danhunt

Kudos to ERSD for hearing what anglers in Alberta want and responding to it, I just hope the majority of lakes they stock with them are managed as quality fisheries.

When fishing chronis or balanced leaches under an indicator it helps to use a loop knot. Most of the time when fishing chronis you want to be within about a foot of the bottom, a good way to do this is to get a bouncing betty (small weight with snap swivel at the end), hook it in your loop knot, let it down to the bottom and then set your indicator at slightly less than the surface of the water. I usually run about 3 ft of tippet, and then I tie in a tiny swivel betweel the tippet and the end of the leader. The swivel gives some weight to help get the fly down, and you can put some additional lead putty to help get it down a little more. I like my indicator to ride fairly low in the water, as I find when it sits up high it's harder to discern subtle strikes from the wiggles caused by a little bit of chop on the water.

You make an interesting point - I don't think the blank was mis-labled in the factory, but for shnitz and giggles I looked up the CCS ERN and it works out to 7.90. Makes me wonder if the line ratings aren't "deflated" some to market them as having that uber-fast action.

I think one side of the coin is the modern (last 25 years, or so) tendency towards fast action rods. I have one that I assembled on a blank that I partially share a name with, it's a 5wt but I use it as my streamer rod with a 200 gr sink-tip because I can actually feel the SOB cast. Concurrently, I think there has been an improvement in materials and/or tapers that makes current graphite rods much more versatile in terms of the range of lines and flies they can cast. For example, I have an old 9.5' 6wt IMX that I still love to fish, but if I try and cast a heavy nymph rig with it I can feel the rod start to "colapse" in the butt section, and performance suffers. In contrast, I have an Amundson Midge (moderate action 8' 4wt) that can honestly cast a size 6 3xl cone head streamer as long as I open my loop a bit and pay attention to the timing.

Heimdallr, I tried to get a repair/replacement tip through them a couple of years ago and I was SOL. I'm going by memory so take this with a grain of salt, but I was told at the time if you are the original purchaser of the rod then they would look at doing some sort of exchange for the most current comperable model, but other than that there was nothing they could do. For what it is worth, you might want to take a look at the Multi series. I had both, and the AEG was my favorite until it broke, then I went with the Multi as my backup. I found a replacement AEG this year, and now it plays second fiddle to the Multi. The action is more moderate but I find that the casting performance is similar and the Multi is better at protecting light tippets, for me anyway. YMMV. The Multi is discontined as well, but there was an outfit in the States that was selling their remaining stock and they had a 9' 5wt 4pc for about $150 the last time I looked.

X4

Post of the year...

What Mark and Gary said - Use 30lb gel spun and fill that sucker.

Hi Cody, If you can find this kit it's a pretty good place to start from. http://www.flexcoat.com/products/equipment/small-business-start-up-kit/ I'd recommend this over spending the money on a power wrapper because, until you get the hang of it, the power wrapper will just let you make bigger mistakes faster. If you later want to upgrade I think there is a bigger market for entry level equipment, too. For turning cork you'll need a cork press (easily made),d a mini-lathe (or full sized, if you have it) and mandrels (search for "Andy Dear Mandrel").

Antlerless mulie in 214, and I 999'd the rest.

If you're mostly fishing AB stillwaters then you can probably leave the deep 7 on the shelf. The faster sinking lines have their place, but in my humble experience that place seems to be somewhere on the western side of the divide. The aqualux and the camolux are the same line but with a different finish, I'd go with the camolux because, if it's like it's Cortland predecessor, it would disappear better in tannin stained waters. A dryline is a given, but I'd skip the RIO and look for something in an SA product. It pains me to say it, because for a long time I loved the RIO Grande and I had a hate on for "Scientific Tanglers", but over the last few years I've found they cast just as well as the RIO and they last twice as long. The wildcard in the deck is the hover - I don't have one, but I've bumped in to quite a few situations where I've wanted one.

I'm sorry to hear it, best wishes for a speedy recovery! I'm sorry if this is a highjack, but does anyone know of a sunscreen that doesn't burn when it gets in your eyes? I wear a wide brimmed hat, long sleeves and sunscreen, but once I start to sweat it gets in my eyes and I'm effectively blinded for 20-30 minutes. Last season it happened when I was wading across a fairly swift stretch above a logjam and it sucked being stuck mid-flow until it cleared.

