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Not to get back on topic, but I thought I'd give my thoughts on St Croix rods: I LIKE 'EM, I LIKE 'EM! I've been fishing a 6wt Legend Ultra since it first came out, and only had to replace it with a Sage VT2 earlier this year after an unfortunate incident on the upper Bow. To tell you the truth, when it comes back from Warranty, I probably use it first and the VT2 as a back up My two cents anyway.... CS.

I have to agree with TM, the skid bitch is my favorite golden stone pattern. CS.

Nice Shots Taco. I must agree with theflygirl - the pics are one of my favorite parts of the forum. Thanks for sharing. CS.

My fav dry fly for the Grayling up north is still the Black Gnat. Caught my first one on the Yukon River, and my last one on the House River with the pattern. Good to see that the older patterns still pull 'em in. I also concur with the H&L Variant. CS.

I bought a VT2 a couple of weeks ago (to replace my St. Croix Legend Ultra) and I love it! There is a specific reason for that. I have tendinitis, and found that I can fish all day with the Medium-Fast action of the Legend Ultra rod - and still not blow out my elbow. When I started testing out replacement rods, I found a lot of them were way too fast for my liking. I found the Medium action of the VT2, easy on the elbow - yet still had the backbone to easily pickup conehead streamers on 15' fast sinking salmon leaders. That, and the price point - was enough for me. As an aside, Dave Blair convinced me to go with the fighting butt on the 6wt. I haven't looked back since I caught my first decent Bully with it I hope this helps. CS.

Hey all. I've seen several posts over the past few months (and talked with members) about Fly Rods breaking. For all appearances it looks like the trend is swinging upward. So I decided to ask the forum to share how they are breaking their rods. Three weeks ago I busted my 6wt St. Croix Legend Ultra on the upper Bow. There are better rods out there, but this one has a lot of sentimental value to me. I lost my footing scurrying up a bank and fell back into the river. To be truthful, at first - I was more concerned about my DSLR that followed me into the water. I didn't notice that the rod was broken until Boomer and I were walking back to the van. Now that I think about it, I haven't been doing too bad. That was the first rod that I've broken in 20 years! So, time to fess up. What's everyone else's sad story? Tight Lines! CS.

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing. CS.

Hey Neil. Good on you! Had a call from my buddy Karl on Saturday, asking about North Sask. conditions, as he was not happy about his last two trips to the Atha-B. I was quite suprised at his lack of luck - as he's fished the river for 15+ years, and he's somewhat of a predator. I'll have to call him tonight and let him know he's just not doing it right Cheers! CS.

Great flies! You have more dedication than I do. I was once in an intermediate tying session hosted by Dan Cotrell. While checking on our progress, He informed me that my stonefly imitation wouldn't be as effective as it could be, if I didn't dub the legs all the way down to the second knuckle. I quietly finished my fly, and never tied another one again. If that was what it was going to take to effectively catch fish on a fly - this cowboy was going to fail miserably. Fortunately my impressionistic school of thinking has worked for 30 years CS.

Great Pics Clive! What lens were you using for these? Thanks. Frank.

My PC's been down for most of the week - and what's the first thing I see whan I log back on - this news of Jim! Holy crap batman I know I haven't talked to you for a while guy - but Get Well Soon! Best regards, Frank.

Kewl shot! Maybe a flock of them should relocate to Hasse Lake with all the illegally introduced stickleback's there Regards, Frank.

Okay guys - time to sharpen your quills and contact you MP - yet again. Or if you want, putting cursor to screen will work as well As we all know, Bill C-45 was shelved last year on the premise that more public input would be sought. Guess what? The Bill that supersedes it - Bill C-32 is up for second reading next week. What's that you say - where was the public involvement? That's exactly what I'm trying to find out. Was anyone on this forum involved in any related meetings? I have asked my MP for feedback in this matter, but since he hadn't provided anything since committing to keeping me informed last February - I'm not holding my breath. And since I am not the expert on the subject - please check out this link from my colleague Bill Otway at the Sportfishing Defence Alliance. His letter does a much better job at summing things up: http://www.defendsportfishing.com/ I know it was an uphill battle trying to get anyone interested in this issue last year. Maybe things have changed. Who's prepared to let their MP know what they think? Tight Lines! Frank.

