DaveJensen

Shouldn't be any different than overloading any old fly rod, should it? We often cast an 8 line on a 6 @ Fortress. The obvious, general results of overloading are: - Great for distance with less effort if you know how to load and shoot (1 false cast will shoot the entire line if you get the feel) - Not good for finesse, soft landings without a good amount of time to learn the feel. Cheers

(obvious lighthearted intended troll reply here) I was wondering the same thing. This forum must be slipping. Gee, our old board had 38 pgs and over 500 replies in 36 hrs followed by RCMP reports due to personal & property damage threats. You guys need to invite the Outlaw/Eagle and AB Jet Boat Assn in here and sing some Kumbaya. Or not. Gee, maybe it really more enjoyable this way... Cheers

Depends on the material used. I know that the rafts we've used through the years use the glue from Auto Marine downtown. 2 part. As you mentioned that you replaced the valve, I assume you have the tool to unscrew the valve assembly. I don't know that I would use glue in there because once you commit, you've commited to likely never getting it apart. You're better to clean the bead of material on both the in / outside and re-tighten the valve assembly. Any time you do something on the downwind side of air pressure flow, it's destined to fail, and it's also best to not over commit by doing something like glueing it together. Give the cleaning a go, replace the valve assembly as well. Look at Aquabatics for replacement valve assemblies. BTW - the worst is when it's the inner piece that has failed. It takes a little more time to wiggle it out and the new one in. Cheers

Depends on the objective. If it's simply to get line out on the water with little impact and great distance, or for - say for nymphing or streamers - a casting coach is great. If you can already cast 30 feet reasonably well and want to be able to wade up to a rising or sighted fish and have a chance at it, then a day with a wade guide is the way to go. To see the people I've seen come to New Zealand or our brown trout streams here, and rely on casting without the fundamentals of being a good wade fly fisher, it's amazing. Anyone who can cast a 30 foot straight line and mend reasonably well should be able to have a good chance at every single trout encountered. If you don't have that kind of confidence on the water, I'd spend time with a wade guide to get the fundamentals of good wade fishing. A good guide focusses on the parameters the guest hopes to acheive. Numbers of fish are nice, but a mature guide is able to share so much more. There are several very good ones about, but you'll need to sus out the differences for what you're looking for.

Not to continue the hijack... I've never understood the reasoning behind a shorter rod for in tight situations either. I use 9' rods for Stauffer, hell-a-creeks everywhere. I've never been on a creek where a 9' rod won't work - at worst change the approach and positioning, and simply bow & arrow cast or dap in tight with the longer rod. A bow & arrow dap cast will be good within 20' of the fish, which is more than plenty if your approach is good. I don't know of any stream in Alberta that has a willow/alder canopy that you can cast under. The upper Mataura or mid Taieri in NZ might allow for side arm casting under the willow canopy, but I've honestly found tower and reach casts the most advantageous on Stauffer-like streams and a 9 footer allows for a lot of maneuvering. 9', 4wt, mid flex Helios for me. Formerly 8'8" G series Scott in 4wt, mid to full flex. The wt, length, flex point, and energy to flex are all equally important in developing a feel that works for you. Once you factor in your casting stroke, line speed in different situations, etc, you'll gain more appreciation of exactly what you are really after. And yes, dt vs wf lines do make a difference, as well as who makes the line (materials used, taper dynamics, suppleness of line, etc) as these will be quite different and do different things for you in various situations.

Lynn - Phil & I were there for 11:30 am, where were you? Huh?

On the west coast of the s isl of New Zealand one fine day this year, the small town we were in got 590mm of rain in 20 hrs. I kept a gif of the rain guage because I simply couldn't believe it. That's about 26". The local river went up 14 feet vertically. We were also fishing another stream the next day, which tells you how well that country handles volumes of water. It's quite common to get into 3, 4, or 5 week weather patterns there where fronts roll through every 24 to 36 hrs and each one dumps 150 to 600mm of rain. Not a New Zealand fan? How about the perpetual howling winds of Argentina or the highland plateaus of S America? There's no Holy Grail. Whatever the weather, we must weather the weather, whether we want to or not.

123-A - Always put boat plugs into hole. (can't tell you how many times up at Fortress I've done the face palm...)

