DonAndersen

Hi, I need help sorting through some questions with regard to an analysis of the water quality on Stauffer Creek. I have contacted AGAT labs to do the analysis and they are reluctant to point me in any direction due to conflict of interest. I have attempted to solicit help from an Environmental Consulting firm, U of L Prof, Dept. of En. and on and on. This attempt to get help with the analysis selection has taken about 2 months. Not that I haven't tried but all of them either were busy or declined with regrets. I need to get the samples caught in the next 3>4 days prior to field run-off commencing. Who am I: I'm Don Andersen, co-Habitat Chairman of the Central Alberta Chapter of Trout Unlimited. What is the North Raven River: It is a reasonably large spring creek located north of Caroline Alberta that flows SE towards to the Red Deer River. It has one tributary stream [ Carr Creek] that flows heavily in the spring run-off and barely flows the rest of the year unless there is a lot of rain. The drainage area for Carr Creek is about a township in size and is mostly a mixed farm area. There are no large industrial sites. The land is normally used for cattle grazing or hay production. What is the concern with the creek: The creek provincially important and was the first Buck for Wildlife project in Alberta. The riparian area was protected by exclusion fencing allowing the stream to rebound from it's former shabbiness caused by agree-business abuse. The population of fish is sampled on a 10 year increment and over the past 2 samplings, not only the number but the bio-mass has declined. See population information here: http://www.ab-conservation.com/Sport_Fish_...h_Raven_River_1 973-2005.pdf What has been done so far: 1] The Dept. of environment sampled the creek @ their normal sampling point @ the Highway # 54 bridge. The samples were mostly of the "domestic" type. I can provide the sampling results from the Dept. 2] A insect sampling was done by myself and 2 others last summer to determine number of aquatics insects. The sampling showed a decrease on both numbers and weight of the insects the downstream of the Carr Creek confluence. I can provide a document describing the testing. What remains to be done: A several water samples should be done looking @ some of the potential causes of the fish and invertebrate decline. The samples would look @ hydrocarbons, BETX and pesticides. The pesticides I'm looking at are: Sevin, 24D, MCPA, & PICLORAM. Can the pesticides be combined into one test called Phenoxy Acid Herbicides? I envision catching a series of samples during the next several months to see if the fish/invertebrate declines are caused by a chemical problem. I have funding for the analysis generously provided by TU Edmonton. Would you consent to help me select which tests I need to do? Please contact me through this site via personal message or email. regards, Don Andersen

and from the best "sig" line I've seen comes the quote: "Some people go to church and think about fishing and some people go fishing and think about God" Don

Guys, With all the comments about everyones favorite place, thought I best post mine. The Toilet Bow!! Or as it's known as a "World Class Fishery!! Don

Weedy1, Is that @ the church or the Alberta legislature blgd? Don't wanta get lost on my way. Can't reinforce the notion of those that figure I've been lost for some time. Don

ricinus, It's great seeing a CDN company doing well in the face of the junk coming out of China. There always seems to a decent market for good tools. I know what you mean about customer relations with Lee Valley. Had the hots @ one time to try a wood sole plane and they had three in their catalogue. Wrote them [this was before the email stuff but slightly after Pony Express] and described what I wanted to do with the plane and which one would they recommend. Curiously, they recommended the cheaper plane. It was only $40 @ that time and I was prepared for the expensive one @ $165. Makes you wonder how many businesses would recommend their least expensive product. After that, they got my business whenever I needed tools Len Lee did a sharpening program @ the Calgary store just after the book was written. Great guy. The slide show from that web link is a very good one. I know how long it takes to put one together. I have one on PP that I've used for speaking engagements. Only took 6 months of picture taking and editing. Every day my wife would take more photos as the rod went through the process of construction. From all the photos, I got about 1/2 hour of Power Point. Hope you enjoyed the site. It's a dandy. catch ya' Don

ricinus, Gotta a kick outta seeing made in Canada tools on the site. His planes were Stanley and Record, both made by Record of the UK. The measurement tools I couldn't see clear enough. And Lee Valley it is. A CDN company started by a guy from Sask. while working in Ottawa. Can't imagine a woodworker or wood craftsman of any type not drooling over their catalogues. catch ya' Don

Guys/Gals, Here is a site that unfortunately in in Italian. But the pictures say it all. While he uses some tools & techniques I don't, you will get the general idea of the construction techniques. And for all you hawkeyed folks out there, how many CDN made tools is he using and where are they available? For those that can't sit still for 10 minutes or so, this site isn't for you. http://upon-bamboo-fly-fishing-rods-and-re...s/slideshow.swf Don

