dryfly

I swear, but could be wrong, that I've seen Bono on the Bow a few times.

YQL here... Tried stitching that colored trout today and it failed because of designer operator error-me. Will have to wait now. That thin line looks good Weedy.

Can you email a jpeg or png to me? clives@shaw.ca YYCers are too damn busy counting their money. Thanks

ROTFLMAO! Weedy..can you send me a version of the "real" submission with thinner lines? The jaw section of the bull is cluttered for stitching. Thx. Clive

Great fish! Don't quit your day job for a job as a fashion model just yet.

The lines and dots on that fish are just black thread. The "detail" in the "scales" is merely stitch patterning that is "built in" to the sewing software. I can stitch this for real (that's a simulation) and see what It looks like. Will speak with my roomy and see if she can do it..... Edited ... She's agreed to stitch it on some denim in the morning. Background: I did a pencil drawing of that rainbow in 1993 form a slide. The trout came from the Aqueduct pond nr Brooks. In 2005, I did the stitch design -- I think it was on an old shirt -- and today I added the FFC words. I too like the lines of Weedy's drawing--VERY arty. Well done man. However, I worry that whereas it means something to us, it won't mean much to others. Yes? No? Do you care? WTF am I doing anyway? I ain't from YYC. When we pull into the lease parking area and see cars from YYC and BC, we groan and curse.

Weedy1...I like the flowing lines of the drawing. Nice. Maybe a tad complex tho..one o fthose...you really had to be there moments. (BTW... that pix of maxwell is one of the best pictures ever posted here. The picture says it all. Hawg____. Hey, simple is totally fine. Make it oval instead of square...maybe an embroidered oval and some nice stitching. Bingo. High impact .. no need for any interpretation of what it is. It is a fish..no explanation needed. K.I.S.S. is good.

Brunsie and BBB .. great points! And the caddis is the national insect for Calgarans, eh?

Just twenty years...started late. Sponged flies off my bro for years.

This complex tie is not to be confused with the over-promoted, and much over-used, San Juan Worm aka BAW. The SJW or BAW imitates an aquatic worm organism. However, this is a TRUE terrestrial food form for trout. The DEW, or the Drowning Earth Worm, or just dew worm. Yes, the DEW worm, as it is affectionately known to millions of anglers worldwide, is now catching on with fly anglers all over. However, this complex pattern is not for novice tyers and should only be attempted after years and years of tying practice. I'd list the materials and tying procedures here, but it is far too long. So if you are interested I can mail the 20-page tying instructions to you. This serious (but complex) terrestrial pattern should be tried by all. What do I win Andrew?

Ya dun good man....a fish killer for sure. Seriously, it is very good for first go.

Nothing to do with the fly (Nice BTW Birchy!) What the heck is with the times noted for the posts in this thread..."Yesterday, 11:58 PM " Huh! I posted just a while back..not 23 hours back. ???????? Am I losing it? Again? Still?

PlayDoh "$30 a licence for a child isn't fair" I totally agree regarding ALBERTA children--they should be free--but I am vehemently opposed to out-of-province and foreign kids fishing for free AND having a limit. It is NUTS!

X-caddis: - tan antron shuck - dubbed tan body - tannish deer hair wing DONE

Ice Dub. Great stuff.

Angler... A foreigner under 16 does not need a license and can fish alone and can kill a limit of fish. Worse yet ... Five under-aged foreign or resident anglers can kill five limits. A dad and eight kids get nine limits. Tis true! Sad, but true. Tell me we don't need an overhaul of licensing, eh? You don't need a license to kill in Alberta. SRD considers all under 16s the same. They have a full limit of fish where there are limits.

Yeah, I hear Bono's been seen all over Cowtown ...

