Hawgstoppah

Not long till someone says Hook #4 , Body - Red wire..... done........... beyyyaaaaaaahhhh

Ok here goes. Let do a steelie pattern. I don't have the exact product number of this hook (I used 'em all on my steelie trip) but.... Hook Daiichi Salmon/steelhead #2/0 Silverdoctor, have at 'er Edit: Daiichi #2441

15.5" to 16 inches would be my guess.

Don A My log from this spring date May 5th Police Lake water temp 48F air temp +15C wind calm bugs: very few... I fished a black size 20 midge pupae, and a size 18 scud. 90% of fish on the pupae. Fished 5-8 feet under a small indy. Fish were somewhere near or over 200. Fished east side of lake in about 10 feet of water or less. Sizes where about 90% 6-8 inches 5% 12-14 inches 5% 18 inches or larger 3 fish at 24" 1 at 26" 1 at 28" Unless they dumped some brood stock in.... I do hope this is a good indication of the lake's potential to grow some hawgs.. The day was pretty unreal though... I've never seen it that calm out there....

Wicked vid man! simply excellent. You have a gift w/ the vids, that's for sure... keep them coming!

Glen, I thought I told u that story about my client robin that told me he'd never use a juan, and got the 24 inch rb on the crow on what he called the NON-juan...... Now don't u be claiming the non-juan.... he's got a Trademark on that name LOL

Sundance. I hope your wrong. This spring I landed a 28 inch approx 9-10lb rainbow from Police - even without the proper management in place. I can't wait to see what good regs will do here I think most lakes if managed correctly (not overstocked) can produce VERY large fish. Look at Elliot's Pond (I know some of you elliot's pond guys can back me up here) but didn't they stock that just a few years back with a conservative number of fish and now it's regularily producing fish 20-22 inches right? I'd like to see that in a year!

I should add, that I use a tungsten bead for these, get's em down real quickly...

Here's a pic of my fly, I just whipped this one up... I added a SPARSE amount of peacock herl for the look I like....

My #1 fly for this time of year (and into the winter) is a #20 beadhead midge pupae in black. (silver bead on a #20 hook, body black thread, ribing fine silver wire, and some people us peacock herl at the head, I do not...) this fly imitates almost everything in Don A's hand there, imho... and the fish tell me that too. I like the thin profile (without peacock herl) some insist on the herl. Either one works... but I can tie 25/hour without the herl ...

Have a great time. Hopefully the guides there can keep you away from rocks, burbot, and whitefish!! Look forward to the pics / reports!

That sunrise (or was it sunset) pic is "cosmic"

LOL !!! Where'd ya pick that line up? I guess my one fly would be.... wire sjw #8 unless it's summer, then gimme a #16 EHC and let me at 'em...

In terms of lake fishing for me, a quality fish would be 5lbs + (20 inches or better). Almost every one of Alberta's lakes could support that if managed properly. The better lakes should be able to produce 8-10lb fish easily.... and a shot at 5-10 of those on the line per day, would be excellent quality fishing in my eyes. Much more excellent than even 100 fish days where every fish is 8-10 inches. For stream fishing, each stream is different. A quality fish on Lee's Creek here in Cardston would be about 12 inches, whereas the same fish on the Bow would be one you'd hide behind your back.

So Greg forgot to tell the rest of the Bear story. So yeah... first time I see Greg in river, Bear on shore, bear is past greg heading for me... my reaction ? "Greg I'm going to the car!!!""" LOL I also was like WTF did I just say??? Then Bear / Greg were kind of at a standoff so I started yelling louder so it knew there were 2 of us. Seemed to work a bit as bear then backed off, went in woods and circled to it's food (the dead salmon) So now after having our Bear senses hightened, I see two fellas come down the other side of the river across from me. With them is a HUGE black dog! So there fishing away and about an hour later Greg comes down the bank, steps beside me and bellows "BEEEEAAAARRRRR!!!!" across the river. I'm now like "wtf??" The guys yell back.... That's our dog!!!! I busted my gut laughing. So then on the way back to hotel / coffee / change spots / fly shop in smithers, Greg yells out "BEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!" and I can tell he's joking and I look in time to see this.... and it's stalking something through the grass and being sneaky. I think I have not laughed that hard since... well heck... I dunno. You probably had to be there, but the way the cat was sneaking through the grass was what made it classic. It was an awesome trip, can't wait to go back..... I was 13 pulls, 6 hookups, 1 fish. at least 3 of my solid hookups where fish well over 10 pounds, one was ridiculous, probably 20+ pounds. Dreamin of chrome!! Maybe next year I can teach Greg the slip and fall cast, which actually (embarrasingly enough) was my best cast of the whole trip. I slipped on a rock during the spey motions, and shot the line straight out in a thing of beauty. Too bad I was laying on my arse and couldnt enjoy that. I wish I would have got a fish on that cast...

So ..... have you guys ever seen the new cast I came up with. This cast requires a lot of skill, determination, and steadfast persistance to master, but once you old time spey pro's get the hang of it, there's no turning back.... Gentlemen.... Meet the Snake Cast!!!.... LOL.... I'm not sure what I was doing here, but it looks like Greg captured the moment! Daggone spey newbies!!!

Great pics Clive. I love the sunset shots.... that place is one of the most surreal places at dusk........ the hills litterally come alive with color.

Wow Greg, you pretty much summed up the whole trip there. I got a few things to add, once I get myself cleaned up and rested from a week's trucking (gotta pay the bills for the next trip somehow, eh? )

If were talking about purely the Bow... I challenge you to find a rod - reel -line - presentation - combination system that would outproduce the techniques I nymph with any given day. It's not about the gear, it's about being versataile and adapting to the river you are fishing and being in the zone that THEY want. The BIG, BIG bow river fish are -in most cases - in much different zones than the 10-15 inchers. That being said, like many others, I can count on one hand the number of times I have nymphed the Bow since April. And I had a GREAT season on it, the best in a few years for sure. And the best dry fly year I can remember..........

On a cheesiness scale this would rank high. Would you like some wine with your cheese my man?

Great news!!!!! I shall refrain from yodeling off cheif mountain till this is a 100% Actually, I shall refrain from ever yodelling,..... ever...

LOL.... I also have tangled with this elusive creature. I landed mine on a #8 sjw from the Bow River. The species I got was the "rockacovadd ingooickius" Once cleaned up, it stayed in my bag for good luck. Unlike you guys, I bonked my catch..... (seriously, I kept it for like 6 years as a good luck stone)

Hey Brewingup, you don't have a larger version of your avatar phto I could see do you? That pic looks cool! Sorry for the thread hijack.....

Oh my god Glen. I just spit out some pepsi on my keyboard. That's awesome. So now what, 2 fish on the spey, a white and a ling??? LMFAO Sorry man. I feel for you. I'll probably end up w/ a sucker while Greg catches steelie after steelie.

ok so I came up with about 3 really good steelhead ties today wiating on Greg to finish up some last minute work. The question: naming the pattern.... where can I find a database of flies that have names so I do not infringe on another's fly name. Came up with ONE pattern I think will become a classic in my box, and I hope many others boxes soon... pattern and pictures to come after our trip. You guys ever just sit down and tie without looking at patterns and come up with your own "killer pattern"? This one is calling out to me "I won't let you down, put me on first!!"