DaveJensen

I'm leery of saying some of this... I trust one or two will understand... But is it improvement if it gets away from what fly fishing is about and is not authentic to what it is hyping? Is it improvement if the hype, quality of film, and editing causes new anglers or the inexperienced to expect sizes/#s, or the experience to be fast paced? Is that authentic? When was the last time you carried a slider, jib, crane, etc to the back country or used a remote control quad-copter to fly your camera over a river? Is it the back country if you are simply pulling off the road and walking 20m into the bush to stage a shot? Is it authentic to fly fishing, to even a destination, if you pick the peak of a mouse year to film such a movie to show what NZ is, then wonder why tourist anglers are flocking to waters and they wind up disenchanted at their lack of success or the fact that they have arrived to find skinny spring/post flood season fish and the next mouse year is 4 or 5 years down the road but nobody told you otherwise? Is that improvement? You can try to separate film/editing quality, but you cannot escape those types of considerations. That's the biggest consideration of films moving forward. Content and film quality is a major concern, but - unlike the ski movie world (save for mtn goat wintering habitat considerations and the like) - we have another edge to our sword that can't be ignored. And man, I wish I had a fraction the talent these folks have in the edit room. Now, that all said, that film is amazing to watch. But NZ is much better in person than you'll ever be impressed upon by film.

Put it between two pieces of heavy cloth/leather. Pound on sidewalk with hammer for about 10 seconds. You'd have enough for a couple seasons. Cheers

I love these threads. It needs jet boats. The best hwy sign we've come across the past few years is appropriate in this thread. Brag away!

Great job. Good on the folks spearheading it. But, and this might make me old school - great for Kyle McNeilly who made the suggestion to go that route for years, and now some folks followed through on the concept. Wonderful. It's great to see that what Kyle had purported is now in place, the 1 over regulation. As Kyle was bang on right about - the only way to keep fish in the water to see what the true potential is, is to have either C&R or a large min size (with no under size allowance) at that specific location. Hopefully the gov will give the fishery at least 15 years to sort through a couple of generations before re-opening discussion on regs. It's the only way to come as close to potential aside from closing it entirely. Once we establish what that potential is over those 15 years we can re-examine what its use and productivity capabilities can be assigned to, if at all.

I love this kind of thread. Back to the young man that asked a question based on his supply and likely allocated funds for fly fishing. I hope the point of what everyone has written is taken as "Give it a go" and you receive it in an encouraging manner. There is a ton of info and knowledge available, but the bottom line is that if you are given something or can only afford `x`, then use it and do your best with it. As a kid, I used what was available - read - whatever my uncle didn`t lock away for safe keeping was fair game. The combination of lines and rods didn`t matter - getting out fishing did. Some set ups are easier to cast than others in some circumstances, but you can cast pretty much anything, any combo of gear. Sometimes it isn`t pretty. I remember using a floating line on a willow branch on the rainbows in BC`s Clearwater R, we arrived at the camp site but the fishing stuff was all in the other car that would arrive the next day. We had a few spare guides and tip eye, as well as the fly tying kit, so we whittled up a rod. What line is a thumb thick willow branch rated for... regardless, we caught a few fish. But this was back in the 70s and we didn`t know we weren`t supposed to under or over line the rod. Bottom line - give it a go, be thankful for what you have, and get the most enjoyment from what you have. Remember, that $900 Helios rod isn`t going to make you cast that much better or enjoy the fishing any more or less. I`d put my ability to enjoy fly fishing with a $49 Mitchell fly rod combo - circa 1970s - against the $3K worth of gear I walk around with today. Cheers

