DonAndersen

nickt, And from the "Rodmakers List" this AM comes: One nice thing about this list is that up until recently it was never used to promote any personal gain in any direct or indirect way. People and there products were recommended to help seekers, not give someone a profit from their sales. People asked rodmaking questions and gave information, advice, answers, and opinions based on their own needs or knowledge. The whole concept as I saw this list was to further the tradition of split bamboo rod making amongst those who could and had, and those who wanted to. I never saw a person on here that wouldn’t share his tapers, ideas, advise, techniques, experiences, and/or anyone else’s that had been publicly posted. It seems like the best makers past and present give the most with their advice and sharing information on this list that others only want to sell you a class. This list and its members are and have been to help each other and I know I have received more help here than I could have bought in any class. Several people have always helped the newbies even if the same question was posted the day before. I really enjoy the list and its members. Let’s promote those who help others with so much valuable information. Where else can you find a person who sells something help you make it yourself and truly support rodmaking and romakers? You could take all the magazines, websites, and lessons, put them in a bucket and this list would still have better makers and information to help others than twice the contents in that bucket. This list is the place for those to learn and carry on the tradition for traditions sake, not a profit or story about tradition. Sorry too much coffee! I’m not opposed to classes or lessons; I’m just saying the true supporters of this tradition rather help you than help themselves. You take this LIST and PowerFibers, and you have every resource a person could want except the hands-on and experience of doing some making yourself. LONG LIVE THE LIST and ITS TRADITION, POWERFIBERS TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Web address is: http://smtp.goldrush.com/mailman/listinfo/rodmakers CDone, Isn't quite that bad yet. Only 1/3 of the way there - to $100,00 this is. catch ya' Don

Dustin & MrBotangles, The Forestry Trunk Road was constructed before my memory. I recall fishing the Livingstone 50+ years ago and it was there from Highwood Junction> the Livingstone then. I suspect that it was constructed about 194? Of course, in some places it was reconstructed several times. The road, for the most part, originally followed the pack trails Forestry used for fire suppression. Later, as cars got bigger/faster/uglier, it was realigned to remove the steeper corners/curves. Sorry, can't give you exact dates. catch ya' Don

nickt, There are several Calgary area guys who have built rods + there is a number of web sites available whose members are good about passing along information + there are videos + a lot of good books. You can pretty well get enough information to get started. Not like 28 years ago when I started to make/build/acquire the tooling for building cane rods. You can buy all the tooling or make most of it - your choice depending on the depth of your wallet. The tooling can be as cheap as $200 CDN to over $!00,000. Have fun with the building. catch ya', Don

Folks, 50 years Don

Folks, Telus has informed me that my old analog telephone will no longer be "supported" after September 2008. In the market for a replacement. Gotta report poachers. I wanta phone!!! No cameras, text messaging, email services, bluetooth [if I had bluetooth - I'd head for the emergency to get my mouth examined], or any other clap-crap or garbage. What's needed - tough -rugged - rechargeable from truck, lottsa power [the analog is 3 watts], external antenna, decent carrying case or belt gizmo, somewhat water resistant. I guess a outdoors/sportmans phone. I know I'm flying in the face of increased and useless technology, but any phone where the instructions for use weigh 20X the weight of the phone ain't for me. Tried emailing Telus but that is about the most useless site there is. Any ideas where I could find such a phone. catch ya' Don

Folks, Based on Lynn's comments - went looking for a "guides" association web site. This is the best that I could do. Is this the only one? Looks like a list of guiding companies. ttp://www.aoaa.ca/members.htm Some years ago I do recall seeing a larger site. regards, Don

Guys/Gals, I'm surprised so far that nobody has brought up the concepts of mitigation and compensation and how it applies to the guiding business. From what I've read on this board and others, there has been conflicts between users on the Bow with the quote "why don't you f*** off - I'm trying to make a living here" about summing up the threads. It would appear that the guides "win" by using the resource and all others "lose" by the presence and activities of the guiding business. OK - fair enough - the guides are trying to make a living. But how does the others owners of the resource get compensated for the loss of their fishing experience due to the increased crowding? And further, it is well established that compensation is only part of the package. Usually some type of mitigation is undertaken as well. Other jurisdictions do it through limiting the number of guides working the water [Mitigate], curtailing non-resource owners activities through limiting permits or charging higher fees[Compensate]. Mitigate is defined as: to cause to be less harmful or painful Compensate: to make an appropriate and usually counterbalancing payment or to offset an error, defect or undesired effect Notes: 1] Alberta has very few miles of very good fishing water. Think @ one time I figured it was less than 80 miles - virtually all guiding activity takes place within that short distance. 2] Nasty court case in Rocky several weeks ago where a fellow held others @ gun point for several hours due to a perceived conflict between the guiding company and resident hunters over a sheep. 3] With very few exceptions, virtually every disease effecting wild stocks of fish and wildlife is brought into Alberta by business activities. regards, Don

Guys/Gals, As long as the "guide" doesn't fish, he/she requires no license but can charge the client upwards of $500/day. Don

