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dude1125

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Posts posted by dude1125

    Ribtor Flies

    in General Chat - Fishing Related

    Posted

    I went to check out Ribtor's "new" location since they shut down the 11th Ave store awhile ago. I was suprise they still had a little bit of outdoor stuff which includes flies. FYI the entire fly selection is priced at a buck a fly. Now that's my kind of dollar store lol The fly quality is so so

    Fishing Essay

    in General Chat - Fishing Related

    Posted

    Here's a link to a fishing essay that I thought some on the board might enjoy reading The link is below for the photos

     

    http://singlebarbed.com/2010/11/02/fly-fis...Singlebarbed%29

     

    Singlebarbed

     

     

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Fly Fishing – an essay in prose and pictures

     

    Posted: 02 Nov 2010 12:02 AM PDT

     

    On rare occasion someone says it in such a way that completely captures the experience of fishing, from darkened early morning departure to darker parking lots and damp feet …

     

    … and his prose is damned good too.

     

    Take a look at both and tell me if he hasn’t got the high points for an entire season in one eloquent missive …

     

    In October my father called to wish me a happy birthday, and to remind me that in all probability I now have more years behind me than I do ahead. Thanks Dad. With that in mind, I made it a point to get out on a lake somewhere before the onset of winter, and so this past Saturday I headed east into the Sierra Nevada range for a solitary day of fishing.

     

    I’d invited my friend Neil to join me, but he declined because the weather forecast called for rain and snow. Neil is a steelhead fisherman, so I couldn’t help but take it personally, but going alone gave me the opportunity to experience the maxim often quoted by Singlebarbed: one is a fishing trip, two is half a fishing trip, and three is no fishing trip at all.

     

    I left the house at 5:00 AM, and was on the water and fishing by 10:00. My trip took longer than it should have because someone had hit or removed the sign identifying the road that leads down to the lake and I ended up driving right past it.

     

    This lake usually presents me with a number of mysteries,and it did not disappoint. There were fish rising and jumping and carrying on everywhere I looked, but I didn’t see a single bug anywhere on the surface. I suspected the fish were chasing midges, and so I tied one on under an indicator and chucked it out there. No luck. I rigged up my father’s old fiberglass five weight with a double tapered Cortland Sylk line and a furled leader, then tried out some new mayflies I’d recently tied, more to see how they looked on the water than anything else. I also tried a new ant pattern, as well as a new beetle pattern. No love there either.

     

    I rigged up my six-weight with a clear intermediate line and tied on a streamer. After casting out the fly I remembered what happened the last time I fished streamers, and decided I had better put a band aid on my stripping finger. The band aid ended up sticking to itself (with my help)and I messed around with it for five or ten minutes, all the while drifting in circles aimlessly around the lake. That’s about when a nice brown grabbed the streamer and started peeling line off the reel. I got a few more bumps on the streamer, but I was never able to duplicate the unique retrieve that enticed that first fish.

     

    Throughout the day I’d been sampling some Costco-brand beers my wife had purchased for me – it’s what all the cool kids will be drinking a year or two from now – and it was while I was watering one of the bushes in ______ Cove that I noticed what looked like a small black caddis fly squashed onto the side of my raft. I hadn’t seen anything like it throughout the day, but since nothing else had worked I decided to tie on the closest thing I had to it and give it a whirl. I hooked a nice brown on my second cast, and the fish kept hitting that fly for the rest of the day. After releasing my sixth fish, I re-cast the fly and let it sit for a few seconds, then saw a very slight ripple and watched it disappear. I set the hook and started stripping in line, but instead of the fish coming towards me, my boat started drifting towards the fish. After a couple of head-shakes the fly popped out and sailed right back towards me. I never saw what took the fly, but it must have been pretty big.

     

    I figured that by now it had to be lunch time, so I went back to the truck and pulled out the nice big tri-tip sandwich I’d bought for Neil, and then checked the time. It was 4:10. I wolfed down half the sandwich and then got back on the lake, and after hooking several more fish I finally lost the fly, which I took as a sign that it was time to pack up and head home.

     

     

    I could struggle for weeks and never see anything with this type of eloquence. I guess to some folks the lying and exaggeration comes natural, while the rest of us have to work at it.

