Keith

Thanks for the tip. Keith

I'm planning a trip south of the border this summer. Has anyone fished Armstrong, Depuy's, or Nelson spring creeks? If you could only fish one, which would be the best? Thanks Keith

As long as I have enough light to hike back out, I'll keep hiking. But if I brought my backpacking gear, then I'm happy to keep on going.

I'm surprised this info is so hard to find, but after a lot of searching I'm drawing a blank. You'd think the water allotments of the various irrigation districts would have to be public info.

I am trying to find some information on irrigation draw from the Bow. Can anyone tell me what percentage of the Bow is diverted for irrigation? Or point me in the direction of that info?

Yeah, that's a fantastic shot.

Yeah, because they're sponsored and get them for free. Quality of cast = casting ability. I'll give Dany Heatly an old straight-blade Cooper and you can have a Kovalchuk Synergy and he'll still have a better shot. Same goes for casting. I've got Sages and I've got TempleForks and it doesn't really make any difference. Do I enjoy my Sage? Yeah. It's a fine piece of craftsmanship, but don't go kidding yourself.

Thanks for all the info fellas.

I tie the rhyacs on 12s. I used Partridge czech nymph hooks which are a big 12 and then I tied them also on regular 12 scud hooks. I also tied a few on 14s. The hydros I did 14s, but will also do some 16s.

Yeah, it's really not a super hard pattern. They can be tied fairly quickly if you get yourself set up and into a rhythm.

One skill I am hoping to improve on this season is my single handed spey. One thing I've been wondering is do you use the same line for single-handed spey as you would for regular single handed casting or do you want something with a heavier tip that is going to turn over better?

I saw a picture on another site and I would score the bout porcupine 1 - Bull trout 0. The bull definitely had a few sizeable spikes in his maw that he had been carting around for who knows how long.

Candian Field-Naturalist is reported the first ever interaction between a bull trout and porcupine. IE: some crazy bull trout decided to take a swipe at a porcy and ended up with quill in his jaw. I think I'm going to whip up a few of my new porcupine pattern tonight. Big hooks and lots of tooth picks. http://www.ofnc.ca/cfn/121-4/Cott-Mochnacz.pdf

I didn't see a price range on the site. What do they run? Can you buy them in Calgary or do you have to order them online?

Damn, those are both beautiful fish.

See the video above for the rhyac. If you can get a copy of Oliver Edward's DVD it would be worth it. But the recipe for the Hydro is: Hook: 14 scud hook Tail: Clipped partridge filoplume feather Body: Nymph Skin Gill: Ostrich Herl Legs: Golden Pheasant Tail Fibers. It's not that difficult to tie really.

I tied them in 12s and 14s.

I have just about the same story. I caught some nice rainbows when I was living in New Zealand, the biggest probably being about 8 pounds, and I also lost many as well. The fish that always bother me are the ones that you don't see and just seem to have a ridiculous amount of power. One morning, just at sunrise, on the Tongariro I was fishing a pool that I had had success on earlier in the week. After ten or 15 minutes I got a solid take on my nymph and set the hook. My drag was set fairly firm and I had my palm slapped to the reel, but in no more than a couple seconds the fish drug my line diagonal across and upsteam and into an over hanging tree. I had been catching large bows all week with a few above 5 pounds and this one just seemed to have unmatched power. The thing I hate about not seeing it is that we've all had that 16" fish that fights like a 22" fish. Was this a 5 pounder that fought like a 10 pounder or an honest hog. I hate not knowing. I have had a similar experience on the Bow as well. You can tell when you've got into that rare 'oh *hit' fish, because it has no problem taking you upstream or across stream. Most fish will bend under the pressure pretty quick and turn and go with the current. The problem with those monster fish is that they're pretty rare and you're never quite ready for em. If you were on the ball and put serious side pressure on right off the bat then you're ok, but give them little lee-way and it's over. That's why you got fight every hook-up like it's ten pounds until you're sure it's not.

That's a cool idea Toolman. I might tie a few that way. It would be interesting to see how it works/looks.

Check out Oliver Edwards' Essential Techniques series. He ties some amazing patterns, which is where I got these patterns aside from a few small mods. The fishing part of the DVDs aren't that great, although they aren't bad, but the tying parts, which are literally a couple hours worth per DVD, are really worth it. As was discussed in this section a couple days ago, these patterns might be overkill as far as being more realistic than needed, but I find them fun to tie and I don't think they'll hurt your hook up rate any.

That's a good point. I tend to crowd the bend of the hook sometimes. Although on this fly there is quite a bit more room than there looks in the picture. Down around the bend it's mostly ostrich herl that I tied in the for the gills and that stuff wont get in the way of the hook doing it's business.

That's an awesome fish. Getting one of those has been on my list for a while.

Rhyac

There's been quite a few mentions of Edwards' caddis larvae in this section as well as the entomology section. I've been working a few different patterns as they are fun to tie and seem like they'll be fairly effective. I thought I'd share what I've come up with. What do you guys think? Hydro

I think a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B. I think realistic flies will probably help you out with pressured fish or on tough days, but are probably overkill 9 times out of 10. I like to have a supply for that 1 time out of 10, but I'm pretty OCD. But overall, I think that's the benefit of tying your own. You can test your theory out this season. I tied a couple dozen Ollie Edwards patterns this winter and I will definitely be testing them out to see if they are worth doing again. That said, a lot of reaslistic flies don't really take that much more time to tie. I can tie one of Edwards' Rhyacophila patterns in about the same time it takes me to tie more basic caddis larvae, so I don't really feel like I'm losing a lot of time for the more detailed patters. Whether that pattern will yield more fish remains to be seen. I imagine they'll both catch me plenty of fish this year.