mikefromsundre

Wow once in 30 years. compared to the rest of you guys what am I doing right or wrong?

Back to original thread idea. The key is enforcement. The laws governing off road vehicles are there. It is the law that you have to be licenced and wear a helmet. How many do? We have laws about crossing streams. But we do not have the man power to enforce. Ever driven QE2 or even the Deerfoot? We do have laws about speeding. We have laws against poaching -yet it happens all the time. There are laws about how long you can random camp. Enforcement of it is a nightmare. I understand you need a ministerial order to evict someone. I would like to see some sort of licence or permit system. I wouldn't mind paying a $100 a year that would give me a random camping permit. If the permit was large and displayed on the RV or at the site then records of who is camping where could be kept, especially on long weekends. I know there are trailer and vehicle plates, but if someone has to pay for a permit that must be visible some of the long weekend problems with the partiers might decrease. But again it comes down to enforcement. At least when officers go into a big mess and there are no permits they would have grounds for eviction and with a permit they could keep records of infractions for future reference.

once in 30 years. I was in still in my truck beside the N Ram when the CO came up to chat He was in the area because elk season was opening. As a second thought before he left he asked to see my licence. I have been survived by the young people on streams like the Crow and Blackstone but never asked for my licence.

I love the Livingst. It is were I have taught my kids, wife and friends to fly fish. I worry it is being abused. I hate seeing the garbage, which seems to have increased last year after Mclean was closed down. I hate seeing 4x4s crossing streams and tearing the hills up. I hate oil companies (oops am I allowed to hate them in AB.?) that have no regard for the environ and their only concern is profit. However - I random camp, have a quad, used to work for big oil, fly fish (which by the way to some people is the same a torturing an animal), hunt and drive a gas guzzling 1/2 ton. Last summer I spent 1 week random camping beside the Livingst. I love getting up early in morn. to sit by a stream or sit until it is very dark at night and my back is chilled. I also camped in Dutch Ck., Goldeye Lk. and campgrounds in Banff. I used my quad on the seimic lines along the SRam, not in or on the water and I walked miles along the Big Horn which just about killed my knees that really need surgery. I have volunteered my time with groups such as TU and DU. I agree some new laws and regulations and more importantly enforcement needs to occur to protect what we have. There is no question about it. But what continues to upset me is the contiued stereotyping that occurs -all random campers are polluters and need to be banned; all quad/dirt bikers are irresponsible and only out to tear up the country. I dislike the suggestion that random campers are all sitting there in their huge RVs. I now have an 18' trailer after years of tents, tent trailers and 1976 Holidaire trailer and yes I have carried my camp on my back for week long back packing trips. Stereotyping and pointing fingers usually gets nowhere. I guess I could take it further and from a non oiler workers perspective all oil people are over paid underworked jerks willing to drill anywhere (you do not want to know what my neighbors think when the landman comes driving up the lane in his fancy, huge SUV wanting to run another seismic line across our land) or all fly fisherman are snobs that want exclusive fishng rights for themselves. I realize this is not true since I have been or am a part of both groups. We need better rules as I have already said. The reality though is this province is big with a lot people with different interests and beliefs and most posters here are just one side of a discussion that needs to occur. Compromises can work. I was involved in a tiny way in the development of K country. The attempt was made to accomodate all interests. Golf course, ski hill, xc skiing, back country hiking, horse trails, quad area, hunting and wildlife perserves. I am not sure it totally works. An attempt was made to allow all users in. Come on guys lets talk solutions and stop stereotyping. After all can any of his really sit back smuggly and say we have not been part of a problem somewhere, such as speeding on hiway 2 or catch and releasing huge numbers of cutts, when studies suggest that does cause a lot of the lip damage we are seeing. Mike

a quick question ( not to hijack the thread) Why do I see a band of rainbow like colours across the top or my HD TV when I play prerecorded vidotapes? Any thoughts? Thanks Mike

...however my Springbrook waders developed a leak in the foot this summer. Kept them patched until I could get to Calgary. Dropped them off last week. There were no quesitons asked. They will be fixed this week and mailed out to me. Hard to beat local service like that.

All I am sayin is companies do not set out to help society. Their bottom line is profit first. Yes when profits are good some will make donations -and then that usually gives them a tax break. Watching Regina TV off the dish on the weekend. A lot of political ads running before the election. The irony hit me. That companies are threatening to leave blue blood conservative AB and head to red NDP Sask. When the companies left Sk in the 70's the oil did not it is still there.

