DrBullet

The only whip finishers I have are made out of coat-hanger wire....won't surprise some who know what a cheap-skate I am! It means you can customize them to your needs though...seem to work for me. I'll post a piccy sometime (ugly but effective!)

Thanks for getting us back on topic! Amazing how even the most innocent comment can precipitate controversy! Passionate bunch, flyfishermem! I hope I will not be blamed for any plumbing malfunctions resulting from misapproriation of tying materials! ;o)

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah...I need to get some biots (and a bunch of other tying materials!). The orange feathers that I used on a couple of these were "borrowed" from my 3 year old son's "craft box"! My tying is fairly "improvisational"...OK Uber, I confess...I'm cheap! I also need to get some lead foil coz I only have fairly thick guage lead wire. However, I steer clear of lead a little coz I've heard horror stories of people being fined just for having leaded flies in their fly box when they're in the National Parks...even if they're not using them.

...at least that's what I call it! This fly came about because I didn't have any bead heads and wanted to add some weight to some small nymph patterns. Although I didn't have any beads...I did have a short section of sink-plug chain! I tied up one and caught a fish on it during the warm spell in mid -January. Unfortunately I lost the fly by virtue of an overly ambitious back-cast. However, since it has been effective, I tied a few more. Interested to hear what you think...

Wow...you guys can sure talk fly fishing! I jut figured that a 5/6 wt could handle either a 5 or 6 wt line but maybe less line out of the 6 wt and you'd get more out of it if you were putting out more 5wt line. Seems to me I've used an 8wt line on a supposed 6wt (and vice versa) and it fired out just fine....I'm obviously a fly fishing Philistine! Probably why I catch sod all too... Can anyone really tell the difference between half a rating??!!

...probably my most amusing fishing story ever. Fishing with a frenchman in the dark (with no light at all). He was a complete novice and exclaimed that he had "caught something but I don't know what it is"...in hindsight, he knew what it was just not the word for it in English. Suffice to say, it wouldn't (willingly) go back in the water...cue slapping the "fish" back into the water. OK...I'm realising that I am never going to be able to convey the confusion of pitch darkness, a thick French accent and the utter comedy of the moment via the medium of a forum report...so you'll just have to believe me that it was enough to keep me chuckling for MONTHS after! Thanks for reminding me! Putain!

I've done some web-based research on cheap-ish vises and this one seemed to be highly rated: Danvise by Danica Anyone on this forum have it, tried it or heard any reports? Thanks, Nigel

Lake Loomis is fantastic but following the trail up, you're mainly in the forest with not much of a view of the surrounding scenery. I guess that would have been less of an issue if I'd had more time to enjoy the scenery once I'd broken out of the forest.

...that's a hell of a hike!

