DonAndersen

RileyS, There was a reference to the kill if I recall correctly in the April 2013 Fisheries Roundable Minutes. The reference mentioned talking to John Tchir of ESRD in Rocky. For some reason the documents have been removed from the Govt website. Regards, Don

Taco, The pictures showed only whitefish although commentator mentioned a very large fish which could have been either a bull or a laker. The program is apparently being funded by Transalta who opened the flood gates in Minnikanka for the first time in many years. The generator located @ highway #1 was being flooded and it looks like they needed to dump the water somewhere. The generator is being repaired which means the flood gates will close stranding the fish and ultimately killing them. Transalta is being "really good" with dams after a rumoured brown trout kill below the Brazeau dam. The kill info is being kept really quiet. No idea why. Little info is available. Don

Roast, The nearest formal gathering of bamboo builders occurs in the Kamloops area every two years. The gathering is open to builders and very few users as it is normally over-subscribed. I usually get my invitation near Xmas. If you are still interested, let me know and I'll get your contact info to the convenors. I have 4 Para 15's that are used regularly for lake fishing. If you are interested in casting them, give me shout. Parabolic tapes are liked by many, cussed by few. A friend calls them "butt swingers" which perfectly describes the action. Regards, Don

Lepages regular contact cement. Most hardware stores carry it. Do not get other types of contact cement - the glue is miscible in water.http://www.lepageproducts.com/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=90 Don

Roast says " I personally have been gravitating towards slower rods and recently purchased a bamboo blank that I just finished wrapping out. Just casting it on the lawn, I'm amazed at the feel and how effortless casting is. I started fishing with graphite, I hadn't tried anything else until now." I'm pleased that you have discovered how easy cane is to use. Glass rods are great as well. Enjoy your journey in the non-graphite world. Be warned though. Unlike the couple of graphite rod companies, there were/are thousands of cane builders all making rods of various tapers. Lot more choices. Don

Random camping is the only way for a lot of folks to camp. The trailers etc of today will not fit into the campgrounds built 40 years ago. The campgrounds spots are just plain too small. Further, the govt is shutting down campgrounds all over the place. Why? It appears like few use them. Why should I pay >$20/day for a spot where there are rules regarding behaviour when I can camp wherever I want with no rules or payment. Good God people - this is Alberta - we don't want to pay for anything and we certainly are enforced to death...... Or so I have been told by most everyone! Don

BlkAnt, Chironomids work well on whites - use them under a bobber. Microleechs and very small jigs both presented under a bobber are just the medicine for perch. Whitefish in the summer are tough to release. Takes quite a while for them to recover. Catch 'ya, Don

Folks, This arrived today. Note: 1] the areas 2] voluntary.

Guys, My thanks for all the pointers to beers here and there. I do know that Bigrock does provide brewing efforts to a whole whack of companies.. But a confession is in order. I'm not a beer drinker! For many years I was forced to drink Sicks [ well named ] Pilsner Beer brewed in Lethbridge. Well it did the job but left the drinker full of suds and C02. So after i discovered whiskey, beer became a thing of a former life. Well a family thing opened my eyes. One member liked dark beers and Uncle Ben brewed Dark Wolf. Damn it was good but Uncle Ben disappeared and the search was on. Bigrock Traditional was as close as I could find. I have few criteria on beer. 1] It must be brewed in Alberta - that helps pay my taxes unlike BUD. 2] it must be a dark full flavoured beer 3] it must be unpasturized thereby preserving the Vitamin B and allowing me to drink to good health. Now cost is not important. The Doc says 1 beer/day so I'm thinking it better be a good 'un. Now @ a 1/day limit, I don't have enought time left to get to all the good ones. Frankly, keep the Trads coming and I'm content. And with that and all the high water, I'm going pike fishing. regards, Don

Now all you Calgreeians! I just spent an overnighter in Calgree and went for lunch Sunday @ Earls on 16th and supper @ Joeys on Barlow. And dammit it all - neither of them carried Bigrock Trad. Now they had swill from the west coast > east coast but not a drop an Alberta Beer. Even the lodge where my wife and I stay @ near Lake Louise didn't stock Alberta beer. What's wrong with this? Isn't there anyone in Calgree proud of the best beer brewed - anywhere! Catch ya' Don

Jerry N, I've got a Scadden Escape as a backup boat. I travel a lot and carry spares for nearly everything including boats. The Escape, like most frameless styles, uses an oar lock system that might not last long under heavy use. For the occasional user, it might last well but I tend to wear things out through use. My present pontoon is composed of many parts as each of them wore out. The seat and rear storage bags are Bucks, the oars and frame are from Outcast 9 IR, the main storage bags are Scadden, the tubes were built for me by a fellow in Red Deer. The boat just ordered is a Outcast 900. I will continue to use all the existing parts except for the tubes which will be switched to the new Outcast tubes. I frankly don't like aluminum frames after I and the guys I fish with broke three aluminum frames. As i use a pontoon <> 90 days a year, things break. The Escape boat has a pitiful foot rest and is impossible to use with fins. The oars are very thin and will probably break under heavy use. I've only used Bucks, Outcast parts and Scadden Escapes and therefore have no experience with other manufacturers. Regards, Don

