ironfly

For me, it's not as much the tone, as the facts. When some of the "facts" are unreliable, or blatantly untrue, it calls everything else coming from that source into question. For instance, there's a blurb railing against SRD for the reintroduction of otters. Supposedly, this will be disastrous because otters eat every fish in sight, reproduce uncontrollably, and have no natural predators. Yeah, except for linx, cougars, bears, wolves, coyotes, foxes, and dogs. Too bad there's none of those around, eh?

Bigtoad, now you're making sense. As an experiment, right? I, for one, promise to bring this up at the next round table I attend. Show me your petition.

By all means, improve our fisheries. I work actively towards that end. But from what I've seen, trying to make our trout ponds equal to Manitoba's is a waste of precious resources. The drive to Manitoba isn't that bad, but my perspective is a little different, being from Edmonton. We have to drive a minimum of a couple hours to catch a trout in a stream, and regularly drive all day for great fishing. Calling me out? I have nothing to prove to you, or anyone. Would you agree that Muir lake produces 5 lbs trout? Trust me, I know 8 lbs when I see it. PM me and I'll tell you the top three. Fish the lakes enough and you'll see one, even if you don't catch one. I should temper my words though; by regularly, I didn't mean you should expect to get one on any given outing. More like one per year, if you're good, and lucky. Kind of the same as how you might catch a 15 lbs-er in Manitoba.

I think a major factor is being overlooked here. Stocked lakes are primarily meant to benefit the locale they're in, so just because you are willing to drive a few hours to catch a bigger fish, doesn't give you the right to force changes upon another user group. Besides, those charts are bunk; if you think c&r fishers in Alberta outnumber meat fishers 5 to 1, you're dreaming. Easy fisheries are family friendly. That's why so much opposition is encountered anytime you try to alter the regs on an existing p&t fishery. On a brighter note, there are a few stocked ponds near Edmonton that have always been 5/day, yet regularly grow trout to 8lbs or more. I'd be happy to point you in the right direction, but I hear hot-spotting is poor form. Accept, even embrace Alberta fishing for what it is, I say. I think we've got it pretty good. Once in a while, go spend a few bucks up in the Russell, Manitoba area. Some experts consider that to be the best stillwater fishing in North America. We're lucky to have relatively easy, affordable access to multiple world-class fisheries, whether they're a whole day's drive away, or right in our own backyards. Let's hope it stays that way.

I started out with a wicker creel, but found it kind of bulky. Tried a couple cooler bags, solved the grossness problem by lining it with plastic shopping bags, but packing enough ice made it too heavy for my liking. I ended up deciding that if I was going to keep a fish, I'd do a shore lunch then and there. Since then I've gone >99% C&R, but if I was going to carry a creel again, it'd be wicker, for sure.

You know, I seem to recall the occasional reference to the Farmer's Almanac in our own neck of the woods.

On curved hooks like this one, tail-fouling isn't as much of an issue, so I usually make the tail double the shank length. I think a little shagginess would go a long way on this fly; maybe a dubbed collar, or a soft hackle.

There's a little funnel they developed for rock climbers. You can pick one up at MEC.

Absolutely, a big thanks to the admins. But this thread, right after reading the "ban driftboats" bit, got me thinking; I'd also like to thank every member with a voice of dissent, unpopular opinion, or assenine idea. While you may infuriate me, I have to admit you are a big part of what makes this the most interesting forum I've ever found. Thanks for being the guys we love to hate. And, you're welcome.

X 2.

I remember reading, a couple years ago, that regulation violations of all sorts get a warning about 90% of the time, but fishing without a license is virtually guaranteed to result in a fine. Pretty sad, I think. Makes me wonder why that trend is so pronounced, and consistent.

Probably of no interest to you Bow River Boys, but I'm sure happy to see a healthy runoff on the NSR. For one, the fish pack into the backwaters; I call it the Edmonton Duffer's Fortnight. For another, Goldeye spawn during runoff. Their eggs are neutrally-buoyant, and drift downstream mid-current, under cover of dirty water. It seems if there's no runoff, the fish go elsewhere, possibly trying to find good spawning conditions; makes for a lousy dryfly season. Good runoff on the NSR= great dryfly action all summer.

The stuff that's so easy to get through the electronics connections is often very heavy and thick. Brian Chan and Phil Rowley have selected the ideal gauge for fly tying, and marketed it as Stillwater Solutions Midge Body Material. As far as I know, the only store in Calgary that's carrying it so far is Fish Tales.

I've taught a number of casting classes, and grip strength is usually an issue for kids. The key grip and FOT are inherently weak grips, that's part of the reason they help with accuracy. I think the TOT would be better, but then again, I don't know your kids. Maybe just something to bear in mind if some of them start complaining about their hand cramping. Each grip uses very specific muscle groups. To put it in perspective, I've been using hand tools all my life, I was a contractor for years, and after flyfishing for a decade tried the key grip; my hand still got sore and tired. Also, a pet peeve of mine is the very common advice to keep the rod tip in a straight path. That's nearly impossible, and would require your hand to travel in a big "U" shaped casting stroke. I advise my students to make their hand travel in a straight path. I tell them to pretend they're using a hand saw at shoulder level. Lastly, watching the backcast usually ruins a perfectly good cast. With the stance you've prescribed, the shoulders will rotate when they turn their heads, and the backcast will hook (or slice, I guess). If you really want them to watch their backcast (which I don't), have them open their stance almost 180 degrees, and cast more left and right, rather than front and back.