I might be late to the party on this one, but if you like blues/blue grass check out these Calgary boys...Hx7W3W1WO1E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx7W3W1WO1E

No offense Roggi, but I'm immediately suspicious of person who's first post on a public forum is a polarizing political statement. Puts me in mind of an article I read about people being paid by various lobbying groups to help sway public opinion by doing that very thing. If you really are a fellow angler and you are contributing in good faith then welcome. If not, well, may you catch three doses of the clap and may you recover from all but the first. That said, I tend to agree with Roggi, and ironically for the reasons outlined by Connor - destruction of habitat, over harvesting and a lack of funding for proper management mean that there are bigger fish to fry (pardon the pun) and this issue is not likely going to receive much, if any, serious study. The average size of these carp are 4"-14", and with our short season they'll likely be on smaller side, meaning they likely won't be a valuable as a sport fish or a food fish. Unless they have a definite and obvious upside they can only compete with native or naturalized species and harm what we already have. Whack-em and stack-em!

Classic, this one is pretty good too... Favorite line - you smell like nachos and you look stoned

If you asked the artist they'd probably say something like "the blue represents the prairie sky, and the ring represents the close knit community feeling of the city". To me, it looks like Paul Bunyan's c*%k ring with a tickler on top. So much for art.

I'd like to shake this guide's hand and buy him a beer. Society works when we hold each other accountable for our actions. By all accounts a few people gave Mr. Lincoln the chance to act like a reasonable, rational human being and instead of showing some humility and admitting his mistake he decided to be a douche and he got called on it. Simple as that.

x2 - Simms riversheds for me, added a set of the hardbite studs and they are best boot I've ever worn.

I have a two and a half year old and a 10 month old and there is no way around it, the fishing takes a hit. My advice is to roll up the sleeves and offer to change Jr more often than not (it doesn't get really nasty until they start eating solids), if she suppliments with a bottle or straight bottle feeds do a couple of late night feedings. If you do that during the week, you're more likely to get her blessing to head out to the river all day on the weekend. Plus, even though it's not glamorous, you are bonding with the little gaffer, and thats worth it on its own. BTW, this is all probably really cliche, but here are some simple things that I either didn't hear or didn't fully appreciate before we had our first - You might be in that time period where she's past the morning sickness and she's pretty happy about this whole thing. If so, you get a few months of this, enjoy it! I can't stress this enough - sleep as much as you can, while you can - just going to bed and waking up on your own terms becomes somehow magical. No judgement, but if you are developing a "birth plan" be forewarned that unless you are in the vast minority very little is going to go the way you expect it to, all you can do is go with it. Have some formula and bottles on hand, even if the plan is to nurse 100% - it takes time for the supply to keep up with the demand and a couple of strategic bottles of formula here and there can buy you a few key hours of sleep. A few days after you get home she is likely going to have a hormone crash, and it could be ugly. What ever makes her happy when she is upset, pick up some and keep it tucked away (e.g. my wife likes ice cream). One more - put the new diaper under them before you take the old one off. Congratulations, and best wishes to you and your family!

Thanks for feedback!

I’ve never used one, but I may have reason to in the future and it seems to boil down to two basic choices – the classic wicker type creel or the plastic cooler bag style. My inclination would be to go with the willow/wicker style because my experience with cooler bags is that they only hold ice for a few hours and once that is gone they tend to get warm and gross inside, but I don’t know if that really applies in this case. Thoughts?

For the string I'd try the black braided ice fishing line that usually comes with tip-ups. ::ice fish:: It is a black, braided synthetic that should be about the right thickness and plenty strong enough.

I have both the Rio Grande and the Gold, and I'd recommend the Gold over the Grande as a better all around line, but I'd also recommend the SA GPX over either. I have a set of Trions and they are a bit heavy, but other than that I have no complaints. Streamside markets the same reel under their brand name, and in my limited experience the spools are interchangable. As others have said, though, there are better reels out there for the money. I'd look long and hard at the Lamson Konic, which is both lighter and has a more robust drag system.

That sucks, but a company that treats it's people like that doesn't have a very promising future ahead of it IMHO. Best of luck with your new venture!

Hi Dave, How do you find the Delica for passing on the highway and heading up hills? I'm not expecting a sports car, I just don't want to be chugging up the hills at 70km/h when we head to BC to visit family. Thanks!