dryfly

Okay ... where? It was a goofy fish. Right out in the open ... right where the trail reached the pool ... in a lazy backwater that was basically smooth. Crazy...two of us stood and watched it for a few minutes. It ate EVERYTHING including a small twig which it ejected afterward. It ate caddisflies and mayflies. It was anything but selective. Was a hoot to watch.

EDIT: I missed JV's post. He knows Canon glass better then me. A 70-300 is a good range. (Or what JV said...250 mm is not too bad..but limiting for birds.) One issue with "rising trout" photos is that the light is often not so good...some of the best rising you will see will be in late day and faster lenses are better but the price tags get a little silly. I do not know from Canon lenses but you can probably buy two grades of 70-300 lenses that are f4.5/5.6.. one will be $300 (Canon EF 75-300mm F4-5.6 III USM) and the other will be $800 (Canon EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM) because it has better glass. Canon makes an f2.8 70-200 that is about $2500. This is much faster but only 200 mm but you can also get a teleconverter for it. You can spend as much money as you want. You would not be unhappy with the Canon EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM. The more you pay the better the glass. Good glass lasts for many years. I still use lenses that are 20 years old. You want at least 300 mm unless you also get a tele converter with a 200mm. As for tripods. STURDY legs. Take your camera into the shop and try some heads for ease of use. A good solid tripod with a good head will be expensive. It also will last you 30 years. My Manfrotto is 21 years old now..it is showing some wear .. but so am I. This rising series was taken with a 70-300 at 280 mm. I was far from the truck and had no polarizer with me. It was in full sun. The cutty was strange..seemed to have no fear and yet was at a hard-fished hole.

SJW ... I have that nearly down pat. fishpro...nice photos. Thanks.

Maybe a big flaming cross will befall Birchy...just like to John Goodman in OBWFAT.

R.U.N.N.O.F.T. ? I'll bite. Had a couple of phrases but this is a family show, so thought better of it. Run uphill NOW! No other fishing trips.

Hey thanks guys! And thanks to all who have voted. Much appreciated. But a lot of FFC members probably have not sent in a note. Naturally we have no way of knowing who and how many have voted here and elsewhere. However, the ''word on the street" is that faxes are flying in opposing the QF regs ... just rumors, but enough that we have to place some credibility in them. (I live in a small town ... the vote notice is getting "air time" at a couple of local shops. The word is "send a fax." Word gets around in small towns.) With so much support for quality fisheries in the AOF poll we need to make sure those interested in catching some nice trout make sure they let their feelings be known. Bullshead has been impressive. Police fish growth has been slower. But it will come around. The combo of BH and Police is going to make a great camping trip for folks from Calgary and Edmonton. Thanks to everyone who has voiced their opinion. Regards Clive

CMA NOTES 1) Mods .. .starting a new thread on purpose. We need some action. 2) I am yelling at you. Get over it.☺ 3) I may edit this post later. I gotta go out now. I am still gonna yell though.☺ See here for adc's first post. He posted this. It's time to vote, folks........Hope you have all had a chance to fish Police under the new regs. Progress is a bit slow but it's coming......There are still some of the old guard who want it back the way it was........If you believe we need MORE ANGLER CHOICE and MORE QUALITY FISHERIES in the Province it is imperative that you make your voice heard. Outlined below is the review process. Please be sure to vote and also let any of your fishing associates who may not use this Board know as well....... Al...... Police Outpost Lake. Review of Quality Fishing Regulation. Public/Stakeholder Input requested. Proposal #1 Keep the current regulations (1 Trout Limit over 50 cm; Bait Ban; Closed November 1 to March 31) Proposal #2 Go back to the previous regulations (5 Trout Limit; No Size Restrictions; No Bait Ban; Open Year Round) You can send your opinion to: Terry Clayton Senior Fisheries Biologist ASRD Fish and Wildlife Division Terry.Clayton@gov.ab.ca NOW HERE IS WHY I AM STARTING A NEW THREAD. KEEPING CURRENT POLICE LAKE REGS IS NOT A SLAM DUNK GUYS AND GALS. 1) There are over 2,000 anglers here and my guess (just a guess) that 90 percent of you have not told Terry Clayton how you feel. Get off you asses an vote however you want. JUST VOTE. 2) Over at Alberta Outdoorsman the VAST majority of anglers support the conceot of quality fisheries--something that may surprise you. We ALL like to catch a few large trout, no matter if we spin fish or fly fish. See poll results from AOF below. Do not sweat about the poll choice..the general outcome is that only 6% of anglers want the "five fish per day" regs and 95 percent lean toward developing quality trout fisheries. 3) THIS IS NOT JUST ABOUT POLICE LAKE!! This is about sending a message in support of quality fisheries. If the regs revert back at Police you can bet SRD will be cautious about developing more QF lakes anywhere. SO VOTE HOWEVER YOU WANT. BUT PROBABLY THERE ARE ABOUT 2,000 OF YOU OUT THERE THAT HAVE NOT VOTED. I can't tell you how to vote, but if you support the concept of Quality Fisheries then email Terry and tell him you support Proposal #1. End of yelling! Get on it NOW. Thanks and kind regards. Clive Here are the Alberta Outdoorsman poll results. So have 94 percent of FFC members voted to support the continuance of quality fisheries?!

