DonAndersen

Hi, There are several sections of the river that are limited to Fly Fishing only. That means that a lot of the stuff FF types in Alberta use is illegal on these stretches. This includes split shot, floats, indicators, multiple flies and the like. Best check your regs. Also that water is very clear for several miles below the lake. It's deceptively clear. What looks to be 4' deep may be well over 8'. Only take what you need on the trip. Cars are broken into regularly along the river access road. Be prepared for water levels that vary a lot. Some areas that I fished, the water was flowing through the trees. Getting to the main river was impossible. Most of the river is bordered by private lands. Access is an issue. And did I mention that it rains - - - a lot @ that time of year. Cold seething rain. have fun, Don

lad, I stand corrected. About 30>750 % vote depending on which election. Don

Folks, What is neat is that somebody gives a sweet rats ass enough to protest anything. First time I can ever recall seeing active protest in Alberta by folks from Alberta. Does this mean that Alberta is "coming of age"? Or better than that - Harpers assertion that people wanting not to screw up the environmnet are terrorists and these clowns in southern Alberta should be tossed over the nearest border. regards, Don

mattpreat, You saw them - - - - -they saw you - spooked fish don't bite. Will send you PM. Don

jay, Six, five and four sided rods can all be hollowed. There are many ways to do it. I've done some using a scalloped method. Unlike the graphite guys, a lot of cane rod builders are really folks who have not only the time but the $'s to "push" the envelope on rod design. Few of them including myself make much over $10/hour. They don't have to feed their families. So they experiment. If the experiment blows up, so what, they build another. They don't have mag ads bought, fly shops orders processed and on and on. Some graphite guys have gone through rod failures. It isn't pretty. Bamboo rods have been built of 18, 12,8,6,5,4,3,2 strips,some rods have been built with graphite inserted into the butt section, some rods are double built. Others have the power fiber orientation changed. Lots of ways to build a bamboo rod. Further, some bamboo rods have woods of various types incorporated into the rod. What you have to remember is that bamboo rods have been made for <>150 years utilizing a host of ideas. The tubular graphite rod has been around since only 1975. Still some learning to do. Best graphite I ever owned was a Fisher 9' 6 wt. Great rod. Fisher built blanks for Hardy, Winston + a host of others. Unfortunately they are gone. regards, Don

Was cruising some UK sites and found a small shop that actually build their own blanks/rods. Not expensive either Dave Norwich is located here:http://www.davidnorwich.com/Ev2largerimage.htm And for a decent tutorial on how rods are made - click here: So I guess a small shop can build graphite rods. Hot damn!!! Don

Remember how deregulation was going to save you oodles of money. Welcome to Ralph's World. Don

jay... Ya' got me thinking about graphite scrim etc. Was looking for how graphite fibers were actually built. I've heard that it is done of dacron fibers that are burnt in a low 02 atmosphere. Couldn't find anything but did find a lot on graphite rod construction. There is a whole pile of stuff out there about how it's made and what modulus means and on and on. Have a look @ http://rodbuilding.org/read.php?2,156787,page=1 Or for Blank characteristics - spent some time with this one. Tis a eye opener of what modulus means and why it is by in large a marketing tool: Go to http://www.rodbuildingtutorials.com/paperschartstables.htm and look for Papers, chart and tables section where you will find a Blank Characteristics by Emory Harry. Frankly after looking over all this stuff, I'm pleased as all get out that I've never tried or even thought of building my own graphite blanks. There are so many variables. Selection of scrim and prepeg is but one, mandrel taper, resin choice, scrim size and on and on. It would drive me nuts. I think I stay will bamboo. It might be anarchic but @ least I've got some understanding of what the rod will do when I design the taper/glues/finishes,guides et al. And I learned something. A single bamboo culm of which 2 rods are made costs <>$40 delivered or $20 for raw material per rod. Graphite is about <> $40/lb. so a rod should run about $12 for raw materials. I did get a real kick outta the modulus stuff. If you get a very high modulus graphite pole, it have a tendency to break - often - til fragile stuff. Kinda reminds me of Stoner's bamboo tournament rods that were completely hollowed and had very thin side walls. Cast like a cannon but sometimes explosions occurred. Mind you Per Brandin is doing some very neat stuff with hollowed rods today. And with that, you have fun with your plastic whoops graphite/fiberglass/epoxy rods. I'll stick to what i understand. catch ya' Don

jayhad, A tad pokey there. Doesn't bother me a bit. When you get old enough, you'll come around. I started with cane rods about 1956 or so, only took me another 25 years of chasing glass and graphite through various high>low>med>hoop strength>color>faster>longer>on and on to realize I had it right the first time. What is really shameful is that it took 25 years for me to figure it out. Hopefully your time line is shorter. Life to way too short as it is to get stuck on plastic. And jay... the largest freshwater fish every caught have all been caught on bamboo rods. Just saw a sale price on a Payne of $18,000. Wonder if a rod extruded from the butt end of a factory will ever reach that price? And I went fishing today and landed 3 all on bamboo - the plastic people - well they said that caught some. catch ya' Don

Din, A consideration is weight. A 12' typical car topper will run <>120 lbs. whereas a jon could got <>180 lbs. Most roof racks won't carry them. I had a 12' Harourcraft 12' boat for years. Used it on both the Bow and Lakes all over. The Harbourcraft is a lot wider and flatter in the bottom. I had one of the "rounder" bottom styles. Got rid of it quick. Rowed both Jons and car toppers. - not a lot of difference on the Bow. The jons will ship more water. regards, Don

