chiasson

This is a difficult if not impossible question to answer. I personally went through the exact dilemma myself when I made the decision to shell out for my first high end rod. I ended up going with a 6 but wondered for a good while afterwards whether or not I should have gone with a 5, I still do at times. Some thoughts. I find that newer rods are built stronger than older rods of the same line weight. For example, a new Sage whatever, whether it be a 3 weight or 6 weight can both land big trout efficiently, especially when the rest of the rig is up to par (proper tippet, a reel with decent drag, etc). However, compared to a 3, even a 5, the 6 will make it much more pleasurable to chuck big and or heavy stuff. Given all of the above, and secondly that the more years I fish the more I don't mind being over gunned on smaller fish, I've come to personally prefer to fish a rod that compliments the size and weight of the fly I'm casting more so than the size or weight of the trout I'm hoping to catch. I hope that makes sense. Weather is also a factor for me. It's really nice to have a 6 when the wind is up. Lastly, I definitely choose the 6 for any kind of weighted streamers or when I need to make long casts all day. When ever asked by new fly fishers what to buy I always say a medium to medium fast 9' #6. I think it makes a great all around rod on medium to large waters. However, if you take streamers out of the equation I say 5 all the way. For smaller waters, smaller flies, etc I say 5, or lighter, for average sized trout. For nymphs I'm all about the roll cast and have grown to like lighter and longer rather than heavier rods.

Catskill style flies, I do believe, refer to a style of dry flies that originated in the Catskill mountains of New York state. More info here: http://www.terryhellekson.com/catskill_dry_flies.htm

The sole came right off one of my Korkers as well. A shoe repair guy charged me 12 bucks to fix it and they're back in service. I love the fit of Korkers.

My heart goes out to all those affected by this tragedy. As others have said in this thread, accidents can happen in the blink of an eye. After a very scary incident that occurred while I was wade fishing alone about a year ago, I slipped on a bank and was under water before I knew what had happened, I vowed to myself to wear a PFD at all times. At first I thought I would hate wearing it but the one I got is designed for fishing, is very functional and low profile. After I wore it a few times the idea of not wearing it just seems scary to me. Consider it.

A subjective question. With dry fly rods I think the two things to consider are the average size of fish in your streams, if they are less than a pound consider a 2wt. And, wind, if there is any amount of wind a 3 will be a PITA to cast effectively. I have the ZXL 386 and love it for dries, and wets even, but when the wind is up I prefer to fish a 4 or 6. My personal opinion is that a med action long 3wt makes for a versatile dry fly rod. Such a rod would also be great on the Bow. I hear the #3 Sage Launch is sweet.

I don't have any personal experience with those particular rods but, assuming that your fishing trout, I would suggest a 5wt, maybe even a 4 depending on the particular rod and the weight of flies you fish, for the applications you mentioned.

I had the exact same problem; I bought a really nice medium fast 9' 6wt and enjoyed it for everything but streamer fishing. Some of the things that helped me were over lining my rod (I had a 7WF laying around) so that the rod would load with less line out. On another friends recommendation I've recently cut some of the front taper off to get it to turn over a bit more aggressively and now find I can cast a poly wit it. I get more distance by doing this and shooting line than using a #6WF and killing myself false casting. Of course, a dedicated streamer line would be even better; if I was hardcore into streamer fishing I would be getting one. The second thing that I found to help was to shorten my leader to about 4' and use relatively stiff mono, or fluro. This seemed to help help carry the energy from the line into the fly a lot better and prevent my loops from collapsing. Finally, I just had to lighten what I was trying to cast a bit and accept that streamer casting junk is never gonna be pretty. A six weight just wont cast huge wind resistant stuff (e.g., those huge bow river buggers, the ones the size of steelhead intruders) or heavy stuff (e.g., double clouser rigs) as efficiently as an 8 wt. I laugh now thinking back to my first season at some of the stuff I used to try and cast with a six weight. I'd be really curious to try a really fast 6 wt with a dedicated streamer line?

I also have the 690 with a 4560. Zero complaints here. A friend just gave me a ridge line for it and am looking forward to trying it. The reel (bought used) did break on me once, the spindle came right out of the housing. Sage fixed it free of charge. I've always wondered about putting a full wells grip on my 690. Does anyone out there with some some building knowledge know if this is this possible without too much of a hassle?

Thanks for sharing!

