DonAndersen

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

Folks, It sure isn't biological and your bad casting is more of a learning tool for you. As far as I can see, the only reason for barbless is not destroying the look of the fish. I caught an elderly cut outta the livingstone a couple of years ago with a broken jaw, one eye missing, both mandibles gone. This fish was really beat up. With barbless, some if not all the damage wouldn't have happened. After all we go it pretty places to fish, perhaps we want to catch pretty fish. FF is mostly about esthetics, there are a lot of ways to catch to catch fish easier. Are not pretty fish part of it. Don

Grinr, Be careful with chironomids - they breed. I now carry more chironomids than stream flies. With the huge diversity in sizes and colours a large selection is required. Depending on location, I've fished chironomids from over an inch in length to less than 1/4". And the colours - that experimentation will go on forever. The UV ones shown are a new experiment based on Reed Curry's work. See http://www.overmywaders.com/index.php?home Be aware, the flat water fishing is a whole new challenge requiring more expensive gear, on board electronics, a small selection of boats and the like. Mind you, there are those that troll Stimulators and do well on Stillwater Don

Snuffy, I own a Tacoma c/w topper. I chose the Raider Vagabound because the height of the topper doesn't exceed the cab height. My 2007 Tacoma barely gets into my garage with a 7' door opening. I have roof racks on the truck where I carry my pontoon boat. With my setup, I have about an inch of clearance. Another thing to consider when purchasing a topper. It it suitable for rood racks? Some toppers have goofy little windows where the rack pads need to be located. Catch ya' Don

Grinr, This is what I understand. Presently Alberta, unlike some other provinces, is not yet in full control of the fisheries resources. Any. Changes to acts/regulations have to be vetted by the Feds. Good thing or bad thing depends on the beliefs of the respective Govts. Do remember though why the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans were in Alberta. A Federal judge found that Alberta had demonstrated that they could not obey not only Provincial but Federal statutes and ordered the Feds. In to clean up the place. Of course, over the past few years, the Dept. has been gutted c/w a complete gutting to Fed. Environmental & Fishery Acts. Seems like the Provnce & Feds. Are now aligned. And no - this is not a late April Fools Joke! Don

And continuing along with the lake flies, I tied some micro-leeches

Been working on my lake stuff as well and added some UV ribbed stuff to one of the boxex. They are the ones with the blue cast

And I've rebuilding my floating patterns and did some of these. The CFF [ one hundred fish fly]. Uses macrame yarn for wing and tail. peacock for a body and a crappy brown hackle that completes the patteern but is not needed.

Playing with Boobies Generally I hate spongy/synthetic boobies but for fishing I make an exception. After watching Brian Chan @ a lake near Kamloops fish these things and do well + listen to him talk about thier effectiveness in the program he presented in Edmonton last winter, I had to crank out some. Unlike the Brits who fish these things like Power Bait, Brian tosses them out, lets them settle a little bit and retrieves quite quickly. His method, unlike the Brits. method results no deep throat hookups which means fish release is very easy. The Brit. method generally meant that the fish were hooked deep in the throat making release near impossbile. regards, Don

Black is where it's at. . . . . . . . Do I win ? And if I win, I must share that the smell of breathable waders cause me puke often. You better be wading wet. Don

Monger, What I found in fishing some of these "tougher" waters, I got my butt handed to me. I either got better or the fishing ( catching) was poor. Challenging fisheries are learning experiences although I must admit they do cause hair loss/incoherent mumbling & nervous ticks. Don

Monger, In heavily fished waters, fish learn! They learn that large ugly balls followed by a rip of the lips means they should move away from large ugly balls. Certainly there is a lot of fish that don't learn quite as well or the water is faster/deeper where fish are not effected. For Stillwater guys, I suspect that fish are not as badly effected. There are few still waters that are as heavily fished as some of the following water in Alberta. For that reason, I tend to use more subdued colours often smaller in size. Fish even learn that some dry flys are " heap bad medicine". Regards, Don