Pipestoneflyguy

So while up in Nordegg last week, I figured , ahh what the hey, I'll buy Barry Mitchells Book (Fishing the FSR) Talk about feeling like the last guy on the planet to get "it" - leaves me wondering how many other members here quietly lived with the frustration of not wanting to ask for fear of being flamed for not being able to read a map LOL

I love that " He lives his life vicariously through himself " line - Brilliant I'm headed up to one of the tribs of the Blackstone this friday - expectations are high, hoping to finally join 20/20

Not recent, but stayed there for the last week of Sept last year fishing and scouting for hunting. Not much was left in the way of wood, we had to harvest it all from other sites and it was the stuff no one else wanted to split - it was all huge, unsplit and very wet. - we ended up leaving cause some "local" fellas showed up riding ATV's all night and firing shotguns all over the campground (we were alone till they showed up) A bud of mine mixes diesel with sawdust in a 5 gal plastic pail for fire starter - best thing I have ever used for starting fires with wet wood - if I go there this year I am bring a pail of that stuff for sure. I would bring wood after our experience. g'luck

Damn I figured that was a 30 incher - guess I've been catching sculpins all these years LOL

Hey Nav - thanks, I am am one of em - I basically learned from reading a few books and pretending to fly fish when I was actually trying not to embarrass myself while spying on other flyfishers who actually knew what they were doing LOL - A local did show me the ropes flytying, and for that I am forever gratefull - admittedly much of what I know ranging from casting techniques to proper landing and even my first spey clinic (thanks Greg) all were derived from this site (and FFA before that) Steve - I was gonna ask you the same thing ! My nefew spent his last day hiking to the summit of Mount Temple today - I wish I was half that motivated in life, his aptitude and attitude made it easy !

Well - I had my 18 year old nefew out in Lake Louise for the summer - In the spring he attended a couple of the casting clinics me and a friend put on for locals and as a result decided he would like to learn flyfishing (ding ding my happy bell started ringing) So this summer I watched him evolve from a master wind knotter to an outstanding angler. It was such a fullfilling experience to spend countless hours teaching him the lessons I have learned over the years here in the mountains. He leaves tomorrow so last week I decided his last test and great experience would be hitting some water neither of us has ever fished and lettting him take the lead - After seeing someone here (sorry can't remember who) had a nice pic of a beauty cuttie from the Blackstone River we decided this would be our final all day outing - we headed up to the river west of the FSR in a remote spot we figured had little pressure (kicked the snot out of my poor tacoma getting there...awesome) and went to work fishing - man, it was so awesome watching him squat, read the water and and demonstrate perfect technique - he missed a few in the first couple pools (but I gladly demonstrated how to close the deal for him ha ha) but by the third pool he landed a 18" cutt - OMG from here the fun began it was definately more work than the standards in the area like the rams etc but the extra hiking. scaling canyon walls with your rod in your mouth and climbing massive log jams just added to the adventure - we both hauled in many fish over 16" and he definately caught the biggest of the day, actually the biggest cuttie I have ever seen in person WOW - his pic was pretty poor as he was alone so its not worth posting, and to be honest he wasn't sure how to handle it so it never came all the way out of the river (I'm glad he took that route as opposed to trying to hold such a slab that big with one hand so kudos to Mike on his fish handling and not letting ego guide him) anyway we both landed an average of about 10 to 12 large cutties (and plenty smaller guys) in 10 hours of great fishing in a beautiful environment - the extra work just made each landing all that more worth while - even the nasty sun burns were worth while and getting home at midnight and hitting the hot tub with a few coolies made for the perfect day Anyway just wanted to share the experience as it was probably my most enjoyabe and fullfilling summer of angling to date. My nefew is now an excellent angler and is looking forward to the steelie run on the Grand River only an hour from his home - his pop (my brother in law) who had his first brookie on the fly at Emerald last night is going to get him his own outfit for xmas too. I just wanted to share the experience as I have no doubt this is going to be one of my best memories I'll have in life - Kids are not in the cards for Sandy and I so I am now struck with a huge sense of jelousy for those of you lucky enough to have kids and have this type of mentoring as part of your childs on-going relqationship and learning experience - I would highly reccomend mentoring as a great experience to anyone who has the opportunity and I suspect I will now be looking for a new "grasshoppper" for next summer too. PS the Blackstone - yeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhh didn't see another angler or sign of human life in over 5k of river - I think the trip past the David Thompson is an area I am spending much of my future outings exploring.

Found 2 cutthroat beers on the Kicking Horse R yesterday - had a laugh as I mentioned this thread to my nefew - we tossed em into the drink for 15 minutes to cool em down - what a nice treat on a hot day.

I was just in Racks unlimited to by a rack for my Tacoma - $700 and not in stock (apparently racks "limited" ha ha ha) - ended up fabing my own from the reciever and using foam blocks on the front I wouldn't go without - a little sand and the straps on my pontoon killed the paint job on the roof of my former dodges topper

Lotsa dog toys below campgrounds - found what appeared to be a food cache (mostly cans) from back in the Jimmy Simpson days eroded out of a river bank on the Bow above Lake Louise (I think there was a post about this before, definately the coolest thing I have found). I also found 3 canoes usable and about 6 or 7 that were destroyed (so far) abandoned from folks with the foolish notion the could make it from Bow Lake to Lake Louise on the Bow. A friend found a wooden crate in a sand bank under a bridge in the Kicking Horse river in Yoho NP a few years back - excitedly ripped it open to find a skeleton - determined to likely be from the old internment camp up river.

