Bigtoad

I would be with Locke as well with keeping one under 50cm. My reasons are as follows: 1. If you're going to keep a fish for the table, usually smaller will taste better anyway. It would be a shame to keep a monster and then find out it doesn't taste great. 2. With modern taxidermy techniques, there is no need to keep a fish to have it mounted. A few measurements and a couple of quick pics and you're good to go. 3. With modern digital photography, pictures can easily be taken and shown to people instead of the fish (and you can hold that fish WAY out so that it looks like a freaking whale!) 4. If you want lots of big fish, don't take them out of the waterbody. 5. By letting people take at least one or two small ones, they still can feel "successful" and have something to show for their efforts. 6. By making it strictly C&R you might piss off a lot of people that like to keep them. By allowing some harvest, it creates a nice compromise. Cheers. PS - I'd still sign the petition for keeping less and bigger fish. Any change in the right direction is good change.

In a small town up in Northern Alberta there was an old Indian man that was an absolute master fishermen. Every time he would go out fishing, he would come back to town with his limit of fish. Some people thought he was amazing while others thought he must be fishing illegally to catch so many fish all of the time. There just happened to be a new, young Fish and wildlife officer in town that really wanted to prove himself. He had heard the rumors of the old Indian man and had seen him come into town several times with his limit while others got skunked. Bound and determined to get to the bottom of this he approached the old Indian man and asked if he could accompany him on his next fishing trip. The old Indian man said, "Sure, I'm going out tomorrow really early. Meet me at the lake at 4am." So the next day, the young officer meets the old Indian man at the shore of the lake at 4am and they jump in the old man's boat. The old man rows to the center of the pond, drops anchor, reaches under his seat and pulls out a stick of dynamite. He lights it and throws it into the lake. BOOM! The water explodes and there are fish floating everywhere. The old Indian man grabs a net and begins scooping up the fish and putting them in the boat. The young officer is shocked and yells at the old Indian man, "You can't do that! That's illegal! I'll have you arrested!!!" The old Indian man calmly reaches under his seat, pulls out another stick of dynamite and lights it. He then hands the burning stick to the young officer and says, "Now, are we going to sit here and talk, or are we going to fish?"

Ok, so here are my two favorites for the Bow this year. Both are a little worse for wear for obvious reasons. First one is a stonefly imitation that worked extremely well even into August on some picky fish. The second is a take on a san-juan worm but tied with sued. Super easy but also super effective as a dropper under the previously mentioned stonefly imitation. Cheers

If you want just a good pack for a great price you can't beat the MEC Brio http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail...._id=84552444241 for under $100. I just got the MEC IBEX and really like it as well. More padding in the waste belt and more pockets and features. Took it on a 60km round trip hike last year and loved it. I'd save your money on the pack and spend it on boots and a good tent. MEC tents are also great. I have the tarn 3 and have used it for probably 100 nights, many of them in the pouring rain in NZ. Never leaked and even in gail force winds and hail, still feels solid. I've never had a problem returning Mec stuff as well. If it breaks, they will fix it or replace it. Got to love that. Cheers.

Hey Maxwell, do you have a pic of those foam green drakes? Cheers.

Ok people, it's freaking cold outside and I need to ward off some early season depression. Let's have the best funny/humorous fishing or fishing related stories and pics that you have. I'll start us off. My dad and I were just finishing our first ever guided trip down the Bow and came around the corner to McKinnon flats and saw this. All three of us thoroughly enjoyed watching buddy try to get his precious stalled hummer out of the river. They brought in a really big truck and cable to pull it out but to no avail. However, the thought of taking the boat off of the trailer to get the hummer out of the river never crossed these genius's minds. Gotta love a little karma.

1. Chernobyl ant 2. parachute adams 3. Elk hair caddis 4. Black wholly buggar 5. Bead-head pheasant tail nymph

I'd go with foam chernobyl ant type stuff with rubber legs. They're a ton of fun to tie and once you use foam on one thing, you'll be trying it on others as well. Works like a damn on the Bow too. Cheers.

Double Rainbow, Golden Stone, After Dark, Snout Hunter, Rock snot, That's what she said, The Worm.

Just make sure you eat lots of powerbait.... if the bathroom is an outhouse, you'll be fishing right next to the lieu!

Well whataniceguy, I guess the only thing left to say is, "Yes, well, I’m polymerized tree sap and you’re an inorganic adhesive, so whatever verbal projectile you launch in my direction is reflected off of me, returns to its original trajectory and adheres to you." Cheers.

Whataniceguy, perhaps I shouldn't have lumped you in with twobyfour (he was the one lamenting the Livingstone) but you both seemed to be preaching from the same pulpit: this site starting = the degradation of fishing in Alberta. I think that is an unfair statement and that 1. you're giving way too much credit to this website and 2. you're not giving nearly enough credit to those members on it. The original post that we've successfully hijacked wasn't about an overcrowded river, but a guide and his client(s) who totally neglected fishing etiquette. The Bow and other rivers being busy is just a fact of life now whether you want to blame this site for it or not. I don't think the issue is crowding but about the education of those fishermen that are fishing. As for educating fishermen, not only on techniques but also on the do's and don'ts of fishing etiquette, I believe this site is doing a great job. More people on the rivers is going to mean more idiots too. If it wasn't for this site, I and many of the other people on it, may have been the idiots fishing someone's run and stepping on their rod. It's only through educating the ignorant that we can improve behavior. You can either keep all of the "secret" areas, and flies, and techniques, and proper behavior to yourself and hoard it or help others to improve as well and maybe improve your experience on the river too. Or you can just say screw it and walk a few miles so you can find some solitude which seems like that's what you really want anyway. I continue to come to this site because I want to learn and become less ignorant; perhaps the people you know don't come here anymore because they've decided to stop learning? Too bad...

