DonAndersen

Guys/Gals, The reduction of smaller trout in the Bow maybe a direct result of the floods of 2005. Briefly, most of the spawning on the Bow happens in the tributary streams of the Highwood and Sheep. They were hit hard by the flood. I'd expect a nearly complete wipe out of the 2005 year class of trout. Also, the fish in the tribs. don't go to the Bow till they seem to reach about 10" or so. This may explain the reduction of trout in smaller sizes. This may not be the only explanation. The reduction could be also caused by Big Oil or Global Warming. For Rick, my bet is on Big Oil. catch ya' Don

Din, They look good. The Muddler was tied to represent the Muddler Minnow or Mad Tom which is a sculpin. It was tied unweighted and therefore the amount of deer hair in the head should be lessor than if it was tied to float. The original I have has a very large head using a small amount of deer hair. The Muddler was invented by Don Gapen .For the full story, See http://gapen.com/flys.html#Muddler%20Fly. Don

Islandguy, As you are a shill for a major manufacturer, this is about the response I figured I'd get from you. OK, lets try this. A rod is rated for 30' of line. So how over loaded is it for a 50>80' cast - about 2>4 line weights. You'd best do some reading. Article after article by noted writers in a lot of major US mag. have said much the same thing. Plastic rods are under rated for line size. Sorry if the word plastic offends you - lets just call them Tupperware Rods. And this has nothing to do with any discussion of high>low>med>composite>bamboo rods. It has to do with the ability of the rod manufacturer to suggest the line weight suitable for the rod. If you search the archives on this site, posters after poster has suggested the same thing - overline I own a lot of glass & graphite fly rods. Must be a 12>15 around here somewhere. They, like bamboo, have their place in the fishing world. Don

wtforward, Aren't all weight forwards a little light or short? catch ya' Don

leadhead, Lets try a tad of math here. A 5 weight line for 30' of length weighs 140 grains or 4.67 grs/ft A 6 weight line for 30' of length weighs 160 grains or 5.33 grs./ft A 7 weight line for 30' of length weighs 185 grains or 6.167 grs/ft. A 6 wt. is 20 grains heavier than a 5 weight or about 4.28' less for the same bend in the rod. A 7 wt is 45 grains heavier than a 5 weight or about 7.3' less for the same bend in the rod. So a heavier line just casts a tad shorter, PROVIDING THE ROD MANUFACUTER LISTED THE LINE WEIGHT CORRECTLY - MOST DO NOT. THEY TEND TO UNDER RATE THE ROD TO MAKE DAMN SURE THAT IT WILL CAST 50' W/O EFFORT. The line weight selected by the manufacturer is completely subjective. It's what he says it is. Doesn't mean that you should agree with him. He unlike you, is required to have rods all through the line weight range. If he doesnt have one, I'd suspect, based on published interviews of the rod designers, they'd paste anything on a rod to get a sale. Use the line weight the feels good to you. You cannot over-line any rod and blow it up unless the the rod was faulty to start with or you crunched it somehow. Most anglers over-line their plastic rods. catch ya' Don

Here's a little secret for fishing the lower Lake. Needed is a crib board and a couple of guys. Play crib till the pumps come on. Troll back and forth in the current outlet of the pumps 15 minutes after the time they come on to 1 hour after they shut off. Rest of the time, play crib. Learned 48 years ago. Trout like the mincemeat coming through the pumps. Haven't tried it in years. Haven't been there since they paved the road. Swore I'd never go back. Kept my word. Happy trolling, Don

Looked over the stats and WOW!!!! Only 12% were for offences where the fish population was actually harmed. The the remaining 88% were essentially administrative enforcement - barbed hooks and the like. Strange - I'd thought that there would be more fish killing events. regards, Don

Dogpound, The ACA guy to talk to is Marco Fontana @ 403-851-2208. Apparently the ACA shutdown their fencing program on Dogpound about 3>4 years ago using the buzz word of Stewardship. They expected all the landowners to just adopt all the fence and keep it in shape. Further, they are intending to do the same on all fencing in Alberta. Of course, while they expect "Stewardship" to keep the fences intact, to date they haven't looked to see if the concept worked but they are carrying on with more "Stewardship" plans. The ACA has shutdown about 30% of all fencing in Alberta to this point. The Buck for Wildlife fencing has been installed for 25+ years in a lot of areas and required replacement. Rather than doing that, they opted out. A real positive for the riparian areas of Alberta. But then, the ACA can spend your money on studying moths, dicky birds or bats. All the studies, of course, leading to no action on anything. Am I pissed about the direction ACA has gone - you bet. Don

Folks, Last week the paper in Rocky ran a head line - "zero tolerance" for May Weekend. Today I heard the 35+ officers of various kinds are visiting the Rocky>Sundre Area over the weekend. catch ya' Don

