chiasson

I agree, a med fast 9'6" for a 6 is a great choice for an all around rod for Bow river sized fish. However, some may consider it a compromise if you also used it for dries, some may not, regardless, it would work very well for long line nymphing and streamers. You could go with a 9.6 or 10 for a 5 which would do it all but heavy streamers, i.e., a 5 weight would prob not cast tandem double bunnies very efficiently, but a fast 6 prob could. Me personally, I bring 2 rods when wade fishing bigger rivers for trout, a light switch and a 3 or 4 weight for dries.

The only fish I didn't release last year; hence the crap net and rocks. It was taken from a river in Nova Scotia. I forget the exact length but it was a fair size fish, 20 inches I think, and fat. It weighed exactly 1.75 pounds. Before weighing it that night I was sure it was gonna be heavier. A 9 pound trout has gotta be huge. My guess is just shy of 30" and fat. The average Atlantic Salmon out here is 12 pounds and around 32" long.

That was near the sandbar in East Bay, just by McCormacks school; aside from some inland lakes it's was pretty much the only place open near Sydney for the last month. However, some more promising water just opened on the 14th and I hear trout are starting to enter the rivers. I'll let yas know how I get along. By the way, there is a great new NS fly fish site at www.nsflyguy.ca

Sydney River here.

Guys are raving about this very rod and line combo on the east coast.

I've been GASing for a full length 5 weight (5126 is at the top of the list) for awhile now. How is it for scandi and in the wind? Maybe now that the dollar is close to par I can justify the hit to my meager student pocketbook.

Thanks for the tips everyone. Been having a lot of fun with the new line. I was thinking about trying the shorter Rio versi leaders, they are 6 feet and 45 grains.

Check these out http://speypages.com/speyclave/showthread.php?t=33261

I'm a newbie to tying these types of flies and from what I've gathered I would think that it would depend on conditions your fishing. For example, 6s and 8s are the more popular sizes for most hairwing patterns for east coast salmon, especially when fishing low water or when targeting smaller fish. When the water is up a lot of the same patterns are used but in larger sizes. If your tying these for chrome, since that particular fly is one of the more popular patterns, why not tie a couple of each size. I personally find 8s and smaller a bugger to tie, with the small hooks it always takes me a few flies to get the proportions right.

I've had great luck myself and have heard nothing but good things about the Sage repair department; they'll take good care of you. My understanding is that if the rod is a relatively recent rod that you can definitely get a new tip without having to wait too long but, since you don't have the broken part they might charge you for a spare tip which I think costs a bit.. but they may not. Give em a call.

I did some more casting today and I'm getting better with it. The problems I was having, as you suspected, we're largely technique related. I was doing a bunch of things wrong not to mention trying to cast 90 degrees from shore with next to no water behind me. After watching some Henrick videos and practicing a bit I'm getting the hang out it. What a feeling when everything gels, it feels like I'm firing a laser gun. Regarding the leader length, I've read that 1.5 X the rod length is optimal. Does this rule also apply when fishing with versis/polys as well, or just with straight mono leaders?

To my scandi brothers, I finally got a Scandi head for my switch (Z-5110, 11 foot 5 weight); I ended up going with the Airflo 270 grain compact scandi and a miracle braid running line. This setup cast beautifully, however, I'm wondering what would be the optimal leader setup for fishing streamers with this particular rod and line. I tried a 65 grain fast sink versi leader I had on hand (10 feet and 65 grains) with a few feet of 3x to an unweighted streamer, I couldn't get it to pick up the leader nicely on the forward cast and it would dump instead of laying out nicely. I should mention that the setup did work nice in places where I could put more line behind me, but I was half over handing, not very pretty or practical when I usually have to fish from shore or can only wade out a few feet with trees right behind me in the spots I've been fishing lately, most of these places are tidal still waters, narrow beeches with sharp drop offs a few feet out. Should I try a lighter versi leader or something something completely different? I'm not sure if I need shorter and heavier or be trying a lighter leader that will pick up more easily, maybe cut a few feet off the back of the leader I have?. I'm hoping that made some sense. C

Go for it! I got a 5 weight switch and dig it. Make sure to do some research and seek some experienced advice on how to best line your particular rod for the fishing you want to do before buying a line(s); switches can be tricky to line.

What gets me is that they don't plow many of the secondary roads after it snows in Calgary. I've lived in the NW for three years and many of the streets turn into sheets of glass from packed down snow. It's sometimes like this for days. Where I'm from out east every single road gets plowed every time it snows.

Great, will give it a go this week. thanks!

One more quick question. For the welded splice is it necessary to do welded loops first and then weld them together or can I just taper the two ends butt them up and weld em?

I also liked the part about Steelhead striking short. Last summer I lost fish two nice fish to short strikes (sight fishing), I'm hoping stingers will help this. The show with Aaron Jasper on that site is also good. He's got some great info regarding nymph rig design.

Great discussion about rigging stingers here, play button is at bottom of page, fast forward to 47 minutes and listen till about 52 mins: http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com/speakers...lani-waller.cfm

Brand new vid, I'm not sure it's even out yet. These are some lucky dudes! http://vimeo.com/3074182

Shrimp Cascade

Curious what size hooks everyone is using for their trout stingers? I stumbled across some Mustad 92567R #4's today, they look like they'll do the trick great, but too big for Bow trout?

The Deranged Parrot v1.0

Exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you.