ironfly

http://www.stripersurf.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15888 http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/sho...ad.php?t=490085 http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/wading.htm http://www.mombu.com/fishing/fishing/t-wad...16115-last.html But I digress. Yes, when I say "tubing", I mean with an inner tube. No, we weren't fishing, but it puts you in the same situation as if you were in a float tube. Short legs? Depends on your point of reference. My inseam is 32". My point was that after about 1000 floats ( average of 10 people, repeated 100 times over the years), not one person required so much as a band-aid, let alone a rescue. Not to mention all the other groups we met and talked to. Yeah, the odd person snagged their foot on something and got flipped, but that isn't going to trap you. The real danger is getting pinned by water pressure against an obstruction, and that can happen in any type of watercraft if you don't know how to steer, or you're not staying heads-up.

Me and every friend of mine has gone tubing down the Pembina many, many times. Different river, but similar enough for the purposes of this conversation. To the best of my knowledge, none of us were drunk. Worst accident that ever occurred was my broken toe. I think the perception of danger is a little inflated. Even in a pontoon boat, most people put their feet in the water once in a while. After all, if you're hooked into a fish you still need to avoid obstacles, right? Are these the same guys that claim that you'll drown without a wading belt?

Thanks, dryfly.

That's always seemed contradictory to me. What happens to your rod when a fish jumps? Boing, it snaps back, because there's now almost no tension, just the opposite of what you'd expect from Lefty's logic that things weigh more in the air. It seems like a lot of people want it both ways. They say they lose more fish with barbless hooks, because the slightest amount of slack allows the fish enough play to throw the hook, unless the fish jumps, in which case slack is the only way to not lose the fish. Am I the only one this makes no sense to? Obviously enough people have unwaivering faith in bowing to the fish, or tipping the rod, that there must be something to it. From what I've seen, 9 times out of 10, by the time the angler reacts, the fish is already landing back in the water, so maybe the introduction of slack prevents the sudden increase in tension as the fish re-enters the water, and that's actually what makes the difference. All I know for sure is that over the course of a few years I got pretty good at bowing to fish, but found it made no difference in how many fish get the long-distance release. I no longer bother bowing or tipping, but have gotten a little more serious about setting the hook, and have found that's made a big difference.

Really? Probably the best advocate the fly fishing world has ever had, but you guys can't resist making derogatory comments? You know more people listen to her than the Queen of England, right?

Superfly has a product called "Spey Popsicle Marabou" which is specifically selected for palmering.

I couldn't disagree more about the purebred vs. mutt arguement. You couldn't pay me to take a purebred, under any circumstances. And I know half-a-dozen champion dog mushers who'd tell you the same. Also, a couple guys who work with search & rescue dogs, not to mention the lady I know who trains seeing-eye dogs.

Last year at the Fisheries Round Table I saw a pie-chart which illustrated where your fishing license money goes. The general revenue thing is a myth. All the goverrnment gets is a tiny admin fee and the GST. The vast majority of your $$ goes directly into the resource.

I also have a hard time understanding how a hatchery fish is so genetically inferior to a wild fish. Hatchery fish originally come from wild stocks. It's not like we made them out of Play-doh. How can ten or twenty generations in a hatchery have much influence on millions of years of evolution? If this is true, and they are inferior, it stands to reason that very few escapees would actually survive to spawn. Yet rainbows have somehow managed to establish stable breeding populations all over the world. So either they can't survive and are no threat, or they're very adaptable and successful, and not a threat. As some have said, our wild fish have much bigger threats than this. I haven't heard much talk about Snakeheads, but they're being sold alive in BC.

cgyguy, can you provide a link to that study from Purdue? Or maybe some other information that explains why triploid minnows are less likely to survive, and why hybridization results in population collapse. I'm very curious, and a little skeptical. After all, mutts are usually stronger than either parent, right? I'm not saying I support stocking triploids, just that I need to be armed with information if I'm going to fight for something.

Up until now, I've been a big fan of MEC. That may have to change. Which anti-hunting groups do they support?

All those who say it's a fad, how long have you been tracking this? The story I heard was Tom Whiting was told 2 years ago to get ready, and his response was ,"It's just a fad." Seems to me it's just getting going.

I have 2 CPX's, a 7wt and a 9wt. Love 'em! I'm casting bigger streamers, farther and more accurately, than ever before.