The Anvil Atlas is a quality vise for a reasonable price. I think I paid about a $150 in Calgary a few years back. Great value in my opinion. Built like a tank. Give er a look. http://www.flyfishohio.com/Vise%20Review%2...0-$150.htm

Was hoping someone could recommended one for general FF needs. I had a bit of a close call recently and am looking to invest in an angling specific, i.e., low profile, neutral color PFD.

Since your looking for both a nymph and streamer rod, perhaps consider a 9'6" 6wt or even a 10' as some have a suggested; however, depending on the action of the rod, 10' may be a bit long for overhead casting streamers. I have a 9' 6wt Z-axis, it's great for what your looking to do, big streamers aside. However, for bigger water like the Bow, having that extra length is very nice, especially when on foot. For Bullies I would think (I have little experience in fishing for Bullies) you would need something bigger than a 6, some of the rigs guys have shown me are pretty bulky and those fish can get BIG. I read somewhere that the Sage small mouth rod is a popular AB Bull Trout stick.

Congrats on your new waders. I can't wait to get some new ones myself, I'm a few seasons away from needing them though - I have a 5 year old pair of Simm's guides that are still going strong. However, when the time comes I'm definitely going with a zip up model like those made now by Simms and Redington. If I was to offer any advice about keeping them tip top. A simple and not so obvious thing you can do is don't step on the stocking foot with your opposite foot and then try to pull your leg out of them when taking them off, the seam between the leg and foot will fail prematurely. It's much better to carefully work them off your feet with your hands. When I bought mine the guy at the shop told me this and it seems to be working. Also, make sure to hang em to dry after each day out, if your not going out the next day that is. As well, don't leave your waders and boots in your car on a hot day after wading in the Bow, it's a mistake you'll only make once .

Straight eye hooks are for bait and tubes

Great advice all around! If I was to add anything it would be to consider looking into a line that is designed for roll casting or nymphing. Because the weight is near the back of the head, these lines will make it easier to load your rod when roll/ single hand spey casting. As well, the tapers of these lines are designed to help with turnover of dropper and nymph rigs. If you plan to do a lot of this style of fishing, which for most of the year is arguably the most productive way to fish the Bow, and are presently using a weight forward taper consider giving this a try.

That sucks about the Simms boots, it doesn't sound like them to overlook something like that. Everything I've bought of theirs has been top notch. My wife and I between us have two pairs of waders, one pair of boots (hers), a pair of their sandals and a guide vest. It's all bullet proof, so far at least. My boots are Korker guides, I like em a lot. They fit me perfectly and have held up amazingly well but they're not as sturdy as the Simms wife has though. I'm surprised that Simms hasn't came out with a replaceable sole boot.

I read up on that rod at one time. If I recall correctly the consensus (on sexyloops) was that the 690 Tcr is the real gem of that series and that the 590 wasn't so well received, for general fishing purposes at least.

Someone should film this and send me a copy, or perhaps FT could broadcast it live online

Some intruderish shrimp flies I'm tying for a salmon fly swap. I wonder if a trout would take em on the swing.

Hairwings

PMd ya my contact info.

One of the Oliver Edwards videos focuses on CDC tying, I recall that he used it in dubbing loops.

In runoff would it make a difference if you were to cast up stream and then strip down stream, i.e. work your way up stream on shore, or to do it the compete opposite? Thanks,

Awesome advice. Nymphing is all about learning to mend your line for the purpose of maintaining a drag free drift and, equally important, keeping slack out of your rig. Figure that out, learn a little about reading water and fly selection and you'll be slayin them in no time. My bottom line advice, hire someone for a half day to teach you Bow basics with a focus on nymphing. In hindsight I wish I had of when I started out. I fished many a day and read many posts on this board before I started to catch on.

Sounds like shitty circumstances beyond your control, don't feel bad. I'd agree with you that 6 is prob too light in high or dirty water or when the possibility is there to hook a real monster. In addition, it's much easier to turn over bigger flies on stouter tippet. However, while I'm sure that it doesn't really matter if you go crazy big on your tippet because a trout that will take a big streamer prob aint gonna be leader shy, at the same time 12# or greater is prob overkill. My first thought is what if you get hooked up on something, which is pretty common on the Bow, you may mess up your line trying to free your fly. Knowing that out east most guys fish 8-12 lb Maxima for Atlantic Salmon where the average fish size is 12lbs, 8 or 10 test combined with a quality drag has got to be adequate for even the biggest of Bow trout. I've personally have never had a problem with 8lb (3x powerflex) on trout up to 2.5 pounds. I'd be curious to know what others think.