Swede

After I checked out the Bass Pro shop, kinda made me realize how much I enjoy going to the local fly shops. Me and the wife have always tried to give our business to the smaller local shops. There is a certain charm about going to the local fly shop and chatting with the guys. The Bass Pro shop is a unique store, but as far as fly fishing is concerned, I will continue to support the local guys.

Yes it does

I picked up a 2000 Toyota 4Runner. The price was right and fairly low Km's compared to some others. Looking forward to not having a disasterous near miss like last year at McKinnon's Flats. Last October we drifted from Policeman's to McKinnons, only saw 1 other boat all day. My brother was late picking me up from McKinnon's to take me back to get my truck and trailer. So by the time I got back to McKinnons it was getting dark. This was the 1st time we had floated to McKinnons launch, I whipped down to the river, got off the track and got my truck stuck in the loose gravel. The only other fisherman that we saw on the river all day had just finished loading his boat and was starting to pull away. Luckily he noticed I was stuck and stopped and offered to pull my truck out. Considering I had no cell phone reception we would have been stuck there all night and part of the next day until someone showed up. My Chevy shortbox 2-wheel drive just doesn't cut it as a fishing vehicle.

I use to work night shifts at a saw mill outside of Rocky Mt House years ago. I worked alone and only had a few hours of actual labour that I had to do, the rest of the night I tied flies and watched the hockey games. Just there to make sure nothing burnt down in the middle of the night. So I was in the habit of watching the night sky and I've seen all kinds of stuff from satellites to whatever, nothing you couldn't tell what it was. One night I was looking up and these 2 lights appeared where I was looking. It looked like a couple of satellites that were moving across the sky side by side. Then all of a sudden these lights started moving independent of each other, moving in erratic bursts of speed and then slowing down. They both stayed with each other and then they moved West of Rocky they stopped and for about 5 minutes they were zipping around at incredible speeds and I don't even know how to describe it, nothing I know of can move around like that. About 2 months later I was watching a show about Area 51 and they were showing videos of lights flying around that people had taken around that base. The 4th video they showed made my jaw drop because it was a single object that was moving the exact way the 2 lights that I saw moved. I call them lights because they looked about the same as stars but they weren't the same color. They were really high up and when I 1st looked up they weren't there and then they were, almost like they entered the earth's atmosphere just as I looked up. After seeing that show I wonder if it may have been some kind of top secret military aircraft that they built from the Roswell crash. I felt pretty privileged to have seen that. Strangest thing I have ever seen!

The store is unreal. Only had about 40 minutes to look around, just wasn't enough time to look at everything. Next time I'll make sure I have a few hours free. As far as the fly fishing section goes, I thought they had just as good of selection, if not better, of fly tying stuff as the stores in Calgary. The employee said they didn't have all of their stock up yet. I was in Calgary Wednesday looking at a truck and went through a few of the fly shops, bought some FT matierials and I thought the prices where competitive and some items were less and some items were more and trust me my wife is right on top of that stuff. I didn't compare the prices of the reels, rods, and gear because I've never felt the need to own the most expensive stuff to go out and catch trout. They had a set of waders that was over $800! yeah they were nice, but I haven't spent half that much on all my waders over the years. Definitely worth the trip, but make sure you have lots of time to enjoy the uniqueness of the decor.

Hi, Thanks for your info everyone. Heading to Calgary to check out a couple of older 4Runners. My pontoon is 16 feet long so I won't be throwing it in the back of any truck.

Looking to change vehicles for transporting pontoon boat on flat deck trailer and for west country fishing (no real 4x4ing). Have been researching mid size V6 SUV's and V6 4 door med size trucks (was checking out the newer Tacomas 2005+ a bit more than I want to spend). Looking at 2000 to 2004 models. Does anyone have any pros or cons in regards to AWD vs 4WD? Any opionions as to what vehicle has worked great for you or what to stay away from. Boat and trailer weigh approx. 1000 lbs. If anyone has a suitable vehicle for sale or knows someone that has one for sale please p.m. me. Thanks in advance.

