dryfly

Blondie, my room mate, reacting to a wriggler ... about 12+ years ago.

He's been gorging on Double Doubles and donuts and ready for hibernation now.

Thanks BBB. Dad is 84 and his only surviving bro is 92. They were in the big one and will go to the services today in Mayerthorpe. Dad gets pretty damn misty at the services. Two years ago there were three brothers still alive--all three had been in WWII. Johnny (92) went over on D-Day and lived through it. My wife and I attended the services in 2005 with them all. It was the first time since WWII that all three brothers had been together at a Remembrance Day service. Most touching. Lots of tears. The old guys know their days are numbered. It's pretty sad to watch the old buggers at the services. They hold secrets we will never know. Even though they lost friends and saw things we can't imagine, the old man still gets a twinkle in his eye when he thinks of the good times they had based in England between tours of duty in Europe. He says, "Did I ever tell you the time in France when we found a case of Champagne and twenty Kraut mortar rounds...." You keep quiet, but think to yourself, "Yeah dad, you did tell me. But tell me again." We owe them that courtesy. Unfortunately there are a few megalomaniacs is the world who want it all and we will always be at war somewhere on earth to try to suppress a few fanatics. It is pretty damn sad really that our young folk are still trying to keep us free from maniacs. Let us never forget. Cheers! Clive

As bad as it gets!

See here...I've not read it all. Looks like a good article. http://www.georgepoveromo.com/fluorocarbon.htm I love this stuff now--not at first. It apparently is invisible in the water -- or way less visible than regular nylon mono and you can "tippet up" to pretty heavy line when nymphing or chucking streamers. I am losing fewer fish now than before because I am using stronger fluoro tippets. High price? Strictly a marketing ploy. There is an advantage and fishermen want it = high price. Period. What the market will bear. The price of anything in the marketplace has NOTHING to do with its cost of manufacture--simply what people will pay. A lot of us are using Vanish fluoro for tippet material and it's working for us well. It is about $6 for a 100-m spool. My vest always contains 4, 6, 8 and 10-pound spools of Vanish. Great stuff. I still carry 5, 6 and 7X mono for small dries.

Weedy1 ... Sure it's a great picture, but I am pissed at maxwell since that's my own personal private secret spot that no one knows about! maxwell .. you really are to be congratulated for focusing on catching some large specimens and pulling it off. Nice work. And there are still people who want to kill bulls because they are no fun to catch and eat poor little cuttys.

Cute kid. She adpoted or was it you? KIDDING! Sick pix bro. (Can I say that? Did I get it right?) Nice stuff. Clive

My son sez you can't do that because it wrecks the compressor or some such. Our freezer has been in the unheated attached garage for 8 years. Seems to be okay. The temp gets to freezing in the garage when it's cold for a spell--water bottles will freeze lightly--but generally is just above freezing in winter.

PlayDoh, All good points. We agree 100 percent and I reflected that in my letter, "I accept that taxes and salaries may be higher in Canada than in the USA.." Marketing and markets are most complex. This is not a simple situation at all. Like you said, there are economies of scale and assorted other factors. (We all like to make fun of the terrible roads in Saskatchewan. But consider that the population of the entire province is less than that of Calgary. Talk about disparity in tax wealth! In SK, there are 200,000 farmers, 300,000 seniors (they all didn't move to BC), 100,000 natives (who don't pay taxes--right?), 300,000 youths and students. That leaves 37 folks left who are actually working and who pay taxes for roads--and at any one time, half of them are off work ... either fishing or "getting their deer." ) Back to the camera tackle ... a 100 percent price difference is simply unacceptable--and I am sure you agree with that. I can see (what??) 20 or maybe 30 percent difference. Glenbow's example is prime....we are talking software only ... heck, probably a download versus and actual shipment of goods. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Until such time that our prices drop significantly, I won't be buying much camera gear north of 49. Cheers! Clive

