slingshotz

The chickens are (or should be) only raised for eggs they produce and not for the meat. There is a BIG difference if you raise a few chickens to have fresh eggs everyday and a bunch of them for meat. It's not really worth raising them for the meat unless you raise a lot of them and then you get into the problems of smell, noise, etc. I personally can't wait for the day I can have a few chickens in the backyard for fresh eggs but I honestly believe that there's just too many uninformed people in Calgary that will veto the idea. I've lived in cities where people kept a few chickens for eggs and if they are kept right, you never ever know that there are chickens living next door. I've lived in houses where people kept friendly chickens in the backyard and they are a delight to have around. There are some wonderful chicken breeds out there that are very quiet, make great pets and have great eggs on top of it. Generally all people ever hear of chickens is all the bad things, that they smell, are loud, carry diseases and attract vermin. I honestly believed that too until I started living and working with chickens many years ago. If this was a discussion about banning dogs (or many other animals for that matter) and you made a list of all the bad things that come with irresponsible dog owners most likely people would ban them too based on that list. The amount of houses here that have dogs that crap everywhere, smell and bark all day don't seem to be enough of a concern. Yes you can call bylaw services but I have never personally had or heard of many successes with them solving bad dog owners. However, it only takes a few chicken growers that have no clue what they are doing to screw things royally up (but the same can be said of dog owners). In Calgary you do also have the added problem of the weather and chickens will have to be killed before winter unless you have a proper heated home for them or you take them inside. I'm not bashing dog owners, I have a dog myself and the majority of dog owners are good with their dogs. For many people this is not about being eco-friendly or jumping on a fad, it's simply about knowing where your food comes from, what it's fed, how well it's treated and having the freshest ingredients possible. I know I'd love to have a trout pond in my backyard too for a fresh pan fry instead of buying fish shipped in from abroad grown with human garbage.

Interesting review, good to see a fairly unbiased article. Does anyone here have a Albright or used one before? They seem like a decent middle of the road rod and the 5 piece sounds good for backpacking or as a backup rod. Plus the prices of them are very reasonable.

1. The indicators should be on the leader not the fly line, it also acts as your bobber/float. I use a balloon style indicator http://www.riverbum.com/images/products/bi...e-Indicator.jpg 2. You keep the leader at the regular length and adjust the indicator/float so that it is about 1.5x from the nymph as the depth you want the nymphs to drift at (usually just bouncing off the bottom). 3. I assume they would work all year but not an expert at that as I don't do a lot of wintertime fly fishing. I sometimes attach up to three nymphs about 1ft apart from each other and it works fine, beadhead prince nymph works well for me. 4. Water with character, slow runs next to fast moving water, holes with slow water. Basically anywhere the fish can spend minimal effort swimming but can watch a buffet of food float by. 5. Yup, I never really use a sinking line other than for streamers, just gotta make sure your leader is long enough.

What a great app, I personally dislike taking the fish out of the water for any length of time and like to release them as fast as possible so snapping a quick photo with the fish in the net while in the water, then using the net opening as a reference for the program should work awesome. Thanks for the link.

"Modern battery cases are made of polypropylene or hard rubber. These cases seal better, so external leakage-causing discharge is no longer a problem, provided the top of the battery is clean. Temperature stratification within very large batteries could accelerate their internal "leakage" or self-discharge if the battery is sitting on an extremely cold floor in a warm room or in a submarine." Link to a better explanation: http://www.homepower.com/article/?file=HP127_pg12_ATE_5 However in a boat there's still value in having it insulated in case any acid leaks and for when it's very cold.

Whenever I lose flies or spoons, I seem to find spinners to replace them. The annoying thing is that I never really use spinners, I never have great success with them. I have lots in my tackle box that just seem to be growing. The other only great find was hooking into a burb at PCR and pulling up the burb AND an almost new ice fishing rod. Another guy lost a rod earlier down the hole but sadly it wasn't his lol.

I used to do a lot of mountain biking and downhilling, lately fly fishing has overtaken my biking but one of my first high end bikes was and still is a Slingshot. Since the handle Slingshot is so common I just decided to add an Z to the end to make it unique. http://www.slingshotbikes.com/images/sling-power_callout.jpg, the new ones are pretty much the same but mine was one of the original yellow ones.

Anyone checked the temp of the Bow south of Calgary? I don't have a thermometer yet to check myself.

On the paved section of highway 24 (from from north of the river) where you normally turn left to go to Carseland, keep going south (on the gravel) almost until you hit the river and turn right before the farm house. The road winds down a coolee to a parking area with a boat launch.

One tip I still have to remind myself is to watch my backcast and make sure the line is almost all extended before making the forward cast, you'd be surprised at how long you have to pause at 2 o'clock on the casts. If you can, try taking one lesson from a pros/guide unless your friends are good teachers. Sometimes it's nice to not pick up bad habits from the start. I'm taking Jim McLennan's course this Sunday, can't wait!

How do you get the board discount? And thanks for the suggestions, I couldn't remember for the life of me Icky fly works.

I burned through a ton of flies in the past weeks and was wondering if anyone had a good source online to buy flies from? I know I should really get into making my own but just don't have the time right now. So far I've found reelflies.ca, hookedonflies.com, flyshack.com but only reelflies is Canadian. Thanks.