DonAndersen

Let's get it back to the O&G industry. Some facts: * approx. 60% of any major operation is wages. * in 1970 I was part of a start up crew for a major gas plant >250mmcf/d * I made $9500 that year *a gas sold t for $0.21/mcf * today gas sells @ $4.00/mcf and has reached peaks of $10.00 A little math says that 4.00/.21= 19.05 Or wages for the same job today should be 9500*19.05= $181,000 But the job pays about $90,000. Meaning that the wage % in operating costs are a lot less. Wrote a sack of AFE's in my time - never wrote one where the payback was greater than 1 year. No point is wasting the ink. regards all, Don

This is crap - what no guns - I wanta gun - you can't kill grizzlies fast enough with Honda - you need a gun. I'm disgusted. I wanta gun, Hunters have guns - why aren't hunters killing these Grizzly things. And to keep things on the straight and narrow - Grizzlies are the top of the food chain. They keep the ever increasing hoards of waffle stompers, latte suckers, Goretex clad "wilderness" wanderers under control.. Don

Castuserraticus says "So Don - What do you think the royalties should be? Maybe we should be like Norway where the average well produces 8000 Bbl/d and the government takes 80%. That would kill 100% of the industry. What is the unemployment level you want to see?" So Cast..... Alberta has grown from 2>3.5 million over the past 15 years with an employment rate exceeding 96%. So there is a drop in energy prices and the employment numbers go to 8%. Last time the oil prices tanked from $35 to under $10, 85,000 Albertans hit the bricks and this was with a population of under 2.5 million. This time was a drop in the bucket. Nobody suggested a give away of the citizens resources then - why now?. I do get a kick out of Stelmach being the goat in all of this. Like it was his fault that the currency traders were diving outta US bucks and into oil ramping it up to double and then diving out again. Just 'cause Stelmack aint from Calgary doesn't make him all bad. catch ya' Don

Get ready the "competitive review" is to show up today and demonstrate how other provinces are giving away their resources cheaper than Alberta. I wonder how bad the shareholder of these resources are going to get screwed this time And as a brief aside, Oil Companies have been whining about royalties in Alberta since . . . . . . you ready for this 1929...... and the song has never changed. Kinda like mosquitoes except we can't slap 'em. regards all, Don

Guys, Was lurking around Stauffer Creek today and took a picture of a Early Black Stone Body length barely 3/8" long. Overall length maybe 1/2" long. Sorry for the mangled appearance of the bug. Picking one of these up isn't easy. To imitate one of these nymphs might just be impossible. catch ya' Don

OLD MAN CAREY. (Old male, 70-something) Claims that the “Red Carey” was his original fly. Smells like most of the neck hackle. Always asks to use the bathroom and stays for exactly 20 minutes. Has a Hardy reel that the whole shop drools over, and he insists on “split cane and silk lines.” ANNUAL FISHING DAYS = None That Old Man Carey sounds like someone we have the pleasure of frequenting this forum, except he probably has 200 days/yr and a constant grip about Calgary, the Bow River and Urban dwellers. Hey OLD MAN CAREY sounds kinda like me. Like cane rods, driving on the Deerfoot, decent Scotch, the scream of a Hardy and miss the smell of sewage [bow}. But I only fish 120 days/year. Thank God - I don't ice fish. Ice is for whiskey - poor whiskey. catch ya' Don

Oh darn, Here I thought you knew - Alberta is already owned by the 'mericans. We just pay rent. Don

Folks, Saw this gal on TV [gasp]. She makes sense. http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/ catch ya' Don

Gee PGK, Are you looking for a job with the ACA that bad? Look up the large grant monies and see where they go. Your ACA education would be complete. For the years I looked over I found that they had spent $2800 on habitat of the millions allocated. Not drunk and certainly not AFG ASSoc. just disgusted with the ACA's direction. And your are right - Fishermen and hunters are cheap. That is the reason that many of us support programs like Streamwatch. Don

Guys, The ACA was handed a program of exclusion fencing in Alberta on a number of major stream to protect the habitat. What did they do, shut down about 1/2 of the program and barely look after the rest. And as far as where fishermen/hunters money goes - check out the ACA studies of pine trees, moths, dicky birds & slugs. All of which are really important to F&W. The ACA was flawed from the beginning. They do research that no pays attention to. Do recall as decent project that was done in the Swan Hills are when about 3/4's of the creeks had bridges/Culverts that did not confrom to DFO or Dept. of En. regs. What's been do so far - NOTHING. The ACA looks @ things but provides or does nothing about the questions after they have been asked & answered. Don

Jack, Gotta agree that enforcement is what it is about. Still, BC has @ least made the attempt of doing "something". What I find shocking is that perch are discovered in a BC lake and 1 year later, they are removed. Unlike Alberta where we are still waiting for some action after 30 years. Like we live in 2 different worlds. And don't blame Govt cut backs or other BS - all it takes is

See what happens when a Govt gives a crap!!!