Tallieho, I have no idea about the weight lifting test but here is a video showing several rod tests that no graphite rod would live though. I've tried the rubber hammer test. Ya' know, slam a rubber hammer into the rod a number of times and still flex it. The bamboo rod survived. http://clarksclassicflyrodforum.yuku.com/t...ml#.TwR_TFb1pL4 enjoy - I know I did. Don

Folks, I stole this link from another web site that I occasionally visit. In one link, the author brings together some manufacturers with some of the things they are doing to make rods better. Also, one manufacturer tells the world why rods break. Only one segment talks about that actual installation of parts [handles, guides and the like]. The rest of the link is devoted to how the rods are made and how they can be abused. http://www.theflyfishingforum.com/forums/f...xplanation.html Have fun and it is really worth the time. regards, Don

vhawk12, Sure it's changed - had too. The flaring of 100's of millions of sour gas to recover 10's of bbls of condensate had to stop. The dumping of pure H2S to the atmosphere had to stop and slowed to <>0.5%, the field flaring that went on all over Alberta has about came to an end. But things are changing in the FRAC world. Vertical fracs have been replaced with horizontal fracs utilizing much larger amounts of fluids. Good thing - kinda depends. From a owner of the resource, you bet - get a larger return for investment, for the residents of Alberta - you bet - larger royalty returns but if there is a problem, the local residents lose. Been around a long time. Worked for a company that wanted to drill a sour well NW of Millarville in the high rent district. You outta heard the Oil Execs scream. Hate to tell you - everyone has a back yard. Some folks get their's crapped in. Does the oil industry preform better - certainly. But with oil sands expansion and now heavy reliance on horizontal frac. time will tell if there are issues. Till the issues appear as I'm sure some will, the jury is still out. And I really got a kick outta both the oil sands operators and the Gov't thumping their bird like chests over cleaning up the first settling pond in Albert in Ft. Mc. City Services that morphed to CGOS that morphed to ???? installed the pond in 1960's. Rapidly counting on my fingers, that's only 50 years to get it done. Just for some reading for ya'. How about you count up how many orphan wells exist in Alberta, the cost of abandonment and who is going to pay. Have a fine New Year. regards, Don

Sundance, Oops is kinda right. Worked in oil/gas production from the time I was eleven. Was working shift @ 14. Guess after 45 years, I figure the ground still explodes which has gotta be the stupidest thing you said all year and boy have you piled up a sack full earlier. Fracs will leak as will well heads, surface casings, packers and production casings. Stuff happens and for you to deny it tells the rest of us your experience levels. To deny the leaks does reflect on the credibility of the industry. Honesty counts for something. And an BBT says frac off, Don

Folks, This news article arrived in the local paper. The local SRD Wildlife Biologist wishes anglers help to measure the amount of otters seen in the area. She ID's aerated trout ponds as one gathering spot however I've seen them along some of the streams as well. Many of our trout stream are ice free for some of their lengths all winter. The main Ram, Shunda, Clear Creek, Stauffer Creek, Upper Raven, Prairie Creek and on and on. Each of the open water areas are preferred habitat for fish as well due to water temperatures. Some of these open areas are the primary spawning areas for the stream. Conflicts between fish and otters could certainly exist. In my case, I spend a lot of time around water [ 110>130 days/year fishing in open water]. From 1955>2008 I did not see a single Otter in Alberta. Since then I've seen 17 in various places around Rocky. From 0>>>>> 17 is quite a leap. Let us help her with the count. I apologize for the 3 jpg set-up but couldn't do a scan of the whole article at one time.

fish4trout, See what happens when you use a California based spell checker. Ya get Athabaska rather than Athabasca. It's a conspiracy I tell ya'. Don

Pipes & Sun, Have a fine Xmas, Don

Sun, Have a fine Xmas, Don

Mod, What in the devil is this all about. Near my avatar is the Note: Rainbow Trout. I see others with perch and mayfly and the like. Now if you're going to ID me as a rainbow trout - would you please consider my linage and make it an Athabaska Rainbow. Both the Athabaska's and I are Albertans. Just leaving it as a Rainbow trout suggests a mixed linage of things from California which I'm sure you wouldn't want to accuse anyone of. Don

Toirtis, Talking dirty to them only enhances their grasp of English so that they can apply for Phone Sex Jobs. Obviously a step up. Don

brndawg, You've now identified a whole new class of people who should be excluded from air. Learned a lot about charities when my mom-inlaw was having some real trouble and I was staying with her. They are relentless and uncaring. Picking on someone near 90 with dementia is right up their alley. Bloodsucking leeches. Don

Folks, Wells have been fraced in Alberta since about the 1930's or so, But things are changing with horizontal drills, multiple completions on the same pad and shallow shale wells. Here is an interesting read. Talks about the EPA Wyoming study. I'd first through t that the frac down there was cold bed methane @ very shallow depths. Such is not the case. At any rate, Heavy Duty Fracing is now in Alberta. regards, Don http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/12/19/Fracking-Contamination/

http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?ima...ECIALSPRODUCTS= I use this stuff. Don

BBT, I thought you had already done that - got lots of calls selling toys and plastic girls. Don

birchy, Now that story kinda reminds me of a guy who was getting spam FAXs. He finally found the number where they originated. One Saturday afternoon, he took 3 sheets of paper and taped them into a loop in his FAX machine, dialed the number and pressed send. Well, his FAX machine did - all weekend. Paper and Paper and more paper was sent completely using up all the receivers FAX paper and clogged the FAX memory till it had a service guy call. Solved the FAX problem. Our business used to get spam FAXs. CRTC solved the issue. What is a shame though is that we have to go though the effort to get some piece of mind. Seems wrong somehow where I have to build bigger walls to keep the A$$$hole out. And the worst part - some of the the trouble originated on Ottawa. regards, Don