Here's a different perspective. Given the rate of anything actually ever happening between bears and humans, how ridiculously low % that truly is, and given what I now know about ticks and Lyme disease, I'd encourage everyone to spend far more time learning about ticks and Lyme disease and taking steps to prevent it. I got it sharing a hotel room with people with dogs after being on the water for a few days - got a tick on me while sleeping. AJ had one in her bely and 2 other tcks crawling on her in one day, though she luckily and thankfully avoided Lyme. With 20,000 cases in the US each year and having had first hand experience at how it can impact you, I would strongly suggest that the likelihood of Lyme infection and lasting long term impacts of it are FAR more likely than the fear mongering realities of any bear incident. Ticks & Lyme are at least as far north as Rocky Mtn House, having had quite an infestation in the Caroline area last year. And given the lingering tingles and twitches from my experience with it last spring, which is mild compared to most cases, it's something that can be avoided. With what Kathryn Maroun (What A Catch tv show) is going through with Lyme and what I've gone through, and what I've been told about from 3 other people I know, it's something to spend more time educating yourselves about than worrying about being the one angler every 10 yrs to get mauled by a bear, no offense to them or their families - just offering perspective. Sorry for the hi-jack, though this thread's been off on other tangents already. Cheers

Amen to that. As I said to Amelia this week on a rainbow trout river here, if it wasn't for the art of the camera, there's no way I'd be able to fish nearly as much as I do. The other day we landed 25 rainbows, 4 1/2 - 8 lbs on a river - all on dries. On one hand, if the camera had been left in the van we'd likely have caught 50 but doubt we'd pursue that #. On the other hand, if it wasn't for the interest in photos & video and the desire for the different subject matter, angles, artistic expression, etc, I'm not sure we're in New Zealand for 3 months. With photos and video, there's always something different to see and capture and be inspired by, no matter where or when you fish. We'll be here 90 days this year and on the water about 80. The landscape is so diverse and offers so many ecosystems to play in such close proximity. It's not the big fish that drives my heel. But to the vid club at school thought - that's likely the best option for that. It'd be great for a young photographer to get out and work on such a project too.

Just a few things from what I've been able to pick up on and employ - It really depends on your editing style, your audience, where you hope to get to, etc. Are you video content based or editing based? If you want a manic, heavy transitional bit of video with all those fancy edits, Sony Vegas is likely your best PC program. If you are simply trying to do smooth, simple edits, WMM is easy to use and the concepts you learn in it are very much applicable to other programs. The easiest one to use with the most to offer that I've found is Pinnacle, but my goodness is it glitchy once you add in even the simplest of effects or multiple file types from various cameras used along the way. All the vids on our flyfishalberta.com site are simple Pinnacle edits, but those are very simple in our desired style. Besides camera selection - and GoPro or other P&S cams are only good to a point - you really have to plan a lot to get something of value too. Story boards, time lines, cohesion, etc... 3 hrs of raw shot vid might produce 2 - 10 min of vid. We haven't released the projects we've been working on (as in learning, re-learning, hating the learning curve, getting perfectionistic, and - the biggest one - making sure we don't type cast ourselves with the first release). So, the scope of all of those things needs be looked at. And, once you get rolling, how do you catalog, store, and database 5 trips x 3 months per trip to New Zealand, let alone the other stuff along the way... and how will you organize what you use on one project as to avoid needing that footage on another? And of course, what file format are you shooting in, what file format is the editing software compatible with, how will you separate the 30 useable seconds of a 4 minute clip and what file format will you save it in to ensure no quality loss... and will all those things be compatible in tomorrow's world? Just saying. There's waaaay more to it than how 'easy' it all looks. And for 99% of folks... how do you spend that much time on something that is simply costing you $ to do? Again, just sayin'. Go into it with your eyes open to what you want to do! Happy exploring. Cheers

http://www.aquabatics.com/home.php Aquabatics or maybe Auto Marine Hope that helps - both places should have something that would work. Cheers

We were finally able to have a moment to update the blog with some more pics and moments from this trip. Some good fish, some moments in willows, a NW ach sunset, and our favorite beech forest spring creek have been added to the blog. www.flyfishalberta.blogspot.com Cheers!