I live at the confluence of the Pipestone and Bow Rivers - If it wasn't for the condo screwing up the back cast I could hit the seam from my hot tub. The Pipe is my fav river and also the one water I never share beta on. I only fly fish and, well, I'm a guy.

PM sent regarding great cutty Lake in Banff/LL area Keep in mind that many lake cutties begin rolling their flies before the take about this time of year, so if your not hooking up try a 2 second pause after the take, once you get the timing right you'll have a riot - I usually average between 30 and 40 fish per 4 hour session where I suggested. - these guys fight and jump but generally don't get bigger that 14" Rob

Huh - intersting never really heard that before but I guess it doesn't surprise me - go figure

Can't speak to Calgary but....locally I suggest.... Best riverside sub ever - Railway Deli in Canmore - soooooooooo good. Place is owned by former Post Hotel Chefs (5 star quality) Lake Louise - most over-priced / under-quality is mountain Restaurant (husky) - greasy nasty gut rot, visit LL bar and Grill - Best eats, low cost, Lake Louise Hostel - nicest (and only) patio, visit Historic Train Station Restaurant. - Biggest surprise, Post hotel for lunch, surprisingly affordable (15-20 for lunch) true 5 star domain- Best local haunt for reasonable dinner, the Outpost restaurant in basement of post. Honourable mention - Somewhat unhealthy and unrealistically large portions, legendary gut filling capacity road trip traditional heavy meal nosh - Frontier Restaurant on left as entering Revelstoke - no trucker leaves hungry, no angler leaves unsatisfied...Ooops I mean on the right as you enter Revy (on the hwy)

No complaints with my various SA lines Absolutely love my Rio spey line

I can't help wonder if 420FLYFISHER was extremely disappointed with the content of this thread LOL

I did the same as Lornce but turned mine inside-out first - also I'm not worried about leaks above the waistline - used loon to repair

PS - it costs something like $35 an hour to rent a canoe on either lake so if you want to swap a day with my clipper for a day in your neighbourhood or a float on the lower bow in pontoons PM me

Remember the limitations of early aboriginal fishing methods when you consider a historical name as an info source nudge nudge- there are indeed some large fish in Lake Louise - I have never caught one but I haven't really tried to either - have I seen large cruisers ? you bet, just not at the time of year you can catch them legally (early spring before the ice sinks they can be seen cruising from shore but it usually coincides with the ice being too thin to get out on. I know some old fartz (consider I am 42) that say they have caught rainbows and a few older park records show the presence of rainbows but I have no recent info that suggests they are still there. Sundance - your assuming alot (In regards to "locals" discouraging fishing and why) ! - 90% of the "local" population here is transitional and the greater volume of information they disperse is from the same brochures tourists have - very few true locals work low paying front line jobs and thus I would not expect to get good info from such folks, reality is most locals are tourists, they are just tourists with short term jobs, alot of "the blind leading the blind" goes on around these parts in terms of fishing info. Myself and another local anglers actually taught an orientation this summer at the local sports equip renter to just try and improve visitors experience with flyfishing in the area by improving the knowledge of the staff renting gear. The Japanese fascination with natural blonds is pretty interesting - My wife is a natural platinum blond and man do the older Japanese men go gigidy over her, gets kinda creepy sometimes when they swarm her for pictures. Morraine Lake has really perked up the last three years - great dry action !!! best spot is in a boat near the waterfall at the back of the lake - I like to go right up to the falls, cast a drifter, and then both you and your fly will drift out to the feeding zone - if they are rising on their own just float in that area casting to rises works greast too - hard to hit the right spot from shore, no back cast room and pretty tough to get a roll out that far - the cruisers seem to be looking for small fish as opposed to flies - quite rare to hear of anyone catching these guys on surface. Its a chilly lake for a belly boat, bring fleece pants is my advice if you plan to stay out a while, canoe is my fave boat but I think I'll take pontoon out at some point this summer.

Glad to hear both of you found work - Birchy I would keep an eye on fed IT positions, pay may be slightly less than private sector but the hours are garanteed and the job security is unbeatable not to mention great benefits designed to suit a new family, if you get a indetermintate position the work force adjustment benefit offers many great options if you position was lost for some reason anyway - remember to check the individual agencies, not just the treasury board dept jobs if you look around.

Most of the tribs run pretty close to clear even with rain - not the Bow though, it is chocolate right now, creates some sweet ass clear/dirty seams that pay off really well. The rain does create a great excuse to haul the belly into small alpines which are hopping these days, and you don't sweat to death on the way up too

Sorry no pics - been an anti-camera kinda summer.

I watched a 32-34 bullie try and get up about 10 ft of waterfall for about half and hour last week - it was awesome, he never made it but what a show of strength watching how close he came a few times - I also caught 5 cutties out of the pool he was originating while watching all this happens. That was on the Pipestone which isn't shocking but some of the smaller waters I have found big bullies in is astounding, especially when you ponder what they overcame to get where they are. Now that said, on smaller creeeks such as Owen near the park boundry, our biologist has us reduce the largest step to less than 6" (convert steps to riffles kinda deal) so that small bullies can travel to spawn so to me those these two examples suggest fish size and water volumes both have a large impact on climbing capability of bullies

I can just see the guy stewing in staples or office depot...ahhh wait how many "bloody"s in the large font, grab more "O"'s honey. I Choose to tackle a less volitile issue - I'm gonna put " I hate Bloody A..holes that put mayonaise on hamburgers" on the back of my vehicle

Thanks Uber ! Har Har Cdock - groaner of the day....

Looking for airbags and bungie install kits - saw some stuff on-line at MEC, wondering if anywhere else in Calgary would have this stuff in stock. thanks