dryfly

Conor, All of the four major DSLR companies (Nikon, Sony, Canon and Pentax) make good gear. I am now a Sony person as I was a Minolta guy for 40 years and stayed with the lens mount when Sony bought Minolta. However, were I starting out, I'd go Nikon. Period. Canon is most popular (and I'll take some heat here), but you want to check into the ease (or difficulty) of their menus before deciding on Canon. My Sony A700 has wonderful controls and I rarely have to go into the camera's menu. The ISO, WB, and drive modes are changed with external dials/switches and the entire setting system is displayed on a large color LCD screen on the back. IMHO it is superior to the equivalent Nikon bodies in ease of use. Sony is short of lenses (and they are expensive), although they'd released some new ones this year and I bought two of them--and sold two older ones. At that budget you are looking at something like the Nikon D40 .. or equivalent. Kit lenses are never great, but for general photography, they are fine. Lose your head inside here for a while... Good luck, Clive

Thanks. Was most fun. Confession time gang! How many of us have seen this happen and managed to pull the fly away about the same time its nose comes up? :P Never happened to me personally. Well not today anyway.

Class act GreenPeter. Thanks for the "thanks." Glad it work well for you. Cheers! Clive

Great fishing and other pictures guys. Great memories for everyone. I love looking at pictures. Thanks. Clive

Thanks for that Cheeler. And thanks to all. cdock...send me an email and I'll email you a PDF flier .. clives AT shaw.ca Stay tuned.

Thanks all. Was a hoot to watch. Was glad I was lugging the telephoto lens. RE: Did I catch it? No I did not catch it as I did not have my fishing gear with me ... I took these while with the Stream Watch officer. RE: Classes. Yeah I do classes now and then, to whomever asked. RE: Polarizer. A polarizer takes the glare off the water. The filter was back up at the truck and was too far away to get...these pix had to be taken as you never know when it will be over. And it was over soon enough as another trout came over and they did not like each other and sort of scrapped and left. We watched this fish feed for perhaps 5 minutes. RE: Camera. A Sony A700 12 MP DSLR with G Series 70-300 telephoto and a monopod. (I was a Minolta guy for 40 years and Sony bought Minolta two years ago. They are carrying on the high-quality Minolta tradition. Coming out with some good glass. This month they will release a 24 MP full-frame DSLR. I will pass unless I win 649.)

I use the Optio W20. It takes good pix but I REALLY despite its lack of eye piece view finder. I don't know if anyone makes a WP with an eyepiece viewer. Taken on Sunday ...

Series three and four.... Didn't have the polarizer so the glare is a but much...check the shadow in the top series....fun stuff.

Found a riser on the OM last week in the Gap...was most cooperative and ate bugs from about 6 m away. Way cool. Thought you'd like to see them. Oh yeah, it ate a TWIG--and spit it out!! Why won't they eat our flies sometimes? Second series is here. All the same fish. Cheers! Clive Second

