Hawgstoppah

I may as well throw in a few more Hope ya like 'em!

I would ask an old finned friend of mine.. why the heck in all these years of chasing him, hasn't he stayed on the hook more than 2 seconds for me !!!!!!!! I's also ask the grizz that sniffed my shoulder if he was gonna eat me for lunch before he smelled my pee'd in pants... lol

I'm assuming he/she is on his/her deathbed and not able to be mobile in this case... or else I'd go with toolman's answer as well

For me, many days, fishing was a higher priority than work. I admit to at least 100 days of falsely calling in sick. Sometimes you do what u gotta do. Fly fishing IS a sickness... LOL.... uncureable too!!

Family is forever. Fishing isn't. But fishing is CERTAINLY #2 on my list. Gonna make a new poll... *grin*

Greg... are the running lines... the lines that are the different weight classes (for different depths on the swing)?? Don't guys just carry a leader pouch for those, or do you actually need to have each one on a separate spool?

Sorta like Ace Ventura huh.... a bumbling fool who's an "ace"? rofl

Rofl.... Ace Lightning.... or Lightning Rod.... we gotta almost rename me now don't we? I almost got Brownee zapped the night before too, and then last night me russ and harry are hiding against the bank counting how far away lightning strikes are, all the while getting soaked to the bone! Im going to take up the profession of "ace strom tracker" and all I gotta do is fish, the storms will come to me!!!

Hehe... hey it's just a really good starting point. You'll probably go out and find a ... uhh....pale winged yellow-purple dragon drake emerger.... tommorow... and that won't be on my list of flies...

U2... in Edmonton. Without a doubt hands down the best concert ever. Mainly becuase they've been my favorite band for ages...

wow That HAD to hurt... a LOT.... He mighta walked off... but I bet he was laying in a bad for weeks or even months. Or did this just happen? Whatever the case. I hope he's ok and has a full recovery and no back problems later in life..

1) Giant Tarpon in the Keys 2) Salmon / Steelhead on BC or Alaska ... looks like this one's gonna happen this fall 3) Every night I get to fish the Bow Who would I invite? Hmmm. Well... #1 would be my dad. He doesn't get much time to fish... ever. Last time I fished with him I bet I was 14 or so. #2 would be my wife... if'n she'd decide to get into a bit someday.......

Wow. Nice bear pics. I'm glad you kept your cool As a sidenote fellas.... you should see all the wildlife in odd places down into montana right now. Near ran into a huge herd of elk out on the prarie. That fire's got 'em messed up pretty bad. Also saw a big ol' black like that size near Duck lake as well

awesome tie ... looks great

Wow... really? All I ever use is the good old standard EHC but in a #18... your not fishing 'em too big are ya? Just a thought. Last night was a 15 fish night for me... with at least 7-8 on the standard EHC. This is a pretty sweet pattern though, and maybe this'll sound silly, but you could be fishing over more educated fish than I am right now ;) . I like to walk 10 minutes or more from an access and I don't fish in town for my dry fly fishing though *wink*

LOL.... one of those Ahh you %($^ %&*)%*)& #@$&%&( !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :lol: :lol:

Vary your retrieve a LOT when bank fishing streamers. Some times I use a quick retreive that work amazingly well. It's a hard pull - pull - pull - pause - pull - pull - pull - pause - pull - pull - pause - pull - pull - pull - pause.... just vary between two or three pulls then pause... and make the 2 or 3 pulls VERY rapidly. That can really trigger the fish. (Kicks bully's arses too) For winter on non agressive fish... add enough weight so that you can feel your whole rig bouncing the bottom and then...try to find a long bank, fairly flat run, and do what I call my "two step" streamer fishing. Step one, cast as far as you can... step two.. TAKE a step. Swing, let line tighten straight behind you (you gotta be standing in 2-3ft of water to make this really work)... and give two hard quick pulls at the end, then pause for about 5 seconds. Pickup, repeat whole process. Takes about 20 minutes to work a run really well... and if there's a fish you'll entice it. As for flies. I really like Ollive myself. Olive with red eyes works very very good for me. I think a touch of read near the head area of your pattern is a good good thing. Looks like a minnow with flaring gills (tired or crippled)

Any sentence with the words "blow" and "my fly" is acceptable in any fishing crowd..

LOLOL best one yet

Hey also, if your holding rod tip pointing at the line, etc and some of the takes can be savage, and this will be hard as HELL to do, but do not try to lift your rod to set the hook. They will hook themselves as they turn to run on you. Just hold 'er steady and wait for the blast. Most times it's immediate (like it's part of the take) but sometimes you'll feel a tap tap tap, then ZiIIiiiIIIIIIIIIing goes your line. I've snapped off a LOT of bigguns becuase of my inability at times to listen to my own advice And having a foot or a couple feet of line out is a plus... but it can be a negative too. Can't say how many fish I've lost with line out on the take too, as they hit and run and the line is wrapped around my reel, my fly holder on the rod... a small tree branch... etc. So I guess what I'm saying is... find your comfort zone. At night try NOT to have a lot of loose line laying at your feet. I try to have none on the ground ever...

Not neccessarily Max. I've played lots of big fish on my 3wt. As long as you don't get stupid and use 7x or something, you can fight the fish just as well as you could with a 5wt or so. You just get a much quieter presentation. People that tell you lightweight rods kill fish, have only seen guys who don't know how to fight fish use 'em. Tippet's play fish, not the rod size. Imagine an 8wt, and some 5x tippet. You gonna bring that fish in any sooner? LOL... not a damn chance. **sets hook...... SNAP goes the tippet**

Nice shots Max. Hidin under that ledge was pretty wicked.... Fisrt I get toolman in a feild with lightning all around, next trip I get max and me stuck under a ledge.... Maybe I outta change my name to Lightning Rod

LOL.... good point. I've killed more cute and cuddy things on the road than you guys would wanna know! This in an interesting discussion. I think that I'd sum up my feelings on this by saying... do your best to minimize your impact, treat the fish and the outdoors with your utmost respect, pack out some garbage, make the phone calls when you see poachers or signs of poaching, do things that make a difference, but do NOT feel guilty for what your doing. If your doing all the other things, your more than offsetting the few fish your going to unintentionally kill.

If your wife finds all your hidden fly fishing gear..... the only flak your going to hear is "holy sh** how much did all of this cost!"

If your kids find all your fly fishing gear, your only worries are wether or not they've broken anything.