rusty

That's a sweet tie SD - can you give us an idea of the steps? Are you prefabbing the bodies? Is there mono inside? I'm Kootenay bound next week and would love to have some of these in the box.

Can someone recommend a shop to get a hitch installed and wired for a '99 Pathfinder? What's something like that set a guy back?

Fred, I've floated the Bow at levels well above what they're at now in my PAC900. If you decide to do it, you need to be careful - things can come up on you a lot faster and you have less time to react. Watch your feet in the water and just keep your head up. The best way to face any obstacle is pointed straight at it with your feet on the pegs. I wouldn't float it if it was your first time, but if you're comfortable with your boat and familiar with the stretch you're fishing you shouldn't have any problems. I would go with a buddy to be safe. Always wear a lifejacket.

PLEASE everyone stop posting pictures of the Opti Speedrunner/Megaloop/etc. If you keep it up I will have to buy one soon.

4 grayling over 50cm? Something tells me those were probably all from the same card. Thanks for the info Jim. Very cool.

Let's hope that we're motivated by more than "tit-for-tat" and "what they did to us" when we decide how to manage our fishery. I fully support the EK regs and I know of plenty of other folks who do too. Maybe instead of bitching and moaning about BC, we should be looking at how they can produce so many fisheries that put ours to shame. Neil, there will people who would find a way to attend if these meetings were held on the moon. However, many of us are not able to make that kind of commitment. Why not hold every other meeting here? Are you guys actively trying to get people to attend (not just in Calgary, but in Edmonton too)? Are you posting at fly/tackle shops (again, asking about province wide here)? How are the people who are showing up finding out about it? I'm asking honestly, because I know that Calgary's fishing community is loaded with people who have passion and time on their hands. Looks like there are some really relevant issues being discussed in the notes, but every time I hear you guys bring up Calgary it's just fingerpointing about our lack of involvement. When you combine that with the fact that every single meeting is scheduled in Edmonton, what message does that send?

It's not a black and white type of deal. I'm sure that Jeff realized that throwing the book at the guy would have spelled the last fishing trip for the youngster. He didn't let the guy off scot free either. I'm not advocating for letting people off with a slap on the wrist, but maybe Jeff's looking at the big picture. What really pissed me off was when the CO was out a few years ago on the Bow and he'd handed out hundreds of barbed hook warnings - many of them to guides and outfitters. When people who are making a living off of the public resource don't follow the rules, there should be much more stringent enforcement. Keep up the great work...hopefully next year the economy will be in better shape and we can support the cause more.

If you want involvement from Calgary in the roundtable, start by holding a meeting here. Hard for us to feel "bought in" when despite the fact that we have well over a million people and the most heavily pressured water in the province, the meetings are all held in Edmonton (or Red Deer, if I recall correctly). I really appreciate the hard work that a lot of folks are putting in, and I take every opportunity to support their efforts with my words or my dollars whenever I can. Taking potshots at us because we don't drive six hours return to attend meetings that aren't advertised at the shops, etc around here isn't helping much.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know the history of the regs on the Bow and who pushed to have them changed in the early '80s?

Yeah...uh...NO. Sages are made, rolled, finished, etc, etc, right on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. They aren't slapped together in some third world factory with pennies-per-hour labor, loaded by the metric ton into shipping containers, and sent across the ocean. Check it out for yourself.

How deep were you getting the lakers? Beautiful fish.

I've fished pike for a really long time, though mostly through the ice. For large pike (anything over say 8 pounds), Clive's method is the only way to fly. The key is to not get your fingers in there too far - hit the rakers and you'll bleed like a stuck pig. There's a perfect sweet spot right at the front of the jaw there that works like a charm. Be careful with gloves, as they can get caught up in there really easily and you'll have a hell of a time getting them out. I usually grab snot rockets or hammerhandles by the back of the head near where the gill plate stops. You can apply decent pressure there and they can't do much to get away. The inside gill plate area on those little bastards is just full of sharp stuff. You combine that with the fact that they like to thrash so much and you've got a recipe for slice and dice if your fingers get in there. Most of the pike you'll catch on flies are easily handled this way. Best tool for pike fishing is a pair of needlenose at least 12" long. A cradle like that is perfect for pike and big bullies too.

