slingshotz

Really depends on the water, some places have long stretches between runs and holes and some don't. Also the terrain really plays a factor if you have to cross the stream multiple times, that saps your energy. I usually do a minimum 5km up to 13km round trips.

It does but it works much better if you can grind it up to a fine powder. I get dozens of them at work but there are some that use something different than the standard little white plasticky beads which I have never tried before.

Lucky you! I did the same thing 15 years ago spending 1 month in the north island and 5 months in the south island. I'll never forget my experience there, I literally fished every day in a different area for an entire month living out of a camper van. Unfortunately, I only started fly fishing in NZ when I bought my first fly rod over there on a whim so I didn't have the experience I do now so I didn't get much time to explore a lot of the rivers. I did a ton of fishing in the sea with my spin rod and if you get the chance, definitely try chucking a fly line into the sea, there are some amazing fish there (and tasty too!). When I did fly fish, I spent most of my time in the Queenstown area and it's a mecca for everything wild and outdoors NZ has to offer. There's some great hiking and fishing in that area. Since you are on a working holiday, I found that work was easiest to get around the Nelson area as that is kinda like the Okanagan area of Canada with a lot of fruit and vegetable farms to find temp work at. You're going right near the start of their summer so they'll probably be hiring already. I did well catching fish in the river with my spin rod in the Motueka river near Nelson also. Sorry but I can't remember any more specific rivers I fished as it was so long ago now. This website has a decent list of rivers and the island is so small, it's pretty easy to drive to a different area every day. http://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/ten-great-fishing-rivers/ Last thing, if you get the chance to go to the north island, hit up 90 mile beach and go digging for pipi's (clams) in the sea with your bare feet like the locals do. Get two live pipi's, smash them together and wash them out in the sea and eat raw, amazing experience on par with eating fresh oysters. This website has a decent list of rivers and the island is so small, you can probably fish a different area every day.

Thanks for the responses, I know the Smiths come in three different frame styles and sizes so I need to feel how they actually fit as I've found it hard to find comfortable glasses over the years.

I've been doing some reading up on good fishing sunglasses as I'm getting tired of the cheap $30 ones that scratch all the time. I've read some great reviews on the Smith's and wondering if anyone knows where in Calgary I could go try a pair to see how they fit?

x2, we also take our cats and dog to Acadia and it has been great service.

When I lived in the UK 10 years ago, Chainreaction was the go to place for all parts and I still have not seen anything come close to the pricing and service they give over here in North America. Two thumbs up for Roast's reply!

I would check the dirt bike shops, they might have the kold kutters. I ordered a pack off ebay and they have been awesome but to be honest I have only been using them on my hard water boots and haven't needed to put them on my Guideline boots that already have studs.

I just take the bladder out of my biking Camelback and stick it in my fishing backpack. Really any bladder will do or if you don't fish with a backpack, just carry the whole Camelback. Mine is similar to this one: http://www.myrunninglife.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/p-ROGUE850.jpg

If I ever get around to finally getting my hunting license, I'd like to learn the ropes as I am a newbie. I met you once or twice before when you organized some walk and wades a few years ago. I do have experience with my bow but only bowfishing

I always pack a bunch of food if I'm going for an entire day and you're right, sometimes I don't actually eat all of it before coming back. However, I still bring the same amount just in case something happens and you have to spend a night out in the woods. There's also times you find a sweet spot that you can fish for a while, then sit back and have lunch to let the fish settle down again and then fish it again! One thing I always finish off is a full camelback of water though. Since it is so handy, I always drink from it as I'm walking to the next beat so that I'm never dehydrated. If you get thirsty, you're already dehydrated.

I had used my 4wt 8' 6" TFO for many years and loved it but found it wasn't different enough from my 5wt. So I picked up a nice 3wt Sage 7' at a sale and haven't looked back. The 3wt can handle pretty much anything in our streams (other than a 30" bull). If you are buying used, make sure that the seller is one of those types with a few dozen different rods so the chance will be slim that the rod would have been abused (I know you people are out there )

I have them and love them but it's only been one and a half seasons in them. I do find the boot/leg area quite tight and I'm pretty skinny but I did get a large tall size. I'm 6' 1" and don't have any issues with the rear suspender. Most of the time I've been fishing with the top down and it's pretty nice to be able to pull them up quickly. They are super comfortable when walking and wading though.

