DonAndersen

Sun.. It's 'cause we rarely touch on things that matter like sex, religion, politics or decent beer. Just BS about fishing - that hardly matters. Of course, every now and then, somebody takes a flight of fancy and has a go but boredom sits in within a couple of posts and fishing again takes over. This board is a lot to do about not a lot. Seems to suit our intellect. And for whatever it's worth. Not a lot of bait chuckers or jet sledders here who believe that curtailing their antics is down right Communism. catch ya' Don

Guys, Came by this today. Would be the best thing that poachers ever saw. Of course, it would tend to resolve those guide boat issues on the Bow as well. http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/02/aa-12-automatic.html catch ya' Don

Tups.... The hook is Mustad 79580 - most anything would/could work The posts are 15 lb. clear monofilament and is bent using a heat gun. The mono is attached to a bull clip. The mono is threaded past a nail where the heat is applied. Mono, once it gets hot stays bent after cooling. The beads - whack a 60's broad and steal her head band or visit your local beader. The mono ends are "balled" with a BIC lighter and while still soft, the bead slid into place and a tad of Super Glue is placed on the bead. The thread used is invisible sewing thread over a white thread base on the book. Everything is bonded together with Super Glue. I'm now looking for some green slimy beads. catch ya' Don

Tako, Over here they seem to vary in color. When I made these last spring, all I'd seen the year before were red. This year, olive. Go figure. Still playing with the idea. From what I've read and talked to folks about this bug is that I composes a large food source in the late summer> early fall time frame. Got to get some olive beads and try it again. Thank God we don't have glass worms. catch ya' Don

Mustad 79580 #10 Don

Folks, Still playing with this one. Trying to imitate daphnia.

Big..brent.. says "why the hell does black diamond have a hospital and high river..they're small towns and they're doing fine" The hospital in Black Diamond was built to replace the one opened in the last '20s. The original hospital was located near the banks of the Sheep River SW of Turner Valley 3/4 mile. Guess after 40 years of service it was past time for a replacement. Just how would I know that - wife was born there, my Mother worked there. Schools are fewer all the time. From Millarville>Turner Valley there were 2. The high school where my mother attended is long gone. The North Turner Valley school was shutdown and sold about 45 years ago. It's now a home. School number reduction are a direct result of low energy costs and improved road conditions. Both Turner Valley and Black Diamond are growing due to the "bloat" from Calgary. People looking for a small town atmosphere and willing to drive. catch ya' Don

Guys, For a glimpse of the future, next time you drive down highway #22, you are passing by the following towns/villages: Home Camp, North Turner Valley, Okalta Flats, Decalta Flats, Dogtown, Snob Hill, Townsite, Naptha, Little Chicago, Little New York, Home south camp, and on and on. They used to be towns/villages that existed once - some still do. When the oil/gas ran out - most disappeared. Fewer people live in the Millarville>Longivew area than when I was a kid. Canada is full of resource towns that don't exist anymore. Anyone ever heard of Lilly. Was a coal mining town north of Blairmore - heard that 5,000 people lived there once. Nobody now. What a lot of folks have to figure out is the MAXIMUM number of people are employed is any industry is 10 seconds before the *hit hits the wall. Calgary, you'll be able to buy a whole subdivision for taxes. Such is life. Don

Neil, 1] Land Use - plan forthcoming - we might not like all parts of it but @ least it exists 2] Water - got plan - water for life - again - its flawed - mostly geared to irrigators but they attended the meetings. Where were the rest of us - I didn't see ya'. 3] Farm land destruction. Makes little sense burying some of the best farmland in Alberta under asphalt. Farm land, in the longer term, is all we'll have left. 4] Sustainable agriculture. Over 50% of the top soil is gone between when my grandfather broke the prairie sod and now. While this reduction is slowing, it still exists. Clearly, there is only 6>8" of top soil between me and starving to death. Got to do something about this. 5] The people of Alberta attitude. Purloined from a Trooper song the line goes "We not here for a long time - we're here for a good time". Less this changes we're sunk. And Neil, there are hundred of site specific issues that require attention NOW. Some will be addressed - some not. Such is life. catch ya' Don

