Smitty

Thanks for the help guys!

Hi everyone Finally settled my spring break vacation debate; going to the Island. Will be hooking up with the kind folks at the Nile Creek Fly shop, couple days guided fishing for steelhead. So, got a couple of questions: 1.) Anyone got a favorite accommodation they'd like to share near Bowser/ Qualicum Beach. Or futher away, Comox and more south? 2.) During the time I am not steelheading, I'll be bringing my 6 weight for sea run cutts. Is there any special flies I need for sea run cutts? Will thye be hitting dries last week of March early April? Will the standard assortment of flies - dries, nymphs, wets, streamers etc. No special secret sauce BC flies needed? Also, don't want your secret spots of course, but if there's classic, well known rivers I shouldn't miss, feel free to say so. Thanks in advance. Smitty

(Why I deleted my comments in the other thread and waited for this thread to begin). I count Barry as one of my mentors, though we only met once in the past 28 years. I phoned Barry as an overeager 14 year old, asking if I could buy back issues of the Alberta Fishing Guide. He was only too willing and kind enough to help. I'd spend hours on summer vacation poring through the guide, memorizing listings. His lasting impression on me is his generosity in sharing knowledge and spots through the magazine. I'd eagerly buy every year's issue when it would typically debut at the Edmonton Sportsman Show. His advocacy for fisheries is well known, and I hope his enduring legacy will be recognized or memorialized in years to come for his incredible contribution to Alberta fisheries. We all feel like we've lost a friend and the province, a truly great Albertan. My sincere condolences to his family. Rest in Peace Barry. May you always find hungry trout along the tiny, bush choked jeweled creeks you loved so much.

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My sincere condolences to his family. Only knew him through the forum. I remember him as a positive, generous guy with great reports from Bullshead. So saddened by the news of his passing. Smitty

Funny enough, for some reason, I don't find a pile of brookies in the streams north of hwy 16. I don't think I'm concerned about the prevalence of brookies taking over as opposed to just the general overall damage done to the habitat by the spill. Smitty

I am a little bit; it's my home waters. Smitty

Jayhad: I'll add my own "well said." BrownDrake; if the comment about being upset was aimed at Don, I'll just say in a little bit of defense that I don't think he was upset, he's just doing a little mid to late winter pot stir and see if anything hatches. I think it's good topic to bat around; of course, we could always revert back to the ever-popular topic of "What is the definition of Fly-fishing". Smitty

Seems to me the explosion of tapers and how fly lines are weighted has thrown most of the old formulas by way of the dodo. Not to mention, when I first got into flyfishing in the 80's as a teen, graphite fly rods were much heavier then (reels too). That's a separate comment from even how fast the action is on many rods. So lighter rods in general + faster rods in general + a bazillion choices in how the tapers are distributed means easily you could have a +/- 2-3 fly line discrepancy, when you try to match it to the stencil weight on the rod blank. Fly lines are generally measured in grain weight at 30 feet, right? Couple of articles here: http://www.flyfishusa.com/lines/choose-line-home.html http://www.flyfisherman.com/blogs/fly-line-wt-grain-chart/ Remember, if there's only a 20 to 40 grain difference before stepping up into the weight class, then recall that 20 grains = 0.04 ounces or 1.3 grams. Double that for a 40 grain difference, and you can see there's not a whole lot of difference. I think taper is your biggest variable nowadays. Anyways, I tend to overline my rods. I digress, as I have side tracked the conversation. Back on topic... As far as the weight of fly, yeah, I wouldn't particularly enjoy (so I don't) casting Charlie Brooks lead bomb stonefly patterns on my Winston 3 weight, but on the Helios 4 weight 10 foot tip flex is actually not that bad. Short line nymphing anyways, so... Just my 1.5 cents. Smitty

Ate some out of Copton Creek as a kid in the 80's before the ban. I remember distinctly not liking them at all. Smitty