Isn't amazing how the large beaver pond is drained completely, those beavers have a lot of work in front of them lol. Do you go much further up, and does it change much? I haven't been much past it as the hike back gets long and it seems to get much thicker with trees. One of these days I'm gonna bring my bike and ride up further upstream, I agree, it seems like a good time to harvest them while they are a bit weaker, it's still gonna be tough to tip the balance over to the natives. One of these days we'll have to tag team a stream and crush the brookies

Yeah I do have the stewardship licence, I put in my best effort last year and removed almost 400. I think only Taco edged me out for the slaughter but I'm gonna give it a better effort this year The brookies and cutties were in fine shape and pretty aggressive. However, a different creek we fished at two weeks ago had pretty lethargic cutties and brookies that looked in much worse shape. However, that creek was running through a narrow valley with little overflow ability so it is understandable that the fish had to fight much tougher currents.

I'm guessing this creek was the same one I was at a few days ago. I think that all the fish got affected but the brookies will probably bounce back quicker as they spawn much younger. When I was cleaning my brookies, quite a few had roe already and they were only 10cm long. I did manage only 17 brookies and three cutties compared to my 30+ days too like yourself but I also found a bunch of brookies stranded in pools in the fields. I tried to catch all of them in case any were cutties but luckily none were. I'm sure there were thousands of fish stranded in the field that got picked off by predators. But to see the extent of the high water and still see fish in the main creek proves that fish will survive just fine. The creek is sure amazingly different and there are some pretty awesome new pools (not to mention tons of new potential snags :$*%&: ), these floods are so awesome in cleaning up waterways, thinning out weak fish, redistributing nutrients and materials around.

Try Roofworks, they are quite good but extremely busy so might be booked up for a while.

I use a dedicated intelligent charger (http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045/0111577P/nascar-nascar-advantage-battery-charger-with-express-start-reviews/reviews.htm) that can handle deep cycle and regular batteries and it has no issues getting my batteries to 100%.

I've had the 2000W for the past 3 years, no issues and on ECO mode it's pretty quiet. Not enough for the AC but we've never needed it. I only use it to attach a battery charge to top off the RV and trolling batteries. For the price it's hard to beat. I noticed that this year it looks like they changed the design a bit and I think it's even smaller. I love Costco!

Hey I bought a big bag of those Kold Kutters to put on my boots as I had a bunch of stud tips break. You can have some to try if you want the next time we go out. I'll probably get them next week.

I've been wanting to do this for the past two years but I've never done it before so it would be nice to have someone with a little experience along. I'm more than happy to split a shuttle to do a drift.

Please enter me too! Thanks.

We got our dog from Pawsitive match (http://www.pawsitivematch.org/). They typically have medium to small dogs. Mine looks like it has some duck toller but isn't a huge fan of the water, which is good as she doesn't disturb the water much. However, she has no issues staying out with my on my full day walk and wades or on the ice during hard water season. I've seen a lot of their rescue dogs, their foster homes and system are excellent.

I caught a ton of brookies in Willow, anything smaller than 6", I simply deheaded and gutted them. They are so small that I treated them like whitebait or smelts, batter and deep fry the entire fish. Everything gets nice and crispy so you can eat bones and all. Brookie fish sticks, YUM! I am itching to get back out there. They should open it up to winter harvesting, harassing brookies while they are in concentrated pools would be awesome but I understand that it would be hard to not harass the cutties and bulls at the same time.

Yup those brookies were very tasty. I was sure I would have beat Hansma in Willow as I hit that creek really hard but I think I was short about 10 fish Can't wait to get the Stewardship licence renewal for 2013. Interesting that rainbows would be included, we only ever caught two at Willow with all the times we went out.