uliwon

thats a beauty fish... (but unless your hands are 10" wide...I'd agree with PKK...)

yup...back in my Bow river guide days, i recall no less than three heart attacks among clients...not to mention bee stings in throats, allergic reactions, twisted ankles etc. funny the guides association isn't all over this...then members get cheaper insurance rates etc.

guides should have swift water rescue, (marine) first aid, SVOP with power boats, and take a test on provincial regulations...then have $2-3M third party liability insurance....just sayin' As a client...I think i would want to know my guide is qualified this way. You should see what you have to have in the ocean in BC....Federal reg's too... VHF radio ticket, COMMERCIAL boater safety course, MED A3, marine first aid, and all kinds of boat regulations, including flares, bailing bucket, safety ropes, paddles or oars, and more...

my Father, who may or may not be the guy referred to from the show, had a deal to buy a used boat off a friend in Terrace (Gil McKean)...Lamione (SP?) Hyde offered to deliver it to Calgary as he was delivering a new boat to Terrace and my buddy there, as well as go fishing... Long and short of it, Hyde never went to Terrace, as the deal fell through, he never told my Dad this, rather delivered a used boat from Idaho or wherever, and acted as if it was the same. He also added another $500 to deliver, and added taxes. Driving to Terrace, plus time, was worth $500 so Dad didn't think much of it until last year when i found out he never bought the boat from Gil... Needless to say, Gil was pissed...as was my Dad, who got a nice used boat, but under a cloak of dishonesty. When Hyde was confronted by Gil, he argued that my Dad was HIS customer as Dad looked into a new boat at the show...he looked into it, asked a few questions, but went for the nearly $5000 savings of Gils boat. I've had several discussions with numerous people, including old dealers of Hyde boats, who were hardly surprised by this story, as they had several of their own. I would suggest contacting Gil at Westcoast fishing adventures if you want a Hyde, as he still has an excellent LP fly fishing model boat for sale last i heard, personally, I'd by a Clackacraft...

you need to earn it, be (almost) without peer, yet approachable, helpful and communicative. one must also be able to stand at trade shows for days a mediocre return considering the time...answering bucket-loads of simplistic questions and hearing hero stories without losing that smile.

April got a wack of $$$ and products for her conservation charity auction...bad, April!, a thousand lashes with a wet flyline...now pull down your waders!

I think the lottery is just an idea...far too impractical an idea, impossible to enforce...not like the Dean where there is a captive audience...as in, where you going to go hide? 8 day max restrictions and possibly some models from Quebec Atlantic Salmon fisheries, where, for the last decade, they have been limited pressure and regulating the fisheries fairly well.... we also have to get the Government to put the Steelhead revenue where the fish are....not into a conservation trust fund so Elk can graze better in the East Kootenays....I love Elk....BUT...

Interesting related story... back in about early july 2001 my little sister got married in Calgary...I was fishing in Kamloops and came out for the wedding with a buddy who was just going to fish while I was busy.... Well the old man couldn't wait to get the hell out of a house full of wedding mad women...we hit Fishtales for licences, I bought all the biggest streamers I could get my hands on...(as in over 4" ones...I think I found three)...penciled in a shuffle and blasted down to MacKinnons... Upon arrival I just about puked at the sight of 12 plus trailers in the lot! It was noon and I could still see three boats down at the first corner... the Old man told me it was nothing..."welcome to the new Bow river" he says... Well, after hearing nobody was fishing streamers, ("the fish were not on them") I couldn't wait to tie on 4" of fun and rip the bank... I got a 22" brown out of the Boat launch before the boat hit the gravel....moved 6 more down the bank once we got moving, and probably had the best day I ever saw since about 1988...all they while a boat hatch surrounded us all day.... SO...sometimes pressure is relavent for sure....I have days on the Bulkley this year, personal fishing right in telkwa, where I had 6-8 grabs in 3 hours on dries behind guys flogging tips and half-a-kitten flies... but slow days make for excuses, and pressure becomes an excuse for slow days... The pressure on the Skeena has dropped off by like 35% in recent years, but they type of pressure has changed....mostly more boats...especially pontoons. Guys in Pontoons don't pull into a run and split it up...they all go occupy the top of each run near each other, not allowing much room to share the water....pull in below them and you are a turd (agreed), pull in above and wait and they get their feet stuck in the rocks and don't move... Makes you want to get a sled? yeah...thats what is happening too...so then there is that issue... So you see where the locals and guides get their panties in a knot...more and more access denied, more boats....what to do, what to do? Funny, I guess I do have some thoughts on it.