(Dave or ___ ... can you perhaps pin this post? Thanks.) Hi all...been a while. Last Friday I was privileged to accompany the Stream Watch Seasonal Enforcement Officer, Jeff Cox, on one of his routine stream patrols. We were on the Racehorse, upper OM, Livingstone and OM at the Gap. Most enlightening .. so I am sharing. Below is a letter I wrote to Kevin Stalker an enforcement manger with SRD--it describes what we did and what happened. This is a gallery of some pictures taken that day. Sorry no captions. Photo gallery of random pictures..click View Show once there ... This is one helluva program gang and we hope you wil pony up next year! Thanks to all who supported this program for SW Alberta this year. l Here is the letter I wrote to Kevin Stalker. Clive Kevin Stalker Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Manager Fish and Wildlife Sustainable Resource Development 2nd fl Provincial Building 4919 - 51 Street Rocky Mountain House, AB T4T 1B3 August 19, 2008 Dear Kevin: RE: Stream Watch in Southwestern Alberta On Friday, August 15, I accompanied Jeff Cox, Seasonal Enforcement Officer, based out of Blairmore. I had asked to do a ride-along so I could take pictures and get a feel for a typical Stream Watch patrol day. Jeff and I left the Blairmore office at approximately 9 AM and headed north up the FTR toward Racehorse. During the day, we scanned stretches of rivers and walked parts of the Racehorse, Oldman River in the Gap and downstream of the Gap, the Oldman up toward Dutch Creek, the Livingstone River near the confluence with the Oldman and the Northwest branch of the Oldman. Throughout the day, we stopped to walk parts of the rivers where vehicles were parked and where Jeff knew good places to go in for a closer look. In the course of the day, Jeff watched several anglers from the security of the woods or cliff tops. Jeff used a combination of walking and cruising to do his investigations. As he noted, there is little sense in walking 3 km of stream when there are no vehicles parked along several km of stream. On the other hand, when a vehicle is parked near a pool, Jeff always stops for a look. Jeff chooses not to approach the angler/s directly at first but prefers to watch for a while without anglers knowing. This might include driving past for 200 m and then walking back to where the anglers are or are likely to be. He said he was getting a feel for where the good “beats” where and where the good vantage points were. In 2007, Andrew Gustavson had an opportunity to fly over most of the Oldman drainage with a fire patrol helicopter. Andrew marked all of the good fishing and potential poaching holes on a GPS. These data were subsequently downloaded to Jeff’s GPS which was donated. The combination of the GPS data and Jeff’s ground patrols has given him detailed knowledge of the drainage. In all, he spoke with approximately 20 anglers throughout the day. Everyone who was actively fishing or had been fishing was asked to show a license and hooks were checked for barbs or bait. Even when infractions were not observed (most of the time), Jeff always asked if the anglers knew the regulations for that particular stream. Several anglers offered that they were pleased to be checked and thanked Jeff. Two incidents required issuance of tickets. One person was issued a $200 ticket for using barbed hooks and a warning ticket. Another received a warning ticket. (The warning ticket versus a verbal warning ensures that the person’s name and infraction are registered in the database. Should they re-offend, the officer will know their history.) The first incident exemplified the effectiveness of the combination of enforcement and education. It also showed Jeff’s sensible handling of the situation and good working rapport with the anglers involved. The first incident involved four anglers fishing in the Oldman River in the Gap adjacent to the road. The anglers included a father with two teenagers (from north of Edmonton) and another adult male from Calgary. The father was fishing with a barbed, treble-hook (Mepps-type) lure to which a piece of dried worm was attached. It was apparent that the worm had not been attached to the lure that day. There was no evidence of bait containers. Both of the teenagers were using lures with barbed hooks. The fourth person was fishing with legal tackle. All were properly licensed. There were technically four infractions to be dealt with, and all four could have resulted in $200 fines. Jeff considered that the two teenagers were fishing with their father and that giving them tickets might affect their angling futures and general attitude toward enforcement. Jeff decided to give the father a $200 ticket for angling with a barbed hook and also gave him a ticketed warning (meaning it is in the database) regarding the use of bait. Instead of ticketing the two teenagers, he had a chat with the young lady and gave her a “barbless” information package that included a barbless jig-head lure. While Jeff was writing the tickets, the father spent the time debarbing all of the lures in his tackle box. Jeff also gave the group a copy of the Alberta Guide to Sportfishing Regulations—which they did not have. After being handed the tickets and chatting with Jeff, the father thanked Jeff and shook his hand. This group apparently had no idea about regulations where they were fishing. Jeff and I felt that had they caught any fish in that catch-and-release stretch they would have killed the fish. We also speculated that they probably did not know how to identify a bull trout—and they were fishing adjacent to a hole where there are known to be bull trout. It seemed to me that the situation was handled perfectly. The issuance of tickets was necessary because three people were fishing with barbed hooks. Yet it was not heavy-handed in any way. If four, $200-dollar tickets had been issued, that would have been excessive and no real learning would have happened. Everyone walked away happy. The one $200 ticket made a strong point and got their attention. More importantly, a lot of education happened in a mere 20 minutes. The second incident involved an angler who had just walked up from the Livingstone and was not actually fishing at the time. Jeff asked to see his fly and it had a barb on it. He was given a warning ticket. Many other anglers were asked for licenses and Jeff asked them about their knowledge of the regulations where they were fishing. Jeff certainly seems to have the right attitude, approach and philosophy toward Stream Watch and angling regulations in general. The experience makes me feel that the time, effort and money of everyone involved with Stream Watch in Southwestern Alberta were well worth it. ... Special thanks to Jeff and Andrew for giving me permission to ride along. It was a pleasure to spend the day with Jeff. I had a great day and have a better feel for the role of the Stream Watch officers and about enforcement and education in general. I also want to thank Jeff for his dedication and wish him every success in the future. This is program is effective in educating and anglers while ensuring regulations are adhered to. Members of the Stream Watch committee in Southwestern look forward to working with you and others in SRD to carry the Stream Watch program forward for the next several years. Best wishes, Clive Schaupmeyer Coaldale, Alberta

Otay taco, taeke, taco .... :P (TAKO) (TACO aka Taeke) "There ain't room for both of us in this one-horse town, sonny boy. So what will it be? Go ahead ... make my day!" Y'all take care!