Badger, McGregor, Crawling Valley, Keho, Travers, Newell...and the list goes on. No shortage of good pike spots here.

Jeez Rob, where was that picture taken?? You're getting them on top?

Clive, What software are you using for panoramic stitching? Incredible photos...as usual.

$200 on #21 (sorry Tim!)

Wow jack...if those two represent the best of the best, that's REALLY saying something about Alberta!! Good news. Will be nice to see some new gear.

Sweet - another reason to go for Sushi Ginza at lunchtime!

Harps, A buddy and I have taken a bit of interest in the age of pike with all of the rhetoric floating around about killing large females. We fish Badger and Newell and Keho quite a bit and have kept and dried a few cleithrums (I'm assuming that's the bone directly in front of the pectoral fin, shaped like an L). Most of the bones have a wide variety of bands with a few very dense markings. Do you just count these dense bands, or are you counting every single mark? We have a cleithrum from a 43" pike that looks to be between 8 and 10 years old. That's quite a bit less than most info I found on the internet - is it realistic? The cleithrum from a 37" fish counted 7 as far as I could tell. How old do you figure your standard mid February southern Alberta 20 pound gator would be? If I had that 60mm f2.8 Nikon Macro I wanted I'd post some pics. And, before anyone gets excited about smacking the occasional big pike on the head, please direct your passion and enthusiasm to the folks who make the regulations.

The Norlander bobbin is a complete piece of crap compared to the Ekich. I own both and haven't touched the Norlander since the Ekich showed up. Faruk is an absolute wealth of information on thread too - when I called him to place my order we chatted about thread for over an hour. The spooling thing is not the end of the world, but it's still a pain in the butt when your spool runs out in the middle of a fly. However, as Faruk pointed out when I talked to him, there's no way that you can respool the thread with the same constant tension that the manufacturer uses. Plus, the biggest pain with the Norlander is that you have to wrap the thread around the frame to balance the weight of the bobbin. The Ekich is balanced perfectly and the spring tension is a lot better. I use a few dozen different thread spools and some of them only on occasion. The Ekich is the perfect bobbin for a recreational tier as far as I'm concerned. The only slight drawback is that the Ekich occasionally needs to be reset by pulling the thread spool free of the drive pin. It takes less than half a second and is really easy to get used to.

Cassette tape works pretty good - video tape's not bad either but is a little too wide.

Two wins in a row against San Jose - including handing them their first home regulation loss. The boys looked amazing last night. If they can bring that to the playoffs maybe we won't be golfing after the first round again!

Two guys are sitting at opposite ends of a bar. The first one says to the other, "Hey, where ya from?" The other guy replies, "I'm from Ireland." "Get out. I'm from Ireland too! Which part?" "Dublin." "No...I'm from Dublin! Which street?" "Green Street." "Come on now...I'm from Green Street! What number?" "215 Green." "Well I'll be fooked. I'm from 215 Green too! Let's get out of this bar and go for a nice drink somewhere else." As they walk out, they pass the owner of the bar coming in. The owner says to the bartender, "How's business tonight?" The bartender replies, "Pretty slow. Just the drunk O'Brien twins again."

Awesome win, despite absolutely horrific reffing and some of the worst sportsmanship I've ever seen by the Swedes. Can't wait to watch these guys in the NHL, especially Subban and Tavares.

I've seen Bear Grylls do the following: -chase lions away to eat raw zebra flesh off a carcass -eat rhino beetle larvae the size of your middle finger -squeeze water out of fresh crap to drink -drink water out of the muck underneath roots I definitely wouldn't use his actions as a benchmark for what constitutes a good idea. That guy is completely nuts.