Bigtoad

Maybe you should try catching bigger fish? Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely check out those 2 knots. I hit up the Red Deer again last night with a friend of mine. The fish weren't rising like the were the other night and the water was at least 2 feet higher than several days ago. However, I did manage to land both fish that I tagged in the 18-20 inch range. I had bought new Rio mono tippet in 1X, 3X and 5X after my last misfortune and was hoping it would do the trick so that I wouldn't have to fork over the $ for frog's hair. I was using 5X and was able to still put lots of pressure on the fish and landed them both quite quickly. I was using improved clinch and felt very confident in the line. I'm hoping this is a good sign of things to come. Cheers.

That's what we ended up doing and it worked out ok. I only got about an hour of fishing though. It's probably for the best that you didn't attempt it. The last part up to the lake is the steepest and hardest part of the whole hike. If your buddy was tired in the valley, you might have had to use him as fish bait up at the top. Beautiful spot to be buried.... I might have to have my ashes put into a salt block and then hauled up there. There are worse places to be left to die. Cheers.

That really sucks that you didn't make it. Looks even wetter than I remember. That gorge is awesome. Too bad it gets hammered, I bet there would be some monsters lurking in there. Cheers.

I tie a surgeon's knot from leader/tippet/tippet where you make the loop with both tippet and leader and then pass the tippet and butt end of leader through the loop twice. I tie just a simple clinch knot or improved clinch knot from tippet to fly. I believe I had tied an improved clinch knot and tested it pretty well before using when I lost the big brown from the story above. I use lots of twists, gob on it like crazy, and check each knot before I try casting with it. It's just amazing to me how many times the knot will break when I'm testing it out or it passes my pull test and then pops off on a fish without due stress. It's a conundrum wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in a slice of bacon. Mmmmmm bacon..... What am I doing wrong!?!?!?!? Cheers.

Thanks for all of the input. A couple of commments: 1. I don't think I set it too hard most of the time. The large fish I have lost this year have mostly all been on for at least a few seconds before the knot/tippet breaks. 2. I wet/gob on my knots like crazy. If it's about lube, I can't lube anymore without turning my dry fly to wet. 3. It's mostly the consistency with tippet that bugs me. I have 3X Orvis that I really like and sometimes I would straighten out a hook if it was snagged before the line would break. However, periodically it would break as I am checking my knot right after I tied it. I try to be very consistent with how I tie knots so that I can try to rule that out as a factor. Don't even get me started about the Climax (ironic really, more like "premature breakage before climax") and Scientific anglers tippet and consistency! Cheers.

I picked up some Rio today and tested it there in the store before purchasing. The 5X felt like it should. I think I'll sneak out again near the end of the week and see if I can test it out on some hogs. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to fork over a ton of $ for something that may or may not be the answer. Thanks for all of the input. I'd love more if anyone has any. Cheers.

I was out on the Red Deer tonight and the water was alive with monster browns sucking in caddis. Of course, they were being incredibly picky. I finally got one to hit my fly and fish on! It immediately went across the current and downstream and I was into my backing before I even knew what to do. I have him on for several minutes when suddenly the line just goes slack and after a very LONG reel in I realize my fly has busted off at the knot. It was 3X and I wasn't horsing it. I was pissed off. It was a freaking big fish! A couple of regulars came along and they said to fool these bad boys you have to go to 5X. And so I tell them about the hog that just busted off my 3X and ask how in the world that's going to work and they assured me it would. So I grab my new 5X tippet and tie it on and go to put the fly on and snap, it breaks. I try the line and it just snaps again, and again. I peel off a bunch of line and try at a different place and it snaps like nothing as well. So I'm really pissed now. So to make a long story even longer, they recommended I use Frog's Hair flourocarbon tippet because they do and have very few, if any problems with knots or tippet getting brittle. They were even kind enough to give me a few feet to try out and a fly that had worked for them before. Thanks! I'm SO sick of my tippet (even really good brand tippet) breaking either at the knot or just getting rotten that I'm almost willing to try anything. I've lost some really big fish this year because of bad tippet (and I check my knots all of the time!). I've lost all confidence in any tippet I've tried. Doesn't seem to matter which brand either. I've tried lots of different kinds and have had limited success and complete failure with each of them. So is Frog's Hair the answer? Oh, and I did manage to get one beautiful 21 incher in just at dark. He was all dressed up with no place to go. And my tippet held! Cheers.