Got ours @ McBain here in Red Deer because the staff are consistent (same people for the past 10+ yrs) and we know that they will have the product or know how to get the product, and know what you are trying to accomplish and make good suggestions. The staff are also well trained and well versed in PK, and good communicators. The price aspect is within reason of other places to know that by spending $50 more here or there you know that you are going to get good stuff, be well taken care of, and get a little more info than other places. We don't spend a lot of time in the store (we're not groupies by any means) but when we do go there, it's always very positive. We've heard other McBain stores are similar. Cheers

The fish spooked soon after Mitch got snagged. As you could tell from the vid it was a little put off by the line hanging in the grasses, moving somewhat sideways. Actually, I have a better vid with Mitch that shows the 'that's mine', and it is an amazing thing. But you'll have to wait for that one. Mitch, you should tell them about my self beaching brown in that other wee stream. There are only 2 fish from this whole trip I wished could have been on vid. That was one. Only 3 days left on this 3 month trip. We're headed out now. Cheers.

Ayr - the cicadas in NZ are amazing right now. After this unsettled bit of weather settles down it'll be back at it and carry through early April. Scroll through our blog (signature) to see some shots of the last little while. I missed a 13+ lb fish today. It was cycling, looked at the fly for 15 to 20 sec on a painfully slow drift - the kind it hangs at your fly and drifts with it - and then kept going. Pretty cool when a huge fish hangs inches from your fly in flat water for that long. I certainly wasn't expecting even that much attention in the location I was fishing - so close to the hwy.

Hands up who didn't see this coming... Hmmmm... it’s gonna be like that, eh? Even though I’m here on the other side of the planet, I still have a computer and internet to go along with a video camera. Let’s see if I can dig out some raw footage of someone fishing a little earlier in our trip here... let’s see how he makes out... what should I title this video??? Ah, I know... Click here if the movie does not play. I don’t know if I see the wisdom poking the dude with the video camera. How’s that for pokey thing? I can’t recall though... did I even get a cast near my fish before it spooked? Some of them were a wee silly, esp those at the top end that the cows watched you work. The coolest spring creek I know of. Haven’t been back since you left either – don’t know why. Amazing bit of water with 6 to 9 pounders every 75m in gin clear water. And the effort getting to that bit of water was a little over the top. 300mm of rain on Sunday here out west... or 130kmh winds and dry out east. Pick your poison.

Neat vids. I think Dean's brown would've eaten that rainbow for a mid day snack though.

I saw this on facebook and without commenting at all I'd like to encourage whomever is spearheading the petition to make sure that you run this past a couple of fisheries techs in gov that are aware/involved of the issues on those water bodies, who might be in favor of this. He/she will help with wording and required background so there are no obvious holes, from a gov perspective, forcing you to go backwards or, worse, back to the drawing board with no recognition of any validity. Also, there absolutely has to be a way for gov to be able to spot check contacts on the petition - if those signing it can't be contacted to ensure they did take part, those names are ignored. Just trying to be helpful to ensure this is set up properly from the get go, as the background work will go a long way in determining its success. Please take no offense, the way this has been set up is suspect in some regards - I'm simply trying to be encouraging. My intentions are good, just short and to the point as I'm still out of country. Cheers

Just looking beyond the occurrence with wider scale perspective... The irony for me is the title of the thread. It isn't a big river. If you fly over it, it's simply a little ribbon on the landscape tied to a massive landbase of people. The ribbon of car traffic on hwy #2 is much larger. Those same people that use the river every day. In fall, winter and spring, there is precious little space to spread out and call 'ours'. There's inherent irony embedded in this post - the fact that someone feels a part of the fly fishing community to express something negative that happened, that he'll feel connected and supported, if not commiserated with by its members. The irony is that the community supporting him is, to some degree, fostering additional participation in the sport and growing the problem. The rod breaking is unfortunate. Negative interaction is unfortunate. However, it is part of what we are called on in society to own for ourselves, to realize that in every part of our life, we are at conflict with something or someone, at every moment in our lives. The fallacy perpetuated by the outdoor lifestyle is that everything is wonderful and everyone can have 'theirs'. We can't. But we buy into the fairy tale that we perpetuate in our minds. Does anyone here have a mind's eye dream of a perfect fly fishing moment where there are 10 strangers beside you on the water? The myth we play out in our head at some point has to connect to reality for us to be functional in reality. Eventually, if we repeat the same exercise often, to gain a data set that shows a trend, if we can admit to ourselves that certain things are going to happen if we take part in that activity, we have to pay attention to the data set. We also ultimately have to observe, own, and accept how it affects us, then own our feelings and response to it. We are no rulers of any water. There are hundreds of others who daily use the resource for the same experience in the same finite amount of space. Each of us wants 'ours'. There's your inherent conflict. What psychological state does it reflect to continue to do the same activity, be subjected to or initiate the same conflicts, and expect things to turn in our favor? At what point do we observe what is happening, how the evolution is impacting the activity, be honest about our personalities, and make an honest effort to change how we perceive and deal with the conflict? At what point do we accept the data set that says "this is the way it is", and recognize that with or without us, that conflict is always going to be there, and accept it? At what point do we not let such a simple reality not impact our life, that we can enjoy the day, regardless of what others are or aren't doing? At what point do we adjust our expectations accordingly? We can pine for how things were. Those days and ways are never coming back, and the memories of days gone by are also muddled by the same mind's eye fairy tale that told us it has always been wonderful. It wasn't and never will be perfect like we remember. It's one thing to reflect and learn, it's another to impose or project, add to the conflict or demand the world behave the way we want it to. Nature doesn't respond that way. It rarely favours anyone. It is simply up to us individually how we wish to act, react, and interact in each of these moments. Of course, we can interact to hope for a better future by chatting with people we perceive to be infringing upon us, to hope they see it our way. Sharing why etiquette is what it is to us - should be a good, positive thing. But each of us is only one of 300K fishers with a perspective of what etiquette is. These are just some of the thoughts and observations I made along the ride at our old forum, and continue seeing to this day on various forums. Cheers