GO OILERS GO! Oh yea, right - my team didn't make it this year Okay then - go flames go. Sigh ;(

Geez, I fell for that one hook, line, and sinker Oh be still my beating heart. Good one. Frank.

Thanks for the post Paul. Mine is filled and sent out. It's funny that I hadn't received an Email about this. I had previously subscribed to the SARA mail list, and hadn't seen boo - until you sent this out. I also noticed that Bulls aren't scheduled to be reviewed until the Fall of 2009! It amazes me that they weren't looked at first - considering their status throughout North America. I asked a few members of COSEWIC previously, but never received a good answer of why Cutties came first. Not that I'm complaining about the importance pure-strain Westslope Cutthroats in Alberta. It's just that Bullies would certainly have been an easy one for COSEWIC to review. And of course that also might have accelerated our own population assessments and re-write of the (out-dated) Management Plan. But then I get ahead of myself Regards, Frank.

Hey Harps. Thanks for the information. I must admit, I have neglected to follow up with C-45, since my MP informed me that it was being axed and they were starting all over again. He assured me that there would be more public involvement in the new (C-32) bill - but until I saw this post - I hadn't heard squat. More surprising, is that I usually see something come through on our OWC list serve. Other than a far reaching B.C. land claim settlement, and some writing related stuff - it's been pretty quiet. Looks like it's time to sharpen the quill and ask what happened to the Public feedback. Then again, maybe I've just been out of the loop. Has anyone else on the forum - associated with TU, ACA, F&G, etc. - been involved? It will be interesting to find out? Regards, Frank.

LS. That's a quote from a Fisheries Biologist that's driving the Arctic Grayling study on the Little Smoky River - not my own opinion. Based on the population asessments carried out this past summer, the river is nowhere near capacity. To me, the dieing of old age is plausible - but even then their genetics would have been passed on - and they would have been replaced by other big fish. There is something wrong when all of the big Grayling are missing from the system. On a brighter note, I talked to a guy that caught a 6.7 kg Bull on the LSR in October. That is the first decent size Bull I've heard of on that river in a long time. Now if only F&W would kick off a study on them - as Grayling are the focus of the current study Later, eh! Frank.

I hear you SD. It is ironic that catch and release regulations have been in place on the upper section of the LSR since 1989, but the biggest fish I have caught came from the middle section - and prior to the extension of the catch an release regs in '96. In spite of the additional protection, the bigger fish are gone. According to F&W, the only way that this class of fish could have been removed is by Angling effort. As to LS, you obviously haven't seen me with my hat off. I will admit however, thet the sucker has fewer whiskers

Oh I've caught my share (some would say more than my share) of little garyling as well, but its been a long time since I caught a hog on that river. Now if you want to talk about the suckers I kept snagging with streamers on my last trip - that's anothe matter all together - and one that I'm only admitting to now ;( See if you can spot the differnces between the angler and fish. Thanks to my buddy Ron for this flattering shot Frank.

Hey all. I'm currently writing a story about the Little Smoky River, and am looking for feedback from the FFC forum members. A study carried out by the ACA this year showed that the biggest Grayling sampled had a total length of 445mm. F&W Catch rate data dating back to 1987 shows grayling up to 491mm being sampled. My own personal logs show that he last time I caught a Grayling in the class of the latter fish was in 1995. It had a length of 483mm. That was not the only one of that size I have caught from that river - but it is the last time I caught one that big. My question is this. Does anyone have any records of Grayling over 445mm being caught on the Little Smoky River in the past 10 years? Thanks, eh! Frank.

Sad news. The Dunk was the river I first cut my flyfishing teeth on. Thanks for the post Toolamn. Regards, Frank.

Holy crap batman! Awesome photos. Seeing these precludes me from adding any of my own - as they'd look pretty pathetic. Thanks for posting. ~Scribe

TY - I rather like it. Everytime I look at it, I'm reminded of what it's all about. Of course it also reminds me tat we're both on the edge of needing bifocals to see our tippet knots, and it's easier to tie sitting down

I thought I'd better add one as well. A picture of my Air Force buddy on upper K lake last June. Tight Lines! Frank.