As now Past President of the SSBC, I will add that we do not make it our business to get involved in issues relating to anything other than conservation of the species and its habitat. Like many NGO's, we were/are invited to many different meetings/committee's etc where Steelhead are an issue, including the quality waters issue....hence Poul Bech's name being listed. We all love fishing for Steelhead and many directors (I'm good at this one!) will vent persoanally about issues relating to angling all the time...that is a different matter...(I rage about the lack of the bait ban on the Thompson all the time, but I speak personally....I am entitled to my own opinions last time I checked) I guide on the Skeena...so do I want less pressure? you bet, I have to deliver a quality experience to my clients much the same as one does on the Bow. Do I want to limit other Canadians? NOPE...non-residents Aliens that camp out on the water, or worse, illegally assist buddy's all season long...YUP Steelhead face any more perils than trout...high seas survival, habitat logged to death, commercial interception, native netting.... We are taking about all Steelhead...Vancouver Island, Thompson, Skeena, QCI...its a bigger issue than the Skeena AMP...WAY bigger. Its user pay world in BC these days...expect to shell out more bucks to fish for something if you expect Government to protect it...

AS promised.... Here are some comments worth reading about the present AMP process on the Skeena watershed. There are lots of opinions on this....but this is written by a man I have a great deal of respect for who was there from the start. http://www.bulkleysteelheadanglers.com/Sit...%20Response.pdf

Thanks guys... OLD? Wise? hmmmm irresponsible? Skeena politics are not my bag either....nor was the Fernie fiasco... BUT...brilliant letter written by Bob Hooton on the subject of how it all got away from the public many years ago....I will find it and post it here soon... my thought is an 8 day maximum stay per river is what you're going to see...all this other nonsense is unenforceable and impractical. Illegal guiding by Americans continues to be an issue...as does Pontoon Boat rental guys shuttling people around, poor river manners, and people homesteading on water. the reality is we have so few good Steelhead fisheries and so many people wanting to enjoy them...think of Quebec...you can't just go there and camp out either... hopefully a practical solution is found, and quick

I know a guy...Josh Temple...more of a big game guy, but if it works for you...captjosh@mac.com www.primetimeadv.com serious big game fishing, but Josh is a BC boy who knows some others there too...he's always busy, tell him I referred you.

Quick intro as some of us are strangers and you may wonder who the heck is this guy? My name is Scott Baker-McGarva...I lived and guided on the Bow and SW Albertan waters in the Eighties/early ninties...Worked for B white, Streamside, C.P., Russells, etc... So I have some history there and hence have jumped in on some topics I know something about. My dad, Mike Robertson, still lives (and guides) in SW Calgary. I now live in Vancouver/Whistler and guide in the Queen Charlottes, SW BC and the Bulkley river...if I can help you out in any capacity shoot me an email... Sbm www.anglerworks.com

well if I was armed with a two hander and could swing 8" streamers through those city runs in October I'm sure I would see some impressive fish chasing them down... Below Carsland weir too...fish like that would pull down a spey nicely too...instead of skipping across the surface like a turbo dynk.

thats a wide stretch considering the variety of actions Sage and Orvis offer....soft, fast, tip flex, mid flex etc...these companies offer rods to appeal to every caster...I'm curious what your style and preference is bhurt?

