ironfly

I've seen the breakdown, and about 90% of the money we spend on our fishing licenses goes directly into fisheries. I suppose these government officials could've been lying in a public forum, but I doubt it.

I didn't come from an outdoorsy family, but for some reason my brother and I were interested. We lived in the Crowsnest Pass when I was little, and my father took me and my brother out, once, on the Crow. My brother caught a nice little rainbow, I got skunked, we heard of a bear sighting before our next trip and never went again. A few years later we moved to Nova Scotia, and got to do lots of fishing. Brookies in streams, eels by the dam, Gaspereau runs in summer. A few years later, and we were living on the shores of Great Slave Lake; let's just say that I'm not too impressed with pictures of big fish anymore. About 15 years ago, I moved back to Alberta and started a landscaping company. The business wasn't going very well, and I was really stressed out, so I looked into local fishing. I went out to a few stocked ponds, but had no luck using spinners, spoons, or even bait (all I knew up till then), but I would often see a fly fisher catching fish after fish. So I figured, that must be how you do it around here, and bought a Crystal River combo. Needless to say, it didn't work out so well. Lucky for me, the girl I had just started dating had a brother who fly fished, helped her buy some better equipment for my birthday, and gave me a few pointers. Before long I had read every book and watched every video I could get my hands on, started tying, joined the Northern Lights Fly Tying club, and it just kept escalating. I think we need another catagory for this thread though, because I think it would be disrespectful to the makers of those fine books and videos to say I was self-taught, but it's not like I had a mentor, and I've never taken any courses.

Remember when they brought in unleaded gas? It was a little before my time, but didn't people say pretty much all the same things back then? At least as far as performance and maintenance goes.

I highly recommend the Nor-Vise. Maybe stretches your budget a bit, but about half the price of a Petitjean.

PM sent.

But don't worry, it's just a fad, right?

Anyone who thinks they're smarter than everyone else has already proven just how dumb they really are.

Did you raise that issue at the Fisheries Round Table this past weekend?

Set up trail cams. Worked for me.

Seems like a lot of people have a knee-jerk "enforcement will fix it" mentality. Ever heard of the "more cops make more criminals" arguement? It seems counter-intuitive, but it's true. Just trying to make y'all feel a little better because more enforcement just ain't ever gonna happen!

BTW, I'd say that those who choose to wear orange inspite of law and popular opinion are less suited to Ontario than those who are subject to the status quo and peer pressure.

Well then, let me tell you about the first time I hunted in Alberta. Having learned that I no longer needed to wear blaze orange, I happily bought a sheet of burlap and put on my combats, thinking I'd now be twice the hunter as before. And guess what? I got shot at. I yelled something profane, and got shot at again. Fortunately this guy wasn't a markman, and was smart enough to figure out that animals don't shoot back. This old-timer walks up to me, wearing a blaze toque, and says something like, "law or not, please wear orange." You really think getting yourself noticed because you're wearing orange increases your risks? Ridiculous. Sorry to bring up seatbelts again, but that makes as much sense as people who argue that if your car lands on its roof in water, your seatbelt will trap you and you'll drown.

PGK, I don't think the world is as cut and dry and you'd like. It's not like the guy in the Bentley story fired at a noise, he saw what he believed to be a deer, just like Bigtoad saw what he believed to be a moose. We can all make mistakes. I once saw a bison walking straight toward me on the road, and was convinced it was a man until I was less than 50 yards away. I don't know what to call these people you and others say are not hunters. They're carrying tags and weapons, they're in the field looking to bag an animal. Sounds like a hunter to me. Maybe you follow the Ten Commandments of Firearms Safety to the letter, but I think you're in the minority. I think it's a lot like the rules of the road; after a while everyone developes bad habits like rolling stops. Oh, and yeah, technically there's hunting going on almost all the time, but the critical differences are volume and demographic. Why do animals roam freely, even standing in the open posing for photos all year long, except during the fall season? Why do I hear gunshots every day I'm out in the fall, but almost never at any other time of year? Not only are there many times less hunters for the side seasons, but those tend to be the most dedicated, and responsible hunters.

My point was that there's all sorts of studies, with all sorts of results. It was mentioned that many studies showed no added safety from wearing blaze orange, I was just showing that there are other perspectives. Heck, there are studies that show cigarettes have no impact on your health! Forget stats and studies. It seems undeniable to me that fluorescent colours make you far more visible, therefore less likely to be accidentally shot. Camouflage is based on 5 principles: Shape, Shine, Shadow, Silhouette, and Movement. Even if you're wearing a ghillie suit, if you move while eyes are on you, the jig is up. As far as sihouette goes, there is such a thing as orange camo, so you get the best of both worlds; hi-vis and a broken outline.

Know what I find comical? People who think they're smarter than everyone else. But I see your point. My measley 23 years of hunting experience doesn't qualify me to have an opinion. Nor does my ability to do a little research. Why exactly do you prefer to wear camo, anyway? To hide from the animals? You know they're color blind, right? Or does it just make you feel cool to dress up like a commando?

My guess is the same thinking that led Alberta to fight tooth and nail against instituting seatbelt laws.

My mistake, blaze orange makes you 7 times safer.

I'm not writing a college thesis here. It's called google. Try it some time.

Pretty strong argument for resting a stretch longer than 15 minutes.

I also use floating patterns for when they're keyed on the surface, particularly in slow/slack water.

From the title of the topic, I was expecting to hear a funny story about a buck messing around with some hood mounted horns or antlers. Glad you're okay. You've probably heard this before, but it's best to not swerve. Just brake. Pretty tough to get in enough practice to overcome that instinct, though.

Check your facts. You're 3 times more likely to be shot if you're not wearing orange. Put another way, of all shootings, about 1 in 4 victims are hi-vis.

freestone, Judge not, my friend. First of all, there's more than enough true poachers around, so maybe we should be thankful whenever we encounter someone following the regs. Second, who know's how many times they get out in a year. Some families have one annual trip, and that's it. How many fish do you catch in a year? Let's assume you're one of the really good anglers who get's out all the time, and average 1000 fish/year. Most people reckon the mortality to be higher, but let's say 1% of your released fish die. So they kill 5 fish a year, and you kill 10. Does that change your perspective at all? I kinda doubt calling him poor in front of his family was helpful.

Wade out a bit, no more than 10 yards, then cast BIG streamers within a foot of the bank. Nothing's sure-fire, but this is usually your best bet at the bigger fish.

Wasn't that already on the list, as the third option?