Well the reel guys did tell me the web site is under construction and that it wouldn't work. The concept is a terrific idea; looks incredibly detailed and difficult to pull of in terms of precision machining. Impressive prototypes though. Been talking to Gary H for a few months now; he was kind enough to give me a tying lesson. That nano silk looks like awesome stuff. I may be doing a saltwater trip at the end of March, so what I took away was the incredible opportunity to test drive various rods and reels. Predictably, I liked the Sage One and Method. Seemed to have en edge for me over the Orvis Helios 2 in the 8 weight class. Though, I'm pretty happy with my Helios 1 4 weight. I tried a few of the rods featured in the Yellowstone Angler's 8 weight shootout. http://goo.gl/TMZ9pp The G Loomis NRX was a nice rod too. Surprise of the day was how the equivalent 8 weight Pieroway felt in my hand. Any further thoughts from anyone regarding Pieroway; they seem like the reel deal in terms of affordability matched with decent performance? Got lots of opinions on the 7wt versus 8 wt debate in regards to a great starter bonefish light Permit rod, I'm definitely going the way of 8 weight (doubling up on Steelhead and Pike too). With wind being a factor, I think the 8 weight offers more versatility. I am continually impressed by 3-Tand reels. Very likely my next purchase in both freshwater and most certainly the saltwater reels. Especially in the salt versions that allow multiple sized spools. Met Pipes from the board in regards to the hunting trip I won in the auction, even though I couldn't connect my dad and him this past fall. For sure this fall. What a great guy. Not surprising, since every member I've met from FFC in person are "goodfellas". Ditto for Murray and Lornce, and thanks Murray for showing me his killer backswimmer pattern. Can't wait to try it on Edmonton lakes. I've "evolved" from attending these shows; I used to focus on presentation, equipment, and goodies, now it's about talking to people and connecting. Really want to go somewhere for spring break (late March) and the show helped me prioritize my choices; 1) Belize 2) Van Island 3) Montana Great show as usual. Great people as usual. Smitty

Well said Rickr. Speaking for myself, I simply wanted some clarity. But you and Osprey are right; let's avoid miring ourselves in internet BS when, essentially, the vast majority of users / readers of this forum fundamentally agree on a core principle of protecting native cutthroat populations.

Have to say I'm a little sympathetic to Taco's point. When push comes to shove, when serious people get serious about their serious concerns, they ought to use less literary license and just be matter of fact about it - in my humble opinion. I would advise Mr. WC to be a little more straightforward in this chicken little scenario. We all know - whether the label is officially applied or not - that 100% pure cutts are certainly a threatened species, and their diminished range being less than 5% has been that way for quite sometime (fair to say decades here?). So if there is an organization that collating and expressing our collective concerns and providing that voice, let's be a little bit more up front about it, shall we? I'm not trying to minimize a valid analysis or take away from creating a sense of urgency, but the teasing tone and anonymity rubs me the wrong way - at least a little bit anyways. Care to provide some additional clarity Mr. WC? I for one would appreciate it. This is exactly the kind of issue that can easily be raised (and fits very nicely into the curriculum) in a science 9 class. Smitty (Mike Smith)

Thanks for the wisdom Don; chironomids are staple of (esp stillwater) trout and I don't know an angler who isn't always refining presentation techniques, including me. Never went through - yet - with my new reel and line purchases from a few months back; you have me seriously looking at that SA line. Smitty

Plus, Web-Based Genchip Analysis Fundamentals just gets confusing...

lad: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=acronym+wgas

Good game for Calgary; way to go for them. I'm not an ABC guy by default, though I was hoping for the Ti-Cats. Definitely the right call on the block, no doubt at all. The best team won. Smitty

Well, after years, perhaps we're seeing some small, yet real, baby-stepped progress in holding the government accountable. Fingers crossed that this establishes a strong precedent. SMitty

