monger

Because its so satisfying to catch fish on a fly that your buddies laugh at and say "that'll never work". It's even better when they whine later on in the day pleading for one of your "ugly" flies. Making your own flies gives you the opportunity to get the size and color just the way you like it--so you can pretend you are a little smarter than the fish.

Another problem with open spaces is that the "rich" will be able to circumvent the draw every year and get access to tags (from landowners) that the average resident has to wait a number of years to receive (from the government). Once we start selling off elk and mule deer to the highest bidder, what will stop the sale of other species later on? I wonder how loud the landowners in the rest of the province will yell when only the ranchers in WMU 300 and 108 get to make money off of PUBLIC WILDLIFE? At a meeting in Calgary recently, one of the ranchers down by Waterton said that if this program that will allow him to sell hunting tags dosen't go through he will let a bunch of Natives come on his land and eliminate all the wildlife. Wow, what a great stewart of the land. Greed brings out the best in people.

Is this a proven pattern? I've heard that tadpoles contain a chemical that makes them undesirable for trout to eat.

Where I fish we also find lots of Daphnia feeding very early in the year. It looks like green porridge in the stomach.

Good show. I was wondering if you saw any fish in Big Earl's pool that looked like Rainbows? I have caught a few fish in that area that look and fight a way more like Rainbows than Cutts.

My buddy who was born and raised in Bowness says the number of whitefish around has drastically decreased in the last few years. He does quite a few "snorkeling surveys" to check to things out. He is not sure why the numbers are down. He has told me of snorkeling adventures in late summer/fall when there was so many whitefish you couldn't see the bottom in some areas. I would imagine the loss of whitefish fry must have an effect on the rest of the fish in the river. We used to have great fun nymphing for whitefish with a fish a cast about 20 years ago. There is also some very big pike that live in the river near Bowness Park.

Yzerman or Sakic. Total package, great leaders by example, no excuses Fleury? Anybody who dives that much is an embarrassment to the game. Zero class

There seems to be quite a few videos from Jurassic with guys catching spawners at the mouth of the creek. I guess if you time it right you can be sure to have lots to cast at. Looks like some serious wind there. I hope to you can cast well.

I heard of some guys who drove for 3hr for some lake fishing in the pouring rain. Fished all day, drove home, unpacked the truck only to find they left the rods at the lake. Not too serious unless you like your Sage XP. So back in the vehicle, 3hrs racing in the rain. Look for rods in the dark, not there. Try and locate some locals who may have picked up these "fishing poles". Eventually find the folks who ask "what are they worth to ya". Thankfully $20 was enough to reclaim a Sage/Hardy and a TFO/STH. Now it's after midnight and we eventually found a place to rest our heads. That was a long day. Hopefully not to be repeated. My partner in this story had his 30ft trailer lifted up and tossed by the wind on the way home on another trip. Totaled a trailer and 3/4 ton truck, but his 12' Lund made it through. He is just bad luck to fish with.

