Hawgstoppah

You have to go south a bit farther on #507... you kinda get to the top of the hill as you leave the crowsnest river valley. There is a sign on the right and a road...

wow. those pictures are gorgeous. My favorite is the one with 2 cows watching the show. Awesome!

Did a house in Sundre yesterday and was talking to the guy about Bull trout. He shamefully admitted that in the 50's they would go out west and literally kill a hundred of 'em in a weekend, every year, in sept, from a small stream. I didn't knock him though... we discussed the reasons for there being few bull trout now politely.. lol.. That's why our bulls are so threatened... the accessibility of a lot of the small streams they spawn in... and the fact that other species in BC get targeted a lot more than bull trout do (salmon, etc)

lol

I'd go to the Crandell campgrounds (you can't have a fire in town at your campsite). As far as fishing, it's mostly lakes. I've heard of some fishing to be had at Cameron Lake as well, if you take a pontoon or canoe to the far end and fish the feeder streams. Gorgeous lake as well, sort of a mini lake loiuse,...

priceless

That is a great cutthroat.... one of the nicest I've ever seen. Congrats on that beauty!!

My wife bought me an $800 set of irons a few years back so I can't push too hard at the pontoon... And no, my golf game isn't any better... I just look more stylin!!

Dang.... I'd be in for that if I lived up there... full gear.. defense..

Yes. Either they simply weren't there.... or I did not change my strategy enough to find out what bugs they were eating that were in the silt (you'd have figured a sjw / bloodworm combo would work, no?)

You certainly wouldn't be married

Hey if your going to have to suck us in to make us look at your profile at least throw a pic up T.Babe... lol

Wow... as someone who is on the road all the time I've seen some pretty weird stuff... and this is right up there... unreal..

I kinda like a photo contest idea.... maybe at the end of the year (In December) everyone submits there 3 best pictures of the year and all others are allowed a vote once all entries are received (like the vote would begin Jan 1 if the deadline for photo's was Dec31st). Orrrrr.... at the Bow river cleanup were gonna organize... we could do a biggest fish, as I assume we'll get some time to fish.. I think we should start cleanup at 7am, go to 3pm..have a BBQ.. then fish from 5pm on... ... we might want to repost that thread on here. about the cleanup..

Good points made for sure guys. RE: Guiding... I often got criticized for the way I did things on the water... but I wouldn't change a thing. Reading some of your posts reminds me of the conception of the guiding company I ran.. and why I chose to be different.. but it almost all boiled down to one thing... I didn't want to be stuck on the oars I loved the walk and wades on the bow.... and lots of days I had some opportunities to toss a line for while as well, especially if the clients were slammin 'em.. I miss guiding a lot, but it's sure fun to be excited about ONE fish I got on the Bow the other day... and to be glad to have the opportunity to do so, instead of taking it for granted.

If you were to ask me, having spent my years on the Crow, both before and after the dam damn was built... I would say that the silt in question is NOT a natural thing, and likely caused by the lake and the river water slowing down to meet it. Now it's very silty and mucky all the way up to the area locals refer to as horseshoe bend, but above that point, it remains quite sediment free.... unexplainable unless it's due to the lake in my opinion..

I actually am gonna drive through yahk tonight on my way to Spokane. I'll be sure to stop in... lol

That's also why most people (watch a few New Zealand video's and you'll see what I mjean) suggest keeping the rod HIGH for big fish.

Nope. The weight is dragging along the very bottom... while the flies are suspended 3 inches to a foot off the bottom, right in the fishes faces.... IMHO. This system does require you to either highstick the presentation (no indicator) or adjust your depth often to the spot your fishing so that you ARE bouncing along the bottom...

Heh.... large rocks on the bottom that are covered in slime.... yeah that makes it tough. I have to admit I do know a few spots like that, and becuase of THAT reason I tend to stay away from them... to be honest.... I can think of one such spot near the southland dog walk area.... there horrible. Most of my favorite holes have a nice seam 20 yards out, and water about 2 feet deep I stand in on pebbles / gravel. Makes for an easy run back to the bank and on downstream.... I even have a spots I go to where we walk to the middle of the river, walk upstream several hundred tards against the current in 2 feet of water, and then fish. When I hook one in that spot the ONLY option is to walk downstream with the fish, back to the starting point. You can only get about 3 or 4 fish in this spot before you get too darn tired to fight your way back up the current to get back into position to fish again... Lots of good advice on this thread. For anyone new to the game or having troubles landing fish, try any of the above mentioned tactics and find out what works best for YOU.... I find what works best for me is using a technique I have confidence in.... that's half the battle...

Haha this is what makes a good chuckle every time I fish with ya dude... LOL

That Deifenbaker fish would just rip right thru the mesh on my net, leaving a wooden tennis racket with no strings... LOL

Ha!!! I knew about that spot for years there buddy... LOL ... just hadn't visited it for a long time. I chased a 30+ brown there for a few years back in about 1998 - 2000. It may have been the 32" broonie I got on the night of Apr 26, 1999... that I'll never forget ... and sadly... never got to take a picture of (it was about2am... I was in midstream fishing back to shore, fought him for a good 30 minutes, got him into my hands, tailed him, tried to haul him back to bag / camera... couldn't hang on when he started thrashing, he didn't like it and taught me a very , very valuable lesson... always have your drag on your reel JUST tight enough to prevent it from backlashing, causing lost fish )

Well to me it sounds like your doing a few things wrong.. based on my assumptions reading your text. If your relaxing pressure at ANY time during a fight... BYE BYE.... I keep even steady pressure on the whole fight. If it can run against steady pressure let the fish do so,... but don't LET it run just to let it run.... keep things tight. When they jump.... I go against the crowd on this one... I keep 'em tight. I'll raise the rod a bit to absorb the jump... but I don't let the pressure loose. My theory on this is... if you have a barbless hook and a fish is airborne shaking it's head and body... and it is MOST prone to throw a hook at this point... why on EARTH would you bow to it with barbless flies?? The bowing the rod thing was a thing from the barbed days when you did it to prevent a breakoff.... Also, if your fishing a section of river 20 feet from the bank.... how does it take you 30 seconds to get to the bank. Without knowing the section I can't speak on it... but I know that I can cover 20 feet back to the bank in under 5 seconds... mind you I dont mind getting wet for a good fish either .. basically if I know it's a real good one I haul a$$ to the bank.... kind of making my way downstream with the current towards the bank and staying beside the fish.. If anyone else has any opinions on this feel free to post... my advice is just that... my advice... My personal experiences have shown me that by doing what I mentioned in my posts here, I have a much better success rate on hooked / landed ratio..

Yeah but your SJW (unweighted pattern) can still be 4 inches from the gob of splits on here, still right in the zone, and NOT lost every time you hang up. Might save you lots of time winding and clipping wire around a hook ... although it's not like that's a hard "tie" .... ... and any tie you can do while watching hockey on TV is NOT a hard tie....