Smitty

$175 on item 3

$125 on item 3

My inbox has been pruned down. Also, my email is smitty9@gmail.com Thank-you Murray!

Bump to top. Well, I can't post pics through my phone, but truck is loaded with about $1600 worth of goods. Got a dozen or so people already to chip in fifty to hundred to help out. And I know many of you have already done so much. Thank you. For those of you who don't know me, I've been on this board for about 10 years, I'm a school teacher with EPSB. I mention that to lend some credibility and not "just a guy fishing for bucks", lol. Ask around here, Rickr, Silver Doctor, Murray all know me. Anyways, this will be done in a couple of hours, if you want to get in, let me know. Cheers. Have a great weekend everyone. Smitty

Hi guys: First, I apologize to admins if this the wrong forum or if I've stepped on a line. I'm not sure if this counts as an official "fundraiser"? Anyways, let me know if it needs to be moved or reposted. Tomorrow I am going to do a Costco - Superstore - Walmart run. While the RedCross is encouraging and taking straight cash donations, the Edmonton Emergency Relief Services organization is in dire need of pillows, blankets, towels, toothbrushes, misc personal hygiene, baby items; formula and diapers. So I'm going shopping tomorrow, and looking for people to help me split the bill. Posted on Facebook, I've got about a dozen people lined up. There's alot of goods we can buy if everyone were to chip in $50 to $100. So what I'll do is go shopping, snap a picture of the bills, and then ask for whatever you feel comfortable doing. If you can afford the split, great, otherwise 3ven 10 or 20 bucks helps. PM me for reply, or reply here with an "I'm in" or something. With Mackay being evacuated over the coming days, Edmonton will likely get more evacuees, and every bit helps. They only take NEW items though (understandable). And the situation was desperate today for a few items. Thanks in advance!

Don't know about the boat launch, gonna guess yes. https://goo.gl/photos/c2WqiMEgCTkcBbMd9

Zugg; My dates are July 25 to 29, so not sure that would work for your timing. But regardless, I'll post a report. Mike

Tom: I phoned again; you were right! What a relief. So Curries is just handling the rentals themselves. In the process of renting the canoe. Still gonna look for deal, but its nice to have the pressure off. Thanks for the replies everyone. BBT, I'll still reach out to your brother. Mike

I assume based out of Calgary? You still want to fish? Not exactly an area I'm totally familiar with for that part of the province. I'm tempted to tell you Bullshead or Upper / Lower K. But the winds can really get at those lakes. Maybe Wedge pond or Gap lake near Exshaw? Or, if you want to do the longer drive, Lees lake or Beaver Mines in the Crowsnest pass? There's probably a dozen stocked ponds close to Calgary, but I am not too familiar with them. I assume for paddling you are trying to keep it smallish. Mike

Tom: Haven't heard back from Curries. Source for Sports used to be the booking agent, but they got out of the game. So unless Curries is doing the bookings directly, I think it's up in the air. Yeah, I used their canoe last year too. It was quite suitable. Mike

Appreciate the advice, but it's no on all of them. Maligne Tours has a crappy freighter - and I do mean crappy - and all the businesses in town, Source, Curries, Online, have all gotten out of the business of renting decent freighter canoes. They rent boats, none of which are even close to being appropriate for a multi-day excursion. Cheers!

I keep the canoe, trailer, motor, and batteries. You get the fish basket.

I pontificate this at length on the "redneck" forum, but I will keep it simple here: Fed up with trying to find freighter canoe rentals in the province. No one does it. Got 4 nights booked camping at Maligne. Can't really justify the cost of a freighter canoe that I only use for one damn lake in this province. Anyone want to embrace the 21st century mantra of the sharing economy and buy a canoe with me? I already have the motor and batteries. Used ones on Kijiji are going for $2000 (I am talking about at least an 18 foot, square stern, wide, stable canoe). Anyone want to do halfsies or thirds even? Bueller? Pm me if interested. Smitty

My only complaint is typical of a company with excellent customer service; they are frequently out of stock of the popular patterns. I looked today; very little parachute Adams left. I'm always late to the party when it comes to ordering flies from them. Great guys, great company. Smitty

I caught my first ever (and on the fly too) at Baynes Lake. Generally pretty small though. Not fussy; any surface popper or frog fly is good. Smitty

Also, instead of trying to negotiate the price, ask for additional goodies. Now, that doesn't help you actually save dollars, so the discount is better of course. But several US shops do offer right up front a free brand new fly line with a purchase of new rod (and in lots of cases, high end reels). At the very very least, you should get some free leaders, tippet, maybe a dozen flies. Fly shops should a good enough to throw some of those in when you're prepared to drop $500 to $700. The 2nd strategy of course is to buy used. Lots of high end stuff goes on sale second hand, especially on some of the BC forums. Kijiji too, and of course Ebay. The last strategy is to ask yourself "can it wait". Because I will tell you, I buy a lot of items in August when the a certain fishin store chain (not sure if I'm allowed to mention, you can pm me) has their annual sale. LOTS of fly rods 25% to 40% off, even better (50%) if the particular rod line is being discontinued. My dad and I have bought several Sage rods this way. Smokin' good deals. And, just heard today - though this won't likely be high end stuff - another certain big box store has an event this weekend; the discount bargain bin is double the % off this weekend only. Not sure if it's only a single location though in Edmonton. Again, pm me. Smitty

