Smitty

smart-alec. lol

Hey expert hatch-chasers: Should of taken a pic, but I didn't. But imagine, if you will, walking along the stream banks and you see clearly dried out shucks of stoneflies. So by how much did I miss the hatch? Couple of weeks? If it helps, I was fishing the Freeman river, and by the size, they looked to be golden stones. Smittty

Just thought I'd re-post this: found it on the other forum many of us belong to, but since he mentioned maybe it belongs to a guide, and it's from the Lethbridge area, I thought it just might be useful to re-post on FFC due to geography: Found: backpack you will want back Hey all, I found a loaded pack near Lethbridge. It was not around anyone or anything but I left it there until dark before grabbing it. If its yours I just want to give it back to you as it's well over $500 worth of gear. Send me a PM with some kind of a discription and ill drop it off ASAP! I went through it looking for a license or name but no such luck. This is a really personal pack with a bunch of hand tied flies so I am sure they will be looking out for it. Ill bet they launched a drift boat and left it on shore. Ask your buddies, it may even belong to a guide. Smitty

I would rather have the reverse with the stream - how about no camping within 1km of a stream, 100 m by the FTR. Roads are already an eyesore, who cares if someone is camped near the road? I rather keep people away from the river. Smitty

Intrigued! Looks like it has more storage, but no built in rod holder. I suppose its not too much of an effort to add the holsters for a rod holder and the fish finder?... Smitty

Hey guys: So as dad and I search around for our new perfect 2-4 man boat, I thought about my own personal watercraft. Any opinions on this one (Outcast Fish Cat Scout)?: http://www.outcastboats.com/outcast/products/default.aspx?series=20 This boat will be used 99% of the time for the pothole lakes around Edmonton, so it serves a specific need; its frameless, and will fit easily into my Elantra, no need for a motor mount, no need to have it go on flowing water, and its cheaper than the Commander model. So, I really leaning towards this one, I know some guys don't like UV light and vinyl bladders, but it does come with a 5 year warranty. Just looking for feedback if anyone out there has one or knows someone who bought this model. Don't try steer me back into a frame model - already got rid of my fishcat cougar for that very reason. I just want something better than a belly boat (i.e. is rowable and I can sit up). Cheers! Smitty

Been a couple of years since I visited this topic - thought I'd revive it. The reason, naturally, is that I'm looking to upgrade - again. With Airmiles I got one for "free" a couple of years ago - A Fujifilm xp20. Gotta say I really don't like it. One of the main issues, is the start up time from turning it on to taking my first shot. The second, related issue, is that it takes so long to focus to snap one picture or the lag time between taking 2 pictures. Need something that I can point and shoot - faster. Then, a bunch of nit-picky things I don't like. So my friends, what's the latest and greatest in digital point and shoots? (By the way, I'll state the obvious; it needs to be waterproof, shock proof, dust proof, etc etc) Cheers! Smitty

Swan river...hmm, never fished it myself. I know its prone to flooding. Have no idea as to its condition. Depending on the highway you choose, its not terribly out of the way to fish around Swan Hills. The Freeman river is a sure bet. So is the Little Smoky river. Smitty

Sean84: I find your comment a tad...odd. I have fished this province from Peace River to Cardston. I'll just say you're missing out on a pretty part of AB. Hiking and fishing through northern, tea-stained, muskeg-laden boreal forest chasing Athabascan rainbows is...unique. Anyways, the advice / offer / encouragement still stands. Smitty

Sheesh. Offer to take some guys to some flowing water, and you get "Hawstoppah, the smart#@!". lol Perhaps I should revive the Oilers / Flames threads, since clearly one franchise has a future, and the other, well, let's just say Quebec or Seattle are looking for a new team... Smitty P.S. Excellent reply, btw, Peetso!

Good for ESRD and all you volunteers rescuing fish: http://aesrd.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/out-of-the-water-what-happens-to-fish-after-a-flood/ Smitty

Come on up north. Did a scouting trip on the waters north of HInton; everything looks good - a few of the larger/medium rivers still discolored, but every tributary is in good shape. If you really need your flowing water fix; come to Edmonton - its an easy day trip to the Freeman river; you'll catch 30 Arctic Grayling in an afternoon... Just to offer you guys an alternative... Smitty

