Pipes

Good luck. Your amp is perfect for starting out. If you're paying that kind of money, make sure the teacher is certified.

I would buy what she was selling. Thread hijack. That reminds me of a day last summer on the crow, where a lovely blonde lady in her early 20's comes riding up to me on horseback at sunset. Could have been a dream, but wasn't. Her aunt and uncle owned the land we were fishing on. We had a nice chat, then my friend was polite enough to yell over that my wife had just called us for dinner.

Finding the right teacher can be difficult. Years ago I had a teacher who only wanted to show me his new Stevie Ray Vaughn licks. Not the best way to spend my money. Personally, I would learn the basic open chords. You can find all the tablature versions on the internet. Tablature is an easy method, as it tells you where to put your fingers on the fret board. It will take some time to build up some hand/finger strength, as well as, a bit of coordination will develop. Playing an electric guitar will be easier on your fingers as a beginner. Once you know your basic open chords, it will be easier to understand and play basic songs. A good teacher will start off by pointing these out and probably should show you some basic scales. As far as the sound, don't worry about that too much. Most tube amps do like to be driven (turned up), but solid states can still sound ok at lower levels. Only when playing with distortion, will you require to drive your amp. Play around with the settings and you will find a good sound. What type of amp do you have? Most importantly, have fun. Don't let the teacher or anyone force you to play stuff you don't want to play. Playing guitar is a lot like fly fishing, it seems impossible and overwhelming, but everything starts to make a lot of sense after you have played awhile. AND USE THAT WHAMMY BAR!

Have you played any guitar before? I have been playing for several years and could offer up some pointers.

Consider it done. I will get some bow river water samples and use a variety of hooks. I do corrosion testing on a daily basis. Anyone want to donate some specific hooks?

Corrosion is a function of the steel used for the specific hook and the environment (water) that it is situated in. As mentioned, salt water will increase the corrosion rates. Normal fresh water conditions we experience in Alberta will not allow for fast corrosion of the hook. Acidic conditions will also play a factor in increasing corrosion rates. In some cases, it is a misconception that the hook will actually corrode rapidly in fresh water. What more likely happens, is due to the newer regulations with barbless hooks, the hook has a better chance of working its way loose.

Usually start losing in late January - March. Have seen some in April before.

You missed my point as I described in my second post and you're right you don't have to justify it.

Yeah, my reply was more rhetorical than anything. Just trying to make sure no one gets too high on their pedestal. Proper fish handling skills are just that, not secluded to one form of angling.

How would ice fishing be detrimental to the fish population?

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.

Put me down for 6a. - $300 Andy

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.