danhunt

If you want to run up to my neck of woods there is room at our place.

I'm still trying to answer this question myself, so take it with a grain of salt, but I think the answer is both work, depending on the size and type of bug you're trying to represent. For example, I don't think it is as important to have legs on a small mayfly like a BWO, but if you're trying to imitate a drake nymph legs (or a lack there of) may make a difference. I also think smaller patterns tend to move more naturally with the current than larger patterns do, so some larger nymphs will have legs that give the illusion of movement and life rather than trying to imitate the features of a bug. Years ago I was fishing stonefly nymphs and I had two versions of the same pattern in the same size and color - one version with rubber legs and one without. The rubber legged version did well, the non-rubber legged version (which was arguably a better representation of the natural) didn't get a sniff.

I'd do brown, grizzly, and ginger as a foundation and then look to add cream and dun later, but that's just me.

I prefer Whiting to Metz, only because I bought a Metz neck years ago that I had some issues with. It may have been a one-off, but I've never had a bad experience with Whiting so that's what I generally go for. What are you tying? Necks are generally better than dry fly saddles in terms of a having a variety of sizes, and especially larger hackles in the 10-12-14 range. Saddles are great for smaller flies in the 16-18-20 range. A good way to go, especially if you are looking to tie some specific patterns, it to look at the Whiting 100 packs. You might pay a little more up front, but for me it is worth it to know exactly what I'm getting and exactly what I have to work with when I sit down at the bench to tie.

I run the cooper AT3 on my 4Runner and I've been happy with them.

For my casting stroke, I find I like a rod with an action angle of around 67-68 for fishing dries. My favorite rod is no longer made, but from what I understand its been replaced with the Loop Opti Stream, which has a similar action. I think a 9' rod is more versatile if you might need to nymph with it in a pinch, and I find it easier to roll cast with the longer rod, which is usually what I end up doing if I've got brush at my back.

Nice fish, well done!

Thanks for the recommendation, I ended up picking up a trailer from these guys yesterday. Great to deal with, when the 2-footitis kicks in I'll be going back.

I recently purchased a 12' boat so that I can take my kids out, but they are currently too young to help with loading it on to a vehicle and it looks like its going to be a bit too cumbersome for me to load by myself. To that end I'm looking at trailers, but I'm debating whether or not to get a dedicated boat trailer or a utility trailer. Has anyone had any experience transporting a boat on a utility trailer and is there any disadvantages (other than the bearings and the lack of a winch) that I should take in to account?

Does anyone know where to get the quick attach tail clippy thingys?

There are a handful of lakes on the ranch that are pay to play, but the two that are best known for especially large fish are Minnie and Stoney. I don't know how much snow they've had up there this year, but those lakes are at ~3500 feet, so depending on what part of May you're looking at you might be there after ice out, and if so hopefully after turn-over. Scuds, leaches, dragon fly nymphs, blood worms and chronis are all usually on the menu at that time of the year. If it were me, I'd plan on blood worms (red D-rib over red holo tinsel) and chronis (I've had luck in the clear tannin stained waters in that area with a dark olive body and chartreuse rib), with balanced leeches and boobies as plan B. That said, I'd keep an eye on the reports on the BC board and do a little research because you may need to have some lower elevation destinations in mind as a back-up.

I consider myself an honest fisherman, in that I don't consciously try to inflate the size or number of fish that I catch. That said, I'm always genuinely surprised to see that my best "conservative estimates" of a fishes weight or length are consistently about 20% higher than what the tape or scale will show. That said, even if I give Jimi the benefit of the doubt and assume he's talking about 22" - 24" broonies (still damned nice fish), I have to think that "many" really translates to "more than two".

I happened to contact Outcast just this week to ask about the Scotty glue-on-mounts for a different application and this is the response I received, FWIW "We have glued on the scotty pads in the past, but stopped using glue once we started using our Integrated Gear System (IGS). We wanted to limit our use of glue, because glue breaks down over time and we wanted to find a more permanent solution. The adhesive we use for repairs and adding glue on accessories is call Stabond. It is a two part adhesive and are sold either by the pint or quarter pint."

I have had a 9' Fishcat for 12 years and I'd recommend the brand to anyone. Being a bigger guy you'd probably be happier with a 9' or a 10' model. I haven't used a frameless boat, but I think the major advantages are the lighter weight and portability/storage. I think the advantage to a frame boat is that they are stiffer so they are generally easier to row. If you do go with a solid framed model I would recommend adding some sort of wheel setup for your boat, as it makes it much easier to move it around on land and I think it saves some wear and tear on the pontoons.

"Over the past 20 years, efforts to restore fish populations by implementing catch-and-release fishing regulations and other management actions have mostly failed". So steps to limit angling related mortality haven't improved or stabilized populations despite the fact that these practices clearly have worked elsewhere i.e. the North Ram. Is that not a clear indication that something other than angling is clearly and profoundly having an impact on these systems? Who are these clowns? And I'm sorry, but if these systems can't sustain the angling pressure they currently receive, which is next to none when compared to a stream like the North Ram, then that's just another indication of poor resource management.

For me, the elk/moose/deer tail on a stimmy seems to be more of a secondary source of floatation rather than a part of the insect its intending to imitate. I have tried a pattern with biots tied front and rear and rubber legs in the thorax, I think it was called a terranasty or something like that? I fished it on the Castle and found that the cutties there seemed to prefer a standard pattern. YMMV, happy tying.

