Pipes

I think saying "organized religion is a sham" is a pretty blanket generalization, which is dangerous and perhaps a bit irresponsible. Now here's my opinion. I think it's a popular contemporary idea to bash organized religion. I believe this to be true from talking to many of my friends and acquaintances and also by looking at the decline in participation in organized religion throughout Western civilization. And no, I'm not going to take out my bible and damn the sinners or come to your door and try to get you to subscribe to the Watchtower ( I think they still call it that).

Nice tie. I like to use the trees on my backcast to frizzz it up.

Catch 22 for me. I play guitar and like to pick with my girly nails.

I urge everyone to try and dig up as much information on this as possible, although there are even more hunting related impacts. I have tried to read as much as possible and still have not fully understood this initiative. You can find out some of the info here http://poli.ucalgary.ca/wildlifestewardship/. I still have a lot of questions, which I asked my current MLA in person on Sunday. He had little clue about this initiative. Some questions I have: 1. Why was the stewardship group privately chosen and why was there not an open invitation for expression of concerns? 2. Why was this initiative rushed through in less than a year? 3. Who chose the 'Working in Group' on this initiative 4. How does supplying guides tags help the public land access problem 5. Farmers bear the cost of wildlife habitat. Yes, but what has changed in over a century. Aren't there other underlying factors which the committe has addressed as far as liability and lack of respect etc? Is merely incentives the answer? 6. There is tremendous resistance to this initiative, so why not postpone this until a later date? I also wrote Ted Morton a letter and got the same canned response, as I had previously received. There seems to be a lot of hypocritical events with Open spaces and I have not been able to gather all the information to make me satisfied that this is all for the greater good of the Alberta fishing and hunting community. Castus, it is currently illegal for a farmer to charge access to his land.

I'll start and i'm sure there are others that will add the basics. For beginning fly tying, I would go with the basics to tie some basic flies: Dubbing - hare's ear, olive ice dub etc peacock herl pheasant tail hackles - grizzly, maybe some type of brown saddle gold and silver wire marabou (black is a good start) Chenille elk hair goose biot - brown and white Bead heads - to match hook size Hooks - variety of straight shank and nymph style (take a look at some basic fly patterns and see what the recipes are) Sizes 6 - 12 are good start for straight shank, 10 - 14 for nypmh style Just some starting points. You will soon find yourself at the fly shop every other day picking up more essentials. Good luck

I would imagine Bloom's catatonic leech would be an ideal candidate.

Just to clarify the terminology. Neither Fluorocarbon or monofilament can biodegrade. Both will have UV degradation at different rates. I prefer using Vanish, as well. Personally, I find the strength/abrasion resistance a key factor in using it.

X2 on the Lagavulin. You can get a sweet deal on them at superstore! Islay scotches are the my favorite. Not a fan of Glenfiddich. I was taught by an old scotsman to always put a small amount of water in your scotch to activate the flavours. Ahh, I could debate about scotch for hours, preferably over a bottle of Caol Ila.

Two words: Awe Some

Any thoughts on bead heads versus adding lead to your flies? My personal prefernce is to use lead weight more from a cosmetic side than anything. From a fishing standpoint, I often prefer using bead head, as I find they tend to be easier to get down deeper quicker (tungsten are great). In shallow runs, having less weight can be beneficial. Typcial flies I am talking about are hare ear, pheasant tail, scuds and even leech patterns.

I'll echo the comments as above. (Duncan, boat looks good). I built mine using some plans I got from http://montana-riverboats.com/. There is quite a bit of information on the internet about tips and techniques. Personally, the best part about building one is being able to customize. Not only can you customize storage, seating etc, but you can also adjust your chine rocker and dimensions to really change how the boat handles. A friend of mine, got me into thinking of building one. It was a lot of fun and I want to do another. If you have the patience, it is well worth the effort. As mentioned, expect the maintenance to be higher and be willing to accept getting yout baby dinged up. There are also some alternatives to making the boat stand up to the weathering, eg Line-X the bottom of the boat. I have no regrets, except I have spent more time building than on the water. Here is a slideshow that gives you the rough idea on construction. http://gregboats.com/slideshow/photo_1.html Below is my first crack at building one.

Bloom, Have you ever varied the colors on your leech pattern?

I was in New York a couple of weeks ago and the big trend is rubber boots. Women would pay $150 for a pair of plain rubber boots with some flowers printed on them.

Since Enmax started this proposal about 3ish years ago, shows trends aren't saving you any money, but it is a comfort issue. I think, if you are the type of person to lock your mortgage in for 5 years, this follows the same pattern. It allows Enmax to secure revenues. Ever wonder why electricity is billed in kW/h and gas is GJ? Marketing if you ask me. Personally, I prefer to burn the dirtiest thermal grade coal I can find. I may only where a size 8.5 shoe, but my carbon footprint is huge.

I'll take a hoodie in medium.

I would like to attend. My schedule is busy, so I can't commit to all of them. I am most interested in the beer drinking part.

Ladystrange, How about I just give you some elk hair. I am putting faith in my dog to come up with the pheasants! I am away for about 3 weeks though, can I give you some when I get back? Pipes

For deer and elk hair, I always use the neck. These are significantly better quality hairs for tying flies. As mentioned, when preparing the hide, use a sharp knife at a 90 degree angle and scrape until you can't scrape no more. I prefer using pickling salt and seems to work fine. Definitely, wash with soap before and after. Never had problems with bugs. Also, don't forget the tail of a whitetail deer, great tying materials. For birds, same process, there usually isn't as much meat and fat on the skin and it is a little more delicate. I have had some good success so far and could give up some elk and deer hair, if anyone is interested. I will probably have 2 full deer necks and half an elk to give away. My success on the pheasants hasn't been good this year.

Rickr, By definition, we did "fly" into this lake to fish, so yes we were fly fishing! And I am pretty sure the regs say you don't have to de-barb if it is a treble I will agree that this guy is pretty shady though. PS. All hooks were de-barbed, we took a quick picture and released the clam to live another day.

Sorry Glen, my buddy still holds the Alberta record. Note: this is not the proper holding technique. One should always support the rockfish from the underside as Glenbow shows.

Agree with Trailhead. Oil maybe at 80 bucks, but the natural gas situation (as seen in the Say it ain't so thread) is hurting Alberta. Fact is, if the big oil companies don't like what the Alta gov't is doing, they will bail. Agreed somethings needed to be adjusted, but poor timing to increase natural gas royalties by 5%.

Don't know of a dedicated pheasant forum, but you can try albertaoutdoorsmen.org Pheasants are making a good comeback in Southern Alberta. Brooks is a popular area. South of Brooks is also looking good. There are also some gamebird places around Calgary that will help out too. Don't blame you for getting the itch.

Awesome read. Hiketofish, interested in doing some sheep hunting? You have a good will and ambition, exactly what a sheep hunter needs. I just can't convince my friends to come along anymore.

Anyone ever use peacock herl for the body? Kungfool, notice any difference between biot legs and rubber legs for fishing? I always use rubber legs, but just out of habit.

On down side, you will now be addicted to spending countless hours in front of the vise. Oh yeah, awesome fly. My first fly is....well....let's not talk about it.