Grayling certainly do give you 100 fish days, make you feel like a rockstar, and hit anything. That's a lot more common in the fall. Summertime you'll find them spread out, rather than holed up. Not that it happens often, but there are times they are just as picky as any trout, and days when they're shut off. Everyone loves getting them on dries, but don't forget small streamers, they've often caught me the biggest fish of the day. Are Saskatchewan Grayling fisheries open that early? I've been missing out!

It's very well established that, in certain cases, prop wash can have a serious effect on bank erosion. But riverbanks and waves are very dynamic, and some scientific testing would need to be done to determine whether this is one of those cases. This being Alberta, and the way the Harper govt is going regarding the environment, I'm not holding my breath.

Sorry Crowsnest, but as far as the fly industry goes, I disagree. If you were in the fly business, and I was one of your "suppliers", I'd be pretty upset. All the "value added" services supplied by a fly shop are given freely, whether a purchase was made or not, and a 20% margin isn't going to keep anyones lights on. I would drop your product line, or never have picked it up in the first place, and one of my services to customers would be to let them know they could buy direct.

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As Uberfly said, the line choice depends on the rod. If it's a fast action, I think the Grand will serve you better. Something to bear in mind about the Trion reel; they stopped making spare spools for it a few years ago.

I don't like full sinks on rivers, as I find they always hang up on a snag, and I've ruined a couple lines trying to get them to come loose. I'd recommend a fast-sinking, long-head sink tip. Airflo's StreamerMax is fantastic.

No, I don't think a 7wt is overkill, or I wouldn't have suggested it. To me, there are 2 legitimate ways of basing a rod choice; the flies you're casting, or the fish you're catching. Flies- Basic casting mechanics; Your arm casts the rod, the rod casts the line, the line casts the fly. Let's say the Mythbusters built a casting robot, and dialed it in to drop a #10 Stimi at 20 yards, then cut off the fly and tied on #2 Tungsten conehead articulated streamer, but changed no settings on the robot. The mass of the fly is now too great for the momemtum of the fly line to carry it. Yeah, you can still get the streamer out there, but the casting mechanics have changed, and it's now somewhat more of a throw than it is a cast. The fly requires extra momemtum to arrive at its target, and that energy comes from your arm. Fishing all day entails anywhere from 500 to 1000 casts, and the extra effort needed to cast 3-nymph rigs and/or large streamers on a 5wt can, and sometimes does, result in tennis elbow or some other aggravated injury. When I mentally list the things about fly fishing that I most love, casting is in the top three. At the end of a day of casting the heavy stuff, the guy using a 5, or even a 6, will probably be sore, tired, and casting poorly. Using a 7 means that after 1000 casts I'm still comfortable, energetic, and able to make my gear do what I intended. Fish- I'll provide an example of my own. A couple years back I was fortunate enough to catch a banner dry fly day on the Bow. I had my 7 in the boat, but was using a 5. Nicer for dries, right? I hooked into one of the Bow's Best, played it for a few minutes, and started bringing it in. A foot from the net, the fish put on the brakes. I leaned on the rod, but it simply had no more backbone. The fish went for a run, and got away. I was fishing with a group of guys who had over 50 years of collective Bow River experience, they all saw the whole thing, and they all said "there's nothing you could've done." But there is; if I'd been using my 7 I would've landed that fish, I know it in my bones. Choose your rod based on the heaviest flies you're going to cast, or the largest fish you might catch. Someday, you'll thank me. If a 7 is totally out of the question get a fast-action 6.

Just my humble opinion, but there's really not that much difference between a 5 and a 6. Or to put another way, as rickr alluded to, there's a lot of different rods out there, and some 5wt's are actually more powerful than some 6wt's. If you're in Calgary, you have the luxury of trying out a rod before you buy it, but then there's also lines to consider; it's amazing how many options there are, and they'll all cast a bit different on the same rod. Clearly I'm an odd man out; unlike Tungsten and most others, who go to lighter rods for the same application as they gain experience, if I had only one rod for the Bow, it'd be a 7.

Correct me if I've misunderstood this, but I thought I wanted to clear this up to help others avoid the same problem. The way I read your post, you told the staff you were a left-handed caster, and they set up your reel for a right-hand retrieve. Normally, that would be correct; cast with your left, reel with your right. Back when I was at the retail level, my only question for a customer I was spooling up was, "Which hand do you reel with?" Surprising how many people had to look up at the ceiling and pantomime reeling to figure it out. Also surprising how many people cast and reel with the same hand.

So let's say you and I are the only two people in the whole world who know about a really special spot. We've never met, and maybe we both like to think we're the only people at all. Maybe there's the odd fisher who would take a spot to his/her grave, but chances are someday we'll share this spot with someone we trust (Rumor has it, fishermen like to brag). Now, everyone I know thinks they're a good judge of character, and everyone I know has been wrong before. So this person that one of us trusted lets the cat out of the bag, and the next time we go to this special spot it's overrun (2 cars parked at the bridge). In the end, what difference does it make whether it was posted on the internet or whispered in someones ear? A secret is only a secret if you keep it secret. And yet we don't really see this happening. Several really sensitive fisheries have been hot-spotted on the board more than once, with no ill effect. Fisheries that are pristine and sensitive have stayed that way (even before you found it) for a reason; they're usually pretty out of the way. And I don't think a comparison to perch fishers is fair. They have kind of a different motivation, you know? I guess if you really want to keep a spot safe, but still show off, you'll have to go old school and drive your guest there in a blindfold. And try to be philosophical about the fact that others know the same spot, but you have no control over them, and they may not share your ethics. One indulgence I must confess; I have actually sent a couple people on wild goose chases, once because I knew he wasn't very ethical, and once because I just plain didn't like the guy.

Love it! I also agree with everything he said, and I also do not think that I'm contradicting myself. Tex, you should go into politics.