biggest Pike I ever saw ate whitefish from a canal...go figure.

a very long time ago, Gary fished the Bow with Rick Harding, a video came out of it, but so did the exposure of our then secret weapon...the completely unknown SJW!...we were pissed! but it still took years to catch on, thank god...and we fished them in every color of red and green, from #2 "konga" worms to #12 wee ones... then along came Gord Kennedy...he spied the worms in a buddies box doing trips for him and next thing you know jacks them to Orvis as the 'Atomic worm'! Gord had about as much to do with it as I did the Royal Coachman...my 12 yr old brother was selling film cannisters of 'Cobra' (the red mono we used) worms to guides for $10 doz when Gord was still shuttling guys to Islands near Jensen's in his little Metzler inflatable. little history of the Bow river SJW...Just throwing it out there cuz' its good lore'

if you are referring to year classes missing its easy...spawning conditions. The Bow had some serious spring blow outs in the last few years correct? Pretty much count on those spawning cycles to have poor egg survival, therefore a year class of fish in smaller numbers. Browns are less effected as they are fall spawners and rarely effected by spring freshet. Big trout are two things...increasingly piscavorus (sp?) ie: Minnow eating pigs....as they get large, and, particularly browns as pointed out, nocturnal... I have watched 10-15 lb Brown trout chase 12" whitefish around near the highwood mouth many years ago...most seriously large trout I recall, (over 28") were caught below the highwood in the summer, and of course closer to town in the fall. A decent brown is 10lbs at 30"...plus or minus 1 lb for every plus or minus an inch. 27" Brown maybe is 7lb if its fatter female, males less (jaws and big heads don't carry weight)...28" = 8lbs, 29=9lb etc... That beauty Brown shown is nice, but unless weighed in a net, I doubt it over 10lbs...from my experience killing alot of Steelhead back in the day...but what a dandy! length x girth2 devided by 800 is only reasonably accurate...you need to consider other factors like gender, head size, and belly girth...a big brownie with a 8" sucker in its belly (that you can't see) can change alot...weight them in the net and subtract the net weight...no errors there

I work for a company who been running old school Clacka's through class 4 rapids for decades...they are poorly laid glass compared to today but tough as nails and NO LEAKS! lol... Hydes look nice for flat water...not so sure about water that eats boats...

I look at it this way...15 years ago that was the best technology money could buy...so kinda like buying a Porsche mid nineties 911 with NO MILES... everybody is caught up in the latest and greatest in rod development, and consumers follow suit...give me an old Sage RPL and I can out cast anything on the market today...

resting on their laurels has been their downfall. And yes, one CNC machine is the same as another, but when it costs $50 to make and retails for $800...who's laughing now?

Hardy, IMO, has become such over-priced also-ran products...I just about choked on my lunch when I saw that the new perfect is $800 and change...seriously? for a machined click/pawl reel? I'll keep buying originals and not lose money on depreciation. the Cascepadias are over ported and about as ugly as you can get, I mean are we trying for a Vom Hofe / Bogdan look or a Tibor? The brass faced perfects need a buffing wheel carried around with you and the high tech reels over the top trash...Titanium? Clearly the company is run by guys with too much money trying to one-up...no wonder its a revolving door of distribution... I'm so disappointed...and I have a considerable collection of pre-60's reels, (plus a couple later Bougles)....Including a original Cascepedia 4/0...What I have seen in the last few years just doesn't hold up...like much of what had been introduced in the last two decades thats not $1200 plus...and even they are suspect.

Hey guys....just wanted to say that I want to donate to the local TU, some of the stuff Wright and McGill gave me for winning the casting thing today, however I guess they ship it, so I couldn't let people know at the time, nor see what is included until later. Thanks Scott Baker-McGarva (Whistler fly fishing) www.anglerworks.com