Good for them. It's completely legal. Isn't it wonderful that the fishing opportunity exists? Uh... Until the RDR Fisheries Mgt Plan is updated and a new set of regs/rules, etc is implemented that's exactly how you have to look at this. The RDR FMP is supposed to be a working, evolving tool, to be updated every 5 years as the river changes. It was last looked at in 1994. I had personal, verbal, and email assurances from Vance Buchwold 4 of the past 5 years, to me personally and to the local and Alberta Chapters of TU that the RDR FMP would be reopened. I'm frustrated on this issue and need to get support to force the gov to do their job. Yes, at some point it looks like we'll have to get a campaign together for it. We're sitting on a unique brown trout fishery and an excellent walleye fishery. Of course, if common sense takes over, you wouldn't legally be fishing the upper 5km of the tailwater this time of the year anyway. If brown #s are sensitive and whitefish #s are down, as studies show, wouldn't a proper FMP implement protection of the primary spawning areas? I'll email / call Vance again before we leave for NZ and see where things are at.

It's my experience that these types of topics at this time of year tend to go this way. But what would I know? I guess I do have a few data points in a few data sets on the original & related topics that allow me to extrapolate into this discussion. Of course, I suppose that statement also had something to do with the original post...

One scene of the males chasing each other around from last fall to open this vid, otherwise here's some footage we put together from this last week out west. Funny, haven't had a rod in hand on these streams in 7 visits now. Just out for some vid. Oh, and it's much clearer hitting the HD button too. Cheers Dave & Amelia

Try guiding on it. It is a timing thing, and very few people have the time nor patience to wait for the right opportunity and try to force their will and timing on the river, only to be disapointed. There are much, much easier rivers to fish. But, if you have the time to learn it and then take the river as it it comes, fish it when it makes sense to, it's not too hard. Once on the rise they're some of the easiest big browns you'll encounter, honestly. Of course, if you hit a bad rhythm of timing the river, you might not see a rising trout for a week. Once you get to know it and time your fishing, you might see 15 or 20 risers on a float. But there's way too many variables on the river for instant ease of consistent success. Cheers

Definitely a rainbow. Some locals call them yellow fin rainbows, but not sure if this is accepted or classified by sci standards. When I was 6 yr old I fished a creek on the fam's property with them in it, and everything I looked at (which was a very narrow reference field) said it had to be a golden trout. I wanted it to be, but alas, it wasn't. Just the mighty, tiny, yellow fin rainbow. Cheers

The Chaba will be higher by noon each day this week. The forecast is hot weather and the crossing will be up in to the trees by 2pm on hot days. If I was hiking, I would stay somewhere close to the trailhead, like Sunwapta Resort, and start at 6am. The crossing is tough due to glacial melt 6 miles upstream and the fact that you can't see 6" into it - and you'll freeze your feet off quickly (again - glacier's 6mi upstream!). The fishing this weekend vs Sept long is about the same for those hiking in and camping, essentially. In fairness to us, and just to clarify other posts in the thread, we do rent pontoon boats for hike in campers (of which there have been less than 30 this year). We can't rent power boats to non guests for liability reasons, but are allowed to rent pontoons, which we now do. And we introduced a great all inclusive rate for hikers to stay at our retreat this year, which has been positively received. Please don't leave any garbage - on the ground or in the bear poles. The sites are only priodically maintained and we'd hate to see one person's garbage impact another's experience. The amount of garbage left at the 2 east end sites the past 2 years has been incredible, and most users (85+%) are from Alberta. No accusations to anyone here, we're just asking people to take ownership and pack all garbage out and to tell their friends to as well as, again, the primitive sites are only periodically maintained. It's a wonderful location, stunning scenery, and we simply encourage users to keep it that way for the next people! Cheers!