"How can you tell the difference between left and right wing? The right wing people are willing to invest time and money to build companies that add to the prosperity of society." (Sorry don't know how to work the quote option). I thought that the purpose of companies was to make a profit for their investors. I did not realize they were in business to better society. That must have been why ________(sorry name escapes me) was in the Sudan all those years -to help the Sudanese. I have seen a lot of talk of Sask. Hey folks I was there in Estevan and Regina when Blakney tried to privatize the oil in the 70's. All the companies folded their tents and left. The world was ending. Estevan had empty buildings. Interesting how in recent years it has turned around and now the companies in Alberta are going to pack up and go to Sask. Good I say -perhaps they will then be able to expand Taylor Field and put 30,000 into Rider games and pay high price players with things like houses that are not counted in their salary caps (sorry still ticked about losing Burris years ago). My point is these things seem to come and go. The oil in the oil sands however will not go if it is left alone. It will still be there even if the companies slow down for awhile.

Ceramic. But be careful. If dropped the ceramic will shatter. Look for the ones inside a metal tube.

It was suggested that I start this topic after a reply to the question about fly tying books. How many people use a binder or perhaps a diary to keep records, photos, fly photos, fly samples, fly recipes, etc. in? I have added to Neil Jenning's Trout Flies of Alberta and SE BC (?), a white binder of fly photos and recipes. By adding to it, it has become a book suited to me, my fishing and my tying. It is in many ways my Bible now for tying. I have put my own pages in with prints outs from web sites, photos and recipes of my own fly patterns, notes on tying and fishing, recipe cards with flies taped to them and even samples of tying materials taped to the pages. I am suprised that no one else ever thought of publishing recipes in a binder format. My only complaint about the book was that the original photos I did not think were that great. In this day of digital photos many of the fly photos were poor quality and against a hard to see yellow background. The material contained in it though is of great value to anyone fishing and tying in Alberta.

As far as I know it is still available in most shops. If not I am sure you can get a hold of Neil through Country Pleasures. Writers tend to have copies of their books still available after they are out of print.

If I can only have one it would be The Benchside Referernce... I am a bit of a collector and have a lot of great books: AK Best's Randall Kaufman's Jack Dennis's Lafontaine's and a lot of videos and CDs. I also learned on my own from books and found both Kaufman's and Dennis's were great teachers. Neil Jennings (former partner at Country Pleasures) complied a great book a few years ago. It was a binder format with a lot of the great AB flies pictured with recipes. I really liked the binder concept and have added website print outs and even my own photos, recipes and notes into the binder. I added those little plastic index marker/tabs with labels such as dries, nymphs, etc. It has become a valuable resource of my fly tying and fishing successes.

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/ And don't forget Vic Bergman's old site (if it is still up) http://www.telusplanet.net/public/cnangler/html/

Thanks castus... I just would like to see our government use the royalties to make AB all it could be and I am not saying increased salaries. Salaries will attract quality people but so will a strong, healthy, caring diversified province. As you point out when India decided to improve their education system good things happened. While I would like to see more royalties in our coffers I also fear that our politicians would not handle more money any better than they have handled what they have now. How did Ralph handle extra money? Gave every AB a little cheque. Mike

Why do all dollars have to flow through government coffers when businesses generally create value and governments spend? ...because the companies do not build the roads, hospitals, schools, etc. Oh I know the story -but companies pay taxes and employed people pay taxes. Albertans have the lowest taxes in Can. and would lynch any premier who rasied their taxes. And companies in Alberta also have very low taxation and always scream and cry when there is a suggestion that it be rasied. The money to run the province has to come from somewhere, thus royalties. I don't buy the argument that comapnies will fold their tents and leave -where will the US get their gas from? I have been on both sides of the fence. I was a geologist during the National Energy Policy days. What happend was a lot of companies that really had no business being in business folded (guys starting seismic companies because they had been a driller for 5 years). don't get me wrong I did not agree with the policy. But you know the US companies stayed and are still here pumping our gas south. And now do I dare say it I am a teacher. When I read about people being concerned about their $500,000 stock incentive plans with the current downturn I cannot feel sorry, especially when the current gov't is offering me 3%, which is below inflation. Now I am not saying take the money and pay us more. What would be a wonderful vision would be to take all the money Alberta can get and lets build a strong province which has a diversified economy (that is needed when our resources start to run out), a healthy population, a highly educated population and a healthy environment, one in which there is affordable housing for all and all citizens are cared for. I realize that is asking a lot of our politicians... Mike

