fishfreak

I love that I can take a drink as I'm casting, hehe.

Happy birthday!

I've got a 1 L platypus that I use in my Fishpond vest/pack combo. For the long days in the mountain streams, I'll be taking an extra bottle (half frozen to keep it cool) in my pack just in case.

I use a $40 vise for the last 5 years and it has been working well for me. You can check out some of the flies I've tied in some of my older posts or in the fly tying section. I'm no pro, but I've been getting a lot better in the last few years, and the cheapo vise hasn't held me back yet. I also have a real ghetto set-up, as I don't have any room in our condo for a permanent tying area. As long as the vise can clamp on to a fly really well, you should be fine.

Not with the scorching weather we're going to have, but I'm still going to.

Awesome fish! Man, I gotta get out there this week...

I use size 6's wrapped with red copper wire and a glass bead at the head. It's been money for me, but has slowed down as of late. My copper johns are outfishing the worms these days...

Hope you can return to the river soon Jim!

Fishing a double or triple rig ain't pretty, that's for sure!

Hey Din, those look like they would work great on the swing. I'll tie some up like that as well.

Make sure all of your line is behind you before you cast it forward. I'm finally at a point where I rarely "assume the position" to untangle my line.

Rubber for the tail? Interesting. I might have to try that out.

Here's an article from the Sun on the clean-up that was done over the weekend, wow, 7,000kg of garbage! Clean-up scores 7,000 kg UPDATED: 2008-05-05 01:30:32 MST Items include family portrait By TARINA WHITE, SUN MEDIA Cleaning Calgary's shorelines yesterday led to the discovery of a worn family portrait photo that appears to date back to the early 1900s. The formal black and white photograph easily beat out a meat grinder, an electric drill, an axe and a bone to top the list of unusual finds at the Calgary Pathway and River Cleanup, said event organizer Kevin Forster. "We thought that was the most interesting because what are the chances of finding that around the river bank," Forster said about the photo. The city's 41st annual cleanup hauled in 7,000 kg of trash in 3,500 garbage bags, said Forster. And that's not including large items such as shopping carts, tires and pieces of metal, he added. The weight of trash collected this year is on par with recent cleanups, which Forster said is disheartening. He'd rather see the volume of rubbish decreasing, a sign fewer people are littering. "What we're trying to do is decrease the amount that we're picking up, but we're not," said Forster. "People aren't really showing that stewardship." More than 1,600 volunteers spent yesterday scouring the banks of the Bow and Elbow rivers and Nose Creek for litter. They mostly found paper, junk-food wrappers, pop cans and beer cans, said Forster. Megan Haney gathered together colleagues and friends to give Calgary a spring cleaning, collecting 15 bags of trash. "We were very surprised," she said about the volume. Among her group's top finds were a transistor radio, a toy gun, pornography and a cellphone. "I feel great," Haney said about her effort. "I am keen on the environment and I'm always looking for ways to take part." Friend Tracy Mapola said the cleanup should be held several times a year. "It's a good way to get the environment on the forefront of people's minds," said Mapola. As for a bone that was discovered, which resembled a femur, there was no indication whether it was real or fake, said Forster. "I'm not sure what that is -- we'll have to get CSI in here," he joked.

Since I bought some small diameter rubber legs a while back, I've been having some fun with them. I tied some copper johns with the rubber legs and even tried some pheasant tails on them. Now I know that you can just use the pheasant tail for the legs as well, but I thought what the heck, I'll give it a try. I also bought some Tiemco and Daiichi curved hooks for these. Can't wait to try these out. Now if only I had a better camera to take these pictures with... Fruits of my labour Rubber Leg Copper John Rubber Leg Copper John (Green) Rubber Leg Pheasant Tail Rubber Leg Pheasant Tail (Red Wire)

Umm, I think they're both cheating here. This is supposed to be flyTYING, not stick-a-bug-on-a-hook-and-coat-it-with-lacquer. Very nice ties for sure. It's a very tough choice here!

After June 1, you'll have to make the most of it until the tubers and rafters come. Every year there seems to be more and more of them floating down. Having said that, I live in the NW, and have a lot of water up there that I'd like to try out, now that I've got some Bow River skillz.

I love that T&T Supermarket. A little sewage didn't hurt anyone. Back to the seaweed, if you're looking for the sushi wrap dried seaweed, it is called "nori." I've never seen that in a salad before though. You might be looking for "wakame," which is a dried seaweed used in soups, condiments, asian "salads." Anyone up for some T&T steam buns for supper? yummy!

I left the lid open on the current bottle I have and now it's as thick as molasses. D'oh! I was wondering if there is an awesome brand of head cement out there, or if they're all the same? I wasn't actually using head cement, but a product called "hard as nails" from the cosmetic section at Walmart. Never tried it on my nails, but I'd get it all over my fingers sometimes...

That's awesome that the Friends of Fish Creek are doing a clean-up this weekend. I agree that the more we have, the better. I'd be up for helping out this year, though I'll be away for a good chunk of September.

Wow, nice fish! They must have been fun to land.

I was out last night where there were about a hundred birds, including some ducks, all around me and on the run that I was planning on fishing. As I approached the run, they all flew away or moved away from me, making lots of noise and stirring up the water in the process. I caught several fish shortly after, but wasn't sure if I would have caught more had they not been there. But still, the fish weren't spooked enough to not take my flies.

Welcome to the board MX1. You'll find this place to be addictive, as you check it several times a day to find new posts and pictures to read.

I have yet to catch anything over 24". Congrats on the big fish, but you need a pic to prove it to us.

I bought some smaller rubber legs and tied some of these. I even caught a couple on them. Woo hoo!

Ed, welcome back to Calgary, the land of snow, ice, hail, rain, wind, and sun... all in one day!