robert

Well that didn't take long at all

there was a bunch of good pike attack vids on youtube. have to take a looksee later - always good for a laugh.

bitten only once? I get bitten (or at least bleed some) just about every time I go out. fair game says I It's amazing how fast a pike can double back on itself

not talking while it's in the water. i've done that too as long as it's easy on the fish... i've seen people pick up the fish with the hook and try to flick it off without touching it... and if that little emoticon is for me, I don't use bait whatsoever.

That part is confusing - hatchery trout aren't big by any means unless they are feeding them to a couple of pounds - the chances that any trout caught on a barbed treble is going to take at least 2 barbs in the mouth - wouldn't you think? One barbless hook at times can be difficult to remove from a trout - a couple of barbs is going to do damage - and I don't care who catches the damn thing. Again, it all boils down to who's fishing and how hard they are dealing with the fish. i've seen many idiots grab the hook and flick the trout back in the water without touching the fish.

I personally think alot of these stats are skewed to what an individual believes to be honest. In the spring through fall, I can usually catch fair numbers of fish (winter? forget it) - moreso pike and walleye - and all catch/release. I love fishing and i'm sure there's a few fish that didn't survive. I do try to do as much as I can to avoid kills - all trebles are removed and only one single barbless per lure. That's my way of doing things - my personal choice. Fish on is a fish caught. Heck, there's times i'll pull out the ol woodchopper, remove all the hooks and laugh my ass off while pike are hammering it over and over. Just watching this thing fly through the air a dozen times during one cast is awesome. There are fish that I didn't think would make it - get them back in the water and get some water flowing through the gills and the damn thing turns around and grabs my hand. I don't believe that my mortality rates are that bad. yeah, there's been a few trout that went belly up tho I tried to revive - bleeding mainly and yeah, i do feel bad. i've seen many c&r fishermen handle fish in terrible manners then crow about being catch and release only - it's all in what you learn and all based on your own personal ethic. We've all seen it.

yep, he gives alot - course he has alot but how much does one person need eh?

yep, he's done his time - I don't think anyone questions that. BUT Did he do enough time for what he's done? I don't care what a judge says - our justice system speaks volumes about them.

whoa, he tries to have someone killed - what if he had succeeded? and now it's ok to let him play hockey again? make his millions and laugh his ass off again? don't think so... I was living in toronto when the bernardo case broke - there was a gag order set and we were trying to get news out of the states on what the heck was going on. The chair for someone like Bernardo is too fast - what they should have done with that SOB is toss him into general population with the murderers and let them sort it out - oh yes, there would be blood. Same with Homolka - she was in the lap of luxury for her jail sentence and those girls are just has dead. Sick individuals.

Sundance, maybe i'm misreading your posts but it's hard to know what side of the coin you're on. Do you believe in global warming or not? What is it that you personally believe? search google for global dimming then post back for a discussion. The effects of aircraft alone are amazing. Take a peek at the studies done during 9/11 when all air traffic was grounded.

Yep, in the same boat here. The cheapies actually last alot longer than anything else out there. Clean them once in a while with a bit of alcohol and a rag.

And that's my point. When it comes to contamination and fish - mercury seems to be the first and only consideration. Lead is probably a bigger concern than mercury and has anyone really tested the waters around alberta for it? There's so much pollution in general that gets dumped into the waterways and lakes all across the country. Think about the simple things like car exhaust. It's going to settle somewhere - yeah we breathe it but it will build up in the water. Think about the consumption of the fish and how safe it is. What else comes to mind.

hush comes over the crowd? i'll probably make them scream - I hate perch - don't like the taste or texture but they are fun to catch. Even more fun when people get pissed that I outfish them and toss them all back. but that's another story. That said - yep, guidelines. When has the government ever got their heads of their arses long enough to provide the proper information. Yeah, mercury is a problem but what else gets into the rivers and lakes. Lead is a big problem - hazardous on every level to every species and alot of it comes from fishermen and hunters over water. There's a reason you can't shoot lead over water in this province. Wish they would ban it from fishing as there are other alternatives but it's up to the person to make a choice and not use it. Everything that goes up must come down. i don't know anymore.

This turns me off... For instance, it is recommended that women of childbearing age and kids under 11 avoid eating walleye and northern pike caught in the Bow River, below the Bassano dam, while healthy adults are advised to limit consumption to 75 grams per week. Maybe i'm just less learned but the article states that most of the mercury in the bow is from natural sourcs - so why just below the Bassano dam? Where is the mercury coming from? And if many folks don't read the regs (as we all know) then how are they supposed to know? I know people that probably smoke more than 75 grams of dope a week. 75 grams isn't much. Have you seen people taking fish below the Bassano dam?