Folks, As a bit of background. The Provincial Fisheries Roundtable asked of it's attendees what "hots" they had. The guiding issue was wayyyyyy down the list but on the list it was. Hence the question. As far as guides guiding "friends". I've often wondered how prostitution does it. Could be a friend - or not. So far, looks like an even split with the commy comments coming outta of the woodwork. Is licensing a civil liberties question? regards, Don

Guys/Gals, One of the topics that will come up @ the Provincial Fisheries Roundtable is slated to be whether or not fishing guides be licensed. And if they are licensed, what criteria should be used to acquire a license? A couple of thoughts: * if you license someone, they do have a larger voice in how the resource is managed? * if you don't license someone, they have no voice and are counted with all others * licenses may/could incorporate things like location restrictions, age, insurance coverage & first aid training * licences for guides handling boats may/could require certificate of competency * typical resource exploiters [ oil/gas, coal, wood] pay about 15% of gross income as a "user fee/royalty/stumpage etc" - is this appropriate for fishing guides? * if a license system was set up, who should pay for administration - you & I, the Govt, the license holders et al? * how long should the license be in effect. Yearly, 5 years, quarterly, fishing season only? * should all types of fishing guides be licensed? What about fly in camps, ice fishing guides, horsey outfitters whose wranglers point you @ the creek * could license holders justifiability restrict the public to certain locations if their business is effected. * conversely, should the public, on crowded waters, restrict guides * should guides have to adhere to a higher level of conduct and if so, who develops the ethics for guides * how would a guide and/or a guided operation be identified? * should owners of business who supply guiding services be licensed? Should these license fees be greater that the guide license? Or should the whole question of licensing guides be dumped and the free for all continue? catch ya' Don

Guys, Too bad you missed it. That's the way the fish outta Cow Lake near Rocky looked like before somebody stocked perch. 18 lbs. fish for Alberta. Was great. Don

Where to get yarn for both indicators and flies. The shop lost your address. Would you either contact me or the shop. Thanx, Don

Lone... London, UK See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jh...1/07/dt0701.xml T'aint no CDN who would write an article like that. We can't pat ourselves on the back. It's not CDN!!! Don

Sunday Telegraph Article: Salute to a brave and modest nation By Kevin Myers, The Sunday Telegraph, London Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the region. As always, Canada will bury its dead and the rest of the world, as always, will forget its sacrifice, just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does. It seems that Canada's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid of both its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored. That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent with the United States, and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts. For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions ... it seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved. Yet its purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10% of Canada's entire population of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle. Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, its unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular memory as somehow or other the work of the 'British.' The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attacks. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone. Canada finished the war with the third largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world. The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time. Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign in which the United States had clearly not even participated ... a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has long since abandoned, as it has no notion of a separate Canadian identity. So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality ... unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter, and Dan Aykroyd have, in the popular perception, become American, and Christopher Plummer, British. It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers. Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves (but are unheard by anyone else) that 1% of the world's population has provided 10% of the world's peacekeeping forces. Canadian soldiers in the past half-century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth ... in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties ... from Vietnam to East Timor, from the Sinai to Bosnia. [And the writer doesn't even mention Lester B. Pearson and his role in defusing the Suez Crisis in 1957. Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the selection committee claiming that Pearson had ‘saved the world.' The United Nations Emergency Force was Pearson's creation, and he is considered the father of the modern concept of peacekeeping.] So who today in the United States knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbor has given it in Afghanistan? Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac, Canada repeatedly does honorable things for honorable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honor comes at a high cost. This past year more grieving Canadian families knew that cost all too well.

alhuger, Best as I recall, BC stillwaters do not require barbless hooks. Don Harpes, Never heard of a fly changing angles less it came loose and re-engaged. And I know what you mean , some fish just won't fall off, some fall off readily. Recall a trip into BC were 50 decent [ 2>6 lb.] trout were hooked on barbless - 1/2 disappeared quickly. Next day only 1 of 19 fell off on barbed hooks. Barbless is fish friendly. catch ya' Don

Sirocco, I was there, The total participants were: 2 directors of the ACA the CEO from the ACA 1 field employee of the ACA the regional bio. from SRD 1 local newspaper reporter And me - the only "sportsman" - so I voted for a 1000 % increase in fishing licenses to cover children, the aged and people considering children. Seriously, the whole presentation can be see @ http://www.ab-conservation.com/about_us/Fe...%20-%202007.pdf The question I asked was is the levy increase enough to do the job. Answer from CEO - we need double that today just to do what the ASRD asks of us. And finally, what a waste of money and resources to put on open houses. The AF&G Ass's. whose silly idea the open houses were, should have to foot the bill. catch ya' Don

alhuger, At one time, the fellows who fished for large fish, "bowed" @ the fish when it jumped. Yupe - Bowed. Bowing lowered the rod and the belief was that the weight of the fish falling on the leader would prevent /reduce leader breakage. In today's barbless world, a slack leader means a gone fish. So it kinda depends where you fish. In Alberta, haul on them, in BC flowing water haul on them, in BC stillwater, show respect and bow. Also what has to be considered if whether or not you are using weighted vs unweighted flies. Weighted flies c/w barbless hooks tend to fall out more readily. catch ya' Don