I can't believe the south is not getting any rain. As I type I am looking at a downpour out my window. We have had 2 1/2 inches since Tues. Was at Goldeye this week and tried to fish the Bighorn and Blackstone. Was very cold and wet. 4 degrees Wed night. So while south is still in drought the streams up here are going to be blown out with excess rain. Where does one go to fish?

I guess 20 years fly fishing. 48 fishing. Mike Hey Don Was through Rocky yesterday on the way home from a wet couple of days on the Blacksotne. Picked up some macrame yarn at the craft shop. Thanks for the info about that earlier this spring.

The closure in the south spells a terrible weekend for the north. The bone heads that are out to tear the country apart will now be doubled to the north. We are dry to the north as well -fire hazard is extreme, so I do not understand why they do not slap a fire ban on the north as well. Why take the risk this weekend? I was out on a stream west of Sundre tues., the water is the lowest I have seen in years. Fishing was so-so, 8 cuts. But the bull holes are shallow so I am assuming the big guys have moved down into the big red. Random camping spots are basically dust and dirt, the grass is long gone. So take it easy with the fires and treat the fish gently when you head north guys. Conditions west of sundre are not far behind the south. Things a little better towards Nordegg. There have been a few more thunderstorms up there and they are calling for more rain there this weekend.

Boy am I going to show my age... Doobie Bros at McMahon Stadium and of course the Eagles also at McMahon. The D. Bros had to cancel out in May because of a snow storm so they came back later in the spring. It was the last stop on their tour and they were ready to party. Always enjoyed the Dirt Band when they did one of their many Red Deer visits. They did a live thing (?) years ago in Red Deer and had so much fun they came back a lot over the years -once again the party atmosphere.

Awesome night! His voice has lost a little of the Fogerty edge but still very good for his age. I took my 15 year old son. We were on the floor row nine. He was pumped all night. Impressive when an rocker can rock a 50 year old and a 15 year old. However my ears were still ringing Sun. I was impressed at how he seemed to be having as much fun as the audience.

Sorry I have not checked this board for a few days... Some points came up. I am not saying that fish damage is part of the garbage problem. If you check out my thread title my thoughts were are we loving a place to death, garbage, fish damage, etc are all symptoms of what I see as a problem. Clive made some good points it boils down to management. There are bins at the campgrounds but when I tried to dump garbage into the bins at the campgrounds I was scolded by the operator because he has to pay to have the garbage hauled out and I had not paid to camp. The bin idea was so someone like myself had somewhere to put others' garbage rather than haul it all home.

Was down on the Livingstone the first week of July. I have some thoughts about what I am seeing... My usual favortie camping spot was disgusting. In ten years I have never seen so much garbage and ass wipe everywhere. Broken chairs, bottles, cans, jug of engine oil, golf balls(?) Between the 5 of us we also found that a huge number of the fish are scared up. Torn lips and tongues and missing eyes. Are we loving the stream to death folks? Arrogantly I headed to the N Ram this week thinking things would be better up there. Same garbage problem. A full garbage bag nicely tied up tossed into the trees. Not as much damage to the fish though. I am getting tired of carrying everyone elses garbage out. I live in a rural area and have to pay for my garbage disposal. I have a suggestion. I am going to write to Ab Res. and suggest that garbage bins be placed at key places such as the fire station along the oldman. Perhaps it would help if there was someplace for backcountry users to dispose of their garbage. There are lots of bins throughtout Banff and Jasper. I know it would cost money. But what is all the trash in the bush costing us? Just my thoughts....

If you are into handcrafted try <juliantubb.com>. Handcrafted guitars, etc. right in beautiful downtown Bergen (south of Sundre).

I googled insect repellent and found a lot of common sense sights that quote lab studies on DEET. A lot of the health concerns seem unfounded. Yes it eats plastics, etc. but the number of health problems is extremely small. We are not plastic. Check out this site <http://www.cfpc.ca/cfp/2003/Aug/vol49-aug-critical-2.asp>