Started fishing seriously when I was 13, Dad taught me to spin fish. We explored the Hinton area initially, developed a few home waters in the area (including Apetuwon and Plante creeks, both of which were extensively damaged in 2013 due to the Obed spill. Sad. I digress). Picked up a fly rod after reading an article on nymphing for novices by Jim Mclennan in an 1986 issue of Western Sportsmen. Funny what you remember; I just thought it looked like fun. Wasn't "real" fly-fishing; we were trolling Maligne and Fairfax Lakes, took awhile before I had the courage/patience to try it in deadfall-choked boreal forest creeks. Caught my first stream fish on a dry fly fishing the Joyce river near its confluence with the North Ram (not far from the campground). I'll always remember that; on a size 10 Letort Hopper, because it was Bob Scammell's favorite fly. Really got into flyfishing at the age of 18, dabbled in fly-tying. Was privileged enough to take the intro to fly tying course by Reg Denny. I would take Edmonton Transit before I got my driver's license just to go to his shop on the north side. Bit of trek considering I lived on the south side. 18 was a good age because when I finally did get the drivers license, I was able to explore the province on my own when dad couldn't go. Went everywhere from Grand Cache to the Crowsnest. Essentially was following Barry Mitchell in doing Trunk Road fishing, though I didn't know it at the time. In the 80's, there was still some back roads near the Cardinal River divide marked in miles instead of km's. I remember being incredibly frustrated on the Crow. Became a teacher, moved to Calgary, moved back to Edmonton, stopped teaching, tried doing a bit of a lot of everything else. Went back to teaching; do what you love is the lesson (I do still have a real estate business). Plus, I discovered that besides Math, LA, Social, and Science, what I really enjoyed was teaching kids to fly fish. Did a couple of horse back trips to the Ram back in the Calgary days. Best time ever with school kids. They still email me and invite me to their weddings. Little more difficult and 5x the paperwork getting horseback trips approved by the school boards nowadays (from a risk management perspective), so I stick to day trips with the kids. I'm hoping to change that though once I get a permanent position somewhere. Did some saltwater fishing on the west coast almost 10 years ago and Mexico last year. Loved it and I see why it could be addictive. Dad is getting older now and I find I have to really pay attention to managing our multi-day excursions in terms of not too many consecutive bushwacking days, though he still gets around pretty good for a guy nearing 80 (and he plays hockey 2x week and golfs 4-5x per week). Recently, we enjoy trips to SE BC quite a bit (all the classified waters plus others) and going to the 3 rivers area in the corner of SW AB. When we need a quick fix, we stick to the pothole lakes around Edmonton or hit the Freeman river for a day of easy 30+ fish. The nephews enjoy fishing too, which is great, but the older one is into his video games and the younger 2 are pretty busy playing 2-3 sports at a time even in the summer, so they don't go as often as I would like them too. Still lots and lots of bucket list destinations and species, like NWT Territories and Steelhead and Arctic Char. Plus all the tropical stuff and I wouldn't mind getting my rear end handed to me on a platter Loch or chalk stream fishing in the UK or Europe or somewhere where the fish are demanding. Just recently got a new position teaching junior high in St. Albert, so I hope to start a fly-fishing club there and spend some time this winter getting back into tying. Hoping to go to Montana during spring break for some early season fishing. Smitty (Mike Smith)

That is a puzzling comment: Not making a judgment here, just genuinely baffled but what this even means:

Hey BigFry: How about a little valium? Or should I put on my math teacher hat and pick apart your reply for spelling and grammar, lol? Easy, everyone, easy. Peter's got a plaque on the wall at his house (I've seen it) recognizing his "cost-savings" measures. Just his way. Smitty

Peter: He's aware; I pm'd him. Good reminder for us all. Didn't want it to be a thing. Great story! Glad it was posted! Smitty

Comments anyone?: http://www.hatchmag.com/blog/tip-stop-grossly-overpaying-wading-boot-studs/771153

Lefty: Thank-you very much for sharing this. I learned something very valuable today. Appreciate it. This is the best part of the FFC. Smitty (P.S. And one more kudos to Hawgs. ; who strongly hinted at this to me years back. Cheers)

This.