Flytyer, Gotta agree with ya'. The first picture kept me chuckling for an hour while grocery shopping. The other side about sums up the last 37 years. catch ya' Don

For rent: A Louisville slugger with MANNERS stencilled on the side. Ignore the blood and hair. Doesn't slow down the swing. Used occasionally on the Crow. Don

Guys/Gals, Spotted @ a local church this morning. And on the opposite side we have this: catch ya' Don

LoneFisher, I like SAD. Finally a malady that effects us all. I've ducked and ran from PMS most of my life and finally I get a kick @ the cat and you want to cure it. You can forget that. I wanta be pissed off. It's revenge. PLUS, it certainly separates those you want to spend some quality fishing time with to those you don't. SAD, the human filter. BRING IT ON!!! Don

L2K, I Steelhead fish some and what I've found is that flies come in 2 broad categories. Bright & Dark. Tied some orange/pink/lime things - forget the rotating eyeballs, exotic feathers, horns, tags and all that crap. Glob on some bright colored marabou. Ya got it. As for the dark ones - globs of black marabou work fine. Maybe a black sparse hackle if your so inclined. The reason that there are so many steelhead patterns is that there are few steelhead and they get exalted to levels as being hard to catch. Fresh fish are stupid. They are designed to eat everything that moves. Doesn't matter what. Fish that have been in the river and caught a number of times get tougher. Egg patterns and stone fly nymphs work just fine. Make sure that you check the regs for the water you intend to fish. FF only means no external weights & no indicators. And lastly, be prepared to be skunked. For weeks @ a time. As there are so few fish, your chances of success are quite low. Still, there are some. Winter fish tend to be loggy although ever now and then one does get wired. The first few I caught, I might as well be fishing for walleye. Then one on the Cowichan changed all that. Ran a sack of line off, jumped and tossed the hook. Then I was hooked. have fun - you've set yourself on a tough trail, Don

I report poachers a lot. So far, 80% have drove pickups, all were white, all male, 1 with small children not a Wong among 'em. Don

OK - well, I weighed some of my lines. Got tedious once I past 20. Here are the results. Process: 1] All lines had only 30’ weighted 2] Scale used is a RCBS Model 502 Scale that is used to measure rifle powder to 1/10 of a grain. 3] All measurements were taken indoors. 4] AFTMA = American Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Association 5] All lines were used except where noted Manufacture Model Line Wt. Sample weight AFTMA standard AFTMA tolerance Sci Ang Mastery DT2F 82.5 80 74>86 Cortland 444 DT3F 99.5 100 94>106 “ 444 DT4F 122 120 114>126 “ 444 DT5F 144.5 140 134>146 Cortland 444 DT5F 132 140 134>146 Sci. Ang. Mastery DT5F 135.5 140 134>146 Air Flo Nymph tip WF5F 162.5 140 134>146 Sci. Ang. Unknown WF5F/S 153.5 140 134>146 “ 444SL DT6F [new] 159 160 152>168 “ 444SL DT6F 154 160 152>168 “ Clear Cameo WF6I 154 160 152>168 “ 444 WF6S rate4 172.5 160 152>168 “ 444 WF6F [new] 159.5 160 152>168 Cortland 444 WF6S rate6 165.5 160 152>168 Unknown WF6I Neutral density 186.5 160 152>168 Air Flo Slow glass WF6/7 183 160 152>168 Teeny WF- sink 20’ tip 153 Sci. Ang. Steelhead WF7F/S –10’tip 179.8 185 177>193 Sci. Ang. Steelhead WF7F/S –10’tip 189.5 185 177>193 Sc. Ang. Unknown WF7F 191.5 185 177>193 Cortland 444 DT8F 199.5 210 202>218 And what does this mean. Well, Air Flo is a tad heavy. Cortland sinking lines may or may not match box label. So for the Commonsense Method - choosing a fly line just got harder. What must be born in mind is that I have none of the "new" taper lines companies are bringing out. Be aware though, from what I read, is that they are NOT conforming to the AFTMA standards making your matching of line>rod even more a crap shoot. As you can see, most of my lines are Cortland 444's. I like 'em. Back to the basement for more testing. regards, Don