Giovanne, the problem I have with both of these guys is that they are bitching entirely about THIS site. I'll admit, the internet has probably increased pressure (not only fishing pressure) in certain areas of the province, but to single this site out, regardless of all of the good it has done and tries to do, is absurd. How many of the random-camping-shanty-town-atv-driving-bait-chuckers that have infested the Livingstone and many other areas of the province have used this site to find out where to go? I know that there are atver's and RVer's that use this site but most seem very responsible in their use of the land and equally disgusted by the other users who do not. In fact, this site has deterred me (and I am sure many others) from fishing the Livingstone because of all of the crap I here about with the random campers and quad users. There might be other sites you could try to blame for the increase in use of areas of Alberta but to blame this one? Really? As several have already said; to understand why things are so crowded (relatively) you just have to look at the population increase of Alberta in the last decade and notice the amount of RVs heading out to the foothills every weekend. To single out this site as the main reason your precious fishing areas 30 years ago aren't like you remember is like blaming a guy who drives a hybrid for global warming. Sure, they might be a tiny, minuscule part of the problem, but not the main one by a landslide, and at least they recognize the issue and are trying desperately to do something about it. And as I said before, if they don't like the site, and believe it is from the depths of hell itself: then don't be hypocritical and post on it! Go bugger off and bitch on some site that actually is part of the problem and not one that is trying to solve it. You know, take the twobyfour out of your own freaking eye before taking the sliver out of someone else's.

twobyfour and whataniceguy; I'm sorry, but I've read several of your posts on this thread and others and I've got to say that you both seem like real *** to me. This site has nothing to do with the increase in fishing pressure on "your" rivers and has done much more good than harm. To blame a single site for the increase in fishing pressure as well as increase in idiots fishing is naive and pretty absurd. An example: When I joined the site, several years ago, I posted a picture of a brown trout I caught on the RD that I had put on the rocks so that I could get a better picture. I got blasted for it by some but I learned something that day; I shouldn't be putting fish on rocks. Good lesson. I've learned many valuable lessons on this website including respecting fish and respecting the water that I fish on, and respecting the other fisherman that I share the water with. It is a very valuable tool, not only in improving my own fishing, but also in giving back to the sport that I love. You will always encounter idiots either when fishing or on a website forums. The only thing you can really do is accept that people do stupid things, call out the people making the stupid mistake, and let them know what they have done wrong.... not unlike what I am currently doing right now. If you don't like the website, then do us all a favor please and get off of it!

It really should have been called "The Ontario Fly Fisher Magazine". The few articles not from an Ontario perspective were good though. Too bad really.

It's actually "know not" there Wolfie. And what a fine example of irony...

Why not put a sign there explaining all of the hard work that was done there and why and telling/asking people to kindly keep there lines the hell out of that area? Great work! If anybody knows of any other similar projects (especially around the central area) that are happening in the future I'd love to get involved. Cheers.

Research suggests that to become an "expert" at something, you need to log in around 10,000 hrs of focused practice. Just doing some quick math that puts us at about 8 hours a day, 40 days a year, for about 30 years. The amount that I go fishing a year, I should be able to start feeling good about myself about the time I'm 85 or so. However, by that time, arthritis will be kicking in big time and I'll have forgotten most of what I've learned in the previous 9,000 hrs. Bummer...

Griffiths gnat, chronies, chernobyl ants

My buddy from Edmonton was down in Red Deer visiting his family so we snuck out for a couple of hours. I believe his smile says it all. Happy Thanksgiving!

Did you try a boatman/backswimmer???

Something to definitely think about, for sure. I'm wondering if I didn't get some bug spray on some of my tippet or something? I was out on the RD one night that when the Muskol was dry (23% deet) the skeeters were back on me and I would have to reapply. I have all of my tippet on the outside of my vest for easy use and I can't help but think I must have gotten some spray on it and that can't be good for it. Must be great for my skin too! The Rio stuff I have now has that fancy-dansy-rubber-ring-dispenser-thingy on it that I think might help to stop UV and bug spray from deteriorating the line so quickly. We'll see... might still have to bite the bullet and go flouro.

I'm just pulling when I test the knot, not snapping. I bought a new spool of 5X S.A. tippet back in the summer and when I went to use it, I just had to put a little bit of pressure on it and it snapped. It was garbage. It might have just been the spool but I'm not buying that crap again. I tested the Rio in the store before I bought it and it would probably make me bleed before it breaks when you just pull it tight. I've still busted off a fish with the 5x Rio but it was when I got over zealous on a big rainbow gobbling a backsmimmer on the surface. I just couldn't help but set when it smashed my hook and I snapped it. I relaxed and didn't break off another so far. Cheers.

That's a sweet brown! It didn't happen to have an elk hair caddis in it's mouth did it? I'm not sure if 5X of any kind could handle some of the browns on the RD but I'd at least like a fighting chance. The stuff I was using didn't give me that. It broke before there was even a fight to have. And yes, I'm sure you do know who I was talking with about Frog's Hair. I used the Rio this weekend at Beaver Lake and it held up really well. I was using 5X and we were hunting them in the weeds with boatmen. We had quite a few that were blowing through the weeds like crazy and jumping, etc, and the light tippet never broke once. Biggest was a 19" that tried to wrap itself around everything and the tippet held up. I think I'll be sticking with the Rio. I'm sure it will degenerate over time but for $5 you can't go wrong.

Yeah, me and another guy. The fishing didn't pick up much after you left. They were sporadically rising to some minuscule mayflies just above where you were and I managed to pull one out from there at dark. Both of us forgot the headlamps so we didn't stay too long after things got dark. Nice to meet a member up here. Cheers, Todd