jack

It really depends on what features you are looking for. Click/pawl ? Islander IR4LA, no question, hands down. Will them to your great grandchildren. (IF you can find one under $300) Exceptional disc drag, super large arbor, amazingly light? Amundson's Wind Warrior Feather Lite 4/6 Fly Reel WWXL here I spent last year torture-testing the prototype on both 5wt single-hand and the 1134 Trout Spey before recommending it go into production. The drag is cork/polymer composite disc onto a stainless disc, butter-smooth, never sticks, lube not required and expels any water between the discs to stop incidental "hydro-planing" free wheeling. $229 is retail. Fish Tales will have them. j

I have a friend of mine who raises championship black lab retrievers. He just sold his "Wing & Trout Outfitters" in Vanderhoof, BC. He is a former director of Ducks Unlimited and his dogs are second to none. He does have a litter happening in the spring sometime. If still looking and want a real calm, quiet retriever with outstanding working dog bloodlines, PM me for his contact info. No, I don't know if all the litter is spoken for. j

Just keep in mind that "maximum load" and the "safe working load" on any pontoon is about 50-75 lbs apart. There are lots of examples of guys at max load all the time and "for no reason" there is a catastrophic failure of the frame. j

How much "practice casting" do you do? Do you false cast without a leader? Casting without a leader and "snapping" the line as you begin the forecast can crack lines(I know from personal experience). Had a line guy tell me "don't do that". j

OK, I'm calling you naive. 1. There was no "official reasoning" behind this law. As stated, it was dreamed up to try and appear to be doing something to control the chicklet chompers from doing each other on the recreational lakes of Onterrible, without appearing to be pandering to "The Centre of the Universe". Inland and Maritime law is federal, therefore this was enacted across Canada. So a cute little test that even a one-eyed old fart who hasn't ever studied or used any maritime rights of way, etc can pass with one error, makes things safe? How about forgotten within two days? The whole thing was and is utter nonsense. Just a money grab for the feds and their hired "examiner contractors". j

When I was in Calgary for the FF Expo, the City was using a de-icing pretreatment similar to what some cities in BC do. Applied in liquid form it is more effective than straight salt(works to -15C) and contains anti-corrosion components. j

We do??? But people always say they doubt my sanity!! j

You could always try one of those lightweight coiled batteries, but they are very expensive. That's an awful load on a small toon boat, you may be asking for real trouble. 300 is the max capacity, not the "working load". My gut feeling is: Start over and think bigger 'toon. j

I have faith that any bill passed by any Congress will be so watered down, so "pork-barrelled", that it will actually not change anything and cost millions of taxpayers dollars to do it. "Managed" can also mean the implementation of common sense regulations for those without common sense. Like anchoring on coral reefs, using drag anchors to rip up vegetation, kill limits, gear limits, select no fishing zones, etc, etc. We have such regs and zones on the Left Coast right now. The only "infringement" is on people's "rights" to poach or act like idiots. I also have faith that professionals in the field of ocean management are actually doing good work, in spite of all the factions who light their hair on fire. j

I'm kind of with ricinus on this, Rick. I reread the article a couple of times looking for the presented facts, but can only find "fears", suspicions, "appears to" and more conjecture. j