Thanks again to all who participated in the Stream Watch auction...especially Toolman. adc and I guided the pike trip winner, TG, to Crawling Valley two weeks ago and it was a terrible bust. TG landed one small pike, adc caught a walleye and I got skunked. We blamed it in the foul east wind that annoyed us all day...BTW I had ONE hit in five hours. It was slow. So we offered to take TG to another place and last Thursday we went to Badger Reservoir--known for large pike. (I managed two big pike from Badger the three times I'd fished it previously.) Well Badger was better than CV, but it was not crazy. We caught quite a few pike including a couple of half decent fish like this one landed by TG. Thanks to TG for buying the trip and supporting SW. Was a good day. I also got to try out my new G series 70-300 lens on some ring-billed gulls....got a couple of decent shots.

"You guys HAVE been getting a lot of rain down there!!!" 280 mm at Spoinkop Creek! Click here. "cant wait for the days to start getting shorter. thanks clive..." LS.. yer welcome. We always aim to make people happy. It's the same every year, eh? We all lust for spring and it is good--well it is "okay." But we ALL secretly know the very best is in July through October--when the days are seriously shorter. I've never fished so little thru winter and spring in maybe 20 years. Other than Cuba I doubt if I've fished 6 or 8 days days since November. Gonna find some pike piggies this week -- or not. (However, I have taken 12,000 photographs since November. Always something to occupy my simple brain. Went the the Birds of Prey Center today...)

Cosmic beed ... you are a great man! Days to cherish and pictures to remember always! Well done.

Examples Beauvais Lake past 2 days....6 inches.... |=============|=======================|=========|========|========| | Station | Data and Time (MST) | Value | 3 Hour | 6 Hour | |=============|=======================|=========|========|========| BEAU 2008-05-22 03:00:00 3.3 0.0 ... BEAU 2008-05-24 12:00:00 149.1 16.0 30.7 Spionkop Creek ... 9 (nine ) inches in 2 days... (515-284mm) |=============|=======================|=========|========|========| | Station | Data and Time (MST) | Value | 3 Hour | 6 Hour | |=============|=======================|=========|========|========| SPIO 2008-05-22 03:00:00 283.9 0.6 ... SPIO 2008-05-24 12:00:00 515.1 10.0 21.4

Some recording stations in the Castle and Waterton drainages have rec'd 150 to 200 mm in past three days...somewhat isolated occurrences. Most places from Leth to the BC and MT borders have rec'd 60 to 100 mm so far--with a lot expected today as LF and beed referred to. Overall the rain is great, but undoubtedly there will be some "issues" before it is over. Gettin' time to move the sheep to high ground. Snowing above about 1800 meters. Warm weather next week would not be good. Needs to stay cool for a while to ease the high-elev melt. 1995? I don't think so ... but my gift of prophesy is not swell.

So far the rain is great in SW Alberta ranging from about 20 to 50 mm -- so far. Hope it is not 1995 revisited as there is a heavy rainfall warning now in place for the SW--and still some heavy snow pack over 1800 meters. Heavy rain on snow is not a good mix. The difference between now and 1995 is that is is cold this time. Then it was high snow, high temps and high rains. Warnings Crowsnest Pass - Pincher Creek - Waterton lakes nat. Park 4:17 AM MDT Friday 23 May 2008 Rainfall warning for Crowsnest Pass - Pincher Creek - Waterton lakes nat. Park continued. Heavy rainfall is occurring in southwestern Alberta. A upper low pressure system in Wyoming is spreading moisture into southern Alberta. The moisture combined with upslope flow in southwestern Alberta is leading to heavy rainfall. Pincher Creek area has seen 45 millimetres since noon Thursday and is expected to see an additional 30 to 40 illimetres today. Another impulse of moisture is forecast to move into southern Alberta this evening with a possible 50 to 70 millimetres of rain by Saturday evening. Total rainfall amounts by Saturday evening are expected to reach 140 millimetres. Plus some snow. :lol: AND THE DAYS START GETTING SHORTER IN 4 WEEKS!! (Just for Ms. Lynn!) Taken at 6:30 today just north of Lundbreck!

Well done by both tyers. Thanks to the secret tyers.

This is a reminder that there will be a "benchmark" fishing weekend at Police Lake this upcoming weekend from May 9 to May 11. You are invited to attend all weekend or whenever you can on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Free breakfast on Sunday morning to those who participate in the test fishing! Please RSVP here if you plan to attend. Background Effective April 1, 2008, Police Outpost Lake is governed by new regulations. Open Apr. 1 to Oct. 31 Trout limit 1 over 50 cm Bait Ban Nov. 1 to Mar 31 – CLOSED What and why There will be a test fishing weekend on May 9, 10 and 11, 2008. The purpose will be to establish a baseline of fish size to compare with fish size in future years. Participants will be asked to keep record sheets that ask for 1)number of hours fished 2) number of fish caught 3) length of fish caught and 4) method used. These data will be invaluable in tracking the success of Police Lake under the new regulations. What you will do If you plan to attend, download this record keeping sheet, print a couple of copies and keep track of the fish you catch. PLEASE BRING A TAPE MEASURE as we want accurate measurements. Utmost care is to be taken when handling, measuring and releasing fish. If you show up on Friday, and no one "official" is in attendance, just go ahead and start fishing and record the fish you catch as noted on the record sheet. All participants are to fish according to the current regulations for this lake and for the province. See here. When and where ... this upcoming weekend from May 9 to May 11. This is a weekend event and you can arrive any time on Friday afternoon or on Saturday. There is a campground at this provincial park so you can tent or trailer at the campground. Download the Police Lake campground brochure with maps and contact numbers. RSVP We need to know how many plan to attend so food can be procured for the Sunday morning breakfast! Please RSVP to Allan Caldwell. caldwa AT gmail.com FOR MORE INFORMATION Please contact Allan Caldwell at 381-1619 or caldwa AT gmail.com Please do not call me or write to me as I will be in hiding this week. Thanks. Hope to see you there. Clive ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Clive Schaupmeyer, Secretary Oldman River Chapter TU

