Bigtoad

Well, you're not going to be happy about this but the absolute best steak ever! is one that is cooked over the coals on a campfire beside the Bow river. My favorite is the Teriyaki steak from M & M but I have found others work as well. When done properly, you can cut it with the side of a plastic fork. Mmmmmmmm........... Sorry dude.

I realize I'm entering this conversation really late so I apologize for any redundancy here. When I was in the Philippines 10 years ago, I tried dog once, at a wedding feast for the community I was staying in. Went back to the house I was staying at with a Filipino pastor and our dog, Chips, was "missing." Well, apparently Chips was invited to the wedding as well. I didn't feel bad, he was a mean dog anyway. A bit fatty as well.... So I would try eating dog, but I wouldn't eat dolphin. The part of the movie where he brings the TV down to the dock and the dolphins could identify themselves and seemed to enjoy watching themselves perform was, for me, the turning point in my mind. I realize that my emotions probably got the best of my reasoning, but that did it. The level of self-awareness seemed too high. It wasn't a matter of how "smart" it was. Pigs are "smart" and delicious. Period. But the film made a very strong argument for dolphins having another level of self-awareness that other animals (maybe some primates???) don't have. I'm also an avid hunter and do occasionally come across something I will shoot, but if I came across a deer sitting around, watching themselves on TV, I would probably put my gun away and watch the TV with the deer. Cheers.

Just speaking entirely materialisticaly, I'm asking my wife for a 4pc, 4wt 7'9" finesse series TFO rod with a Pfleuger Trion reel (on sale at the fishing hole). Something to take backpacking and slay a few cutties and bulls west west of Rocky. I hope Santa is nice.

If we had similar penalties here in Alberta for public waters, maybe we would see a decrease? And if you get caught fishing during the time you are banned, you instantly get a lifetime ban. If you're on a lifetime ban and you get caught fishing, you get a ridiculously huge fine. OR, even better, you have to do community service by helping out with stream restoration! Ah, if only I ruled the world.... what a sweet place it would be for me, and a select group of others.....

I wasn't saying they were "just" college students. I was just saying, why not give more people, who would be willing to be trained in some way, some kind of special status? Status besides calling it in and waiting around for C/O's who are too few and far between. I believe the streamwatch program is great. I'm not getting down on it. I just think the concept could be expanded to a few more willing participants.

Forgive my naivete, but if college students (I believe that is who is being used for streamwatch?) can be trained and then sent out to "catch the bad guys," why can't there be a course offered to fishermen interested in helping out? I don't know what powers the interns have but fishermen who have taken the course should at least be able to collect evidence (pics of fish/tackle/technique) and ask to see their license number. They could then file a formal report and the C/O's could follow up on that. I'm just thinking that 5 interns aren't as good as 50 of us that would be willing to be trained. Am I out to left field here or what? Cheers.

I like Sport Fishing on the Fly because it's usually quite local (thus relevant), doesn't have the stupid infomercial feel that huge sponsorship seems to bring, they have a fly-tying section where they tie what they're using, and it's pretty low-key/low budget which I like. Even better, they are now putting full episodes on the web. http://www.sfotf.ca/ Cheers.

A glass-bead caddis larvae, boatman, backswimmer (I think I got the names right this time?), and a micro leech. Ice fishing is approaching and I wanted to try some flies that might work besides wire worms. I also tied the backswimmer with the hook upside down that I'm going to try through a hole when I can't swing a fly anymore. Cheers.

Let me be the first to say... NICE VIDEO!!!! Let me also be the first to say OUCH! It looked like a couple of the one's you missed were biggins' . That's the way it works. I saw myself in a number of those missed takes. Cheers.

I agree that when it comes to gov't decisions; money talks. So lets just talk #'s. How many RV's did I see random camping in a 20 km stretch along Prairie Creek on the long weekend when several, beautiful campgrounds within 10km were open? I would conservatively guess close to 200. Down one gas-pipeline alone, I saw nearly 50 in 3 big groups. So 200 x $20/day x 2 days weekend x 10 weekends = (drum roll please) $80,000 in lost revenue along ONE piece of highway over the summer. Start estimating how much the government is potentially losing any given weekend in the summer due to random camping and it begins to become a bit comical. We all get that the government is not going to stop RV's camping; you're missing the point (or I am) about the whole thing. The POINT is that it is completely unregulated and if it isn't out of complete control, it will be in many areas within several summers. The government should be able to find a solution without losing money. In fact, if they did it correctly (oxymoron, I know), it is potentially a very lucrative scheme. I mean, look at New Zealand, they're 2nd industry behind sheep is Tourism. THERE IS MONEY TO BE MADE HERE WHILE STILL REGULATING THE CAMPING/ATVING/FISHING/ETC/ETC/ETC/ AND MAYBE JUST SAVING THESE AREAS AT THE SAME TIME!!!

