Hawgstoppah

I had almost the exact same experience. I unknowingly left her full of livingstone sand before a big fish made her sing.... though the one time she didn't sing! It was an awful sound and the death of both clickers... and Islander sent me new ones no questions asked.

signed and shared on FB

One suggestion that may help, try to find a place you can fling a few casts from shore for a while.... and mix that in with wading in your "run" that you want to fish... each time you even start feeling a bit cold step out, walk around get that blood flowing... flick some casts off shore or just walk about a bit warm up and take a look away from the river and take it all in, some great sights to see along the river if we take the time to enjoy them

Happy Easter everyone! Remember to grab those licenses!! Good luck for a great season!!

had one bout of it last year for a couple months with severe headaches mixed in. Prior to that about 10 years ago, same thing. Hang in there man. I found drugs didn't really help me, time healed it. I know that's not what you wanted to hear but it was the truth for me. I did go to acupunture at the reccommendation of a few people and it seemed to help a bit but I think just relaxing and clearing your mind wether on a table in someone's ofice or at home in bed is the same thing. Just put some soft tunes on and veg and think happy thoughts lol. lots of rest...

Well being 2 hours south of town I do not have time or resources to chase those kinds of things down... so I'd need help in that department if that were the case. I can't see why we all just couldn't organize it and go... pick a date, everyone BYOB (bring your own bags) we all have some fun donating our time to the river and have a meet & fish after. We'd need a permit to do something good? seriously?

Maybe we could do douglasdale / fish creek / southland. If we even just got 50 people to get two garbage bags full each let's suppose, we could make a difference right? Maybe we don't need a central collection place we could just let the city know there would be extra bags beside garbage bins in Fish creek park at bankside, 22x launch, and the dog park at southland maybe? Just tossing ideas out there. I think it would be a great day to do some good as well as clean up the river a bit and get to know eachother a bit too.

Well, to each his own then. I won't even start with my own stories then... no sense of getting flack for true stories. Just be prepared out in the woods... some people just for some reason attract or see more animals. I seem to see quite a few. There are some I have never seen that I wish I could too (like Lynx). Oh, by the way, I also attract lightning storms

I'd say he describes an average summer fishing lessor known waters in my neck of the woods, in all honesty. No you won't see a pile of wildlife on the Bow or anywhere near it, compared to ... for example, the Waterton river, where I have had a bear encounter on every single stretch I have fished it (above the res, below the res, park gates MANY times... almost daily there...). So I'd imagine in large part it DOES factor into where you fish most often and if Albertatrout is having those kinds of numbers sighted / experienced I'd say he's fishing around here (SW corner of AB) or if not here, I'd say somewhere similar to it.

Or maybe Police would be best since we'd have some jet boats participating. There seems to be quite a lot of garbage especially upstream from there we could put a dent in it

How does May 12 work for everyone? I think it'd give enough time to plan, and would be a good time with the water still low. BBQ sounds awesome... wonder if we could reserve a spot at Fish Creek Park or we could all just find one of those fire pits that are not occupied and have a huge wiener roast after. I think cleanup from around 8am until 2pm or so would be great, then we eat and go fishing?

Just a little something on the weather network that I thought I would link here, it is relevant about bears coming out of hibernation right now plus gives a good tip... bear spray is totally and 100% useless if it is carried somewhere that takes a few seconds to get to. you need to wear it on your belt in a holster, or don't bother. http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/storm_watch_stories3&stormfile=Practising_bear_safety_25_03_2013?ref=ccbox_weather_topstories

What kind of day would be good for everyone, a weekend date? I am thinking maybe a saturday or a sunday in May? I can try and organize a gathering... BYOB... lol bring your own bags... we'll make a big pile by one of the launches and notify the city or county that it will be there.

If you get hockey laces just don't get Flames branded laces. I hear they fall apart really quick on the road. *sigh* lol

I don't have any specific links to tying patterns, but here would be my box: Bow River Bugger #4-8 Clousers in various size #2-10's ...in black/white... blue/white... dark olive/white... Leeches / Woolly Buggers - black, dark purple, dark green, etc San Juan Golden and brown chennille stonefly Hare's ear... Prince Nymph BWO nymph and dries #16-20 Midge clusters and chironmid (black zebra midge works really well for me some days) Caddis pupae... works REALLY good some warm April days... some of my best spring days ever have been on that fly. Hope that helps give you a start!

I've never done an overnight hike in my life, so I am watching this thread with interest! I'd love to camp up somewhere like Barnaby.... it's on my list.

Hmm, maybe we could get something together? We sort of lost the unity of the streamwatch auctions that I thought pulled this little community of ours together a bit for a good cause, perhaps a couple of large FFC "conclaves" with cleanup and a BBQ and some fishing a couple times a year could take place? We can all bring our own garbage bags, perhaps a few of ya with jet boats wouldn't mind bringing the bags back to a boat launch and we could co-ordinate with the county or city of those times where there would be extra garbage disposal needs. Has anyone organized anything of this size before? I did a couple of small scale cleanups back in the early to mid 2000's where it was just me and a handfull of friends and even clientelle that wanted to come help.

I'd love to know when the clean-up will be organized for this year, and where it will take place. I'd also like to talk to whoever is in charge of organizing this year as I would like to donate a trip to be doled out to a participant in the clean-up. Thanks, Brian

I feel like a total moron commenting every single time you post pics, but I honestly can't help myself. This is ART!! Thanks for making all of our days that much better by sharing it. cheers,

Yes! and I don't have a pontoon and I am scared sh!tless to go shore fishing there now (assuming I am seeing the same critters that have shortened a few days of mine at a particular lake). You were brave enough to snap a pic, I was not. I can only assume this is the same place, though I will not name it becuase you also did not and I respect if you wanted privacy on it. cheers,

How so lad? What do you mean by that? Are you implying that the lot of us are a bunch of dimwits who cannot identify the difference between a grizzly and a black? Anyone who's responded to this thread seems to have quite a bit of backcountry experience in my opinion. Also anyone who know bears KNOWS that blacks can be a lot more dangerous than grizzlies if on the attack. What is the big difference? You'd best not take either for granted, there bears for goodness sakes!!

I agree Grinr, about the cow moose. Have seen a couple from a distance w/ calves and one close up but they never bothered us, but mind you we made sure not to bother them. In all honesty I've seen 10 times as many bears as moose in Alberta's west country... and I've spend many, many, many a day in it. Probably thousands. I see you are from out east though where there are what seems like more swamp donkeys than deer, so I'd assume that is very very true out there.

GGP that is very, very true. The worst scare I have ever had (included VERY up close and personal with a griz once) was from a Moose. I got "treed" for an extended time on the Crow by a big bull moose once. I was lucky to have found the large tree I used as cover, had it not been there I doubt I'd be here.

On this topic, I really like those bi-color orange / yellow ones for fishing smaller rivers. I flip it so the orange side is up and yellow is down. I do find it to be less spooky on the fish (they see the yellow side) and I can still focus on the movement very well. Best of both worlds