dryfly

Thanks guys. Maybe a picky point ... To be pickier...a "freezer full" would also be illegal in all jurisdictions -- so it is really way off base. No different than an ad that said a "freezer full" of bull trout. "Yes....[can't] eat shellfish" And trout and salmon and most of not all forms of seafood and fish ... protein intolerance ... same for eggs as well. Bummer. Literally.

Dave: Oh Lordy, ya ain't gonna like me then. DBT...bummer. Teach ya for playing baseball ... good arm. In hindsight ... next time take pictures and email them with details to one of the Pass F&W guys ... I'll give you his email. They love license plate numbers too. Pictures good. And if dorkhead objects, tough. It's a free country. You can take pictures of whatever you want in situations like this. Ho man, I am the world's biggest wimp and pacifist. I hate physical confrontations. Book 'em Dano. GOOD LUCK!!

"...does it really affect us here?" IMHO, indirectly, yes, by promoting unsustainable harvest of a precious resource. The wording is simply wrong. I've nothing against whacking some fish now and then. But it is not acceptable to promote concepts such as in this ad. I was on the sidelines during the Police Outpost efforts and you would not believe the BS we heard about people's right to kill trout at will. Have a read at DBT's post titled, "Stupidity." Yes, this affects us all.

Dave: Man, this is going to sound super bitchy. I don't even want to know the headaches you have with running a site like this. It costs time and money and you have to advertise. We all appreciate your efforts and the site is a handy recreation. Thanks. There's an ad at the bottom of the home page that seems in conflict with conservation efforts of many fly anglers, TUC and Walleye Unlimited. None of us mind the concept of catching a lot of fish, but the ad goes way too far in suggesting "Bag a freezer full of walleye every time ..." Man the BS we had to go through with "whack and stackers" to get the Police Outpost regs changed. (They are a long way from being a done deal.) Killing fish is considered a right by many ... and screw conservation. As one biologist says, "Yeah so they can throw out freezer-burned fish in six months." I think this should be brought up with the advertiser and the wording changed. Cheers! Clive

We will probably never know about down eyes equalling stress or non stress. My observation indicates that more stressed fish tend to have down eyes. Now it is really interesting to see artwork of underwater swimming fish. One presumes the artists used photographs as models. And sometimes it is apparent they used down-eye pictures. Swimming trout eyes are straight sideways for sure. Here are some golden trout at the San Diego Sea World and the brood rainbows at the Raven hatchery. Those Raven brood trout as soooooo relaxed it's like they were smoking weed. Hey doooooooood.....

Two air bubbles near as I can tell.

These are variations of midges as they sit in the surface when/after emerging. They crawl out of the shuck on the surface. The top two show the shuck which is a fine griz hackle tip. One has the Antron wing and one without. The bottom one is a winged midge dry only. Simple ties.

Good thoughts Bob Loblaw. Thanks. I love to catch fish. We all do. And we'd quit if we never touched a fish. But the reality actually landing a lot of fish or a specific fish is not a big deal, eh? Chidders raises a great point too. Man it is so cool to just stand next to a buddy who is trying a fussy fish and just watch. I need to catch fish, but the total numbers don't have to be high. I've had lots of 2 and 3-hour outings on th Crow and landed two or three fish and been delighted. Numbers just no longer seem to be a large deal. Oh I get a little down if I've landed three fish and buddy has landed ten fish. But provided I am being entertained and provided I am fishing well and catching a few fish I am totally happy. I am not sure what the actual maximum number I can count to, but it is around seven fish. I can keep count till about seven and if it is a "hot" day after that it all becomes a blur and counting becomes pointless and it seems I can't count higher than seven anyway. "How many did you get today?" I am asked. And if it's been a real banner day. I think , "Okay I know I caught seven fish as I remember counting that high. And then a couple around the corner. And two or three on the West bank..and one at the log jamb. And some more here..." And somewhere along the way you decide you had an outstanding day (you already knew that anyway ... without doing the "gozintas") and maybe landed between 15 and 18 fish. Who knows? Who cares? (I don't catch that many fish more than a few days per year. No need to anyway.) Hell I've had days where I've been gunning for one fish in particular and been damn happy just to get a hit from the fussy bastard. And if I land it two days later--well I am in heaven. Two weeks ago I raised a fish in a specific spot on the Crow. (EVERYONE walks right by the fish. It won't be there as soon as the water drops 10 cm more. It or another will be there next year.) The next day a friend also raised it when I told him where it was. Last week another friend tried it and we'd could not see it. That day, I left and three hours later he spooked it out of th spot. Well the next day (last Friday) it was there again and it rolled on a salmonfly but not spooked. It just moved into another pocket 5 m upstream. He he he. I tied on a green drake and watched it roll on the fly from about 20 feet away. I landed it. A sweet 17/18-inch rainbow. That could not have been any better had it been 22 inches. It was sweet. Lucky me. That bugger took (what??) five attempts over two weeks. As for messing up. Ask TerryH. I was nymphing the other day and had landed four rockies in a row. (Rocky IV.) Then a medium rainbow simply nails the BAW and takes off sideways at light speed ... there was line everywhere and it jerked the rod from my hand and I grabbed it midair with my other hand. An incredible gong show that should be on YouTube. Thanks again for the musings Bob Loblaw. Happy Canada day to everyone. We are blessed to live here. Makes me misty.