Dear God, no! Jim did not introduce Brook Trout to AB, unless he's approaching 100 years old in age and has different identities. Look, I love brookies; they were one of the first trout (char) I caught since dad and I began fishing the Jasper-Hinton area. I want them here; I want the opportunity to catch them. But! I'm with Taco on this one; because his analogy to "weeding them down / thinning them out" is bang on. Its hard sometimes to listen to the somewhat hysterical nonsense arguments about "there's a war on brookies". Foolishness! If there's an opportunity to help restore some watersheds / fisheries to their previous cutt-bull-whitefish "nativeness" - well sign me up, I'm all for it. Wait, I already did... What some of the anti-pilot project anti-experiment crowd doesn't quite get in their red herring and sidetracked arguments is this one, single, salient fact: There is no "winning the war" with brookies. The beauty of pilot projects and brookie bonking is that all they do is thin the herd. Don't believe me? Well riddle me this: after 10+ years of bonking brookies on Quirk creek, have we "won"? Are the brookies all gone? Totally eradicated? Nope. And that's 10 years folks, thousands of bonked brookies. Its a have your cake and eat it too - there's a 0% chance the ENTIRE PROVINCE could EVER rid itself of brookies (all caps for effect, lol) and so we will never run out of opportunities to fish for them. And, bonus, we have streams where I take kids to, fish are easy to catch, tasty, and there's plenty of them. Win-win in my books. And guys, there's no movement, no hidden conspiracy, no ridiculous, illogical, shortsighted, far fetched conspiracy like theories that the gov't and the far-left-eco-tree-loving biologists (and that has been insinuated a little bit) that this province will ever return - or try to return via shortsighted fisheries policies - to the state it was 200 years ago with only native fish. (And who, among us, would even entertain those thoughts, let alone support that?) OK, I exaggerate a little for my convenient straw man argument. I digress... Natives are here to stay (if we take measures to protect them) and the exotic stockers are here to stay too. People should quit trying to propagate the false choice between natives and stockers. We've got both, and both are probably not going anywhere soon. As pointed out numerous times by numerous people, there are far greater issues in the province in reagrds to crown land, leases, access, industrial intrusion, habitat loss, etc etc etc. Anyways, that's today's rant from me, brought to you Hutterite colony butter; the best butter for frying brookies! Smitty

Gotta be honest, after seeing houses washed away, and now 4 people missing, I don't care to predict. Sorry to be a "Debbie Downer". I know its a fishing board, and we're inclined to be curious and make such predictions, but I just hope more people don't go missing. Just my thoughts rights now. Smitty

Thanks for the reply. Loved the pro/con info: just great. Really appreciate it! Keep them coming guys! Smitty

Hi guys: Well, the inflatable Metzler dad and I use is reaching the end of its lifespan. He bought it in 1988 or so, I reckon the boat is about 25 years old. Good times, good memories. But we're looking to replace it, and we're really faced with weighing a lot of pros and cons with different models and styles. Dad is getting older and we'd like a slightly bigger boat than the 11' that we owned. Something a little more comfortable. I suppose the bottom line that we're facing is that no one boat really suits all the fishing we like to do. I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too, complete with the icing and cherry on top. To summarize: 1) We do a lot of lake fishing and so it seems natural to go to a 14' jon boat style or pram. Could be used to float some rivers, like class 1 and 2 water (yes?). But some of the rivers we are fishing don't have boat launches, it was nice to carry the smaller inflatable. I think we're prepared to let that issue go in terms of picking northern rivers without a formal boat launch. 2) The inflatable boat was nice, but you don't have (or please correct me if I am wrong) the option to add a lot of options like double anchoring, swivel seats, fish finder etc. Plus, inflatables are terrible for motoring long distances like on Maligne. But a canoe is out of the question, so I guess we'll rent for our trips to Maligne. 3) A drift boat (hyde or clackacraft) is nice, and I've seen guys use them on lakes too. Plus they're nice for rivers (that have decent boat launches). I know its usually one guy rowing and 2 guys fishing; can 3 guys fish out of the boat on stillwaters? Are they really well suited for stillwaters? Random thoughts: 1) Dad and I are pretty much done assembling and dis-assembling an inflatable each time we fish; so either way, we're looking to trailer this boat, and we can just launch and go when we get to the lake. 2) A good stillwater boat is the priority over flowing waters. 3) And yet, Dad and I are looking to float more rivers, instead of pounding creeks: walking distances is slowly becoming an issue for him (he's in terrific shape, plays hockey 3x a week, but he did have a mild heart attack last year). I guess what I am saying is that if this boat could be used as double duty to float rivers, that would be great. But not a total deal breaker. 4) The boat needs to comfortable sitting and standing. 5) Would like the boat to feature rich with bells and whistles like the double anchoring, rod holders, fish finder, swivel seats, etc. 6) Boat does need to be row-able; my community lake has a total ban on motors. I think I'm leaning towards the jon boat or the classic drift boat. I think the drift boat might win if you could mod it to be used - mostly - for stillwater fishing, and yet its ready to go to float the Bow, Red Deer, Oldman, etc. And to piggyback on that thought, if he and I are inclined to float any rivers without a boat launch, and we absolutely need to carry it, we do still have the old inflatable. Anyways, wish I could think of a boat that could do everything, but AB has too much variety to pick the perfect all-round boat that covers everything. Its a good dilemma. Thoughts? Smitty

