Flyfisher

I've enjoyed his writing to. Heard an interview on CBC recently. In spite of his terminal illness, his outlook was very positive.

rehsifyIf: In it's conception C&R was a conservation management tool (Michigan, sometime in the 50's?) and has since become a widely used one. It's benefits were and are obvious. Today, I'd go as far to say that for some, C&R is almost akin to religion. One has only to look at all the passionate debate around it. All that said it does have negative impacts on fish as you have pointed out with mortality rates. Besides impacting fish, anglers are impacted to. In heavily pressured fisheries fish become scarred, educated, wary and low in energy as a result of repeated capture. When fishing I try and moderate my capture rate (of course there are days one doesn't need to!) so the next angler behind me can enjoy a quality angling experience to. Perhaps high use C&R anglers ought to be paying more in license fees?

Just about any SA line I've had has been good so I've pretty much stuck with SA. The one exception was the original Stillwater or slimeline, it had bad memory problems. I replaced it with a Cortland Camo and am pleased with it. I've used the Rio Gold for one season in a 4 wt. for streams and so far no complaints. I'm curious to see if it will hold up in durability as well as the GPX's have. A Wulff triangle taper I had proved to be a good line to. There's a lot of good quality stuff out there and for the most part I'm grateful for that. However along with it comes a great deal of marketing hype and product redundancy. I guess that is to be expected as long established companies compete for market share and fledgling ones try to break into it. Perhaps the biggest hype going today is matching gear to individual preference and image. Sooner or later one may come to a simple understanding: it ain't so much about gear (given what you have is already pretty good) as it is about who is using it.

From another board: http://www.danblanton.com/viewmessage.php?id=133727 Quite likely the cold weather in Florida is due to El Nino influence. http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/anal...ry/ensodisc.pdf

The majority of bonefish I've caught sight fishing have been in 50 - 60' range. Unless fish are spooky (like say in Florida) or your approach and presentation is consistently off you should catch fish being a reasonably proficient caster at that range and in moderately windy conditions. Unless you will be targeting larger heavily pressured fish I wouldn't get hung up on not being able to make 80' casts. As Country Pleasures has said, any time spent practicing before a trip is time well spent! Keep your expectations within reason based on your ability. If getting a guide and he is a good one, he will do the same and you should have a good trip in that respect. Overall weather conditions at the time of your trip is what it is and largely out of anyone's control. Numbers of fish are nice for sure but there's a lot more to the experience out there.

Eight weight is a very popular choice for bonefish. My go to bonefish rod is a 9 wt, a medium-fast action G. Loomis GL3. The 9wt covers bonefish, permit, junior tarpon, salmon and steelhead. Wind is big consideration if you are bonefishing in the Caribbean. I never feel over or under gunned with the 9wt. I have two TFO TiCr's in 11wts. The TiCr's is definitely fast action. If you prefer a medium-fast action rod you might want to try casting the TiCr before buying one.

Good post Don! In this digital and YouTube age I suspect a lot of C&R fish are suffocating.

I like palming my reel to. Trout are no big deal, you don't need a lot of drag capability on a reel. What I do like is a large arbor for quick line retrieval. Keeps line coil to a minimum to.

No worries. Tobacco juice masks the smell of human amino acids which are present on our skin. Human scent can put a fish off a bite. A very, very good angling pal of mine who invariably out fishes just about anyone including me is a regular smoker. I keep threatening to steal his smokes to make some tobacco juice or dope to scent my flies with.

OK, here goes. In order from first to most recent: Martin 9’ 6wt. Factory built (It all began with this rod). G Loomis 9 ¾’ GL3 6 wt. Custom built by a friend. G Loomis 10’ GLX 6 wt. Home build (favorite stillwater rod for chironomiding). I love playing big fish on this rod. Small fish put a nice bend in it to. A wonderful stick! G Loomis 8 ½’ GL4 4 wt. Home build (small stream rod). I discovered cutty fishing in the Rockies with this rod. Always a favorite until it met with stupidity on my part. G Loomis GL3 9’ 9 wt. Home build (primarily use it for bonefish). A good tough travel rod that doesn't break the bank. St Croix 14’ Spey Imperial blank. Home build. I hardly ever use it. Who knows, that may change. Gatti 9’ FRTA 6wt. Home build. (Couldn’t afford an Italian sports car so I got the Gatti instead). Nice action but not really suitable for tossing full sink lines way out there for those long stillwater retrieves, it just ain’t got the power in the butt section. Lots of fun though with a dry line when the traveler sedges are out, though. G Loomis GLX ‘StreamDance’ 8 ½’ 4 wt. factory built (blanks not available). This was a replacement rod. I did a real idiot move and broke the GL4 I built many moons ago. Loomis discontinued the GL4 sometime ago, so I made a deal with them for the StreamDance. BTW a real nice stick! Lots of fun for cutts. A pair of TFO TiCR 9’ 11wts. I use these heavy weights for tarpon (you don't want to go tarpon fishing with only one stick). Sage XP 9’ 6wt. A home build. I got the blank cheap after Sage discontinued the XP. I wanted a light weight stillwater rod primarily for tossing full sink lines in a 9’ length. The longer rods are hard on the arm (too much leverage) when casting full sink lines way out there. I don’t really like the XP for anything else, it’s too stiff and you really have to watch out for your tippet. Not a whole lot of fun playing fish on it, kind of like a broom handle with a soft tip. CTS 9 ¾’ Affinity One 6 wt. A home build (blank made in New Zealand). This is my favorite all round stillwater rod. If I had to have one rod for still water fishing this would be it! Best Fishes Oh ya, whatever you do, don’t let the wife see the list!