I've only experienced the random camping up here West of Rocky and in some areas it is truly ridiculous. I am totally with you that the government needs to step in IMMEDIATELY and do a strategic, province-wide plan on how to stop this freakish road-show. Some initial thoughts: 1. There must be designated areas for quadders to have some fun but these should be more than 100m away from any waterway OR body of water and stream/river crossings should be only in designated areas. These designated areas should also have marked trails that need to be followed so only the trail is damaged and not the whole area. Stiff fines if broken. 2. Random camping (I'm thinking mostly tents here... RV's are covered in #3) continues to be allowed but MUST be registered. ex. If I want to go to the South Ram and camp along the river: a. If there are designated campgrounds with firepits I NEED to camp at those sites (If all sites are taken, I don't camp there). b. If the area is too remote to have sites, I still need to register approximately where (and how many nights) I will be staying there. The gov't could charge $5 a night to random camp to take care of the admin costs and to pay for improving designated sites in more remote places. You could register online and print off your registration card. If you are out camping and you don't have a registration card for the area and time you are there, you get some seriously hefty fines. 3. Areas that RV's can access, there needs to be more designated campsites made available, even rustic ones with no utilities, but still a dumping station. Charge $10 - $15 a night. MAKE ALL OTHER RANDOM CAMPING BY RV'S ILLEGAL ON CROWN LAND! (unless of course there is no designated rv camping sites within 25km (or something like that?) in that area. However, they would still need to register under #2 above and pay $5 a night. 4. Education and information: There needs to be camping/quadding regulations JUST like there is for fishing and hunting complete with brochure or magazine. In it, there would be good maps that CLEARLY show where you can and can not quad as well as defined trails. There would also be general regulations in there like only crossing rivers in designated areas, staying 100m away from waterbodies, etc. Camping could have something like that as well. A general regulations booklet with maps of all of the designated camping areas and rules for camping. They could even steal some of the info from "How to *hit in the woods," to help educate campers on minimum impact camping. 5. STIFF PENALTIES! Once some of these things are in place, make the fines for breaking them incredibly steep. This would help to pay for extra workers as well as be a larger deterrent for idiots. Thoughts??? Oh, and WHERE DO I WRITE A LETTER? Someone, please tell me where and how I can get involved and I'll be there. I just don't know who to send it to. Cheers.

I've heard the legend of the "Birchy Mitts" so I'd like to guess 19" Bob.

I'm not really sure if we can count anything caught while nymphing on a cuttie stream, regardless of how big and nasty that fish may be? Sick fish. I'm salivating....

Really Wolfie????? I thought sex would probably be the #1 form of therapy for a man and woman? Maybe fly fishing a distant 2nd?

Beautiful hike and lake. My suggestion is to do it in 4 days. 1 day 3/4 of the way, 2nd day hike to lake and stay/fish, 3rd day fish the morning and hike out to day 1 campsite, 4th day, hike out from day 1 campsite and fish the bigger pools on the ram on the way out. 3 days was just way to far in too short a time. I'm still nursing my feet back to health. Oh, and get yourself a topo map if you haven't already. I was constantly checking it against my old GPS to figure out when to turn up to Lost guide. It's not a big trail heading up there and could easily be missed. Have fun!