We cannot have warm weather too fast and for too long. Easy does it.

Since this is a Timmies crowd ...

Yeah JV .. jksnijders is correct. See here...shows two rings...the rotating top ring (with the filter) and the lower stationary ring that is threaded to the lens. Holding the lens in one hand, grip ONLY the lower threaded ring with finger tips trying to avoid the top ring that rotates. Happens to me frequently...worse with the expensive thin filters. Good luck Clive

Hey Gary! Speaking of snow and oldies, THIS song is all about "a whiter shade of pale" ... and it is better than ALL of the songs ever written since most everyone on FFC was born! Which excludes you, me, TerryH a few others and probably even Taco. For you old farts who were carefree and immortal like me in 1967, this song by Procol Harum will make you misty. And the younguns will go back to their rap "music" which is only exceeded in musical ugliness by anything by Bobby Goldsboro and Celine Dion. Old farts unite! :derby racer:

Bette Midler sez 'I haven't left my house in days. I watch the news channels incessantly. All the news stories are about the election; all the commercials are Viagra and Cialis. Election, erection, election, erection! Either way we're screwed!'

BobLoblaw HA HA HA! Need the sheep in case the wimmin are "two baggers."

Runoff is why we have lakes ... and we will probably need the lakes this year in the SW.

The Oldman drainage will be under stress this spring and summer. As noted, a fast melt will not be a good thing. Click here. Select a station (green button) and then select "figure" in the pop up window for the snow pack chart. The five main slow packs that supply the SW rivers are approx. 45% above average. BTW ... the snow equivalent (using the accepted 10:1, snow:water ratio) at Flattop (that supplies the Waterton) is 43 feet of snow. 43 feet is quite a lot. Akamina Pass has a mere 19 feet of snow. They normally get a lot of snow up there. Now here is a piece of government wizardry. Here is the official statement for the Oldman drainage on March 16, 2011. Mountain runoff forecasts (natural volumes for March to September 2011) Milk River basin * Below average Oldman River basin * Slightly below average to average for the St. Mary, Belly River and Waterton River at Waterton Park * Above average for Oldman River at Brocket and average for Oldman River at Lethbridge "Slightly below average to average for the St. Mary, Belly River and Waterton River at Waterton Park" This falls into the general category of: WTF? Probably a good idea to ignore the official line and git yer sheep and wimmin on high ground.

We actually NEED a COOL & DRY spring in the SW as the man said....... Funny we have not heard too many "Woe is us ... the crik is dry" this year.

Hey Tex! 1) You said, How soon do I make the long drive to the Hat to see how big the trips got this year? ... But I'll be there again in April this year! Right. Take an auger and report back. 2) Better hurry! That's a ton o' stuff to jam between the last spring/summer snow (June) and the first summer/fall snow (July or August). Heck, Rick!! ... the days started getting shorter in 13 weeks! Regards Clive PS: Nice story Rick. Thanks. We ALL have these thoughts about spring and summer and getting out more. I gotta get out more.

Very nice. Great inspiration. Wednesday .. we hope.

Speaking of crack!