Haven't updated the blog in some time as the fishing has been rolling down here. But, we're getting a few things together for some blog posts to catch up on some of the fishing. This blog post simply shares an amazing 2 days of dry fly fishing, including one day on what I consider the most beautiful river I've ever fished. Again, hope this is ok as it is simply meant to be a diversion from winter for folks back home (though it sounds like winter isn't happening this year). The link: http://flyfishalberta.blogspot.com/ Cheers

Mitch - we have a 1236 Aulmacraft and the gunnel width is wider than that of those trackers. So, while the base width is important, so too is the gunnel width. A fellow I know bought that 1436 Tracker and hates it - he and his wife and dogs - as it's too tippy. But that's him. AJ & I, however, love the 1236 for the Red Deer, Bow, small lakes. Heck we took it to a bigger lake in WA state and used the 8HP Evinrude on the lake. We did 18mph on the flat calm lake (a 'touch' slower in waves tho!). It hauled ass and we giggled ow nicely too. If you aren't in too much a rush, as I think it's still winter there (wink) come up to Red Deer in the spring and try out our 12' raft and frame as well as the jon. TTYS

Brad - was refering to a previous poster about the auto detailing, not you. I suspect that you have many entertaining tales in your line of work as we do taking care of our guests, just in a different setting. "I do also belive guides work very hard but so do alot of other people, my whole point is that people cry about this and that but at the end of the day it was their choice to be in the feild that they work and no one made them do it." - The understanding of that, that's the whole secret to life, in all areas, ain't it? Now, if we could just all wear pro-active glasses...

It has been an amazing trip. The next update will likely blow many folks away as we fished a few off the chart streams where trout averaged 8 pounds. I have to say that the past 10 days have been likely the best 10 days fly fishing of my life for the scenery, style of fishing, discovery of interesting water, sure some larger fish but more to what they were doing and where they were, and how we simply stumbled onto them by looking for out of the way, smaller, pretty, intimate waters and going with the flow of discovery. Yesterday's earthquake had us rolling on the river bank too. And it's not even a mouse year where trout tend 30 - 50% heavier. It's a trip I wish I could get more folks to join us on. But it's also one with a steep learning curve and one that will tear you apart emotionally.

Brad - paying taxes - how many bus boys pay taxes on tips? I recall working at Maxwell Taylor's on Calgary Tr in Edm back 1988 - 1992 making $300 on Fri & Sat nights. Hauling $500 a weekend in tips 20+ years ago at 16 - 17 years old was pretty good. Was I going to pay taxes? Nope. But, was I looking to buy a house, a new car, etc, things that needed a credit history and a proof of income statement? No. Was I supporting a family? No. Was I concerned that something I did/didn't do was going to possibly impact someone else as a busboy? No. But this wasn't full time, it was in a different age of society when taxes on tips weren't looked at with as much scrutiny as today, etc. When it comes to guiding - some do it with the same mentality and it works for them until they want to buy a house, car, etc, or expand in business with a partenership or buy a lodge, fly shop, etc, where income statements and proof of business comes into play. How many are so short sighted as to not see this or to not see that insurances are vital and the ramifications of not having it are devastating to all involved in things that can happen in this business? I suspect any guide not charging at least $400 a day as a guide is cutting corners somewhere, or has a good off season job that affords them to subsidize their love of guiding. The truth is that a guide association is not going to fix any of the above or curb illegal guiding. Here in NZ, our good friend is a director for F & G as well as the NZFFGA. The NZ guide association is one of the strongest lobbies out there yet Aussie guides run trips non stop, illegally. Can you get insurance coverage if you are doing something illegally? And on and on it goes. Again, and I was thinking of this again yesterday on the water, the main reason that so few guides last 5 years is that it is hard work, you deal with a lot of personalities, the $ aren't great, and the responsibilities for someone else are huge - there's a lot of stress in hosting someone's prized vacation time and making it about them and not about you (as the guide) is very difficult for most people. Add everything up and few people bother to stick it out when it takes 5 to 10 years to finally BUILD UP a business to possibly, finally earn that $35K a year. Remember, there's almost "0" chance you'll make that much in your first 5 years. Likely 1/3 that for the first many. Maybe by year 7 or 8 your income statement will get there, likely longer as depreciation and initial start up capital needs to be in place. Do auto detailers take 7 or 8 years of apprenticeship income to build up to $35K a year?

