ironfly

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.

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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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.

I don't think of any aspect of fishing as a right, but rather a privilege. Personally, I see a sense of entitlement as a bit of a plague on our society. Yeah, all that exploration was a lot of fun, and I found a few spots on my own that way, but what I was really talking about was recruitment. Let's say a 30-something Dad makes a decision that I assume we'd all support- to take his kids fishing. But he doesn't know anything, has no free time or money to explore, and without help he'll have a few failed trips, everyone will be dissappointed, and they'll most likely give up. I'd rather be helpful, and create more "friends of the river". If you've become cynical about that sort of thing, that's understandable, but unfortunate. Let's not oversell ourselves, though; it's pretty fashionable to claim that we pick up litter when we go fishing, but honestly, how many of you have seen that happening? I figure if every person on this board picks up trash, as they all seem to claim, then you must see three or four guys doing just that pretty much every time you go fishing, right? If that's true, fabulous, but I've never seen it a single time. My point is that it's pretty tough to say who will be a steward, and who's going out pillaging. I have freely given away spots of my own, and returned to find them occupied. Sure, there's a twinge of dissappointment, but that is outweighed by the knowledge that a few others have found the way, the truth and the light. It sounds like some posters to this thread would actually prefer that there were no more, or even less anglers, because they don't want to share. To me, that seems elitist. And if you're willing to share info to certain people, under certain circumstances, but won't share that info freely...well, by definition that is elitist.

For me, it comes down to overall ethics and philosopy. If you want to be percieved as elitist, go ahead and keep your secrets. Not too many of us have the freedom and spare cash to go exploring enough to have any degree of success discovering our own repetiore of decent fishing spots. I know, because before I had marriage/mortage/children constraints I did find my share of dead ends, marginal fisheries, and wild goose chases. I really don't think poachers are looking to exert much effort. Those that live in Calgary will poach the Bow. Those that are poaching the East Slopes come in 2 types- locals, and those that are paid to be there. I highly doubt either of those groups pay the slightest attention to this website, and if they do, they probably laugh at what we don't know. They don't care what flies are working, because they're generally using bait. I doubt they care much about locations, because they know a heck of a lot more about that than most of us. Lastly, I'd like to reiterate the point that 99% of all fishers were MENTORED into the sport.

Not that nice for me actually. If they really cared, they would have the knowledge, don't you think?

I've tested a can of bear spray that sat in a shed all winter in Yellowknife and it worked like new, once it was thawed. In sub-zero temperatures the pressure goes down and the range drops. I didn't test enough to find out at what tempuature it becomes ineffective, but most of us don't spend much time in the backcountry in the winter, and those that do can take comfort that bears, at least, aren't much of a threat at that time. Not that they are at any other time. I'm not scared of sharks, and I'm not scared of bears. I am, however, scared of car accidents. Weird, eh? It sprays into a stiff headwind pretty good actually. I know, it sounds like a good way to get nominated for a Darwin award, but there was no way I was trusting my family's safety to an unknown. I had a friend stand back and observe how far it reached, while I closed my eyes, held my breath and ran at a right angle. The reason it still shoots out well is because the spray has terrible aerodynamics, but high propulsion. I'm no physics expert, but I can draw an analogy to archery. When hunting birds, some people use a Flu-flu arrow, which is fletched much more heavily than a standard arrow. They usually have 6 flights rather than 3, and the feathers are left full height, so there's at least 10 times as much drag. Out to about 25 yards there is no difference in tragectory or velocity that the human eye can see, then all of a sudden it's like someone put on the brakes; it's amazing how fast they drop off! I hope that makes sense.

Works pretty good on a charging bull moose, too. Simple math my friend- firing a pistol requires 5 steps; draw the weapon, chamber a round, take off the safety, aim, fire. Yeah, I know, you do it all in one smooth motion, fast as a blink, and can put out a candle at 20 paces. Now you just have to hit a moving target of a few inches, with an instrument that is less than half an inch. Firing bear spray can be done in 2 steps; leave it on your hip, just remove the safety and fire. Now the entire animal is the target, and the weapon is 3 times his size. Of course, there's also accidents to consider. I'm not much of a gambling man. Clearly, you are. Most bear experts say, go home, but what do they know? I always have one can on my hip, with a spare in my bag. They build up a resistance, eh? So it must be true what they say, Mexicans and East Indians are immune to pepper spray. NOT!

According to a 30 year study done by the US Forest Service, people who used firearms to defend themselves from a bear were injured or killed about 50% of the time, and all injuries required medical attention. People who used bear spray were completely uninjured about 95% of the time, and none of their injuries required medical attention. 'Nuff said.