     

    Dear Izaak Walton – Costco beer is simply … so … very, working class. While we delight in keeping both elitists and purism at safe distance, we do have some standards … and that bottle must be presented empty and downstream, and with great force.

     

    … and our thanks for letting us join your trip.

     

    Technorati Tags: fly fishing stories, Costco beer, fly fishing lakes, brown trout, float tube, midge, black caddis dry, pictorial essay

     

     

     

    Arctic Grayling

    in General Chat - Fishing Related

    Posted

    With natural populations, yes. With stocked lakes, well, they call them put and take for a reason.

     

    Yes, there have been studies. One came out in 2005-ish that claimed, if I recall correctly, a 40% range reduction and a 90% population reduction over the last 50 years.

     

    I think Arctic Grayling should be the poster-fish for C&R; as soon as you take them out of the water they lose all their beautiful colours, but regain their iridescence when you put them back.

     

    Here's the report from 2005 that I was reading. There are couple other reports that I read that focus in on the Pembina river.

     

    http://srd.alberta.ca/biodiversitystewards...ic_Grayling.pdf

     

     

     

     

    Floating The Bow In The City

    in General Chat - Fishing Related

    Posted

    I had a walk at lunch hour to the new water park below the wier when a bunch of kayakers etc were out. I'm not sure what the city is planning for access. The people using the park had driven up the construction road. It's a long paddle from where the boat launch is under 17th Ave/Blackfoot once the construction road is closed. I think the city is the planning stage for a potential parking lot. The Harvie passage web site has no info in that regard.

     

    I think I might be too chicken to run that in driftboat. It's got to be a close to a 5 foot drop on the one structure. It's hard to believe that the city would actually remove the bouy system and allow rafters through that section. I can't wait for it to be open next year and see what happens. My guess is there is going to be lots of conflict between the users groups but I hope that's not the case.

    Calgary Bow River Weir Project (harvie Passage)

    in General Chat - Fishing Related

    Posted

    Either way I'm excited to drift through that water, everytime I have driven by this week I just imagine.

     

     

    I can't wait to drift through too! It looks like you could slide a boat down the bank at the zoo parking lot on the bow. Other than that I not too sure where you could put in. Are there any plans for a boat launch upstream of the weir?

     

    I worry about hitting a kayaker in the chutes area. I'm guessing there will be some conflict between the different user groups and people of different skill levels.

     

     

     

     

    Calgary Bow River Weir Project (harvie Passage)

    in General Chat - Fishing Related

    Posted

    I saw that on the news last night, so I was windering also if anyone has taken a drift boat thru yet? The water looks ok, but I saw some gates that I was unsure if you need to go thru or around. Also they dont want you using quite yet, but just wondering for some day in the future. I opens a whole new stretch of river.

     

    It won't be open for public use until spring 2011. It looked like the fire dept. was training on it this afternoon.

    Cheap Beads?

    in Fly Tying Bench

    Posted

    Thanks for all the help. I found out my wife has some plastic beads and found out they do not go over the bend of the hook. I went the bead shop in Northland Mall and picked a few glass beads in size 6, 8 and 10 to tie up some glass bead "caddis" nymphs.

     

    26235_406420565890_633880890_5337267_321499_a.jpg

     

    This is a size 10 bead on #14 caddis hook. Sorry about the crappy picture. I'll go blind putting those small beads on.

     

     

    26235_406420570890_633880890_5337268_2920667_a.jpg

     

    This is a size 8 bead on #8 hook. This is much easier tie.

     

    I bought a few different colours and sizes of beads to test this season. I think I should have bought more of the size 6 beads. The 8's should be good for steamer bodies. Lots of fishy colours to chose from. I not sure if the metal beads are going to work out they only slide over hooks with a large round bend.

     

    I got few tying ideas from this blog http://singlebarbed.com/

    Cheap Beads?

    in Fly Tying Bench

    Posted

    Does anybody know of cheap source of copper/nickel/tungsten etc. beads in Calgary. Do any of the bead shops in Calgary carry some metal beads that won't rust. Speaking of cheap fly tying materials I picked up some clear and red glass beads from the dollar store that make great streamers bodies. Another question is how to secure the glass beads properly. I must be tying the streamers wrong because they don't last to long before the beads slide down to the curve of the hook despit all the glue and wraps of thread that I put on.

     

    Sorry if this topic has been covered before.

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