100% profit. Love it. Any professional guide has to work 30 days just to break even if they are properly insured, has good working gear, boat, vehicle, proper marketing, etc. After that, the profit point is 2/3 of std full guide rate. But that's based upon the $500 / day. Many guides are contract, paid $350 to $425 from the outfitter/shop. Those are the plain, hard facts of guiding. And it's no 200 day season. Run off, big rain, big wind days, cancellations, etc take it down to an honest 100 - 120 day season in Alberta. Which is why, if you do the math, no guide ever makes more than about $35K/yr going full out and doing up sale trips. Sure, hidden in there is you get a few ff type product perks, but those are the realities unless you grow things past the guide stage.

Glad a few folks enjoyed the pics. It is worth the trip, certainly. The fish size - they are bigger than what we have in Ab, yes, but that's on a relative scale. But it's also what you fish and where. We've yet to fish anything bigger than 10m across this trip, and the avg fish is about 4-1/2 lbs. We fished 900m of stream the other day and it took us 6 hrs. We landed about a doz trout and they avg 5lb. The creek was 8 feet across and shroud in willows and I doubt if anyone had fished there in 2 years because the going so hard, grown over, and the ease of nearby waters to fish. Fish a larger back country river and the avg fish is 6lb but there are fewer. Biomass-wise, it's actually similar to Ab, just that the distribution of that biomass is quite different (fewer, bigger fish/km). And learning the how-to, where, and the movements of these fish is fun too - it takes a bit of understanding. The fishing isn't as hard as you're led to believe, but the caveat is that you have to know what's going on and have to be able to execute what needs be done to have consistent success. Once you're dialed in though, it can be cutthroat like. I've caught more successive fish in a row here than I ever did on the Red Deer R, for example.

Hope this is ok here as it is meant to be for folks snow bound back home. Our first NZ trip blog update is up and ripe with photos. It's a little long and involved (too much so to share here) but hopefully provides a brief escape from the off season for some. http://flyfishalberta.blogspot.com/

Sorry, I haven't read this all - a west coast spring creek is calling me as soon as I get off line! Don's got it bang on, but there needs be a bit more - the real question here is: How do you want fisheries managed? Do you want it based on popular vote or science? Popular vote - qualitative "I think it's crowded and I think the river is too busy - and so do my friends and people I know & connect with". Science - quantitative "The data says there is a healthy stock of fish, an advancing/ declining stock, etc. There are X people using that stock." As Don pointed out, and something that I raised (strongly) at the FRT guide lic mtg last year, the commercial side of things is the very last user group, lumped in with netters, etc. Tying into that is the process by which our fisheries is managed. That process is based on science that says there has to be bilogical burden of proof showing impact (this can be +/-), public support, as well as political will. This process is sometimes slow, however, it must be in place to avoid knee jerking. That all said, in essence, to work within the system we have, someone somewhere will have to develop a system within our system that establishes the criteria upon which the trigger is clicked to say "too much use", and the users are curtailed, beginning with guides. Based on that, however, you will not get 100% business/shop/guide support to close off guiding, so this will have to be imposed on guides - so don't look to the guide world to initiate this. Personally, there should be limits to what waters guides should do business but how do we establish that - because guiding is simply business and if you preclude guiding, then shouldn't you then also preclude logging, o&g, ag, etc from the same watershed - and you know that'd fly really well in Ab. Bottom line, this can't be popular / feel vote. There has to be a baseline trigger for the allocation of use established per watershed/type in order to determine when the threshold is crossed. Anyway, the sun is shining and it's time to go hunt a brown here in NZ. Just make sure you think of process, the ramifications of process, and how one decision in one area becomes precedent for unintended outcome/reaction for another. Which is why fish mgt can't be popular vote. Cheers

Firefrog - this is one of situations where a 50 year old fly fisher ultimately acts like a 13 year old boy - "it can't happen to me!". This isn't a slight to everyone who hasn't had Lyme, but man, until you get it, you don't get it... and when you get it and look in hindsight, you kick yourself that you didn't take precautions. It really, really sucks. Hopefully your treatment clears everything up. Make sure you follow the recommendation of treatment a minimum month past the very last symptom's appearance. The amazing thing is that the Canadian medical system says that fewer than 500 cases a year occur in Canada. I know 3 people that have had it this year. I guess we fly fisher types have the market cornered in a niche fraternity! Or, the Canadian medical folks have their heads in the sand. Best of luck and be sure to post updates as you recover.