I don't think you could go wrong with any of these: Somewhere Down The Crazy River: Journey's in search of Giant Fish by Paul Boote and Jeremy Wade The Bright Country: A Fisherman's Return to Trout, Wild Water and Himself by Harry Middleton The Snowfly by Joseph Heywood Trout Madness by Robert Traver

Whatever gave you that idea? C&R is a widely accepted management tool used by fisheries managers. Please don't speak for other anglers when you don't know if all here share your view, especially in what purports to be some kind of poll. As for angling in Parks I think the main issue would be commercial interest and what it might imply IE: guided angling.

A touching story. Thanks for sharing.

I have first hand experience. The new Simms Vibram sole has poor traction on freestone streams with slick algae covered boulders and cobble. Beware! They fail where felt works. You will have to put studs on Vibram for traction on slick rock. That said: Simms is a great company and has more than proved itself to make fine products. I've used many of them for years. Once again; the studless Vibram sole has serious limitations where safety on slick rock is a concern! Having rock climbed in various formulations of sticky rubber soled climbing shoes I'm very skeptical that said wading shoes are anywhere near as good as felt.

Simms Guide boot offers very good ankle support. So does the G3.

Good post BRB. "Studies show on average we KILL between 3 to 5%, are we then any better than someone taking 3 to 5 fish out of that same water?" No better in my view (if 3 or 5 is a legal limit). Though I largely practice C&R I see no moral high ground in it. It's blood sport. At best C&R is an effective management tool providing us with better opportunities to catch fish. "Shouldn't we be more responsible and limit the amount we try to catch?" Sure. Anyone with skill has great days when some restraint is in order in consideration for the next angler behind you. I don't feel good draining a pool of every fish in it. A 20-25 fish day is a great one. Unrestrained easy catching feels piggy. When a fish becomes a number instead of a beautiful living thing it's time to stop. regards, Paul

A good elbow brace probably will. This one saved my arm. http://www.serola.net/product_gel_arc_directions.php Been using it for years; casting and fishing pain free ever since I started using it. A few simple exercises now and again helps to. Small investment big payoff. Trick is to use the brace everytime you fish.

Probably your best bang for the buck, a short and concise on site handout.

In addition to what has already been said; you find low energy fish in heavily pressured catch and release fisheries, regardless of water temps. Once a fish has been caught and released too many times they seem to give up fighting hard. This is very evident with westslope cutts, in part due to their willingness to strike flies.

This is very disturbing. I don't get the wanton waste of fish?

Try a Duncan or Uni-knot. 6 wraps for 5X or 4x. Not as easy to tie but stronger are the Kreh and Non-slip loop knots.

A quote from a post yesterday on another thread. http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/index.php?showtopic=9337 Weedcatcher: Stop dropping more $$$ at the fly shops. If there is anyway you can afford it, hire a guide for a day of walk and wading. After a day on the water with a good guide things will turn around for you profoundly.

Mono does have a shelf life (not sure exactly how long as it depends on storage), in my experience the good brands are fine for a couple of seasons anyway if kept in a dark place and out of sunlight. Store in a cool place during the off season. Since you are having problems with mono to mono connections and just not with fluoro to mono here are a few thoughts and questions to consider. 3X is pretty strong and in my experience more than strong enough for most trout fishing. Are you fishing for trout? I seldom ever need anything over 4X. How tight are you cinching down your knots when tying them? You need only to snug the knot down with a steady gentle pull working it tight by pulling on standing and tag ends. Do not snap a knot tight as that will greatly weaken it! To see if you are snugging your knots down properly look at one after you have tied it by viewing it through a pair of binoculars looking through the the binos in reverse. Any knot you tie should look fairly even and all wraps snugged down. Compare how the knot looks to a good diagram. I prefer a double surgeon's knot, 4 passes through. Try 4 passes through instead of 3. Could you be setting the hook to hard when you get a take? I have a friend who over reacts when he gets a take and sets the hook violently when he strikes back. He often experiences breaks offs, but usually when he strikes back. It could however weaken a knot causing failure later in the fight. Hope you get it figured out. Confidence in ones knots is paramount to good success especially if you target and want to land big fish consistently.

I'm in BC. It is available in quite a few fly shops here, should be so in AB to. The best deal is to buy it from Cabela's (US), they sell G Max in 100 yd spools at reasonable cost, otherwise it's a bit pricey here as you can only get 25 yd spools. Note: I don't use spit to lubricate knots tied on fluorocarbon. Better to wet the knot with water; spit is too slick for fluorocarbon and can result in knots cinching down too tightly when tying them.

I use a double surgeon's knot (4 wraps or turns). Use good flourocarbon. Seaguar G Max is quality material, it has a soft outer coating so when combined and joined to a mono leader it will not cut through the softer material. Rio, SA, Climax all make good leaders and match up well with G Max. I seldom experience knot failures.