I sent this to Sony Style this evening....with a copy to my MP. Dear Sony: I've been a Minolta camera user for 39 years and was pleased to switch to the Sony a700 DSLR after using the KM 7D DSLR for two years. I was prepared to pay a higher price here in Canada from a Canadian dealer so I spent $1,600 on the new a700 camera last month in a Lethbridge, Alberta camera shop. It is a great camera and Sony should be proud of it. However, I want to know why the Sony Style price of $549 CAD for the HVLF56AM flash is more than 90 percent higher than in the USA where I can buy it for $279 CAD? Both require to be shipped for about $30. Be assured that I won't buy any more Sony camera supplies here in Canada until Sony lowers its prices by 30 to 40 percent. I accept that taxes and salaries may be higher in Canada than in the USA, but charging nearly double for an item is a disgrace. Good thing for eBay dealers and reputable American mail-order camera dealers. Clive Schaupmeyer Oldman Communications, Ltd. http://members.shaw.ca/clives/main2002.htm Coaldale, Alberta

I'm pricing out some camera gear. Here are prices for the same item. The top two prices are the USA prices and the bottom two are prices from Canadian dealers. More than a 100 percent price difference (base price) is gouging. After calculating shipping and taxes the Canadian prices are 95 percent higher than prices from US dealers. Thank heavens for eBay and reputable mail-order dealers.

If ya seen two, you seen 'em all. Too funny. Long live YouTube. Can't wait till January.

There is only one attractor nymph, eh? The one and only ... B.A.W.

COSMIC! Thanks for your great effort. Clive

Seriously consider eBay for a new camera. Canadian dealers have not quite caught on yet to the fact that their prices are too damn high. I appreciate that there are higher costs of operating a retail camera shop in Canada (taxes and labor--not to mention personal service) but local dealers are charging 30 to 75 percent more for cameras than US dealers. I priced a new flash the other day. The least expensive I could find it in Canada was $539 CAD, yet I can lay it on my doorstep for $340 CAD via eBay or a US dealer. 78 percent higher in Canada is NOT justified. Amazon sells the same thing in the US for $302 (+shipping) but won't ship to Canada (they will ship to murderers in US prisons) and it is not available on Amazon Canada. FREE TRADE MY ASS. Regarding cameras: 1) As much as I like my waterproof Optio W20, I will never again purchase a digital camera that does not have an eye viewfinder as well as the screen. 2) The small SLR wannabee super zooms (Panasonic and many others) are idea for travel--wide angle to powerful telephoto without changing lenses. Good luck. Clive

We dun good. Was a swell day. Not sure when I can get out again.

Ol' Dave would be proud of adc and me eating our carbon-neutral lunch today ...

Okay .. I am not doing very well, wot? ladystrange ... Pleeeeze help me. Yer up. Hook: Mustad 94840 #14 Thread: Light Olive My addition:Pale green antron tail ladystrange >> fill in blank..help an old fart.... __________________________ Thanks. Clive

bigbowtrout is up ... PMed.

Okay we need a new addition after mine....Anyone? Hook: Mustad 94840 #14 Thread: Light Olive My addition:Pale green antron tail Next __________________________

Sorry ... brain fade. I PMed Taco to see if he'd step up and forgot to mention that in my post. He may be away.

Hook: Mustad 94840 #14 Thread: Light Olive My addition:Pale green antron tail

Thanks all. Been a good ride--despite the wind. Bloom...Thanks for your advice over the years. And thanks too for your work to get BH established as a "quality" fishery. We complain about the wind, but it's a damn fine fishery. Cheers! Clive

Bullshead has been rough on us old farts. We are cursed with howling winds (only 3 calmish days in about 15 trips in three years--and it can howl there). And we've never hit one of the famous backswimmer falls. STILL, we always catch fish and have had some good times there. We fished last week in a howler and landed a good number of fish, mainly on small leeches and backswimmers. We fish Oct 23 (yesterday) and this morning--stayed overnight at Elkwater. Yesterday there was a light breeze all day and the fish were most cooperative with lots of 14 to 22-inch rainbows landed--most were 16-18 or so. All fat and healthy. I used a small leech all day. This morning was pretty decent for two hours and the bite simply died and that was followed closely by Hurricane Katrina II. Here are some shots from this week. Next year.

Here's a map to the Oldman TU lease on the Crow... http://www.oldmantu.ca/lease.html Good fishing all through the lease property. You just have to walk from the day-use parking area is all. No vehicles on the lease property. Technically you can't overnight camp. I don't think you'll get too much grief if you stayed o/n in your van tho. Good luck! Clive