This is wonderful. Great to hear. Don, if you recall, in a similar thread a year ago, I'd mentioned that the techs and bios were very much monitoring these lakes and treating them as a 'work in progress' and were more than willing to respond to the data collected and provide opportunity for anglers to remain involved. While you were more than willing to jump all over me for not knowing anything, that they weren't doing anything to better the fishery, that the dept is inept, and wanted to argue this point 10 ways to Sunday, it appears that these guys are doing exactly as they said. And that is wonderful. The bigger picture remains - fisheries is an ongoing people management experiment and we have to remain involved and try to foster positive change.

Here's the rub with the Canadian test - it's 40% effective! I feel for you. Lyme can really wreak havoc and I was quite lucky, thanks to an ex-step dad that had me paranoid back in the 70s about Lyme, and I had a great doctor that was willing to have a go without a positive test - what I mean there is that they don't like to do the tests for a min of 6 weeks to allow it to show up but by that time it will disseminate, which is nuts. So, we went ahead and treated it for Lyme per the recommended treatment. The thing about this disease is that once it disseminates into your body, generally in the second generation of spores in month 2, it is far tougher to rid out of your system. I was keenly aware of Lyme, and Amelia & I were frantic about making sure we knew what we were possibly up against. I was also lucky as I had the aggressive co-infection after being bitten and my symptoms came on fast and hard. With that I had it for 6 or 7 weeks until it cleared up. But my God I couldn't touch the lake water at Fortress for doubling over in crying pain - my nervous system was an instant wreck. My whole body tingled. I had night sweats that SOAKED the bed. My headache was unreal. http://flyfishalberta.blogspot.com/2011/06...disease-eh.html Kathryn Maroun of What A Catch tv show is really battling Lyme disease right now too. She's getting treatment in California and has to fly out every couple weeks for treatment. The Canadian medical folks are light years behind on this. Consider that 20,000 cases are confirmed annually in the USA, with an estimated 5 times that number undiagnosed. And the map of the highest concentrations in the USA is along the Canadian border. This past spring there were accounts of high tick numbers with Lyme showing up in Canmore and around the Stauffer area. It is here. Get in touch with the canlyme folks. They can be a godsend. Fewer than 1/2 the folks with Lyme disease ever recall a tick bite. My doctor is Dr Moffat in Red Deer. Maybe he might believe / work with you as he worked so well with me. See if you can get in to talk to him or see if he'd refer you - he knew of a tick specialist. But, there again - the folks at canlyme are really good to work with. If you go on antibiotics, the test will almost certainly come back negative as well. The spores hide themselves quite well. If you go on long term antibiotics, beware the sunburns! I have another friend that I am convinced has Lyme but he's been diagnosed with a series of malladies including chronic fatigue syn. The symptoms list screams Lyme. Reading: http://canlyme.com/2008_October_Burrascano..._guidelines.pdf http://www.ilads.org/files/ILADS_Guidelines.pdf Hope this helps & good luck! Don't take "I don't know" or "Maybe it's something else" or "the test said it was negative" as an answer. Push hard, and when closed doors pop up - follow up with others. It's your health and Lyme is no way to spend your future. Dave