Brownstone has got a point. Without Oil/Gas, things will change big time. But they are changing now. Conventional oil/gas is about gone. The oil sands will provide most of the employment. The population of Alberta will gravitate towards the oil sands. Small town Alberta populations will shrink. Towns like Edson, Dayton Valley and Rocky Mountain House, Oyen, Brooks and on and on are going to see a reduction in populations. The populations that remain in those towns will see a profound reduction in wages as unemployment increases. Agri-business/Foresty will not be capable of employing the folks. As far as Oil/Gas providing most of the money. In part this is true - without it, Alberta will become the agrarian community it was about 1940 or so. It was a have not Province. Clearly though, that will not be in our lifetime. The oil sands will continue to provide both employment and tax money to keep the rest of the province going along. The changes to small town Alberta will be slow. People who live there now will be reluctant to leave - I know I'm not going anywhere. But I'm set - got retirement funds. Don't need an oil/gas income any longer. The young folks will be gone though. Ultimately, the populations will be reduced to pre-1960's #'s. Make take 50 years. Even local Govts see the writing on the wall. The County of Clearwater derives 80% of their tax moneys from the energy sector. W/O those taxes, the services will be reduced or the taxes to the residents will increase to off-set the energy taxes. Now how would you like to see your taxes increase 4>5 fold. I gotta agree with Brownstone - it isn't going be pretty. catch ya' Don

Doggonit Weedy, Here you go - shedding light on conjecture and speculation. Don't you have a clue what the Internet is for. Truth - not hardly!!! We're all about rumor, opinion and general BS without a clue of what were talking about. And with that, I, like Clive, am disappearing into the basement and play with my wood fishing poles till the next time we need to feed a rumor. Poof, Don

rickr, You and I both know that nucs are about the simplest process system there is. Add heat, boil water, make steam, run through turbine/gen-set and make electricity. Now isn't that simple. Where it gets hairy is the fuel. That's where all the safe guards kick in - multiple cooling pumps c/w backup power, fail-safe monitoring, containment buildings and on and on in case all the safeguards screw up @ the same time. I'd suspect that the only reason to keep it shutdown was backup power to the coolant pumps was missing. It would hardly be the pumps for the sewage system. And Harps is bang on - fired for doing her job. What BS!! Harper's decision kinda reminds me of Ralphies grasp on public health issues - shoot/shovel & shut-up. catch ya' Don

Hydropsyche, The "right" thing would be to never operate a piece of equipment whose safety standards are compromised. The "right" thing would have fixed it before it became an issue. The "right" thing would have been to fund the retrofits. Don

The failure of the reactor coolant pumps would mean a melt down of the core. If the backup pumps were not operable, the melt down would continue. The containment building would hopefully do it's job. It's not unusual to find safety systems in contravention of new accepted standard thereby requiring retrofits to comply. What is unacceptable is the lack of backup power to the coolant pumps in the original design.. Two uglies happened here: 1] The backup power situation wasn't detected earlier 2] politicians over-rode safety issues catch ya' Don

Guys, Guess my bent nail, 3/8" variable speed drill, a board c/w 2 nails and some wire didn't work for the past 20 years. Now I gotta go and buy a turbo twister. Naw - I'll save my bucks for a sharkskin. catch ya' Don

fisher26, There are 2 more things to consider: 1] nutrient load - there are many springs near the mountains that provide increased nutrient load - hence more bugs and larger fish. The lower Oldman has few of these springs whereas there are several located in Daisy, Vicary and Racehorse that provide higher water quality. Of course, springs are not the only answer. Sometimes it's sewage. Look @ the Crow & Bow. 2] Catch & keep vs C&R. Big ones are dead where folks can get to or where the regulations are poor. catch ya' Don

fishhead, Which shop are you talking about? Frenchies, Simpson & Lee or the combination Fly/Ski shop that was on 17th Ave just west of 14 street. Don't recall Russell's first location - the only one I recall was on 4th St. about 11 Ave. Or maybe Woodwards where I got my first Cortland 333 for 1.5 days pay in 1964. Do recall when I got the first Country Pleasures catalogue. Wasn't sure what it was so I opened it in the basement away from prying eyes. Was surprised by the content. Was hoping for better. catch ya' Don