I'm not a single fly kinda guy. This is just one of three chironomid boxes. Over-kill - depends on where you go and how you fish. Some tying notes: 1] Notice Mustad C068 hooks. Have landed fish + 6 lbs. on #16's - tough hook - only thing close is TMC 2457 2] Bodies are all protected with one coat of super glue + multiple coats of Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails 3] Thread for ribs is twisted prior to application 4] Herl is used for some heads. 5] Gills are nearly impossible with 1.5 mm beads 6] Gill materials are various things - Super Fly, Antron, Oral B Floss

InvermereAngler, Will take some individual shots in the morning + recipe. tallieho, No static bags on these guys - just 4>6 coats of Sally's Hansen's Hard as Nails. Started on some more static bags this PM. catch ya' Don

God do I hate those tiny BC chironomids. Got enough for the early season opener done. All on Mustad C68 #14's & #16's. All but a couple with tungsten beads for those fish that seem to be feeding @ +20'. Been laid up for a while so got time to do some tying.

bhurt, I've watched the organized programs effect my kids & grand-kids. Certainly lots of organized stuff. But I get back to my original observation - other than organized play, I hardly seen any kids @ either the playgrounds to the east/north/south of us unless they are accompanied by parents. About this time of year when I was a kid a 22, a can of beans, a knife and some matches and I was gone for the whole day. I'd suspect that if you treated a kid like that today - somebody or other would be howling child abuse. regards, Don

fish4trout, You angling for a rise? Don

Had to go out and get groceries and paid attention to where I saw kids. There was a bunch @ the community outdoor rink. Cars everywhere. Suspect Mom/Dad brought them. Are arena parking lot was full. Public skate rarely happens. The swimming pool parking lot was about 3/4's full. But there wasn't a kid to be seen except @ skating rink. Not a kid on the street anywhere. Not a kid with skates stuffed on his hockey stick, not a kid pulling a sled - not a kid anywhere. Maybe we got a breeding problem up this way. No kids being born. What really scares me - kids are not outside - outside people develop some sense of nature. Sure I see kids outside - most spring evenings the school ground is full of soccer players playing a supervised game with one or more parents in attendance. But I never see a kid just kicking the ball around for their own amusement. Scary stuff!!! Don

Folks, It's been a long time since I've seen kids outside playing by themselves. Used to see kids all the time 10 years ago. Where did they all go? Don't see kids playing road hockey, sliding @ the school ground and on and on. Are they all playing electronic games? regards, Don

For whatever it's worth. People who assemble rod components get paid very poorly. Below is a work-up of most of the components not including shop materials, wrapping station et al from a component supplier on the west coast. Sage 9'0" 6 wt. Model 690 Z Axis = $417.60 American Tackle cork handle c/w wood trim = $ 38.00 Reel Seat of Nickel Silver = $52.00 Pac Bay Nickel reel seat = $47.00 Struble reel seat = $62.00 Pac Bay guide set $12.00 Snake Brand Guide set $ 18.20 Finishes and Glue $20.00 Rod Bag = $14.00 Alunimun Tube = $35.00 Give or take about $600 without shipping or labor. Unless these guys get a real deal on parts, anything less than $ 800.00 is a steal. Takes about 4>5 hours to assemble the components. That doesn't include the assembler ordering/stocking/client contact/work area et al. Be aware though, snake guides are worth what you pay for them. Pac Bay's are $.51 each whereas Snake Brand and H&H are $1.35>1.50 each. catch ya' Don

Fly Tiers are just further down the evolutionary chain. First there are cheap fishermen then comes cheap fly tiers. Gotta remember, fly tying is about saving money. catch ya' Don

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_srUfXnYLpc

ladystrange, The question is not stupid or silly. 1] Fish can die at from minutes to hours after being hooked. 2] Takes 1>4 days for dead fish to bloat & float depending on water temperature 3] There are 2 kinds of "tired" - lactic acid is the killer. A fish that is fought for a lonng time has a build up of lactic acid that might kill it hours later. A fish that is landed and released quickly has little build up of lactic acid resulting in a much better chance of survival. 4] Wounded fish [ gill hook for example] may swim erratically catching the attention of fish eating birds etc. 5] Survival rate in warmer water drops dramatically from 0>1% in cool water to >7% in warmer water. 6] Some die - tis too bad but it happens. regards, Don

Trailhead, Like you, I'm leery of stats. Still, we need something to go on. I found the below site that seems to give a decent clue. I used 3% for resident anglers. Maybe it's low - maybe high. Don Mortalities in Trout Caused by Gear Type and Angler-Induced Stress http://afsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1577/154...BG%3E2.0.CO%3B2 THURSTON DOTSON Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, Yellowstone River Trout Hatchery, Big Timber, Montana 59011 Abstract Mortalities of hooked and released trout were measured at four Montana state hatcheries in 1978. At Yellowstone River Trout Hatchery, cutthroat trout (Salmo clarki) caught by single-barbless, single-barbed, and barbed treble hooks and landed rapidly showed no significant mortalities. At Washoe Park Trout Hatchery, Big Springs Trout Hatchery, and Bluewater Springs Trout Hatchery, rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) caught and returned to water of five different temperatures (47-61 F) showed mortalities that increased from 0 to 8.6% with increasing water temperatures. All fish in temperature-related tests were played to exhaustion before release.