I posted this on the BC board this afternoon, thought I'd put it here, also: "So we're not perfect! We never claimed to be perfect. That means we've learned to be humble. We say excuse me and I'm sorry...as well as please and thanks. Even when its not our fault we apologize. Sure one arm of the torch didn't rise, but when the earthquake struck Haiti, Canadians raised their hands to say..."we'll help" And yeah, there is a fence around the flaming torches, but you can walk right up and shake hands with our prime minister and most famous Canadians. We put Gretzky in the back of a pick up, in the rain, not surrounded by police...and he was okay. By the way... the Great One is Canadian...and HE wasn't complaining! We do have security at the games, of course, but most people don't even have a gun they have to leave at home. The medals ARE under lock and key but our doors and our hearts are open to the world. It has been pointed out that some buses broke down last week .... but let's not overlook the fact that our banking system didn't . We didn't get the "green ice maker" right this time....but we will, eventually. Just like we did when we invented the hockey rink. Citius Altius Fortius If you don't reach higher how do you get faster and stronger? Was the first quad jump perfect? Should we not have given snowboarding to the world "in case" it didn't take off? So, big deal ... one out of four torch arms didn't rise. Good thing we had 3 more! It's called contingency planning! But remember...the Canadarm works every time...in outerspace... .and insulin turned out to be okay. We couldn't change the weather but maybe we can help stop global warming. We don't have the tax base of the US or the power of the Chinese but, per capita, we ponied up for some pretty kick-ass venues in the worst global recession ever . Sure, some folks couldn't afford tickets but our health care is universal. We have shown the world that we can raise our voices in celebration and song but moments later stand in silence to respect a tragic event ... together..spontaneously ... and unrehearsed. What's more, we don't need permission from anyone to have a slam poet, fiddlers with piercings, and a lesbian singer tell our story to the world while our multilingual female Haitian- born, black, head of state shares a box with her First Nations Equals !! We've shown the world that it doesn't always rain in Vancouver, that you can strive for excellence but not get hung up on perfection, And - we've learned what it feels like to be picked on by some no name newspaper guy and we don't have to take it lying down! So the point is not the snow, or the hydraulics or a couple guys being 5 minutes late to a ceremony. We know we're lucky that these are the biggest problems we had to deal with in the last couple weeks. So take your cheap shots....Guardian newspaper and cynics of the world, We're bigger and better than that." j

Keep in mind that there may be different heavy metals being oxidized in different mining locations. I am referring to one very specific valley and one specific coal mining operation. Fording/Line and Elk in no way establishes a "general rule". The Cominco Smelter in Montana used to dump nitrates(and other toxic stuff) into the Kootenay River, many years ago. The heavy metal would settle out and the nitrates would remain dissolved. It ended up in Kootenay Lake, fertilizing the water, creating an abundance of dissolved solids for micro organisms to feed happily on. This increased the abundance up the food chain, providing kokanee with an abundance of food, thus providing the Gerrard Rainbows with abundant supplies of kokanee. Gerrards grew fast, grew many and grew large. Progress came along, environmental controls established, Cominco cleaned up their act. Kokanee stocks in Kootenay Lake dropped like a rock, Gerrards became almost endangered. The Province of BC began fertilizing Kootenay Lake in order to re-establish the nutrient content for the fish. The downstream disaster of heavy metals in Lake Roosevelt is also a by-product of Cominco that cannot be ignored, of course. j

Let's hope it's enforceable in BC ! The "BC Forest Service" no longer exists, as it has in the past. "Forest Officers" are few and far between, like Conservation Officers. Anyone can make up a law, enforcing it, getting evidence, proving it in court is another matter. Lot's of people in BC(as in other places) just ignore "the rules". Rules intrude on "their right" to have fun. j

Don't know about others, but I look for someone who has outstanding "people skills" and who genuinely likes people and has a passion for fly fishing. They don't have to sell anything, except themselves as credible, genuine, knowledgeable, fly fishing people. I look for people who can assess the new equipment and give me constructive criticism based on their perspective. Why did I approach Ladystrange? Because she exhibited all of the above and when I asked the rest of the pro-staff crew, they gave her a thumbs up. j

Whoever designed the women's bobsled and speed skating outfits should get a gold medal. j(looking over his shoulder to see if Grace is there )

The 1106 is not a real "switch rod" in my estimation. The lower grip is not detachable and the action is not a compromise of single and two-hand. It is purely a light spey rod, period. In future production runs of the 1134, the lower grip may become detachable. Trouble is that adds weight, and it's such sweet rod at only 6 oz. now. j

The 1134 is a 3/4wt spey rating, also works well on a WF7F for overhead single-hand. As bloom said, 270-300 compact is best two-handed line. The 1134 is nothing like the 1006. The 1006 is a fast action rod designed to power cast in to winds and to roll cast a stillwater chironomid setup(strike indicator, 20' leader, swivel, tippet and bug) 70' out. And it will. They will handle up to 12-14 lb trout in stillwater. The 1134 is an entirely different, moderate, deep loading rod(as a spey should be) and will handle up to 5-6 lb fish in streams or small rivers. Yes, one could use an 1134 as a single-hand, but that butt handle would get real boring rubbing away at your elbow after a while. Right at the moment the blanks are sold out. More coming, but there are a few rods left in stock in the warehouse. The dealers most likely to order rods for stock right away are Fish Tales in Calgary or Flys Etc in High River. Alberta Rose Anglers can as soon as they open in April, I think. Appreciate spotting the error on the website. I emailed technoweenie to get it fixed. j

Your original statement was perpetuating stereotypical disinformation. I have provided my first-hand observations in the areas of oriental Asia where I've been. To counter that with subjective generalized accusations from a non-specific "report" is purely an attempt to quantify the stereotype nonsense.