Don, your spreading of misinformation is staggering. This is a PP2 issue. Dam downstream, no other waters above are to be affected. Please, everyone, understand that this is not going to have anything to do with any tribs above the Dickson Dam. Vance is the PP2 bio only and has no dealing with ES2 waters. http://www.mywildalberta.com/Events/Events...dar.aspx?id=793 So that everyone understands, I've literally been the only person to attend every Red Deer Region Fisheries Round Table meetings in pursuit of any kind of protection for the RDR w/f and browns. At these public meetings, 2 other trout people have attended a mtg once. I've tried to get TUC involved in process for the river, however, nobody bothers to show for these mtgs. Through the mtgs the past 8 years, I've finally managed to get Vance to go so far as to try to change the regs to protect the fall spawning season. My goal since day #1 has been to get the RDR Fisheries Management Plan opened for review as it is nearly 20 years old and many facets have changed and need attention. Am I frustrated that it has taken so long to only get this far and that literally nobody else has bothered to pursue this? You bet! In the current proposed regulation change - the idea is simply to afford spawning protection for fall spawners while gov process evolves. Like it or not, we have to deal with gov process. This regulation move is a short term check while Vance begins procedure on the RDR Fisheries Mgt Plan. That process will likely see 3 or 4 years pass before the resulting mgt plan results from process & includes whatever regulation changes come of that process. Would you rather allow the w/f pops decline for 4 more years (min) while process occurs or ensure they are protected so we have some semblance of a population when the FMP comes to be? The fall closure is for the benefit of w/f and browns, and piggy backs onto the spring closure to protect the warm water spp. While we lose 2 months of fishing, we protect a prey spp that is the life blood of the walleye (native spp). There are otters in the area, however, in 1000+ floats I have never seen one. I am sure there are a couple around. For clarification, a 24" brown is as much a top level predator as a 24" walleye. It also utilizes a wider variety of food sources based on availability. The issue of opening the river to walleye retention is valid and one that I raised the past few years at the Red Deer Region Fisheries Round Table meetings. I raised the point out of consideration for other fish users in the river as the walleye pop appears quite healthy. However, this goes back to my 10+ year goal to have the RDR Fisheries Mgt Plan reopened. The idea in the short term is to get fall spawners some protection. Whitefish are one of the top prey spp in the river, and given their populations have fallen way off the map, they need protection. Lower the limit and give them some spawning protection in the short term until the Dept can get process going on the RDR FMP. Otherwise we simply allow continued deterioration of the w/f stocks. Most everyone understands predator - prey relationships. As I've mentioned several times previously, to have the RDR FMP opened for discussion is imperative, as it will provide framework for the river's mgt. Otherwise, we end up in a situation like this, where someone pipes up with no clue about what has been discussed at public meetings, few people bother to be involved, and the resource's mgt get little attention due to higher priority items and a lacking budget. In everyone’s feedback to the current regulation review, I ask that you request of Vance that the RDR Fisheries Management Plan be reviewed ASAP so we can get going with proper management of the resource. Cheers

Time of the year - sometime about Sept 20 (+/-) many mature browns move to spawning grounds on the region's streams. Where many larger (for given waters) fish may have been 1 - 2 weeks earlier, the fish clue in to cooler water and longer shadows and move up to spawn in a lot of instances. There are browns in the James, certainly, but sometimes the 1 to 3 fish in a run might move out this time of the year. If you can find a tiny spring trib to the James or some spring bubbling in a side channel, you'll find 40 - 50 brookies spawning. It's a neat time of the year. Cheers

Harps - great post that might have been missed. Hopefully someone in Calgary / on the Bow will see the light and realize one act like developing such a sign for the common accesses would do very well for the communication and betterment of the community. A great thing that possibly the shuttle companies/ guides/ shops/ TU could work with to ensure the signs are always present as a community service component to their business. In the bigger picture, whatever happened to simply going about one's day and if someone else does something, simply not reacting and not trying to change/educate someone else... simply to carry on enjoying our day and being pleasant when afforded opportunity to interact? None of us are judge and jury, just like Paul's post's points suggest. Why is it the other guy is always wrong when this topic comes up? I've certainly made my mistakes in being over the top and learned from them and certainly have adopted a different approach and perspective. How others act is how others will act and they generally will be oblivious to how they affect others. How we react sets the table for how our day will go. What use is there in ruining your day based on someone else's actions or attitudes? Do we not have the capacity as fly fishers to separate ourselves from that and live happily within ourselves (dare I use the word boundaries?) The Headstones had it right... just smile and wave.