I personally don't know what facts are correct but in the 10 years fishing in Alberta, i've eaten a couple of fish out of one lake only and that was 3 hours north of here. The rest is all catch and release. It turns my stomach to see people pulling fish out of some lakes for consumption - maybe i'm wrong, i don't know. I fish Devils lake (Matchayaw) quite a bit throughout spring to fall but to see the sturgeon river that flows into it? OMG, that river is disgusting on the best of days - I can only imagine what the fish are full of. The NSR? Forget it, even tho i've never been able to catch a fish in there it's still a great river to flick a fly on the worst of days. Even some of the stock ponds are out - like cardiff in morinville. I've been told a few times that it was originally the old town dump from the 60's and again, I don't know if that's true or not but i'm not taking any chances. Are the fish in stores any safer? Don't know really. I think everything we eat is contaminated with something or other.

I'm a smoker too, and I can't say it's had any effect on my fishing or catch rates. Goes for trout, pike or anything else, they don't seem to care.

Gotta ask, did you read the entire agreement when you signed up for this flyfishcalgary.com? people rarely ever read every word and that's what hassholds like telus prey on. Many, many people have been burned. I have NOTHING telus related anymore and I will never ever use them again for anything. They are the sorriest company out there and if they can get you by the short and curlies, they will - and they don't care what happens once you autograph that contract. I'd personally love to see someone take them over and get rid of the name... sound like alot of love for them? i'm an IT consultant, and I cringe every time I have to call telus regarding internet - they have blacklisted me so I have to lie about who I am to get any service out of them. how sad is that.

I only wish we had a river to fish almost year round. Don't feel bad, i've been on the NSR here in edmonton many times with both flyrod and spincast and i'm yet to catch a fish at all. pretty sure i've tossed my entire arsenal into that river and been skunked every time tho I had one rise for a floating mouse lure I bought. I've destroyed so many spincast lures from them beating off the rocks, it's not funny anymore but thankfully i've reeled in more lures that others have lost than i've destroyed - none of the lures I caught were debarbed BTW and that really upsets me. Can catch and release till the cows come home on any other body of water but that damned river.

Took the old blades to a wet stone and got an edge back on them. not great but should suffice for getting through the ice. Put the new blades on, managed 9 holes today through about a foot and a half of clean ice without problem. Murder on the arms but sure beats an axe, wouldn't want to drill through much thicker. Makes one realize how out of shape they are.

I hunted through hell and back to try to get a set of blades for that auger. crappy tire in spruce grove, then west edmonton, and finally south. walmart had ONE set on the rack but when I took a better look - someone had opened the package and stole one. canadian tire had a rack full of them... i'll just have to be more aware of where i'm drilling holes and check every now and then as to what i'm drilling into. won't be making that mistake again. i'm going to keep the blades i took off, take them somewhere to get sharpened. thanks all.

we were a good 150 feet off shore, in the summertime there should be at least 5 feet of water at that point but oh well, maybe the lake was lower than i thought. lesson learned good idea with returning the blades tho. heading to devils tomorrow when i get a new set of blades, water is clean there and i know the depths. my fav lake for sheer numbers of pike.

went to walmart to look at another one, and my blades are dull already. need to get another set of blades and a sharpener to go along with it but the walmart was sold out of everything. stupid me can't find the reciept and i threw the box out already. Just went out with a flashlight to check the hole I made (didn't bring one before and drilled the hole in the dark) the ice was really dirty near the bottom of the hole and the ice around the hole was almost brown. wonder if it's gritty or sandy and it killed the blades. i'm at alberta beach right now on lac st anne. thanks. i'll check out iceshanty.com.

I bought a normark swede hand auger and tried it out tonite. Managed to get down through a foot of ice and it stopped cutting, more shaving. really weird. Can anyone offer any suggestions? can the blades dull that fast? blade angles off?

holy cripes, I was going to drop into bass pro on the way back to edmonton today - I really thought there was an accident on the hiway when I started getting close to it but it was a lineup of cars a mile long trying to get in there. Nevertheless I kept driving.

I know it's a weird time of year to be asking this but I have 2 small holes in my coleman 4 man (maybe 4 little kids of course). It's a pretty tough and rugged vinyl and doesn't seem to want to hold a patch. Tried a rubber patch with contact cement, but it peeled off pretty quick. Tried a vinyl patch, again with contact cement but it wouldn't take. Yes, it was cleaned really well and I followed the instructions to a T. Not often I use the boat but it's a good thing to have around when I don't feel like being in the float tube. Any ideas?