The "throat sampling" size comes from biologists knowledge of the development and size of a fish's esophagus. The predominant issues are: Inserting the tube past the entrance to the esophagas Inserting the tube dry Squeezing a bulb of water into the fish If one is particular of the basic steps and uses common sense, sampling is almost 100% safe. I've watched Chan and several other biologists perform and the fish never leaves the water, and it's over in under 20 seconds. But, I think that's where "practice" comes in. j

"Blanket" statements and generalizations painting all countries and all "factories" in a very large geographical area such as "Asia", have no relation to facts or the real world. I'm sure that somewhere in Asia one could find individual examples of practices that are listed above, but some of those same practices can be found in North America, also. Does that mean that those practices are common or legal in North America or most countries in Asia? No. Neither can one justify using "past practices" of a country to justify claiming such conditions are relevant today. Otherwise, the U.S. could still be labeled a "slavery nation", right? I don't know how long it takes for a myth to finally become "just a myth"(or a blatant lie), especially by people who sit in front of the most powerful research tool ever known, but it would seem that promoting myth is much easier than promoting specific facts. As someone who has spent some time in widely-separated areas of "oriental" Asia over the past 40 years, I can confidently say that all of the places I have been, have changed dramatically in that span of time. Most parts of industrial Asia are modern, progressive, vibrant, happy societies. They would not have progressed otherwise. Most of industrial Asia has legislated work weeks of a maximum 44 hours and minimum wages levels that rival Canada in their buying power equivalents. Very few industrial operations in China (for example) actually pay minimum wage. In order to maintain a long term, conscientious and loyal workforce most pay at least 20% above "average"(not minimum) wages. Sort of like Canada, huh? The fact is that most examples of "3rd world" conditions can be found in subsidiaries of large U.S. owned corporations in locations where those corporations have established a political presence. Locations that are a helluva lot closer to us than "Asia". j

" But you'll still be fighting logging trucks." Beats packing my camp in. Done properly, logging is our most valuable renewable resource and it has provided access to some spectacular water. As a follow up to the Line Creek Coal operation being expanded, it is a little known(or ignored) fact that the Fording River and Line Creek, with it's coal operations presumably leaching oxidized minerals into the water courses, actually provides high levels of nutrients to the Elk. The Elk River above the Fording and Line Creek is remarkably nutrient and aquatic insect poor. Almost all of the well-fed fish are below the confluence of the Fording and Line. j

I had some damned elitist tell me one time that using anything but a dry on a certain stream was just "too easy". I was somewhat disgruntled with this perception(as I had a wet on at the time and was enjoying a very decent rate of success). However, upon further contemplation and several beers after that day of fishing, I decided that this damned elitist was probably correct and that there is more personal satisfaction to challenging oneself. Thanks, "bloom"! j

Well, I was very surprised when I was told this by a certain noted fisheries biologist from Kamloops a number of years ago, when discussing stillwater winterkill. I had assumed that larger fish use more oxygen and therefore would be the first to die off during a winterkill. "Not So !" sayeth he. It also explained why, in both wild trout lakes and stocked lakes that are subject to occasional partial winterkills, there is a population of "huge trophy" fish. The new generations of either wild or stocked fish are killed off, leaving excess feed for the already larger fish. j

"Small rainbows" (those that are under 2 years old) maintain a much higher metabolism in cold water than more mature bows. It's nature's escape mechanism for the young fish. Higher metabolism, higher energy, higher feed intake, higher volumes of oxygen used, compared to more mature 'bows. This is the same reason that fish under 2 years old do not survive partial winterkill conditions in stillwaters. When a stillwater has a "partial kill" it is the larger fish that survive because in the cold water their metabolism has dropped significantly and they use and require less oxygen than the little guys. j

I resemble that remark!! j