Enigma

I prefer the "neutral" term "angler." I'm pretty impressed that someone took the time to figure out what "Iasgair" (which I can not pronounce) means I wear many hats, and half of them are Gaelic and virtually unpronounceable by English speakers. Sun has taken me fishing, and he knows me from another forum, as well. I agree with everything you've said there, and that is what I was attempting to convey. It is hard to qualify what constitutes "experienced" however. And, the context it was used in by the gentleman who caught the trout can't be determined by what has been posted. It could be that he's spent a couple years on stocked ponds, in which case he could say he was "experienced." He could have hunted a number of species of fish in a wide variety of settings, which would also constitute "experienced." Experience says nothing about skill level: especially if one has been doing it "wrong" for years. In addition to that (with regards to your previous response to me) I don't think "guilt" has much to do with fishing "experience" or "smarts." I would say that guilt is a complex emotional reaction brought on by doing something that is contrary to one's personal ethics or morality. One's personal ethics and morality are developed and governed by a number of things: many of which I believe are more cultural than anything else. I was raised to eat what I kill. I was faced with a situation this last winter that left me feeling very guilty and conflicted. I gut hooked a pike under legal size, and ripped out an important chunk of its insides when I removed the hook. I did what was legal (and "smart"). I put it back in the water to die, but I felt guilty about it. If I'd taken it home to eat it I wouldn't have felt guilty, but I would have been guilty of poaching. Emotions (especially "guilt" and "shame") are far too dangerous to rely on for guidance. Maybe you could make a fish handling workshop available to the Sundance residents? Some literature that could be handed out at the gate might be a good idea too. While there would certainly be some people who felt they didn't need it, hopefully enough people would implement the techniques that the culture would slowly change.

Good grief you confuse me sometimes! We are not understanding each other here (FYI: I'm DarkAisling).

I loathe that smell. I have never purchased Howard's Hackle before, but I have had problems with fur and feathers from other suppliers. In those cases the skin of the beasts hadn't been properly cured, and it had started to go rancid. In one case, with an expensive hackle, I removed all of the hackle from the skin and tossed the skin. I put the feathers in a cheap ziplock container, punched a bunch of holes in the lid, and put them outside to air out (in a place protected from the elements). The smell did leave the hackle after a week, or so. In the second case, with a cheap piece of deer hair, I tossed it in the garbage.

From my perspective, an experienced angler is a smart angler when s/he realizes that there are almost always improved ways to do things and new skills to learn.

I was just told that Police is still mostly frozen. Is that the case?

Chain Lakes might have a playground. I can't really remember. It has some sites with hookups. The fishing certainly isn't spectacular (stocked with Bows), but you could wet your line. It is easy fishing on the southeast side of the lake from shore. There is a nice grassy area with picnic tables right along the shore where your little one could play while you and mom take turns fishing. It can get insanely windy out there though, and that is the only concern I would have.

They would do that? Wow. That's very cool I had no idea. Hmm. I've got a 9/10 spey. Perhaps I should limit the use of my bunny flies to that and forget trying to use them on my 6wt? Admittedly, most of my bunny flies wind up something akin to wet socks after their first drowning.

Thanks for all of the info, guys I'll be spey casting almost exclusively with this rod, as I do have both single handed 5wt (8.5') and 6wt (9') rods. I'm still trying to nail down the precise grain window of my 6wt switch. It is approximately 250-500. I do really like the thought of being able to try out the different grains using the Airflo Compact Scandi kit, especially since I deal with a joint injury that might be aggravated by a heavier shooting head (and my developing spey casting skills). It would be nice to be able to switch to a lighter head if my elbow started to hurt. At the same time, I can certainly appreciate that the loop-to-loop connection could complicate things when nymphing (which I'll do a little of), and I would like to keep things as uncomplicated as possible for the time being . . . and there are significant cost savings to be had if I can nail down a 40+ line that will cover most of the bases for me. I think I'll put the Airflo kit on my "Mother's Day Wish List," and have a look at 40+ Extreme Distance in 7wt and 8wt when I get down to Fish Tales

I've presently got my reel spooled up with Sage Performance Indicator Tape Fly Line (I think it is 260gr). I'm not excited about it. I can't really feel the rod load, and as I'm as green as they come it would really be helpful to be able to feel the rod load. On Sunday (at the Spey Clinic), three of the gentlemen there recommended Airflo 40+ for my rod (an 11.5' 6wt). To get the same recommendation, three times, from three different people makes me think that this is a very good idea. A quick look on Ebay shows me that there are many different kinds of this 40+ line: Extreme Distance, Cold Salt, Fly Fishing, Trout . . . and then there is sinking and floating on top of all of that! I'll be fishing the Bow for trout, in addition to some of the big reservoirs for pike. I'll be tossing some pretty big streamers which will get pretty heavy when they get wet (double bunnies, deceivers, etc.). I don't really want to have to change anything other than my leader when fishing for one or the other. I'd like to have a good idea what exactly I'm looking for before I head down to one of the local shops (can I say names on here?) . . . any advice would be most welcome

Thanks, Colin I'm not sure if we'll be there on Saturday or not yet . . . but I think it is unlikely as our weekend had already been planned (Satuday with his dad, and Sunday taking another class).

I just wanted to issue a quick "Thanks" to those of you who came out on Sunday to help us aspiring spey casters out . . . and an extra special thanks to whoever it was (if he is even on this board) who spent so much time working with my son (the tall, "robust," fair haired kid in the green neoprene waders). My son appears to have been bitten quite badly by the spey bug . . . which suits me just fine