More than once I've seen Brian Chan on an episode of Sport Fishing On The Fly, using a throat pump. When he arrives at the lake he mentions that they're on Chironomids, but decides to start with his favorite leech. He hooks a decent fish, pumps it, and shows the camera all the little bugs. He talks about how the ones that are still moving indicate the active feeding, blah, blah, blah, and chucks his leech back in the water. Catches another fish, pumps it, "Oooo, they switched to green chronies!", and soaks the ol' Ruby-Eyed Leech some more. All day like that. He never did change flies. As far as Phil Rowley goes, I've taken courses from him. Sure he advocates throat pumps, but he also teaches the acromym DRP- Depth, Retrieve, Pattern. Basically he feels that the fly is the least important part of the equation. Those episodes of SFOTF with Brian seem to back that up. I have no particular conservation concerns with throat pumps; the fish have WAY bigger problems than that. After taking Phil's course I got one, and actually found it hurt my catch rate, I think because it mislead me into ignoring more important aspects of presentation. I would argue that the majority of the increased catch rates that most people have enjoyed is due to the extra confidence they gained.

Best warranty in the business, as far as I'm concerned.

When I first got into flyfishing and flytying, money was real tight. My wife was a bit concerned about the expense, so I saved every receipt. I never showed them to her, obviously, but I did get a lot of comfort from them. I lose/give away over a hundred flies per year, maybe even 2 hundred. In my first four years of tying flies I spent about $200. So that's about a 75%-90% saving. Then it became a hobby of it's own, and my finances improved. I stopped keeping receipts, and now estimate my materials alone to cost $4000 to replace. The problem as I see it; if you enjoy tying flies it will become expensive sooner or later, and if you don't enjoy it, you'll stop. So realistically, you'll only save money short term. All in, it's still a small fraction of the cost of golf or skiing.

I was having trouble with mine, and a buddy told me that the Apple store gave him a replacement for $80. I figured out how to fix the trouble myself, so I can't confirm his claim.

As I recall from a conservation meeting I was at a while back, there are no pure strain native cutthroat in Alberta. Westslope Cutthroat are so named because they are native to drainages West of the Continental Divide.The biologists were doing a genetic study so that the Alberta subspecies (Eastslope Cutthroat) could get official listing, but they discovered that they all contained Westslope and Yellowstone DNA. I love Brookies, but what do I know? I like Goldeye too.

Paul Whillock for his realistics. Dave Whitlock for his deer-hair work. Will Bush for his Spey flies; did anyone see his work at the Trout Waters booth at the WCFFE?

And I'm glad MEC put some support behind that cause. Alberta CONSERVATION Association my hairy derriere! I can't speak to MEC's official policy, but I applied for a job there not too long ago and asked several staff members and the manager about their feelings on fishing; none were opposed, some were fishers themselves, and one asked me to teach her to cast.

Love that caddis, JayVee, but I think I'll find another way to weight it. I usually don't care much about those sorts of things, but that's a really nice imitative fly, which to my eye is ruined by that big blob of gold.

Flytyer, it sounds to me like you got the "complete" Tubeology kit, and you're right, that one's meant to be a crossover between fly and gear fishing. That kit is currently unavailable in North America, so you're pretty lucky that way. As far as the cost goes, let's walk through the math; that kit would probably retail for about $200, and allows you over 72,000 fly variations. Materials notwithstanding, that's almost 4 flies per penny. The Nano kit, which is available right now through several local retailers, doesn't have any of those "gimmicks", costs about $100, and provides 2127 fly variations, which works out to less than 5 pennies per fly. Also, the components are available through the Fishin' Hole and Wholesale Sports right now, so for an investment of about $20 a guy/gal could pick up a pack of tubes and cones, substitute a sewing needle for a mandrel, and give Tubeology a try.

The AFGA puts in a little trout pond at the Edmonton Boat and Sportsman Show. Last year they had a blue trout in with the regular rainbows. Beautiful fish, lousy camouflage.

In no particular order- 1. People that drive in the city with their brights on. 2. People that speed up when you pull out to pass. 3. People that drop their speed below yours after passing.

Have you tried it using Stillwater Solutions Sparkle Blend? Dubs way easier, and Brian Chan put a lot of work developing that dubbing blend specifically for that fly.