bcubed

.... so it was a three-fly tournament? Good to hear the funds raised!... no prize for most or biggest?

how about: https://troutbitten.com/2015/02/13/diy-bar-boots/

Think it's just a nature of the Bow..this year seems particularly nasty for wading

That's the main difference, new design and lower price. No matter what, if you're wearing a wading jacket, you're gonna be looking rather dorky. Probably trying to steal a bit of simms market share. You probably wont find a better deal then the SST on sale, and if anything ever happens to it, Patagonia will take care of you..

The new ones are definitely a nicer looking jacket, little less old-man-y..Taco should be all over the older one!

License the guides, and require it as part of their license agreement. It's not like it takes much effort. Guides could easily have a bucket of Diluted QUAT Ammonium or bleach that guys can throw their boots and waders in for the 5 minutes that they're inside getting flies or license

Are you committed to the pockets? If not, the outdoor research jackets are a great bang for the buck, and have a great gaurentee. I don’t think I’d buy a guide jacket again

Par for the course. If they were actually required to have a guide license in AB they could be required to follow decontamination protocols (I have to when applying for a Fish Research License)... I'd be curious how many of the guides even spray down their stuff when moving through to other watercourses. Does the AOGAA require it of them members, or being that it's a voluntary org, they don't bother?

Rob, I would feel the same way, but we're making up for it in size. I think most of the guides would probably tell you the same thing.. id be curious about the strength of the data, cause everything I've heard is that their data collection and design (if using AEP shocking records) isn't great

Pretty cool mitigation (it's not like they're stopping spawning throughout the whole creek) to stop spawning (and therefore mortality) within a crossing location... doing it before having approval, whoops!

There ya go, sounds like it's lifted. No random camping fires but fires in campgrounds allowed

well ya, changes in relative humidity, evapotranspiration, trees losing leaves onto duff etc etc.. surprising amount of info goes into those funky little fire danger signs on the way into the forest reserve

rain. These last few days likely helped alot. It's all done through modelling (http://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/background/summary/fwi) and the moisture content through the area to determine the hazard levels

..it opened yesterday

The winner of the previous kids-make-a-wish One flies (i think 5 years in a row) were geek leeches and clousers

CPs has flies at 50% off right now, and they're not wholesale "quality"..

Not at all. Closing areas that are noted as critical habitat will almost have nil effect on 99.99% on the fishing that could be had in Alberta. I'm not advocating for closing it all, just critical habitat (most of which are small, fragmented and you could jump over). Marc, I'll be very curious what happens when bull trout are listed, cause they won't be able to play off the genetics the same way..

Based on SARA, I still question the legality of fishing on any stream within critical habitat. Not sure why there seems to be a blind eye to that from AEP. "The federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) contains several prohibitions to protect species listed on Schedule 1 of SARA. Under Sections 32 and 33 of SARA, it is an offence to: kill, harm, harass, capture or take an individual of a species listed under SARA as extirpated, endangered or threatened" Harass and capture = C&R.

I'd highly agree dan, and not only that, most of them are fairly unsuitable to fishing as they are heavily overgrown and rarely more then a couple meters (if that) wide.

That makes me pretty sad. I assisted with the fish collecting (yay getting to fly fish for science) for Evan Thomas for the 2011 study. Real shame to hear that it is likely extirpated. Shows how important overwintering habitat likely is, if they didnt find any fish following the first winter following the flood.

They better get going considering the RAP starts in 9 days

Havent been up to the first one since highschool... always amazed me the color of the place for a alpine lake. Tropical even

He meant Elk hunting?

You won't overload the rod with more T14, you'll just find it harder and harder to actually get the increasing amount of T14 out of the water with the same head. You need mass to move mass. Haven't cast my spey rods in over a year (has me itching) so trying to visualize it, but it's pretty rare that you're lifting the tip out and incorporating it into the D-loop. The extra grains from the tip dont affect the system as they are static in the water (if they're moving, or not straight you're going to have a bad cast anyway, look up the Bloody L - Simon Gawesworth)

Not sure why I'd call you out on it, as I was going to say the same thing. I hardly touch T14 unless I'm chinook fishing, or fishing 2.5 feet of it for small buckets, sometimes more in spring when the water is 36 degrees. I fished a month straight on the bulkley and copper with 1 rod with a dry and the other with a type 6.. hell don't think I changed flies for a week. T14 is handy as it's cheap,but it will be a very rare time where you need more then 6-7 feet of it in fall if you're targeting aggressive fish. Plus you'll lose a lot less flies. I wouldn't be too concerned about what can toss 10 feet as any of those mentioned head grains can do it. I like slickshooter for skagits as I find I can feel every little pull and pluck, and it shoots well and is cheap. I'd try a 550 skagit on it, maybe drop to 525 if you're wanting a quicker response. 575 seems a tad heavy from what I remember with that rod, however with you being new to the Spey it will get you out and fishing a little easier then going on the lighter end of the spectrum. Short heads are nice on the shorter rods, plus let you play out of the deep rough a little easier. Sometimes those hard to fish zones are the place to be as a lot of people ignore them.