When we came back from Lost Guide Lake last weekend we were loading our crap into the car at the Ram staging area. There is a map there saying where atv's can and can not go. They've also closed some areas of the Hummingbird campsite for reclamation. When we got there, a CO showed up and chatted with me about where I had been and then he carried on up into the Hummingbird area. I told him it was great to see him out patrolling in the area. Not 5 minutes after he disappeared, about 3 atv's show up and stop at the sign. Kids are on the back with helmets but no one else has them. Then they proceed up the hummingbird road where the CO went down. I don't think they were even supposed to be on that road with quads! I bet he could have just sat up in that area and caught quadders all day. When we were driving out, there was another group of quadders screaming up the road with no helmets. I hope he caught them too. It's going to take a LOT more enforcement (and steeper fines) before we see some real improvement. I do have to say, after seeing what the area was like 5 years ago when I went out there with people and quads everywhere, and now, they have shut a lot of the Hummingbird area down to motorized vehicles, that it is starting to improve the area. I even caught a few fish out of the ol' Bird which would have never happened 5 years ago. I guess if people F*&K things up enough eventually it will get noticed and some positive changes might take place.

I'm no expert on fly tying or fishing. Hook size might be the issue but perhaps your hook-set timing is also the issue? I find the bigger the fly + the bigger the fish = a very long time to wait before setting the hook. I know this has been covered in other threads but waiting several seconds or saying something like "son of a bitch" before setting the hook allows the fish to take the fly, turn back down with it, and "chew" it a bit. If I am getting hits but just feeling them for a second and then they're off, that if a wait a fraction longer, I'll have a MUCH better hook-up rate. Cutts are probably the hardest to wait for because if the water is clear, you get to see them coming up from the bottom for several (or 10+ !!!!) feet and by the time they take your fly, your so psyched out that you set immediately. It's like when I used to try and play slow pitch baseball, I'd always foul to left field because I couldn't wait for the ball to get to me. I watched it coming for too long and had too much time to think. Anyway, waiting longer might be something to try as well as getting a wider hook gap. Cheers.

I was out on a super hot day on the Red Deer this year. I got there too early and it was still incredibly hot out. On my way up to where I wanted to fish some red sticking out of a logjam caught my attention. On further inspection, it was a backpack style Budweiser cooler. On the outside it was pretty muddy but on the inside, it had a full bottle of sunscreen AND (drum roll), 2 cans of cool Alexander Keats! So I continued up the river, parked myself on the side of the water and put my feet in the river, leaned up against my pack, and drank the beer until the evening temps dropped and the fish started rising. It was heavenly. Like some poor drunk bastard had floated down the river and flipped out of his homemade-redneck-raft just upstream of there, JUST for me. Thanks poor drunk bastard, you're the best. Never did get any Browns that night but somehow the trip still felt worthwhile.

I went on a guided trip with Joe Buck 2 years ago and he was always calling the big browns "Big Toads." He would give a running commentary while you were fishing, especially a really juicy looking spot, (read with excited English accent) "Oh, a big toad is going to come up and crush it, oh come on big toad, CRUNCH!" while making faces like he was a big brown smashing the big dry fly. Almost as entertaining as the fishing. When something would strike, I would usually be so psyched out already that I would set the hook too early. One of the best days I've had on the water. That and my sisters growing up used to (and still do) call me "Toad," (my name being Todd) so "Big Toad" just seemed to fit.

DING, DING, DING! We have a winner!!!! Nice work BigBowTrout! We started at the Ram staging area and hiked about 2/3's the first day for about 6 hours. Second day we went up in 4 hours and back to camp in 3, stopping to fish for an hour. 3rd day we were out in 5. First 2/3rd's is easy. The 1/3 part up to Lost Guide is difficult but by far the most enjoyable/scenic once you get above tree line. Took the GPS (consulted it and the topo map frequently) and it was 19km's as the crow flies from the staging area to Lost Guide. My guess is it is probably closer to 30km on foot. So 60km in 3 days. I have the bleeding heels to prove it. I was breaking in the new boots. OUCH! Here's a pic of the South Ram on the way up... so freaking pretty. I stopped on the way back at a beautiful pool while the girls had lunch. Fished for 15 minutes and caught 6 from 12-16" on a caddis. It was awesome! Then a group of about 30 ESL students on horseback showed up and decided to have lunch there. It was a gong-show so we got out of there! Wish I could have fished there and some other sweet holes a bit more. Might have been really interesting...

So my wife and a friend of ours (along with the pooches) hiked into a lake this past weekend. Had lots of fun but it was a lot further than I had previously thought (but now I'm giving too much info away). There has been way too many pics of people trying to hide locations and I wanted to mix it up a bit. Instead, can anyone name the location from the pics? After MANY "It's just over the next rise," we finally made it, and were a bit excited. I'm not sure if my wife or the scenery is hotter.....either way, I'm a lucky S.O.B. Since it was a lot farther than we had anticipated, I only fished for about an hour. Nothing monstrous but it was tons of fun. You could see them coming from 15+ feet down. The whole crew.