Thanks for your kind comments. I enjoy taking bird pictures. Posted some more in another thread. Cheers! Clive

Spent some time in the marsh today, including 3 hours in my blind. Turned out well ... I am pleased. Thanks for looking. Cheers! Clive Shovellers...really fun to watch...sort of goofy little ducks...dozens on the ponds.. Canvasback female Cinnamon teal Guy type mallard Snow goose...not sure why it is hanging around here ... been here about one week...not seen it fly so there may be an issue there...(no tar sands so it may have hit a wire...or maybe it is just confused ) The goslings started hatching a few days ago...I am thinking there are two crops this year...some females sat early and many didn't start until mid April so they will be hatching in a week or two. (28 to 32-day incubation.) Clutches have 3 to 5 young ones...the snow may have thinned a few eggs as there should be about 4 to 7 goslings per family.

"what's an eco-weenie? " rickr hit it on the head. Bingo. It's all about perspective. I am an "earth raper" because I drive an 8 cylinder truck (on occasion), so an eco weenie is anyone with a 4-cylinder car and who complains about my truck. And to a guy who rides a bike everywhere the 4-cylinder guy is an "earth rapist" and the cyclist is the eco con weenie. I see eco weenies as anyone who thinks when it comes to the environment they have SDS and everyone else is a bastard. I always wondered what an "environmentalist" is. I see it in "letters to the editor" all of the time. It is a pompous statement about to one's self appointed status. I know a local self-anointed "environmentalist" who is thinks Al Gore is a God..just like Al Gore thinks he is a God. And this local environmentalist lives with her hubby in two homes totaling about 5,000 square feet. Right! (And Al gore lives in a 10,000 sq ft mansion.) She accuses me of being an "earth rapist," but she and her hubby leave more of a footprint as Blondie and I. She has SDS big time. Castuserraticus.. yeah tower lines are a biggie. Buildings and windows THE biggest; cats are huge; and road kills also huge. Never hear about these...well we see something about buildings now and then. Based on the highly scientific survey adc and I took yesterday there were at LEAST as many road killed birds on Alberta's highways yesterday (alone) as died in this tar sands event. We saw 3 fresh dead birds (seagulls all) in about 100 km of paved road...there are 20K of paved roads in AB....that's at least 600 road kill birds on AB's highways on ONE day. What is to be done about this slaughter!?!?! :P Oh the shame! blah blah blah. Who in this thread said something about fly fishermen should be a tad careful in what they say? Let's say C&R anglers release 50,000 rainbows and browns on the Bow River annually. Based on the "science," they kill at least 1,000 trout annually!! (it is probably more.) We ALL have a footprint. It is our duty (and that of Suncor) to minimize that impact within reason. None of us like any unwanted wildlife deaths, but they are a reality of life. Y'all have a swell weekend. I am going to take pictures this afternoon..nice sunny day here.

Thanks all. The grebe eyes are incredible. Harps... can you tell? Is that a brook stickleback? It should be a brook SB because of the location, but I am not sure. Jeff .. they've been around here before but there are several on 'my' pond this year. one4adventure ... I use a Sony A700. This grebe was shot with a 17-year-old 500-mm Minolta AF mirror lens. A great lens for sunny days. Some more from this week... the pelican was with the 100-300 APO Minolta. The goose and YHBB with the mirror.

Eared grebe with stickleback .. took about 200 grebe shots on Monday. A few nice ones.

sun .. all good points. Regarding my perception that oil companies are screwing us .. it is VERY easy perception to have. I am filling up with buck twenty petrol while I am listening to the radio telling me about the huge oil company profits. It is not hard to feel you are being gouged. The rest of this hype about the tars sands dead birds was, is and will be blown way out of proportion. It is very sad, but it is minuscule in the big scheme of things. The eco weenies are quick to find fault with anything to do with conventional energy and turn a blind eye to the issues alternate sources.