Be careful out there. Flotation devices made in the USA and overseas may not and probably are not approved for use in Canada. But you are SAVED! Here's your chance to get better equipment, made in Canada, approved for Canada and sold in Canada. Of course, you can use them in the US. CDN standards are higher. No surprise there. There are 2 suspender types built in Canada. Nautilus and Mustang - both are DOT approved for use in Canada. Both are available in CDN stores. Wholesale, Fishin Hole and Canadian Tire sells one or the other. See for Nautilus: http://nautilusbyprotexion.com/Catalogues/...Eng%207to14.pdf See Mustang: http://www.mustangsurvival.com/products/category.php?t=1 I have one of each. Both are good. The Nautilus is mine, the Mustang is my wife's. catch ya' Don

Headed to my friendly Google and punched in "Builders" - the plastic boys piled outta the woodwork. Plugged in "makers" and there was the cane guys. My apologies to all assemblers, Apparently Google believes you are builders. Hot damn, learned something today. Google changed the English language. regards, Don

Guys, read over the information presented @ http://www.common-cents.info/. Here's' my take on the info. What the guy is attempting to determine in the line weight, rod action and frequency of any rod by using methods readily available to all. Has he succeeded. I'm not sure. He introduces both techniques and formula without defining what they are. I've read and reread the stuff and I'm still looking for answers. I have may just plain missed them. Still, if the measurement system works, I'm sure the it would put a lasso around a lot of the subjective opinion on what is meant by slow>fast rods. Took me a while to figure out that limp tips were fast rods. That certainly makes sense after I thought about it for a while. His take on multiple section rods is right on. But what I'm doing now is weighting some of my fly lines. Will post results after the weekend. Then I'll do some rod testing. What should be required reading for all is Tom Kirkman's Editorial on Fly lines. regards, Don

Hydropsyche, Born in Calgary, Lived in Pincher Creek, Raised in Turner Valley, sold our land near Millarville. Am in Rocky now. Tell you anything? Don

Fishietales, See the Blob in a number of Brit. FF mags. as a go to flies. Are there just used on fresh stockies or will they work on real fish? They look a whole lot like fish pellets. Don

Alan, You tried them. How was the pot? The recipe was handed down to me from a guy who survived the 30's. He made his owns wine. He also netted suckers out of Stauffer and canned them. Don

bigbadbrent, You want the most seductive hackle - try hereon. Whack a 1/2 dozen or so and do our fishery a good turn. Do it quietly though. The fish cops just maybe watching. Heron apparently eat well. Just slather them with cheap red wine and boil till the meat falls off the bones. Now to find a use for pelican/loon/ feathers. enjoy, Don

Rainbow, Think that we just best start a new thread titled Commonsense Fishing Rod method. Wouldn't want to leave out the Fishing Rod from the title - specially as there is a Provincial election going on - some might get confused. Don

Lets move the Commonsense discussion to another thread. This discussion could go on for days for those interested in rod actions/line weight/frequency and how most anglers might be lead down the garden path. Read the Commonsense methods - got questions. catch ya' Don

Life continues, Got to go fishing for 2 of the last 3 days. Caught some too!!! Get to dip varnish 2 rods today and perhaps temper one more, read a decent book, ponder why Trojans come in three flavors [dog found a empty box in the yard so I didn't get a taste test], contemplate whether or not I want my ass kissed or for that matter want to ride in a $25,000 jet boat [i generally only lower myself to ride in $40,000 boats], do some more reading on the Commonsense method of determining rod action/line weight and chose a new piece of cane for some butchering and lastly cook supper. Hey guys - relax - February is about over!! catch ya' Don

Steve, The intent of the original post was to separate the BS from the buckwheat. Hence the discussion of rod line weights. The comment of who discerns the taper was mine as I think I'm one of the few that make their own tapers. As far as I know, there are no individual builders of graphite rods in Canada and few in the world. When you acquire a graphite rod, you get what the rod designer believes the rod should cast [if he is honest]. The difference between a person who designs his own taper & translates that into a finished product and the person who assembles equipment provided by others is hours of work. There is no question that both require some level of craftsmanship to complete the job. People assemble rods for several reasons: 1] They think they may save money. 2] They want to install more bling than the manufacturer does on a particular rod. 3] They want to "individualize" their equipment through handle shape, thread work, inlays, reel seat construction and the like. Rod builders have floundered with what is a builder as well. The guy who builds the blank may not & probably didn't construct the ferrules, guides, mined the steel, smelted the aluminum, skin cork trees that he grew in Portugal , cut his own cane from his plantation in China. BUT, what he did do is take the materials and create a blank with his own taper. He had some idea of what he wanted and how to get there. The installation of the rest of the equipment is somewhat secondary to how the rod will cast. And Steve, I have no idea who Fishead is or you for that matter and to deride someone who has attempted to shed some light on the line weight question kinda ticks me a tad - deleted the rest on second thought. Enjoy your February, Don