Hope some of you can make it!: http://aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/fisheries-management/alberta-fisheries-management-roundtable.aspx

Problem is fivefold when you live in Edmonton and your local fly shops...aren't local. I tend to support Calgary flyshops when I'm down that way. That said, every store has it's ups and downs. For instance, in Edmonton; 1) Fishin Hole; (I am a former employee) very friendly, easy to deal with, especially Brian at the new west end store. Decent enough selection, but I don't like the brands of reels they carry, but the issue that drives me nuts s their 2 tier system of flies. You can buy the cheap flies that are cheaply made, or buy premium flies and pay a premium price. I might as well order online. But good overall. Excellent sale every year in August; best way to buy high end fly rods, by far. 2) Cabelas; I agree with the comments above; Norm is a good guy to deal with, but overall, the fly shop is treated like an afterthought by management. They do carry some fly tying materials not carried by anyone else though (for Edmonton remember). But what I hate most - and I HATE this - is the completely segregated operations between US and Canada. Incredibly discriminatory. Go on the US website, see a smoking good deal on an item (even factoring exchange) and will they deliver to Canada for an in-store pick-up? NOPE! All Canadian orders handled internally through Winnipeg. Sucks. Oh, and does the Canadian Cabelas website ever offer the same smoking deals? NOPE! So, I go to Cabelas, but I spend very little in the fly shop. Only as a last resort. I will give one positive kudos; I buy virtually all my SImms clothing at Cabelas; when they offer a good deal on clothing, its a good deal. It's the only store I know where I can buy Simms clothing at 40% off (otherwise, I'd never buy Simms). 3) Wholesale Sports; used to quite like wholesale; they were close to where I live, probably the best fly tying variety, some decent flies. Unfortunately, - this may only be the southside store - they've gone some sort of metamorphic existential crisis, as in "should we even have a fly shop". Huge staff turnover, difficult to find fly fishing specialist staff, and for about 2 years, they decided not to stock their fly bins; they were 80+% empty. The ultimate deal breaker; no flies???? That's the daily draw for fly fishers that purchase! What a doorknob decision by mgmt. Also, their advertising just blows. I never know when a sale is on, unless I physically go to the store. One kudos is that they constantly have a clearance shelf; picked up some top brand name fly lines for 40% off. Gotta hunt for them though. Anyways, having no dedicated fly shop in Edmonton blows, but it's been like that for decades, ever since Denny's closed their doors. I know of one fellow toying with the idea, and is currently running a virtual store through Facebook, but that's it. And I get that, I totally understand; between the 3 box stores and the fact that there's no Bow river, pretty tough to make a go of a fly shop in Edmonton. You'd be relying on a fairly small, concentrated group of hard core fly guys to make a go of it. Anyways, the Cabelas topic got me going, lol. Cheers. Mike 'Smitty'

Just reserved a table. Looking forward to trimming down the excess equipment. Got some rods, reels, and lines to get rid off. Most of it old and well used, suitable for beginners or kids. Cheap. Some free grab bag stuff (line cleaners etc). Looking forward to seeing some of you there! Smitty

And then I suppose one simple question begets many: 1. How much government involvement / support / permission is needed? 2. How large a role do regional biologists play in the creation and sustainability? 3. Does Alberta have sufficient freshwater lakes available to create, say, a minimum of 4 lakes in a geographic region? 4. Is there sufficient appetite / demand at all levels for something like this; from anglers to gov't officials to enforcement etc? I ask all these questions, because a silver lining to the aeration issue may be that if there are enough of us frustrated and pissed off about this, perhaps there's some opportunity to create something out of the ashes. Mike

What would it take for Alberta to have it's own FLIPPR program in Alberta? Smitty

Hi Everyone: Just need a 10 weight rod and a travel rod case delivered to me for my upcoming trip to Cuba. If you can help, please msg me via the forum, or better, text me at 780-970-7886 Mike

I hear onion ring stack at Montana's is hard to beat.

Well, in the end, I increased the budget, sucked up the craptacular exchange rate, and decided on Cuba. This, based on the advice I got at the Expo; without exception, 100%, every single person I talked to encouraged me to strongly consider Cuba, since the US is continuing its path to normalize relations with that country, and I'd better see it before it profoundly changes - for better or for worse. A friend hooked me up with a "your man in Havana" type gentleman and has got me a private apartment with A/C and hot water, and a kitchen for $35 CUC a night! Considering 97% of hotels in Havana were already sold out, I feel pretty lucky (and the crappy 2 star hotels want $150 a night). So 7 days in Havana and then 7 days with the Fish Tales crew in Las Salinas. Looking forward to my 2 weeks in Cuba! Smitty

Did you check TripAdvisor? Lots of fishing operations have ratings there.