Wayne, A friend of mine swears by the $90.00 Vietnamese boot foot waders sold @ the local lumber yard. He gets 3>400 trips out of them before they require leak repair. He uses divers fins. Feet are always warm. But then, so are mine. We both tossed our neoprene waders in the junk years ago. catch ya' Don

Guys, For about 25 years, I've used diver fins over stocking foot waders. I got a pr. of Force Fins and find them both a trial to put on + they have about 1/3 of the thrust of my diver fins. BUT - there is a plus. The toes of the Force Fins are open allowing me to move my pinkies here and there. I've been getting foot cramps [may be an age thing] the past couple of years and decided to try Force Fins. So far no cramps although I've only been afloat 3 times so far this spring. After the next 50 or so days, I will know which one I'll go with. catch ya' Don

What kind of knot do you guys use on the fly>fly connection. The knot attaching the top nymph to the trailer nymph has got me baffled. With barbless hooks, the knot slips of the hook. Eye>eye means that they don't "flow" in a straight line. Any ideas? Don

ishinhogdaddy, I could have a look @ it. Depending on it's origin, it may not be worth fixing. Send me some pictures. I advertise on this site. Email address is in the web site - click on banner ad. Don

Silver, Got a whole jar full of 4'>10": pieces. Your choice - the ferrule cost will kill ya'. And working on a 6'0" 2 wt. 2 piecer flamed. Should have it ready about July>August depending on weather. Don

Badger, Just a chunk of butt section that gets cut off when the rod is built. Generally build various tools from them. Dubbing picks and rakes are usually don't Out of needles for the picks. Got lots of cane sections. Give them away @ various tying sessions. And thanx for the neat idea. Tried it a number of times on a hook that was stuck into a sponge. Worked fine. Does have a problem though. Made the twist for a right hander. If anyone is going to build another and you are right handed, make sure you get the twist going the right way for you. catch ya' Don

Badger, Got some bike spokes and gave it a shot. Here is what I came up with. Am going to inset a rare earth magnet into the cork for attaching it to this or that. Need to order some magnets from Lee Valley. Mine are either too big or small. The cork was to have it float in case it went swimming. Don

Badger, I have to chose #2 - #1 insults their ability. Kinda like sex - nobody likes to know they are a lousy performer. Of course #2 drags more business in the door. Long as the door doesn't open during fishing season. I'm too busy fishing to work on rods. catch ya' Don

And with the CDN interest in fairness, the National Police force charges a member of the opposition party with a crime from 8 years ago. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/20...rbeil-rcmp.html catch ya' Don

Smitty, I think that the diagrams and flyslinger's reply about says it all. WF & DT's might weight the same, but they may cast a whole of differently. WF's may cast further providing that the rods are properly constructed to load the line with 30' of line through the guides. Most graphite rods need more line out of the tip top to load correctly. If that is the case, the hinge effect of the running line>tip section makes casting tougher. Roll casting with either within the 30' length depends on the taper. Roll casting over 30' with a WF is tougher if the line drops to the running line. Lines by Rio and others do not and roll casting is somewhat easier. You are right, you can get a WF on a reel where a DT won't fit. You'll have to acquire a larger reel. If you think that the line stuff is weird, try designing a rod taper to fit a line where the lines tapers are really weird. I use Cortland DT 444's 'cause the tapers are simple. Then you have a rod purchaser put on a Wulff Tri taper or a front loaded nymph taper on it and he's unhappy 'cause it won't load or he has to increase a line weight or on and on. It's a crap shoot. catch ya' Don

Would you have the National Police Force occupy the office of the Ruling Political Party for 2 days and it wasn't called a coup d’état but an accounting error. Ya' just have to love laid back CDN's. catch ya' Don

Weddy1, Made sure my sig line was attached. Hence the post. catch ya' Don

rickr, WF line are about distance. DT lines are about presentation. Wouldn't ya think that lines <6 wt. are primarily used for presentation of lighter flies @ closer ranges whereas WF's are used to chuck larger flies @ longer distances. There is a host of difference between casting and lobbing flies. In casting flies, the mass of the line is adequate to carry the flies/leader along for the ride. Lobbing is kinda like a weight on the end of a string attached to a broom handle. Kinda like two #2 San Juan worms c/w an indicator the size of a golf ball all lobbed by a 2 weight. catch ya' Don

I'm with Badger! DT's do the job better. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me to pay the same amount for 1/2 a line. And yes, I've got about 20 WF lines - use them for sinking lines. And the silliest thing going has to be <6 weight WF lines that float. catch ya' Don

Cutbow, I build and do repairs. Send note. Don

Badger, That is one neat tool. What OD wire did you use? Stainless? Don