BBBrownie

Mostly hatchery fish this time of year in there, they don't take a fly like a wild fish will. If chucking flies on the Vedder this time of year, I would say stay low. The run right above the train bridge in town is great swinging water, as well as a couple runs above and below that spot. Also, near the top end of the reservoir, when you hit the dyke (on Wilson Road I think its called?), turn left, park near the gravel pit at the corner, hike down, there is some good fly water in that section...good luck though, this time of year, she is a foul mistress for the fly...

True to an extent, but I would add that much more than "a few" pure strain populations have been confirmed. I can't recall the exact number, but I believe it is in the ballpark of 12-15. Many that are not considered "pure strain" such as livingstone fish are still often around genetically 99% westslope, but all it takes is that small rainbow influence some generations back to become a hybrid(there are Westslope in the liv system, just not the mainstem liv)...Also, rainbow hybridization isn't the only hybrid consideration at play here, in the early days of cutthroat stocking there wasn't much consideration for subpecies, or perhaps in some cases, distinguishing between subspecies in aquaculture programs - this led to yellowstone cutts being planted and interbred with westslopes...I have heard that yellowstone fish have an influence on the fish in the castle system, adding to the hybridization issue down there. This is also true of the Ram river system, both westlope and yellowstone cutts exist and are easily distinguished. There is a misconception that above ram falls on the North Ram there is only westslope cutts - Not true

relic of aquaculture - frankenfish... Akin to hatchery mutants missing maxilla, albinos, etc. To my knowledge, are not known to occur in a natural environment. Poor incubation conditions? Inferior breeding? Inbreeding? Too warm/cold/low oxygen? I am curious what relic of aquacultural conditions would lead to this expression...

Wish I could make it! Stuck at camp for a few weeks, should be a good one, have fun with this guys!

I would tend to agree with headscan on this. Spey rods are great with little back cast room, throwing fairly heavy flies, getting in nice mends, even getting consistantly long casts while search for fish in a swing/step pattern. On a drift boat, elevated off the water with limitless backcast space, throwing a bow river bugger or similar and stripping or dead drifting streamers that you've banged off the bank, I see no real neccessity or even advantage to the spey rod. Everyone has preferences I suppose and someone may interject, but I wouldn't bother if your idea is to throw from a drift boat. I prefer spey casting from a static position - I am generally more of the sustained anchor type - and don't think a drift boat would be conducive to this. Although I have 2 handers around and swing spey a lot, when on the boat my 6 weight 9 foot XP has always been more than sufficient on the Bow to bang lazers at the bank with a little finess. I am curious to hear though whether others actually spey cast from a boat and what advanges they find in it.

I have also had fouled trailers, the key is to make the trailing loop JUST long enough to replace the hook if necessary. As long as your shank is longer than the loop plus the distance to the point of the hook, it will can't foul. Also, coated wire is stiff enough that the trailer stays true. When tying a long loop of braided lines fouling was always a problem as it isnt as stiff as coated wire. One fix to stiffen is to rub a thin coat of aquaseal over it.

I have broken slick shooter on a snag before, must have gotten a nick...I landed a nice hen on the Bulkely this fall on an intruder with a fire wire stinger, while pulling the hook out of the scissors I noticed the hok was holding on by a thread - must have frayed while bouncing along bottom...these observations have lead me to use coated 20lb wire from Micheals. Cheap, just stiff enough to hold the hook true, haven't had any durability issues yet.

Yep, what flytyer said. Think sparse and also think about trying for almost an umbrella profile. You need to use a ball of something stiff right behind you longer movement feathers to maintain a profile - think polar bear if available to you, I really like well combed arctic fox, Ed Ward uses spun deer hair. A pile of maribou will collapse when swung through anything with current. Less bulk = greater movement, plus a pile of maribou will soak water right up, making casting much more difficult than it needs to be. Color scheme is on track though. I would suggest either thinning the maribou to about 1/3 of that if you are limited to using maribou, or preferably using ostrich or rhea instead. Ostrich is much more cost effective and really you can spin a good number ouf intruders from just one feather. Good luck with these, part of the fun for me with intruders is learning with each iteration, what works and doesn't, then modifying the following batch. Good start, have fun with em!

you definately don't want to take a go ahead enhancing stream bed and banks or transfering browns without approval from SRD and DFO. Any sort of alteration to fish habitat (regardless of how marginal/modified said habitat may be) has the potential to trigger a HADD (harmful alteration, disturbance and disruption of fish habitat) through DFO. Large fines are involved in triggering a HADD. With DFO notification, you may potentially be granted approval. Look up HADD on the DFO website for more information. Bucket planting of fish in watercourses without proper research and/or expertise (especially with non-native trout sp.) has been a huge problem for fisheries managers in Alberta in the past, regardless of recreational potential. Current management has been focused more on native species recovery than introduction of non natives to new systems. The course of action you would need to follow would begin with contacting regional fisheries management staff for the area. Contact information can be found on the Alberta SRD website. Approach the regional biologist with your proposition for clarification/direction, but honestly, don't expect this proposal to go far - they likely won't be keen on stocking non-natives into a flowing system.

Too funny! When I first started with a spey rod I tried to get the general idea behind a couple casts then headed to the Thompson with it. I had been fishing steelhead singlehand prior to that, but the thought of singlehand swinging on the Thompson intimidated me for obvious reasons...I got to the river, started making what were at the time terrible snap T's, wasn't working great, so I figured out that I could use a spey cast to get the line straight out in front of me, then pick up line and bomb 'er over my head. That was working great, getting 100 feet easily, until end of the third day, I was deep into a backcast, and perhaps over applied the power a bit on the forward stroke and my Zaxis 8129 made a thundering "CRRRAACCCKKK" and snapped off right above the cork...mind blowing. not sure if there was an unknown nick on the blank or something, but after that I vowed to learn a proper spey cast and never looked back.