We'll see how that strategy works out for the Oilers. I'd just like to see one Alberta team do well this year. Is that really that much to ask?

My wife actually caught this one but I netted it. When she had it on, I wasn't sure how big it was and then I took the rod for a moment while she was getting the net from the front of the boat to give to me. When she gave me the rod, there was no doubt the size that I was dealing with. It took an incredible amount of self control to give that rod back to her when I knew what kind of fish was on the other end. Cheers.

If I was a guide on the Bow, I think I'd give them a good suggestion but if it was a fly that I knew was giving me an edge over others and giving my clients the best possible fishing experience, I don't think I'd share. That's how I would make my living and not everyone needs to know every fly that works. Myself though, I try to be as helpful as I can to other fishermen, especially when they are new and/or experiencing difficulty and I am not. I would hope this good karma comes around sometime. However, I should point out that I'm not always honest, especially with "friends." I have cousins that I am always competing with when fishing. When we go ice fishing for whites on Gull or Sylvan, if I catch or see a couple fairly quickly, I can bet that one of my cousins will be over in a hot second pounding on my darkhouse door demanding to see what I am using. Often, I will have a spare spool sitting there ready for just such an occasion and will tie onto it the most godly thing I can find in my box. When he demands to see what I'm using, I show him the abomination and send him on a random goose chase of fishing for the next hour. Meanwhile, I keep catching fish and pulling farther ahead and he just gets more frustrated because he thinks he is using the same thing as me and not seeing anything. I don't feel bad about this either. Last spring we were at Beaver Lake and the fish were going crazy for chronies but you had to match it correctly. After my dad and I had pulled out 3 or 4 each this same cousin comes sliding over in his pontoon asking what I'm using. Graciously (this time) I cast over what I'm using into his lap so he can have a look. He picks it up, says "nice tie", and then quickly bites it off my line and speeds away! It wasn't 2 minutes that he had that tied onto his line and was into his first of several fish. Bastard! But I love fishing with him. Cheers.

I don't remember any sign of any kind at the turnoff and I was looking. The turnoff is miss-able and you should crowd the South side of the valley so you don't miss it once the Ranger Valley begins to swing to the West. Here's a Google Earth image of Lost Guide Lake and the turnoff. The little blue square is the Lake. The coordinates at the bottom of the pic are the coordinates where you need to turn off of Ranger Creek. I had my mouse over the spot when I took the screenshot, my mouse didn't show up on the shot though. Put those coordinates into a GPS and you're golden. (Of course, they might just be coordinates to the nearest Starbucks.... hard to say really). Cheers.

I just filled it out. I appreciated the survey and how it seemed to be wanting to crack down on ATV use but seemed to have very little about random camping issues and the RV villages with literally hundreds of RV's every summer. I mentioned that in my comments but.... at least most of it seems like a step in the right direction.

Link??????? Or do I youtube "Kevin" .... I'm assuming not. Help please.

My dad and I drove down on Friday from Lacombe and were on the water by just after 6:00am. He landed this 23.5 incher at about 7:00. Was his biggest fish ever by far. Caught on a big foam chernobylish abomination. I think I was even more thrilled that he caught it than if I had. Beautiful morning to be out on the river. Cheers. Keep in mind he is 6'6" and has hands the size of baseball mits. Should put the size of fish into perspective.

What I'm saying is that it is an attitude shared by those trying to compensate for whatever. It's a chip on the shoulder issue. You could drive an Echo and still have the attitude or a suped up 4x4. It's just easier to feel like you own the road when you drive something big. Most of the idiots I've met either drive something big and/or suped up. I also know some really nice guys who drive big tanks. I've also met idiots who drive wee little cars. It's a generalization for sure but one not without merit. Guys lacking in whatever area in their lives try to compensate for it in some other way. Sometimes it happens to be big ass trucks. Sometimes it's buying a $700 fly rod, sometimes it's getting a trophy wife or wearing $300 sunglasses. Anytime you go way into some extreme it's probably because you're making up for something in some other area. You don't feel powerful; buy a big truck. You don't feel cool, buy expensive clothes. You see where I'm going here. I wasn't meaning to dis all with big trucks, just making an editorial point.