Labyrinthitis sucks dude. Had that too. Get better! Side note - just suffered through an episode of BPPV. Boy that Epley manouever does really work though! Cured on the first visit! Smitty

Jim: Mike Smith here from Edmonton; we've been in contact several times via email. Was just wondering how it works with the expanded program for opportunities to harvest rainbow trout? If we've passed the test that specifically targets being able to distinguish between cutts-bulls-brooks, is there a new test I should pass (presumably to test ID skills involving rainbow trout) for the Stewardship license to include the harvest of rainbow trout? Just wondering, Smitty

Well Oilers: Better feast on the Flames tonight, if you're still serious about a play-off push. And good on Tambellini signing Smid. He's a rock-star solid D in the 3 to 5 position. Smitty

Dear Jay Feaster: For someone who has roundly criticized Oilers management and their "let's-blow-it-up-and-rebuild-through-the-draft-approach", can I just ask: Would you like some of Franks Red Hot while eat your Crow? And, remember, Humble Pie is on the dessert menu. Honestly, I do feel for the Flames fans. But yes, I am absolutely gloating over Feaster. I wonder what "word" he'll use to describe his managment approach now, lol? Smitty

Ah good. Hope the CT scan comes through all clear, and you can get on with the physio.

Rickr: One of the tricky things about vertigo is diagnosing / identifying the root cause. I took the girls basketball team to WEM for a year end party; they cajoled me into going on a rollercoaster. Man, I'm too old for that s&*t. But I'm a tough guy, so I went. Whoops - spent a few days after fighting vertigo. Turns out I did not have "Meniere's" disease (often knee jerk diagnosis from a doctor), I sure as heck didn't have a viral infection. What I had was crystals that were knocked loose during the roller coaster ride from the semi circular canals (in your ear). The rollercoaster caused enough "head trauma" to induce a bout of BPPV: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. So one doc tried giving me drugs, and that didn't work. But here's what did: physiotherapy. I saw a physiotherapist trained specially for the treatment of BVVP, because its a physical condition, not a viral/bacterial. And here's the good news; if your physiotherapist knows what they're doing, you can get treated and "cured" often within one, perhaps two visits. They put this crazy helmet on you, and they hook an infra-red camera up (its inside the helmet) to look at your pupil reaction on tv monitor. The therapists guides you during a deliberate "fall" onto a flat surface (like a patients bed), and here's the really cool part: when you get dizzy, they can actually tell by the way your eyeballs roll around on the tv monitor, which ear, and likely which semi-circular canal is causing the issue. So then the therapist literally tries to get the crystals back in place (through movement) and cure your dizziness. Rickr, if you suspect, for any reason, that your vertigo just might be caused by BPPV, go seek out a physiotherapist that specializes in treating BPPV. At least when they hook you up, they could rule it out. My experiences with the physiotherapy were very positive, so I am "lucky" that my vertigo was of the BPPV type. Cheers, Smitty

Grinr: But isn't your assertion based on the same kind of sort of emotion and politics? Do you have anything beyond anecdotal evidence that the grizzly bear population can sustain a limited harvest. We all acknowledge that bears are a top-end predator, and given the habitat loss, industrial intrusion, loss of bears even due to railroads, slow reproductive cycles, that generally speaking, the recovery process is slow. You do highlight the word "arguably". Set aside emotion and politics; isn't it better to err on the side of protectionism until we are bloody sure there are enough numbers - factually speaking - to justify harvest? I'm simply asking for some facts here... Smitty P.S. Pipestone you're right, common enough "fault" on FFC (actually most forums) for a thread like this to get highjacked sideways...

Appreciate the support BiggyJ, thanks for remembering!: I actually did pm MrBotangles. I don't run a charity per se, but you're right, I'm always looking for equipment. A big one right now for me would be youth sized waders and neoprene socks. But rods and reels are always in demand. Cheers, Smitty P.S. I'm sure Project Healing Waters would also be a worthy recipient of equipment...

Kind of neat that this thread came up. I was reading this Mcleans article: http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/03/11/powered-by-fruitcake/ So based on that article, did some research: http://www.wildflourbakery.ca/bread.htm http://www.alpinebakery.ca/bakery/bakery.html http://sectionhiker.com/logan-bread-recipe/ http://howtowilderness.com/2012/07/29/how-to-survive-logan-bread/ http://allrecipes.com/recipe/logan-bread/ http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=63394 So how about it - does anyone carry a fruitcake or Logan bread concoction with them? Just wondering...I never have. I remember being told in my family they would send fruitcake or "indestructible" bread to soldiers during WW2. One other observation - I'm sure those bakeries make a great product, especially that one in Whitehorse, but whoo-whee, it is expensive! I'm intrigued...kind of like the Lord of the Rings Elvish way-bread concept ("Lembas" it was called...) Cheers, -Smitty