Here is some info from an email I received yesterday: (email from Eric to friend Marshall) As you may have heard recently in the news, important wild salmon stocks in British Columbia have been rapidly declining. I became concerned about this issue two years ago after talking with a fishing lodge owner. The more I looked into the problem, the more shocked I was to learn of the harmful effects that salmon farming has on the wild salmon populations. Millions of fish have disappeared over the past few years. I spoke in depth with First Nations people, tourism operators and recreational anglers regarding their deep concern about the effects that salmon farms have on the marine environment. All these groups assured me that immediate action was required and so the Save Our Salmon (SOS) Initiative was born. Since inception, I have contributed $1 million to fund scientific research, public awareness, and legal research. This funding has resulted in a sound, long-term strategy for correcting this situation. I have attached a package of information that more fully describes the issues and the approach that I am recommending. I am planning a few private luncheons in March and April to provide more information about this important work and to discuss the various ways like-minded people might work together to help solve this problem. Here is part of the attachment: Columbia. Thursday » December 20 » 2007 B.C. wild salmon in danger of extinction Stephen Hume Vancouver Sun Thursday, December 20, 2007 Five years ago, a senior fisheries biologist in Galway, Ireland, warned what lay ahead for British Columbia's wild salmon: Infestations of sea lice around fish farms followed by a collapse of wild stocks wherever baby salmon migrated through concentrations of the parasites. Dr. Greg Forde was not a radical environmentalist, as the aquaculture industry routinely characterizes critics. He worked for Ireland's western regional fisheries board, struggling to cope with a collapse of wild stocks in a sea lice-infestation that emerged after fish farms came to that coast. More than stocks collapsed. The sport fishing industry, a major revenue producer there -- as in B.C. -- was rocked to its foundations as game fish dwindled. "The awful thing is about lessons not learned," Forde told me back then. "It's all déjà vu. It's the most frustrating thing to hear what's happened here has now happened in B.C." His colleague, Seamus Hartigan, in charge of managing the Galway River salmon fishery, echoed Forde's sentiments. "It happened in Norway for years and we didn't pay any attention," Hartigan said. "It's happened in Ireland and you [in B.C.] are not paying attention. Do you want to learn by other people's mistakes or do you want to learn by your own mistakes? "Norway had some of the best rivers in the world for the production of massive salmon -- they are just gone," Hartigan said. "Why couldn't we learn from that? Why can't you learn from us? Is the B.C. government willing to make a place in the scheme of things for indigenous species?" The five-year-old question is poignant considering the gloomy forecast for the fate of pink salmon on the province's mid-coast in a new study reported last week by Scott Simpson. It argues that if sea lice infestations associated with fish farms on migration routes continue, pink salmon stocks on the mid-coast can be expected to collapse into localized extinctions. Sounds like a 2007 assessment in Ireland which warns that if prized sea trout stocks are not to be lost, "the elimination of sea lice on and in the vicinity of marine salmon farms must be a constant priority." The B.C. study, published in the journal Science, adds to Scottish research which found sea lice from fish farms killed up to 50 per cent of migrating smolts and it strengthens the argument that sea lice propagated in net pens here kill baby pinks the same way. A paper published last year in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management found that dying pink salmon smolts carried twice the load of blood-sucking sea lice as healthy fish. The self-interested aquaculture industry dismisses this research as biased. The federal department of fisheries and oceans, mandated to protect wild stocks while promoting aquaculture, protests that the studies "overstate" risks. Our provincial government, paralyzed by ideology, ignores the problem even as its own legislature committee on sustainable aquaculture advises otherwise. Let's be clear. If the extinctions forecast by this new study take place as predicted, it will be an ecological catastrophe for the mid-coast. Pink runs sustain bears, killer whales, eagles, seals, sea lions and trout. Their decaying bodies fertilize riparian forests and maintain the nutrient levels for aquatic plants, insects, amphibians and fish in rivers. If the pinks go, expect the chum, coho and chinook to follow, perhaps sooner than you think. Then the bears. Then the fishing lodges. Even as plans ramp up for industrial gravel removal from the lower Fraser, preliminary stock assessments for salmon returns in 2008 suggest a dismal year for dwindling runs already ravaged by neglect, mismanagement and loss of spawning and rearing habitat. Eight of 14 sockeye runs to the Fraser watershed are forecast to reach less than target escapement and are declining, some rapidly. Out of 12 chinook runs to the Fraser or Georgia Strait, nine fall in this category. All four such coho runs are listed as "of concern." So here's the question for readers: Will B.C. be a better place without wild salmon? If you think not, you'd better get organized, act like citizens in a democracy and prepare to hold politically accountable those who dither, deny and do nothing despite the warnings. shume@islandnet.com

What kind of warranty comes with these body condoms?

Shall I bring the beeping dog as a homing signal for all lost fly flingers?

This is what I used last weekend. My marabou perch jig. Olive over white, with a little flash and some orange for fins.

There's lots of them in the Big Horn river in Montana and they looked to be over 10lb

A quiet day raising golden aqua-pigs

For me it was spending a few days in the tube during the boatman/backswimmer fall in September. Consistent action all day long and then crazy, explosive surface takes for three hours in the evening. My buddy and I were giggling like school girls with how the fish were destroying our flies. Next morning we went out bird hunting for some partridge with a third friend as we made our way to BH. Once at BH the fishing the was again non-stop. We stayed over in the Hat for the night with big smiles from a great day of fishing and laughing. The next day was even better and I started switching flies after every fish just to see how many different hooks these suicidal fish will eat. Nothing like sharing insanely productive fishing with a couple of buddies to store up some great memories. And to top it off, we got to witness our one friend's tube explode when he was in about 4 feet of water. Now that is how you create memories with an exclamation point!

My buddy was on a plane with one of the F&W Bios and he said it was a done deal. Now all you fair weather folks will have to learn to fish in the weekly hurricanes. Thanks for all the hard work to get our "leaders" to open their minds to change.

Here is Kevin's fishing partner today: Little Miss Sundance

Thanks headscan. I guess I should have searched before asking.

My good wife got me some fleece wading pants to go under the new breathable waders and some new boots.

Has anyone tried these Korker boots with the interchangeable soles? They come originally with felt and a lug sole. Just wondering how durable they are.

Hey LS, we could use your help removing perch from Sundance. We've got a couple of garbage bags of them out already this year, but the more the better. The little buggers are eating all the Gammarus and limiting the trout growth. They sure are good eating though.

I believe you could find one in the TFO Professional series. I have a 10ft 7wt. These rods are comparable the old TFO Ti's. The only problem is the trip to Texas for warranty.

What wt. rod in a 10fter are you looking for?

Thanks for the reply Tim. Just a hundred more days till the fun starts at BH. Have a great Christmas with your family.