It's not how big their vehicles are, but how small their "unit" is that is making them compensate with a big vehicle driven like it's even bigger. We're dealing here with a classic case of little dick syndrome. There is very little these guys can do about it except overcompensate with macho-ism. Sad. So Taco, don't get mad at them, just feel sorry for how unfulfilling their lives must be. Just keep in mind that I used to drive a VW Gulf and then an Echo..... I'm just saying. Cheers.

Don't nymph. Throw on a chernobyl ant and start twitching it from 20ft to tight to the bank. Set the hook when you here "sploosh". Cheers.

Thanks for the input. I'll keep those in mind : ) Cheers!

We have a wedding this weekend just Northwest of Nelson, B.C, at Winlaw. I'm assuming there is good fishing all around there but can someone give me a few recommendations? I'd like to bring my 4wt and fish streams but shore fishing at a lake would be ok as well. I'll probably have part of a day or two to fish so my options are quite limited. I'm not looking for GPS coordinates, just a few helpful hints. Pm me if you'd like. Thanks. Cheers.

Insert angels singing here ____________. Thanks.

What you really need to manufacture and what I haven't seen are the individual pulley systems for anchors. Drift boats and some pontoons come equipped with them but I have a 12ft aluminum boat that I would love to be able to put a mount on the front and/or back that I can raise/drop the anchor from the middle rowing seat. I can buy an anchor anywhere but I have never seen an easy to use, quick to install, pulley system sold separately. my 0.02. Cheers.

Maybe tadpole?

Well, I've had a busy week.... my wife and I just adopted a baby boy! It was very cool. My wife was even in the delivery room with the biological mom. It was both heart-wrenching and wonderful all rolled up in one. When my mom and sister came over this week, they couldn't help but get him posing for the camera. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come (the picture, not the sister and mom doing photo shoots with the lad). I don't think you can start a kid fishing at too young of an age! See if you can zoom in on his shirt. My sister found a website that you can upload pics and then they print them off on shirts, sweatshirts, etc for you. I might have to get one made myself. Cheers.

Ok, so I don't know if you can submit 2 or not in a month.... if you can only submit one, I'd like to keep this one and take off my other. Thanks. This one is a variation of a lot of flies put together... a little something here, a little something there. This one is a salmonfly imitation but I also tied a really nice one as a golden stone; just change the chenille and foam colors as well as the size. Let's call this one: Foamer's Oddicy Hook: Tiemco 9395 size 4 streamer hook (with the amount of foam in this one, I can't see a submarine sinking it) Thread: dark brown 6/0 Body: orange and dark brown chenille, brown or black sheet foam, abdomen wrapped in amber vinyl rib Egg sack: orange sheet foam wing: crystal flash and elk hair head:same piece of brown/black sheet foam and then orange sheet foam legs: brown rubber legs hackle: brown saddle hackle I can NOT wait to try this one out on Prairie!!!!

I teach in a junior high in rural Alberta and I would say your observations aren't too far off. The problem as I see it is two issues. 1. Kids are too busy. Hockey 3-5 nights a week, soccer, dance, basketball, piano, etc, etc. I think a lot of parents keep their kids far too busy. However, I think it is just in response to keeping them from problem #2. 2. Video games/tv. A recent study stated that kids spend 6 hours a day on either tv or video games. If they're not playing some kind of sport, they're in front of some type of screen. I definitely know they're not doing homework! Motivation is at an all time low. They want to be entertained, and when they're not, they lose interest in about 30 seconds. Creativity and critical thinking skills also seem to be spirally down. What really scares me is that when I ask kids how many text-messages they send a day, it's often between 400-600/day. Yup, you read that right! Text-messaging is a de-evolution of communication. It's a step backward. When you don't talk face-to-face you lose something in the communication. Kids are more connected than at any time in history yet are missing the connections. This, above all else (even seeing them out at the playground) is what worries me the most. And yes, kids are still good. They want to be good people and want to fit in and I don't think that the world is going to end because they can't play with a stick for hours and be satisfied. It just worries me what type of adults these kids are going to turn into and what kind of society those adults are going to create.