Good points Don. (Tim..just saw your post after I posted..nice.) The point about "mitigation" is near what what I was eluding to about "living off the avails" and "preservation." I don't see many guides in the places I fish, but can tell you there is one rather aggressive guide somewhere somewhere and yes he and his sports interfere with us some days. Not in the sense of overtly bothering us--in fact they are civil about keeping a distance--but they crowd us out some days. Another angle to this whole licensing thing is I wonder just how many labor laws etc etc are broken by the guiding bidnez. (Probably not much different than in all other businesses.) I've heard of US guides bringing people to Alberta and of course not having a work visa--hard to prove a guy is actually working for $$ while fishing, eh? How many have business permits in the municipalities they work in? My guess is all full time guides are squeaky clean in this matter--they have to be. But I bet a zillion dollars most casual guides don't have business licenses (a form of taxation and highly questionable in many cases..business licenses can be expensive and a pain) and nor do many declare all of the income..like a lot of folks who handle cash type bucks. (That is more or less accepted in our society -- heck, it is even revered sometimes.) So if guides are getting away with some of the (sometimes silly) administrative-type regs, should we care when a lot of other "trades" businesses are probably no different? Except for an outright ban on foreign guides, probably not. But for me it all comes back to "living off the avails" of natural resources and sustaining (mitigating) those resources. You and I pay through our licenses. Heavy users who make a living off the resources pay nothing (other than thru taxes .. so do you and I) for the use of those resources. We have finite water as you well noted. I worry about 2050 when there are 8 or 10 million people in Alberta--ain't gonna be pretty. (You and I will miss it. But lots of the younguns here will see it ... and wonder how we screwed up back on '08, eh?) Tim mentioned "standards, regulations and licenses"...I am 'retired' but still work a few weeks each year (like right now) and yet I have a professional shingle that costs me $400 per year and $2 million in gen liability insurance that costs me $1K per year. Why? In case someone gets a paper cut on a report I write? It has nothing to do with professional conduct.) As for general licensing fees for all users (you, me and Heinz, Cedric, Sumo and and Bubba), well .. don't get me going! Sunday morning coming down ... a bloody breezy one too ... gonna write today.

Glen: The sad part of this is that I doubt if anyone here disagrees with what you said. "More government = bad idea to me. More fees and licenses = bad idea to me." In general, we agree. But I'll come back to the concept of "user pay" and fees for use of resources. And, yes, I know it is a thin line (real thin and fuzzy too) between what is use of resource and what isn't. I sure don't know. But I think guides are living of the avails of our resources and should pay to use those resources. But is is indeed fuzzy. If I take a picture of our mountains and sell it, should I pay a user fee? Ooohh. Should we charge everyone an access fee to the forestry reserve? I'd be pleased to pay a fee if the money went directly into preservation and enforcement. But alas, it would just go into the Black Hole, eh? "Anyone wanna talk about jet boats?" I found the "pussy cat and jet boat" picture, but figured that would constitute a blatant hijacking of Don's thread. So instead I'll leave you with the END OF THE WORLD video clip instead. It's been a while. Just substitute Alberta for California at the end. Oh heck, here's the licensed guide jet boat. Clive

Birchy, "Seriously? Guides fish for free?" Don answered right. They have to have a license to fish, but a guide does not need to have a license provided he does not fish. Okay..two silly extreme examples... 1) A guide from SK can guide five, 15-year-old German anglers and they do not need one bloody license among them! Does it happen often? Probably never. It is a matter of principle: we are nuts to give away access to our resources like that. Crazy nuts. 2) Same guide can guide an Elbonian adult and five kids for five days and the total license fee is $41.50...or about a buck fifty per day in rod fees. Whacko crazy. This is about licensing guides and license fees in general. The whole system needs rebuilding from the ground up. It has zero to do with shitting all over BC and their $20-per-day crap. This is about proper resource management and funding support. rickr wrote, "the first step to a communist state is to regulate and license independent contractors." Most democracies license (or accredit) every and any manner of private contractors from doctors to plumbers to teachers to roofers to organic farmers. Most societies demand some sort of protection through licenses and accreditation. Have a swell weekend. Clive License fees

I've question for anyone--everyone: Why do I have to pay to fish the Crow and a guide does not have to pay one cent? And he makes money of the resource I pay to maintain!? And if the guide is from another province he would pay zero taxes here at all. Absolutely NUTS! Democratic societies are ALL about user fees these days. Apparently not when it comes to guiding. Supplementary question: Why do we pay for fishing and hunting licenses and bird watchers, hikers and random campers don't? Yet it's our license money that goes to the ACA to protect "dickie birds" ... as Don once called them. Cheers! Clive

GB ... "Free country, remember?" Humm..... Unfortunately, complete freedom is anarchy. Why do we need fishing licenses? Driver licenses? Permits to cut trees? Permits to own guns? Business licenses in cities, towns and counties? (At least our local guides have to have business license and pay taxes...we hope anyway. ) Dog licensees? Pussy permits in some cities? (Cats...we are talking cats here.) Alas, we live in a controlled society. Guides who don't pay one penny are freeloaders. So are random campers. Ooops! No opposition to RCers ... just that it should not be free. Cheers! Clive