OK, I’m going to embarrass myself for your amusement. Firstly, it is important to remember I come from a land which does not contain the various “fatal-beasties” that roam the Canadian Rockies. Being surprised by a rising grouse is about as dangerous as the local fauna gets. Anyway, September 2007, four months after arriving in Calgary and having had little (NO!) luck on the Bow (North West), I thought I should pick a lake from the map book and set out to catch a fish. Lake Loomis seemed to be well recommended and in the map book, it stated “13km round-trip”; “6.5km each way”, I reasoned. My wife and child were away so I woke up late, it took me longer to get my sh!t together than it should have and I then drove to the trailhead over the other side of Highwood pass. The first suggested entry to the trailhead was indistinguishable from uniform scrub so onto the next entry marked on the map. By this time it was ~1.30pm…OK…maybe getting on for 2pm! I decided that I would ride my bike as far as possible and then hike. The trail is an old forestry access road but the latter stages cannot have been used for at least 10 years, judging by the tree growth. The first hurdle was crossing the Highwood river. There was not exceptional flow but I attempted to cross by walking across a fairly narrow log, carrying my bike and with my dog on a lead (trying to be oh-so law abiding!). Needless to say, my dog drifted with the current, got caught in my bike and we all had a bit of a rinse. Not a good start. On the plus note, I did see two very large trout in the pool just below the log crossing…in hindsight I should have just fished there! Onwards and upwards. Dog survived. I dried. Bike was blissfully unaware. The first part of the trail is very rideable. I made steady progress up the trail, not being too frantic because, after all, “it’s only 6.5km to the lake”, I thought. After about 8km of riding and looking around, I could not see how my current surroundings fitted with the context of the lake as depicted on the map. I began to doubt whether I was, in fact, in the right valley at all. I was wearing a wrist-mounted GPS and my map had co-ordinates…but the scale was pretty large and I began to doubt its accuracy. Pushing on, the trail degenerated. I was spending more and more time pushing my bike and lifting it over fallen trees. I hadn’t seen a sole all afternoon and there was certainly no sign of the lake or any terrain that might be hiding a lake. I eventually ditched my bike near the edge of the forest and set off at a lively pace. It was getting late so my thinking was that if I could gain some altitude, I would be able to look down on the lake and know where it was…for the next time; it was now 6.20pm. I scrambled up a scree slope and kept looking down the valley to try and spot the lake…nothing. I eventually climbed to the top of the scree slope and looked down in bemusement; I must be in the wrong place. ~13km from the trailhead, no sign of the lake…damn those map publishers. Then I looked behind me…Lake Loomis! Teaming with slashing, jumping, rising fish! I looked at the time and the amount of light in the sky…and the voraciously feeding fish…and (foolishly) decided it was worth a cast! I quickly assembled my 6 piece travel rod, rigged up and started casting. Within 3-4 casts I had a fish on…every cast had resulted in a take of some kind. Unfortunately the sight of silver torpedoes homing in on my fly from the depths of the crystal clear glacial water, combined with my time-related anxieties, meant I was premature on my early strikes. One nice fish to hand…”one more and then I’ve gotta go”, I thought. Unfortunately, my increasing anxiety regarding the time meant I was even less patient with each successive strike. Eventually, though not much later, I thought “I really need to get off this hill”! I packed up my rod and set off for my bike down in the forest. Although the sun had gone behind the mountain, there was still a lot of light in the sky. I scrambled back down the scree slope making maximum use of my hiking poles, got back to my bike…and suddenly it was as if someone turned out the lights! I could still see some contrast so, figuring that I would be quicker on my bike, I set off down the very tenuous “track”. As I said at the start of this message, I am no expert on Albertan wildlife. However, I was pretty sure that I was passing through range of large predators, unlikely to see them before they saw me and therefore, quite likely to surprise both of us should we happen to meet. I did have a head torch but reasoned that I would rather have the breadth of vision afforded without it rather than the tunnel vision caused by its use. I continued down the trail, eyes straining open to capture any available light but dealing with ever diminishing contrast. Eventually, on my third collision with the unseen conifers which grew randomly in the middle of the trail, I decided that, tunnel vision or not, the head torch was required to get me home in one piece. The advice I had heard regarding “travel in bear country” recommended singing and generally making noise. However, when using maximum exertion to propel oneself out of a potentially dangerous situation, there is little aerobic capacity remaining for song! I turned to modern technology, put my mobile phone MP3 player on full volume on the external speaker mode and hoped that that would provide some warning to the bears that a hapless meal was coming their way! Although I was obviously concerned, I was really too busy concentrating on staying upright, ensuring my dog was safe (and immediately behind me) and generally focused on the task of making as much progress down the trail as possible…to really dwell on the potential dangers or outcomes. As the trail surface became more predictable and my speed increased, I became more aware of sounds around me. Every crack of a twig in the adjacent forest echoed like a gunshot…”just deer”, I told myself. Eventually I reached the log crossing near the trailhead…and waded straight through the river. I got back to the van at 10-10.30pm. Despite the glorious weather during the day, it was an absolutely pitch black night…no stars, no moon; utter darkness. So, if anyone has been dedicated enough to read this far (sorry if I’ve bored you!)…that was my introduction to back-country fishing in Canada. In answer to the original question, ~25km is eminently do-able in a day…with an early start, a companion, a decent map, and a modicum of restraint! I’m sure many of you have read this and thought ”this is just the type of bear-fodder muppet that gives Canada a bad name”. Yes, guilty as charged. In mitigation, in Scottish mountains, if the evening hatch was particularly productive and the weather agreeable, I would simple grab a couple of hours sleep beside a rock and start fishing again as the sun crept towards the horizon, comfortable in the knowledge that a fox, deer or hare would be the largest mammals I might encounter. It really didn’t matter what time I arrived, left or travelled to any loch. Suffice to say, I think I made almost every possible mistake on my first fishing sortie into the Canadian Rockies and the lessons have been well learned! By the way, Lake Loomis is a great spot!

Where is that you were fishing? I'm figuring it's not a "secret spot" because for someone that knows the area I don't!) the terrain would give it away. Looks nice!

By the magic of photoshop (stretching the smaller fish and rotating so parallel... Over colour the dots on the one above, copy and paste onto the fish below....exactomondo! Ok, the last two dots on the tail miss their dots slightly...but that's just the angle being held; if this fish had committed a crime...it'd be doin' time! It must hate YOU by now, though!

Thanks for the advice guys. Nigel

Hi All, I don't suppose anyone has upgraded or has a second (redundant) vise that they would be interested in selling (ideally a C-clamp variety)? I have an embarrassingly cr@p vise which now barely holds a hook...and is driving me mad! I am not an expert, by any stretch of the imagination but my current attempts are being hindered by an uncooperative device! I'm on a budget and not particularly skilled so it's probably not worth suggesting anything "high end"...a basic, sturdy and functional model would be ideal (I'm also not likely to tie anything smaller than a #18). Alternatively, if anyone can suggest a decent entry-level vise to buy, that'd be great too. Cheers, Nigel

Ah...I have a great story about a comical French guy catching a BAT! Unfortunately we were all spread out fishing around a lake in France in total darkness. I was on crutches with a cast on my leg, none of us had a torch (flashlight) and Olivier (the comical French guy, CFG) had never fished before. The guy that was fishing with him was trying to remove a hook from a fish in complete darkness while CFG was ranting about "Keveeeen, I have caught something...I don't know what it is!". Advised to "put it back in the water" while Kevin continued to try and release his fish, CFG's "fish" was slapped back into the water...several times! Eventually, real fish safely released, Kevin turned his attention to CFG's...but the expected gravitational effect of lifting the rod so that the fish swung towards them didn't work! On relating this sorry tale CFG said "...and when my fish started fling a little....!" Eventually the bat shook the hook. I'm not sure if it would have counted as catch & release?