HA HA HA.... I think anyway. Okay it was NOT funny at the time, right? Have to change yer shorts later? Where the heck were you guys? Man it was non stop lightning for one hour form our safe vantage point. I really wish it had been (safely) closer to us.

HA HA HA HA HA ... Thilly guy. *hit man from our vantage point THAT was one wicked storm. And Old Dave said it was headed for Claresholm.

KF.. yeah, looks good. Give us a report. My comments are that it is a tad "chunky" ... damsel nymphs are skinny. The eyes might be a tad smaller. Still, they fish won't likely care. Let us know. Clive

Hey Taco, I am a baetis nymph too. Must be preparation for my reincarnation. There should be an "old fart" class ... no actual membership quals ... just have to be an OF. PS: How'd you make out with that little storm on Friday? Man I was actually thinking of you. (Hard to imagine.) Dave Spence showed the cell on the six o'clock and we could see the cell outside the trailer headed to CH.

Was down at the trailer for 4 days this past week. Fished two days on the Crow and it is fishing well. All wet one day and all dry the next. Sweet. Fish are scrappy and healthy too. (TerryH won't post here that I dropped my rod on one vicious hit! ) Some weather came by on Friday night--must have hit Taco's place--or close. Wicked light show for one hour. Too bad it wasn't darker and the cloud closer. Was still very cool. Caught a few flashes. . .

Paul .. I am away so can't post images. I assure you that the eyes of totally relax unstressed trout (swimming in a pool) are straight sideways--versus down. Will post images next week. Clive

Centered pupils = no stress or DEAD. This one was very alive. Downturned pupils = stress.

DSLR uses interchangeable lenses. This has one fixed lens. I'm going fishing now. Poof.

As Taco noted you will be hard pressed to find a DSLR for $500 with a lens. The best you can expect is about $1,400...polarizer filter, two lenses (you won't be happy with one), tripod, carying case, stuff, more stuff. Consider one of these (or similar models from other companies)... http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz8/ All-in-one features with powerful zoom. I am not sure about macro capabilities (bugs, flies) but it has good telephoto power. It will take great shots (my bro has one). However, it is still a P&S with a smaller sensor which means it will get "noisy" in dark areas and at high ISO -- sensitivity. It allows some control over aperture and speed. A good camera for genera photography. This one .... is $449 at London Drugs.

Fisher26..."consistency of fishing" That's a great question. And the answer is: it is not consistent. It's fished quite well this past four weeks--especially when the water was very high--up to the banks. They were hugging the bank by the campground but have since moved elsewhere as the flows are (were) way down. I probably landed (what?) 15 fish in four, 2-hour tours...not great, but included 3 or 4 bows between 18 and 21 and one 22 bull. It's at about 50cms today -- way down-- and so that could be good as you should be able to fish the N banks and work a lot of water with streamers or dries. It's not normally a spot where you will see consistent risers--but it happens. There's a ton of water way down past the day-use area too and all of the boulder run above the bridge. Clive

Rob: What does your camping outfit look like? We are headed to the trailer (N of Cowley) tomorrow and will be there till Sunday or so. I expect to fish at Cottonwood at least once--sort of depends on the Crow. It's a fun trip ... Fish Cottonwood...go to Pincher and get various: cigars, groceries, ice cream -- and do emails. The Shell has great ice cream. Get the small ice cream in a cup--huge portions if in a cup. Fish are spotty at Cottonwood, but I found a cool pool of trout last week and landed several there. It's a half decent place to toss bull trout flies and SJW will tell you where to fish for those...upstream ...past the CW bridge. Oh oh. It's a secret ... I forgot. Clive

Thanks. I liked the picture too. Took three..they can be tricky since you can't be sure you are getting the fish in the picture--blind shooting. Fish needs to be in sun and water has to be clear. This worked okay. A swell day.

Monger: It is a great little spot. We camped there in 2003--during the fire. Shady and quiet. No power or water hookups. Clean concrete public toilets. 200 feet to the river. Bulls and rainbows. 20 minutes to the Crow. One+ hour to the Gap. There are rarely more than one or two rigs in the c/g. Last Thursday there were about six rigs there. It will be a more crowded on the long weekend. (Duh! ) Not sure about reservations....here's a phone number...not sure if current. http://www.canadianrooms.com/mem/44808.htm This says no reservations.... http://gateway.cd.gov.ab.ca/sitefac.aspx?id=90#campground Parks stuff... http://gateway.cd.gov.ab.ca/searchparks.aspx Clive

He may wanna hike her up to Barnaby Ridge for some goldens then.

Sunny. No wind. A few nice trout with more than a passing interest in dry flies. Pinch me.

Click here.... Clive

Nice fishee. It's Lost on me too where that is. If it's a big hike you'd want to carb up on Dale's energy bars.