Most of us swing streamers, its a great technique and covers alot of water. But ive had alot of luck casting upstream and dead drifting a streamer back towards me. Just keeping in touch with the fly and high sticking it by me and feeding line to extend the drift. Than swing it out at the end of the drift

The Fly Tier's Benchside Reference to Techniques and Dressing Styles (Ted Leeson & Jim Schollmeyer). Just got a copy of this book and I would say it's the best book I've ever bought about fly tying. No matter what your skill level is, this book will make you a better tyer. Probably most of you already own it, but if you don't, pick a copy up it's well worth the money.

Hello Leroy, Welcome to the board. I've been watching your show for many years and just wanted to say Thanks. I learned lots of little tricks and techniques from you when I first started tying. I've been wanting to get some Snowshoe hares feet myself, but the shops in my city just dont carry any. Guess I'll have to get some off the internet. I was asking the wife if her or the kids had any lucky rabbit feet and she promptly picked up our Bichon Frise and walked out of my tying room, not sure what that was all about lol. From everything I've read i think you will find that the guards hairs from the bottom of the foot makes excellent winging material for all kinds of dry flies.

Why did you do that , why did you do that Jay. Too funny

Thought I would try my hand at some woven flies. I find it a pretty interesting fly tying technique. George Grant, who passed away November 2, 2008 at the age of 102!, was definitely the master of woven flies. It's worth a google to check out some of his flies, they are like works of art. These flies are tied using a double overhand knot technique that is actually pretty simple and fast once you catch on.

I use a 8wt , 3wt and two 5 wt. All single hand 9 ft . I only drift the bow so thats what i carry rigged up and ready to go.

Welcome to the site Flyster, and thanks for sharing the awesome photo's.

You've never heard of the lost lemon gold mine?

Nice bull Jay , totally awesome. Almost makes me wish i lived in Calgary

Awesome photo's Gary. Looks like someone carved a leaping fish in the top of that stump years ago

Pretty f--ed up justice system when four people break into a room armed with guns and only one of them goes to jail for it.

Dont think browns and brookies ever spawn together in the wild , there a man made fish like a splake ( lake trout crossed with a brook trout )

I was up fishing the bow this summer and who drifts by but Barry white , I think he was one of the first guides running clients down the bow. At first i thought it was santa clause but no it was just barry. I believe all you would need to guide in Alberta is a business lisense and some form of insurance in case you got yourself sued. If you happen to drown a few of your clients your going to want to have your ass covered.

Sorry to hear that Jay I know how you feel . I had a female Golden lab that was a fantastic fishing partner, very smart and at home around the water.

Awesome humble Totally enjoy watching all your video's on you tube ,Great stuff. Wheres your dog ? to tough of a trip for the little fellow

When i lived in Rocky Mt House 20 years ago i knew about a little tiny creek, it was on the way out to the N. Ram river. where it crossed the road it was only about 2 feet wide. But if you stopped a few clicks back and bushwacked for about 1 KM you would find an old beaver dam. This old dam had once made a pretty good pond , but the beavers where gone so the pond was slowly draining as the dam wore away. You could start at one end of it wade out to the old creek channel and work your way down the channel to the dam , just throwing out a small black woolly bugger you could catch oh 35 to 40 Brook Trout in about 1 1/2 hours . The smallest been about 2 pounds, most about 3 and a few that where over 4 pounds. and when you hit the dam you got out of the water and had a puff and a cigerette , give it about 1/2 hour and you could fish it again So one day am headed out to the N. Ram with my brother in law and i tell him about this place and make him swear to never tell a soul if i take him there. Of course he is like oh ya i wont tell anyone. well to make a long story short him and his frends destroyed that place in, oh about a month they had caught and killed every brookie that was in there. Plus there was a nice little spring, you could take a break at. Have a nice cool drink or cool off a few pops in there. Thats where him and his friends cleaned there fish, next time i went out there fish heads and guts all over the nice little spring i used to take a break at. Its amazing how fast a few pricks can destroy a little gem like that.