathering up the medals. I don't remember the IOC being too concerned about that. And as for the Canadian women smokin and drinkin, good on 'em, they deserved to celebrate. I thought the pictures of their "party" were a hoot, and the IOC can stuff it. Terry

The Flathead decision is good news. However, the Line Creek Mine in the Elk Valley will be expanding -- Line Creek mine plans expansion. It's a good thing as far as employment in the area is concerned, but probably not so good for the environment.

Cloudveil sells a pair too -- see them here. Not sure where you can get them in Calgary. Terry

We custom ordered a 26.4 foot Jayco trailer way back in 1989. It's 21 years old now, and we're still using it. We've looked at newer models over the years, but never saw anything that we liked better. At the time we bought it, Jayco was a cut above most other makes as far as quality is concerned. They've been in business for a long time, so I would assume the quality is still there. We've had the usual things to deal with that I would call normal maintenance. But overall, it was a great purchase and I have nothing but good things to say about Jayco. Terry

Ok, enough with the hawg pics -- I'm feeling totally inadequate.

I vote "gimmick."

Don, I've been storing the transducer/magnet setup in the same saddle bag as I store the sonar head. They've been sitting side by side for quite a few years now, and there's been no sign of any problem. I'm not sure why there would be -- a magnetic field shouldn't bother silicon. Terry

Don, I'd give up on the Fishing Buddy, and get a low end unit like the one in my picture. I keep mine in the saddle bag between trips, and it takes me about a minute to hook it up to the gel cell and mount the transducer. I attach the transducer to the bottom of the pontoon seat, using a rare earth magnet. Keith - I've had the Cuda 168 for about 5 years, and it works great as a pontoon or float tube sonar. I've got a jazzier (i.e. more pixels, more power) version (Eagle Fishmark 480) for my fishing boat, but you can't beat the small low end Eagles. Most sonars also do surface temperature, since the thermocouple is in the transducer. The depth capability depends on the power -- in the case of the Cuda 168, it's supposed to be good to 600'. Can't say that I've tried it out at that depth. Terry

Lowrance and Eagle are the same company. Their product lines are very similar, just different names, and I think Eagle are a little less money. I use mine mostly for the bottom, but who knows, every now and then you might see some fish. Terry