Don Don't know answer. It is about money and attitude and I think pressures of health care, eduction and social services simply overwhelms the other things. Our gov't seems to not want to offend people by charging for some services, the money from which could toward environmental protection. We all know what an extra five bucks from fishing licenses could do for F&W enforcement. Maybe we should have a 3 percent sales tax IF (IF IF IF...) the money went to designated areas such as environmental protection. There is a large component of "attitude" with the current gov't. Every letter I've written to ministers about raising license fees all get the same reply, "...we don't want to raise fishing license fees because was want all to enjoy the [once] great outdoors." Fluff. What is the answer? No matter which political party gets in there will be reasons why the rivers of which you spoke and many other environmental things will be ignored. Despite the promises of "enviro protection" by the NDs you can bet that they spend so much on social services that they'd spend us into oblivion. The "left" has never had any sense of practical and economic realities. (The first huge cuts to occur in California two years ago was Arnold's pet enviro projects...) The Conservatives ignored things like rivers and public lands even when they had money...near as I could tell they did not want to piss off the rural vote (by say charging more for licenses and charging for random camping) and the city vote largely could not give a *hit about rivers and fish. We spent some time in February in Sedona Arizona. Large parts of the region is Red Rock "forestry reserve" and in that reserve you cannot park in public parking areas or on the side of the road without a "pass." Not even park for a few minute unless you have a pass. I think the fee was $5/day or a mere $20 for the entire year. A nice concept and similar to one we have asked for in the forestry reserve on the Eastern Slopes....politicians won't consider such a fee for service for fear to pissing off people. Yet they don't have resources to protect F&W and lands in the forestry areas. They will do nothing about the abuse of public lands by squatters who set up camps for 4 months all along the Eastern Slopes....even tough the regs once said "Max 14-day stay." Why not a similar system in Alberta as in Arizona and the money goes to environmental protection? (The Red Rock Reserve pass money went to protecting the very area..) How about an annual vehicle pass for the forestry area of $50 per vehicle and (what?) $100 to $200 per vehicle if staying overnight...with max stay of 14 days. But the gov't is scared of charging these fees. Bullshit. (Fifty bucks is just a bit of gas money these days.) Dunno Don ... it is complex. And as our population grows to 5 million ... well, it won't get better under any political regime unless there is a wholesale by in for increased fees and taxes. (Where else is the money to come from??) We have to start charging more somewhere, BUT also have to support enviro protection budgets and not have increased fees eaten up by hospitals and schools...obviously critically important. Probably time for a sales tax in Alberta. (Can't wait for the feedback on this... ) Happy daylight savings time. Clive

midgetwaiter ... agree 100% ... Here in the small burg of Coaldale, we sometimes get two and three copies of some fliers....first in the newspaper...then in with "Prairie Post" and sometimes in a flier drop....recently we got three from XYZ Corp (Home Depot I think) promoting their new line of green products. What a joke. My point was that weenies make such a big deal about plastic bags and water bottles while our whole society is awash in waste be it from fossil fuel or from other resources like trees ... but weenies have a compulsive need to have a "cause" and water bottles and plastic bags are a good target. Like everyone here, I am all for conservation and reduction..just a little sick of "green this" and "green that" .. meaningless drivel these days. We need to live and let live while reducing and conserving ... and forget about the green finger pointing.

Don More statistics * North America produced 7,000,000,000 kg (7 billion kg) of newsprint last year (This is a fact.) Maybe we should ban books and newspapers perhaps..use is declining for sure. * There are 200,000,000,000 kg (200 billion kg) of sea water for every person on earth (This is a fact....just a fun number.) * The average member of the Rocky Sustainability Committee drinks 13.74 cups of Tim Horton's coffee per year..in paper cups so they can Roll up the Rim to Win. * 79.873 percent of all statistics are made up ... a Spoonerism with no basis in fact. If the Rocky Sustainability Committee says only 13 percent of plastic water bottles are recycled, they sure as hell are doing a piss poor job and should disband. Don ... a bit more seriously ... actually I am serious...do a survey of the Rocky Sustainability Committee and find out the average size of house that the committee members live in...square feet per person. If it is more than about 500 square feet per person .. well they need to rethink their lifestyles perhaps and not worry so much about plastic water bottles. They are not living a sustainable or green lifestyle if living in houses larger than their real needs. (There is a local green-weenie here who loves to extol the virtues of a green lifestyle. Her and her hubby own two [count 'em TWO] homes that total at least 4,000 sq ft. .. that's about 2,000 sq feet each...way too big for anyone who professes to lead a green lifestyle. One of their homes is a cottage some 140 km away and they burn perhaps 20 tanks of gasoline each year to drive to their solar heated summer place. Huh?! I am most happy for them, but it seems they ain't livin' the green mantra they espouse.) BTW we use plastic water bottles sparingly (they are damn handy when you are on the road) and recycle 100% of the ones we do buy. Clive

Hats off to you guys for taking action! Excellent story and photos. Clive

monger...The fish we caught last year were fat..no indication of lack of food at all. There seems to be huge midge population..they probably have lots of feed. BUT ... we agree with you .. .I have suggested no stocking on 2011. We will discuss this more with TC. Last October, I wrote this to adc ... "MAYBE there should be no stocking in 2011 or at least another reduction to say 10,000 or so...." Shall see. Unfortunately growth rates have probably been affected by the colder-than-average temps the past two summers....maybe if we get a half-decent summer and another year of growth we will see more and more >50-cm fish in Police. We can only hope. Nice letter Neil! Thanks. Clive

Don .. nah .. had to have a whack at it... flytyer...aha! Maurice Strong ... a blight to humanity and unfortunately he's a Canuck. “Isn’t it the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?” Maurice Strong Perhaps the poster boy for WWF, DS and the Sierra Club. BBT ..what did you pay for your Jetta? Saw an ad recently...seems to be less expensive than before the economy went South. They sure look rugged. One day we will have to get a new sedan. (I have an aversion to them because I know someone with a Jetta and well ... this person has SDS and I wrongly equate the car with the owner. I am bad.