You can cast a spey rod overhand as well if you really want to, can bomb it a mile, just a lot more efficient to cast it spey style. Nothing is fixed, use the rods how ever it suits you, hell, you can cast the average 9" single hander spey style well also, which I often do if it makes sense as the best cast for a given situation.

Great arguement from Lorne. Logging off the Castle reeks of hidden agenda. How is it possible that there hasn't been a fisheries input into this plan? Private industry would require fisheries and aquatics surveys as part of the EIA process, why is the Alberta government exempt?

Sports Rent in Bowness rents NRS rafts.

I generally find olives/yellow/brown/black/white to be the most effective color schemes on the bow for sculpin patterns. Sculpins are colored the same as the substrates they live on, look at the bottom on the runs you like and tie accordingly. Edit: interestingly (to me anyhow), mature male sculpins have distinctive bands of orange on their dorsal fin as well - almost a pumpkin orange...never tried tying any into a pattern, and although distinctive when looking at a sculpin in hand, I'm not sure how well it shows in the water. Might be worth an experiment.

You can reprint only if you originally purchased from a vendor. If you purchased your license on the Alberta RELM website, you can only reprint off the internet, not from a vendors machine. Really goofy system. Had this happen last year when heading angling, didn't have my license, but was planning to stop at a shop on the way, figured, no problem, I will just reprint. Didn't work, luckily the shop had the internet so they allowed me to log onto the RELM site and reprint. This year, heading hunting I purchased my license online, the new system sends you tags in the mail that you register on the RELM site. Went to print, printer was out of ink. Forgetting the fishing license system from the previous year (and probably expecting this couldn't still be the case) I stopped at the Longview esso, tried to reprint, was not successful, had to cancel hunting for the day. Lesson learned by now (hopefully)!

Thanks for sharing the Scharf clip, that was great. Must...get...back...west..The Hanna Belford stuff is rad too, I have been dead set on a Bougle ever since I heard hers singin.

Longview Jerky shop does everything. Had some really nice Italian sausage done up there a couple years ago. Lost my hanging/butchering space this year so they've got a little buck of mine right now.

sexy! Although I agree with headscan, double handle may be dangerous when that sucker starts spinnin. Is it loud? I like loud...

Comment submitted, but oddly enough, my comments didn't show up on their comment section. Actually, there are no fish arguements posted, nearly every one is for Kyaking values...interesting. Even though I have yet to fish the Kokish, I am appalled by the destruction of steelhead habitat that has happened on the Island over the past century. Over the past 20 years, what were once very productive steelhead runs have almost completely collapsed in many cases. Now, most are sustained by pellethead hatchery brats. I am not sure if the people of Vancouver Island are okay with the substitution, but I personally think it is disgusting, and frankly this rape of the island makes me sick. Each and every population of steelhead is unique, especially in these short, complex, isolated and challenging systems. This leads to diverging expression of traits, adaptations over millenia that result in distinct 'races' of steelhead. A labratory will never turn back time and hatchery fish are always inferior. I read a figure somewhere recently that estimated that 95% of Vancouver Island's summer run steelhead are extinct. The winter run fish must not be far behind, judging by population estimates found on the Greater Georgia Basin Steelhead Rcovery Plan site. Recovery my ass.

My next boat will be called the "Slough Shark"

wow. In the mean time, the US is busy decommsioning dam sites...

well Mike, we may go through a few baileys doubles then, looks like i'll have quite a bit of spare time this winter...

I don't believe bulls spawn within the calgary section of the bow, most populations of bulls were done spawning by last month, and I think the white leading edges on pelvic and pectoral fins would make the distinction fairly obvious.

True that Sun, my involvement with pulp mill EM is relatively minor, just stating that there is in fact monitoring that occurs and effect documentation exists. What I was attempting to get at is that it is a joke to say that the tar sands aren't a major pollutor when compared to pulp mills. They both pollute. The two mouthed goldeye is funny in that it was dried out and if I remember correctly, being a bony tongue species, the second mouth was actually just the dried bone tongue protruding. I wouldn't eat fish downstream of either industry. I also realize that industry is necessary, I do have a car, I am guilty, but it would sure be nice to see these industries cleaned up. I do think that it is our responsibility to minimize our everyday consumption.

Good theory Sun, that is one that goes around (I think what you are refering to is Pacific Decadal Oscillation?). The hole I see in it though is that good runs were not to be found in all systems. for example, the Skeena system had fairly low returns of all salmon species this year, although great steelhead returns. In the Fraser itself, not all tributaries had great runs. The Adams is a real success story, however, runs on the upper fraser (ex. Stellako, Stuart, etc.) returned in relatively modest numbers. Further, does PDO increase food items for sockeye, but not other species of salmon, or is it other confounding variables holding back stocks of endangered Coho, chum, chinook and nearest to my heart, Steelhead? I truely hope it is as simple as warming ocean trends increasing anadromous salmonid conditioning/fitness, with the large Adams sockeye run and Skeena steelhead run this year being a taste of whats to come, but am afraid there is more to it as the increase in a couple places is masking the decline of many others. A large return in one river must not lead us to forget about the complex issues (habitat degradation, overfishing, pollution, open net salmon farming, irrigation/fertilization, and on and on) that continue to endanger our salmon populations.