Islands are definitely the safest bet. Most landowners will post a "No Trespassing" sign or two or ten around if they don't want you on the land. I've only been kicked off once, luckily I was just getting my tent out and hadn't fully unpacked. I rowed across the river to an island and had one of the best evenings ever on the Bow, catching 10-15 between 2 of us from one pool at the bottom of the island. I was pretty glad to have changed locations then. I've done a 3 day, 2 nighter from FishCreek to Carsland a few times. It allows you to really slow down and do some serious fishing. Usually stop somewhere below policeman's the first night, then somewhere below the Highwood the second night. When you are close to the weir, there are signs to keep to the left. IGNORE these signs and stay to the right. The left you'll get stuck in incredibly slow and skinny braided channels that get progressively smaller until you'll eventually be forced to get out of your boat and walk it through some of the small stuff. Just keep to the right. You'll also hit a really nice stretch going to the right. Cheers.

Did an overnight float on Saturday/Sunday with some friends. 4 of us in 2 boats. Saturday was HOT and we didn't catch much the whole day. I picked up a beautiful 21" brown on a dropper just downstream of the city. Man was it fat. Caught it on my friends 4 weight. It was really fun. Picked up a few tiddlers later that night in front of camp when things cooled down but that was it. Thunder, rain, and more thunder and rain started at about 1:00 am. Tent held together and it was finally cool when we got up Sunday morning. Expectations were high that the drop in temp would help the fishing. Picked up a couple nymphing and few on streamers but nothing over 16. I did dredge another great 18" brown "trolling" a streamer deep through a slow deep area. Great fight. I was REALLY hoping to catch a few fish on the big foam but nothing was looking up. There were still stones around and I would have thought hoppers would be going somewhat but there was nothing. NOTHING!?!?! What's up with that? Anyway, it was a fun trip, even though the fishing was pretty terrible compared to previous years (9th straight year I've done the camping trip). Although I guess I shouldn't complain with a 21 and 17 inch browns... the Bow just spoils a guy I guess. Here's the big fatty. Another fatty. Cheers.

I'm not sure if we really want to get this drastic, but when I was down in NZ for a while, it was illegal to camp anywhere except in designated camping areas. Random camping, especially from tourists in minivans, became such a problem on the beaches and other areas that they finally just said "enough is enough" and kiboshed the whole thing. I think we might need to head this way. I was up in the Ram Falls area this weekend and it was stupid. There were so many rv's along the road that it felt like I was still in the urban sprawl. Meanwhile, I stayed at the Prairie Creek campground (which is fantastic by the way) and it wasn't even full? If people can afford the huge RV's and all of the toys and the truck to pull all of their crap, then they should stay in a campground!!!!!!!! I'm not suggesting that every designated camping spot would even need a fee, there could be free camping with basic camping sites (no electricity and only outhouses), but the camping sites would be designated. There could even be "tent only" sites in more remote/sensitive areas, to try and curb the quadding issues (my experience is that most quadders are RVer's but I could be wrong). I think the issue is becoming critical and something will need to be done about it soon. Designate as many camping areas as possible, keep it affordable, and in some cases; free, but stop people from just setting up shop where-ever they feel like it (obviously with some sensitivity to minimal impact camping people who stay in tents for a short amount of time in more remote areas). That's my 2 cents, if you don't like it, suck rocks. Cheers.

When fishing for pike was legal with a bow my cousins and I would go out to Gull Lake and shoot them during the winter. Shot and saw some monsters. It was too much fun to be legal and I'm glad they shut it down. However, we would leave our ice fishing hut out there over the winter. 10 x 12' ply-wood with a 4x5' hole cut in the ice. It was magical. Funny thing was, when we locked it up, it would get broken into and vandalized and our stuff stolen. When we would leave it unlocked, it was always in good shape and often there would be some leftover hooks laying around afterward. The camper reminded me of that. I'm not condoning what they are doing but I bet if they were to lock it up, all of their stuff would get busted and/or stolen. Leave it open; it might be risky, but probably a "safer" bet. Cheers.