Hi, I know we all love fishing the Bow and are in a rush to get out fishing and enjoy our time. I finally got to Policeman's for the first time in a while here last weekend. If I had known that the parking lot was going to be as full of garbage as it is, I would have gone to the store and bought a pair of gloves and a box of Glad heavy duty garden bags before hand. Honestly, I was shocked that there is that much garbage there, that the garbage can was over flowing the way it was, that the back area was so full of garbage as well. It's such a nice area and it's a shame it's not getting the attention it deserves. Having said that, I won't be there to do it for a while. Could someone take 2 - 3 hours of your time to clean up that parking lot? Thanks.

Clearly the guide and fisherman in the boat were in the wrong, for having a boat that close and casting where it was obvious not to. The guide and fisherman each have responsibility there. Your hostile reaction perpetrated hours later on a forum, well, now, that's yours to own. Is anyone right coming out of the incident now that you've typed this? The psychological take on why each of you acted as you did in the moment or later because of it is interesting. Just wanted to reply to the above statement with some perspective. Amelia & I own a couple relatively successful companies. The last thing we do is post photos of every single fisher that comes through. Why? Simple - we respect our guests' privacy and seldom show them publicly. Guiding isn't all about who's pumping more fish, bigger fish, who's busier, etc. More to it for us, however - there are very few artistic photos taken with a guest holding a fish- and few opportunities that are fair to the fish. The guest is generally too excited to hold a fish properly to get a quality, somewhat artistic photo. Sure, grip and grins are nice shots every once in a while, but isn't there more to it than that? I know a lot of guides won't agree with the assessment of there being 'more to it than that', favoring the pomp of marketing vs what the moment means to the guest and further what the photo means to sales. In the end, would I rather have simpler photos of our fishing on our site that are done somewhat artistically, or filled with a bunch of grip and grins in which case a fish might not have fared so well? Just hoping to add differing perspective. Cheers

If I may interject (somewhat strongly and passionately as I've cursed my way through a few boats). We've run a variety of inflatables on various rivers. These are just our observations... The Star rafts - sure look good and sure can hold a lot of weight and that rowing frame looks nice. We had 2 rafts with the same frame that were almost identical to that. The frame - if I could have thrown it away you could have had it. Wide, heavy, thick, with an unnatural stroke. The rafts are heavy because the floor is heavy. Sure, you can have a beefcake of a boat that you can take through any water, but my goodness, I had to take time off from rowing after a couple months. And that's back 3 years when I benched 400#. The heavier the boat, the more material, the more the drag, the less you'll hold to fish, and the more you'll curse. Since getting rid of those boats I've had no need to pump iron. The NRS is ok, a good boat, and lighter, but still... the self bailing is nice but the extra material in the self bailing floor adds weight and drag. It could be better. I'd still take one though. Pontoon boats are good but the rowing system on almost everything I've seen lacks beefcake to really dig - row - and hold, unless you spend bigger $ to get a 2 man something - and you might as well buy a kit drift boat for $2500 (seriously a good option as they're smaller, lighter, drift nicely and can be used on lakes). Now, the one inflatable that really stands out is a bucket boat. Our 12'6" Odyssey has been flown in, dragged in, bounced off and abused for 12 years now. It has just a regular floor. The frame was a simple rowing frame of aluminum with Carlise oars. If the boat truly is just you and/or your wife, I'd recommend tracking one down. It's the most maneuverable boat, light, holds beautifully, etc. If I could pick one boat to row 1 person down any river, anywhere, save class 5 rapids, and know I'll do so safely, this is the boat. A friend bought one with a frame at Mad River Sports (I think) down in Montana a few years back and while the Odyssey raft co has bounced in ownership through the years, it remains a good boat. The one I held on to is 12 yrs old and I bet has at least another 5 years left on it, and it has not been treated nicely - to say the least. We pd $1500 for the boat +$550 for the frame and oars. All that and I haven't tried some of those newer, narrower rafts used on the Elk. Maybe those might work for you? Again, just a few thoughts of various folks - and me - that have rowed our/other boats. Cheers

General Alberta river trout - first 24" is 4lb. Each inch thereafter = 1lb. 9 lbs = 29" for the Bow. Works well for many waters, actually. Hope that helps. Cheers