Din, The web wing flies tend to fall onto their side. Trim the hackle flat with the bottom. They hook and land on thier bellys. I tie a similar bug using Elk hock hair. Don

Weedy1, Got ya' beat. I also was born in Calgary. Only lasted 6 days till the "smarts" kicked in. Mind you, I was raised @ Turner Valley. Close enough that you could see the "glow" from Calgary on a winters night. Did some of our shopping in Calgary. Curiously, I got brainwashed by the Calgary/Edmonton thing. Lasted till both of my kids went to the U of A. Then I realized how bad I'd been taken. There are a lot of good folks from/in/around Edmonton. The same used to be said about Calgary about 500,00 people ago. Used to hunt pheasants & Huns where McKenzie Town is now and whitetails along the river breaks and ducks & geese along the river. Guess that's gone too. And for whoever said Edmonton was a blue collar town. Funny you should mention that. Was asking some folks from Edmonton about their success with outdoor related organizations. One person told me that Edmonton folks were blue collar and doers. He thought that Calgarians might be so used to "buying things" that doing wasn't an option. He may be right after watching TU Calgary's efforts to say nothing of the F&G club and the underwhelming support that clubs like Hook and Hackle provide. Now lets beat up Toronto. catch ya' Don

Trailhead, They already target C. Alberta. OH, the joys of living @ the apex of a triangle with a million to the north, a million to the south and a 1/2 million between of which a goodly portion arrive every long weekend to PARTY!!! The locals camp out in their basements till the action is over. catch ya' Don

CO's - you have to be careful here. During Ralphies gut and chop @ Govt a number of CO's ended up in other depts. The CO's in parks for example. OK - here goes the numbers as best as I can recall - Sundre maybe up to 2 now - were @ one for some time. Rocky usually had 2 - lost them both, had none for a while and I think there is one now, Nordegg had 2 & then it dropped to one where I think it's still @. So there you've got it. Lots of troopers in the field!!! Dr. Char - be careful with the 250 numbers. That may be the whole dept including janitorial & labs. And Fisher26 - Streamwatch in Central Alberta raise the money for the enforcement of Central Alberta. Now if the Calgary guys see the SW of Calgary as important - maybe - just maybe they'll raise the money. catch ya' Don

Guys, Roughness of fly lines ain't new. I have a silk line - small diameter, casts about 15% longer than plastic lines, lasts >20years and cost about $200.00 US. Sure pleased that the plastic line guys are finally figuring out the rough part. Don't fish the silk much - it casts better than I do so I stay with my Cortland 444's. The silk line sure is nice in the south AB winds. Cuts right through them. catch ya' Don

rickr, I don't troll - that's only for those guys with aluminum boats. Don

Calgary Bashing - ya' got to be kidding why it's the Home of the Brave, Land of the Free, where men walk around in high heels and drink drinks with celery in them. Naw, who in the right mind would bash CowTown. But things are looking up - have heard that some of the Northern Lites Fly Tiers [an Edmonton based tying group who shows up @ the Expo every year working with kids] MAY get some help from Calgary residents for the first time. catch ya' Don

Terry, There are 3 types of birds: 1] game birds - grouse, ducks, partridges, geese - you know the ones that enthuse hunters - these you can kill within a legislated season 2] scavenger birds - crows and magpies and depending on whether you own the land or not - ravens - these birds are legal to kill anytime 3] dicky birds - everything else - song birds mostly although owls, hawks, eagles fall into this category - they are illegal to kill. Hope this clears up the dicky bird situation. Don