H2O, You point illustrates exactly what does happen. Gasoline prices are holding due to the fact that oil is sold in US $'s. If the CDN $ went to $065 vs 1 again, expect a 40% increase in gas. Don

You guys ever thought of what a Stonefly is: 1] lives under a rock 2] most eat their young 3] shows up only when it's raining & the the river is high 4] Lasts for a day or 2 as an adult 5] generally is black, olive or brown 6] is the biggest but slowest moving of all stream born bugs 7] has the grace of a bowling ball in flight 8] generally clumsy 9] only lives in high concentrations in polluted waters + it's ugly. And you want to display it? Don

Writer1, As far as the US, items bought months ago @ a higher US buck will see huge price increases as the present inventory works it's way through the system. For example a Korean made car bought into the US $'s months ago @ higher US $'s and now sold into Canada benefits cross-border shoppers 2 ways. First the US dollar was higher when bought and they got more bang for the buck. Now with the situation revered big time, the same car sold into Canada is again discounted. Probably as much as 30>40%. But when the US inventory of the product is gone, the excrement will hit the fan. Not so much in Canada, but God help the US consumer. Similarly in Canada, prices are changing daily on a host of things as inventory or public pressure is exerted. Some of our suppliers are changing the prices daily, others as yet have not. Makes life real interesting. What scares the crap outta me is this becomes a run on US currency. EURO's maybe the only "safe" currency. The only thing that might hold that off is military and oil sales/purchases. The US does a lot of business in these areas. Plus the US have few friends out there. Don't think that a lot of the world would cry big tears to see them get theirs. Seems like most folks do like to take a poke now and then @ the BIG GUYS. Of course, you gotta do it under cover of darkness. Not fair - but that is the way it is. catch ya' Don

Guys/Gals, While we get all excited about how much the CDN buck will buy from the US, did you ever consider that fall of the US buck against other currencies. The US buck is down anywhere from 0>30%. That means that the US consumer is now paying a lot more for everything. Real wages have tumbled, imports are more expensive, basically everything the US buys is now more expensive. The average citizen is going to get a real kick in the butt. But not only that, the US economy is in for a adjustment. The quote below illustrates how the US consumer effects things. Further, the high cost of energy [ which cuts across all the markets & population] is adding to the grief. According to CNNMoney, consumer spending accounts for some 70 percent of the US gross domestic product. “So the world economy is leveraged to the US consumer. And the US consumer is leveraged to the hilt,” states the web site. The US economy has switched over the past number of years from a manufacturing nation to one based on information and services. Outsourcing of nearly everything means that US cannot recover quickly as they have less to sell. Raw materials such as steel, oil, and on and on are mostly gone in the US. This will mean the reversal of outsourcing will still make the US made products more expensive than in the past. The increase in the CDN $ is not so much a love of the our currency but a stampede from the US $. Holders of US debt [ primarily Chinese] are looking for somewhere to hide. The US national debt is at an all time high as is consumer debt. The US cannot spend it way out. Further, you can't run a war without going to a war footing. All you do is mortgage the war leaving the National Debt ever higher. And lastly, companies that do manufacture in Canada and sell into the US are now making 30% less in the last 6 months. There will be some effect up here - Na - a BIG effect. Enjoy the brief ride - it's gonna get ugly out there. catch ya' Don

Glenbow, Plunk your money down @ http://www.tucanada.org/TUC_chapter_CentralAlta.php We'll look after it. catch ya' Don

lamponius, What you must remember that the seasons dictate what sizes of flies you use. Fall, winter and early spring, the previous years bugs are small due to water temperatures. As the water warms, the bugs grow in size till they hatch. This applies to caddis and mayflys. As stones maybe 1>2 years in the water, the sizes are larger. Fall, winter, spring use sizes <14. Summer go larger for caddis and mayflies. This also applies in some degree to other aquatic stuff. Midges, which compose upwards of 75% of all trout food, are small in a flowing water environment. Use <16's and more often 20's. catch ya' Don

Birchy, Barry and I fish together some. Hence the stuff. And the name is Andersen. Best be careful or I'll make you fish with a decent rod. Enjoy the book. The sections on the biology of trout distills about 4 years of a degree in a chapter. And for those that don't know, the book is about sold out. If you find a copy, grab it. There may not be another. catch ya' Don

The point is - - watch what you are doing. There are some real hidden costs of cross border shopping. Do recall a guy telling me that he bought a travel trailer out of the states directly from the factory. Saved big bucks. And then he went along to tell me that warranty wouldn't be an issue as there was a dealer within 50 miles. You have to wonder how long the dealer will last if he can't sell his inventory. Cutting off the dealer will cause him to fail. Sure he'd like to reduce prices but the currency thing has been going on for only a month or so & his inventory was purchased over the last year. He's loosing money hand over fist on each sale where he attempts to keep the differential between him and the factory low. Further, the factory will probably fail as well as their dealers disappear. Hopefully he makes it. Wouldn't want to see another business fail. catch ya' Don