Fish... I just ordered a replacement for my 8' pontoon. Ordered another 8'er. I use my pontoon all over the place and have ran most rivers from the Blackstone>St. Mary's in a 8'er. While conventional wisdom says extreme rocker is best, what this means applies only to maneuverability but if you drop nose first in a bog hole with 10" of water in it, extreme rocker means you will whack the river bottom hard. As far as the Bow, it can be floated on a couple of beer coolers. Don

Guys, I was to be the presenter on issues facing Alberta. Unfortunately, life and some heart got in the way. Hoping that I'll get an opportunity to address some of the issues this fall. Regards, Don

Folks, An "e" mag from the UK with some North American flavour. Free too! http://eat-sleep-fish.co.uk/ Read some of it today. By in large good reading. The stuff from Europe is neat. Regards, Don

Guys, Brian had a "special" marabou colour that he used. Several of who saw it tossed multiple dots of red back and forth who had all been Photshoped to change shades slightly. When we got close we turned our best tier loose with the dyes. He came up with a close approximation. The hook is a c49s # 12. Bead is gold. Thread is red. Flashabou accent is red. No lead. Gold wire wrap. See my previous post on page #8 for picture Regards, Don

Chad.. Listened closely when Brian Chan talked about micro leeches. He told us @ the Edmonton FF semiar last winter of his success with red micros. His flies work. Regards, Don

But aren't cuts a tad lazy everywhere. Kinda like catching walleye. Don

There are a number of lakes in the eastern parts of Alberta where these cuts. would work. Certainly increase the angling opportunities. Tyrell Lake south of Lethbridge was an example SRD used. Many other alkaline lakes are around. Just think - going east to catch cuts. over 5 lbs. Don

Guys, Selection of stud material is a compromised between hardness and grab. Aluminum is soft but grabs the best. Stainless is somewhat harder and grabs less well Carboloy studs grab least of all but wear great. If I was concerned about falling a box of aluminum screws runs <> $0.02/screw. And somewhere amongst the junk, I have a pr. Of corkers booties. Make me an offer! Don

More than 15 years ago a friend Ron from BC attempted to get me to fish the Dean River for steelhead. And I refused year after year telling him that investing 10 days into a wild goose chase was a poor use of my limited vacation days. And then along came retirement 11 years ago and a phone call in mid-Febuarary from Ron saying he needed $700. Well, Ron if he needs $700 - he needs $700. Then he springs it on me. The $700 was the downpayment required to hold a seat with the Totems for a week on the Dean. Then the planning began. Tying and plotting but I had no rod of the type needed. Sure I've got some Orvis and Sage 8 wts. but I wanted to fish bamboo. Ron then springs on me - why don't you fish a rod I have. He went along to explain that John Bokstrom had built for his best friend Bill Young a rod just for fishing steelhead and I could borrow it. But the story doens't end there. Ron has acquired the rod from Bill's widow. So now it's passing to me. The best part, John, Bill, Ron and I are all friends. So the "Friends Rod" rod went fishing for a week. Likely the last time it will get wet for a while as Ron is into the Spey thing. At any rate, the rod accounted for 7 to the beach. There is probably no better way to honor friendship. regards, Don

Chadalli.. The red micro leech got me this one the other day. A decent trout of <>5 lbs. regards, Don

Eagle.. Made my own. Works much like the one posted. If was fancy - oak and all. But the first time I made dubbing strips I used a 3/8" variable speed drill c/w a bent nail in the jaws for a motor for the first try. A 4" long board c/w a couple of nails -one @ each end to wrap the wire around works just fine. Worth the effort - not hardly. Gotta tie a lof of bugs to make the toy work the cost. Don

Dave, Yes or no was all that was required. Don

Folks, Stumbled in this online book in a British web site. Thought it might be at least for some of us a good way to spend a snowy day. http://www.flyforums.co.uk/general-fly-fishing-discussion/286625-con.html Regards, Don

Clive, As I said - elderly cut. I did catch a cut outta the N. Ram that had a Floy tag in the trout which was installed 8 years previously in a 15" fish. This cut was <>10 years old. If one could transpose a similar situation to the Livingstone, the trout may also been 10+ years old which is well within the barbed era. And Dave Jensen - You must live in some kind of economic bubble few of us experience! Just where is the money to come from for the research you ballyoo about? You - not likely. And even if research is done - is there any evidence the Govt will change direction. You, like a lot of folks are under the mistaken belief that Govts are responsible. The group @ the Red Deer meeting reflected the same attitude. By the way - where were you? Not that you were missed a whole lot. I'd thought by your endless ramblings about the Red Deer River, you'd be front and centre. And if you are such a believer in research are you NOW intending to make sure your clients disinfect their gear to make sure they do not pack diseases into our province. And no Dave - I or others have no desire to read several pages of personal attacks on me that resulted when I asked you the same question a number of years ago. Well Dave - Yes or No. And as far as Guide Rules- I've asked the same question of a number of guiding outfits as to whether or not they have their clients disinfect their gear so they will not pack diseases into Alberta To a man the result was "I can't ask my clients to do that". My response goes - "keep them outta here". Don