LOL, not car related but if it makes you feel any better one time my wife discovered this strange bump on our dogs stomach that was in an odd spot. It looked sort of like an oddly shaped mole and because we were worried it might be some sort of skin condition we puzzled over it and googled for quite a while. The wife brought it to the vet's attention during the dog's next visit and the vet examined it, and was also kind of puzzled, before it finally dawned on her that it was just a nipple that happened to be kind of piebald.

Hi Mike, Do you have a rough idea of which portion of the east slopes you're looking to fish? Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but depending on how you define the East Slopes you're looking at 5 or 6 major river basins. Even if you're only talking about the Oldman River basin (which is arguably the most popular area in the province) you're looking at a drainage basin that is 26 700 square kilometers with hundreds of kilometers of fishable water. I'd narrow it down by what species you want catch, what kind of size of fish you want, what kind of water you want to fish (small, medium or large rivers), what your personal fitness level is and what kind of over-all experience you want. For example, the Ram River Canyon has some great opportunities for a large cutthroat, but if you're not reasonably fit with some prior experience in the wilderness I wouldn't recommend it. Regards, Dan

Pure speculation on my part, but I think they were/are likely carrying a lot of debt from UFAs actions in recent years and that it likely played a large part in the closing of the chain. UFA bought Wholesale in 2008 and later that same year they bought 15 Sportsman's Warehouse locations in the US and rebranded them as Wholesale Sports. Sportsman's Warehouse was strapped for cash at the time and the remaining stores were forced to apply for chapter 11 in 2009. UFA closed their first US store in 2011 and they ended up selling the remaining locations by 2013. At the same time, they were expanding in Canada, opening locations in Edmonton, Lethbridge, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Kamloops, Prince George and West Kelowna. Excluding Edmonton and Winnipeg, the rest of the cities they opened stores in only have a combined population of about 650,000 people. Kamloops, for example, only has about 90,000 people and they already had a specialized flyshop as well as a general outdoors competitor in Surplus Herbies. My point is, they likely lost money on the US deal and even if they did grab a lot of the market share in those smaller cities in Canada it would still likely take quite a bit of time to generate enough revenue to pay off the setup costs. A lot of this expansion was done when the price of oil was high and the Alberta economy seemed invincible. I'd guess that UFA management likely expected their "flagship stores" in Alberta to grow and to be able to shoulder a lot of burden with respect to servicing this hypothetical debt. Unfortunately, when the price of oil fell and the Alberta economy took a hit... Closing the entire chain rather than trying to sell it or restructure seems like too drastic a move, considering they opened their last store in 2014 and the media reported that they saw a 9% reduction of sales in 2016 when compared to 2015, unless they were already close to the brink. Again, this is 100% speculation so take it with more than a grain of salt. It is a shame and I wish the employees well, but hopefully this will create an opportunity for someone other than the big box stores to step in and fill the void.

I would generally agree that the streams in ES1 should have been closed to fishing earlier this summer due to the drought conditions we've seen this summer. The last time I was down that way was the first week in July and I decided then that I wouldn't be going back until there was a significant change in the weather. That said, I don't see the logic of wanting to further restrict the angling season in a non-drought year. Even on a stream like the Livingston that sees a ton of fishing pressure (and the fish have the scars to prove it) in an average year the fish always seem to be right around the same size and in the same numbers that they were the year before. It's not been specifically stated (or if it has I've missed it) what streams are at risk of loosing their cuttie populations, but if they are the streams listed in the report posted by Burningchrome then I would have to question how much on an impact fishing pressure is really going to have. Maybe I'm missing some hidden gems, but from the information I've seen in other reports the mean fork length for most of the fish in those streams is likely to be in the 6" - 8" range. I'm not dismissing them, I know their genetics are important and they are capable of more given the right circumstances, I'm just saying I don't really know anyone that would make a point of targeting those streams on a regular basis.

For anyone thinking of heading up that way this weekend, I heard this morning there is a fire near Burntstick that is about 93ha and growing.

The spores are in water, but there is water in the mud. You hit the nail on the head, Adams - the vibram soles are just a bit easier to clean and dry than felts. Bron, I don't want to engage you in a conversation because, in the words of Henery Hawk, you are a loud mouthed shnook. The only real way to deal with you is to ignore you until you get frustrated and head back to the AO forum.

Deleting because I'm too old to get in a flame war.

With respect to the link that Bron posted, that relates to invasive species and makes sense for things like zebra mussels, Eurasian milfoil, etc. That said, the WD spores can remain viable outside of water for 20-30 years and there can be millions of spores in a single chunk of mud. Disinfecting our gear with which ever chemical treatment is the only way to be reasonably certain it's clean. Also, it might not be a bad idea to treat the gear before it's washed because otherwise the spores will just travel through a waste water treatment plant. Maybe not an issue if you're in Calgary, but if you're an Edmontonian and you come home and clean your gear after fishing the Bow...

I've never seen one, but I wouldn't doubt they are there. I remember reading a paper a while ago where a bully was captured and tagged in the Castle one year and then caught again in the upper Oldman the following year. I don't know what motivates them to do so, but they can apparently travel quite a distance within a drainage if they so choose.