lonefisher

pssst he'll never find us on the UK forum! I'm sure they'll add an alberta section if we ask nicely. JK how is the new (or not so new anymore) baby and stuff? Good to see you finally came around.

Edit ok shoulda read your post sorry edit on closer look it must be farther downstream then that..... any chance of a graph that shows from canmore area through?

Glen!!!!!!!! you gave away the magic rockfish fly! now people everywhere are gonna be catching rockfish..... look what you've done. Better sell me your whole inventory of chromies in order to protect this valuable resource. PS you catch that on the spey rod as well?

Yeah fenwick is a good tippet specially for the price and considering I buy mine at a gas station..... P line sounds cool I will have to look that stuff up as well. Due to the outrageous traffic and my little success I gave Fish tales a miss..... guess I shoulda headed there instead.....

I was taught to put sections together with guides 90 degrees offset push in and twist into place...... I find it works and I do a lot of roll and single spey typa casts. I have been told that this is a bad habit and bad for the rod but like anything you get conflicting views sometimes.... I do it and have never broken at a ferrel but I do tighten mine frequently

have always used umpqua or fenwick as its the only brands readily available to me..... But the other day I made a trip into the city for some materials for the UK fly swap and tried to find froghair..... 3 shops no froghair that sucked.... so I bought some rio 1x-6x flouro and some vanish flouro 6lb..... gotta say that vanish is something else..... looks thick but I have already noticed its effectiveness.....

Don, Thanks for that link. Think I will give their ceramic bobbins a go..... and one of their redwood handle whip finishers just because I am that vain LOL Pacreseltoro That could explain it as these were definately not high end ceramic bobbins.

I like the stainless ones only because all the ceramic bobbins I have ever bought have frayed and broken line extremely bad..... some to the point of not being able to get more then a couple wraps between breaks but I have only ever tried 3 and all the same supplier..... maybe I have been buying the wrong brand or something. Am I doing something wrong or do these ceramic bobbins need to be treated with something or something..... So far I hate em

sounds to me like your casting with loose ferrels.... and maybe over powering your casts. I always figured the ferrel would be a strong point in the rod except for when they are loose...... get a bit of jiggle room in there and it becomes a weak point. Its just a guess I would check your sections a bit more often make sure they are seated nice and tight and maybe ease up a bit while casting. What sorta stuff are you casting when you get the breaks and are you overlining at all? Which line?

Or better yet just bring me and I will land em for ya

I think most of the suggestions made so far are good and the rod stiffness may play a part but none the less this should not necisarily stop you from landing fish on that rod.... Also I will note a 1x leader 5 feet from the fat end should be damn close to 15lbs not 5lbs very weird break imho anyways maybe leave a yard of slack line below your rod hand (which is holding the line) so that when the fish is going nuts close to the boat you only have to loosen your grip to give him a bit more line....... i like to bring em on the reel the majority of the way and the last few feet by stripping line.... I find that bit of slack helps as it will slide out no problem if its needed where as if you have the fish on the reel the rod tip straight back while you are trying to land him and he gets his footing and gives a good pull on that shorta line at that angle it will snap..... another option is to use your drag while fighting the fish and once he gets close turn the drag right down as again this way if he gives hard pulls or shakes he will get some slack. Sooner or later as you slide him in he will not flop or turn and run ect and will end up in the net.... Best suggestion I can think of is use a slightly higher strength tippet or a longer handle net...... You could also just for the hell of it put your rod in a rod holder or get a buddy to hold it and test to see the difference in the amount of force it takes to turn your drag depending on the angle of the pull. ie. when the fish is running 50 feet out from the boat the angle formed with rod tip straight up is going to be much more obtuse then say when the fish is right at the side of the boat with the rod tip straight up. I think this angle affects the amount of force that will be required to turn your drag. And hence a drag that spins at 50 feet at a 90-110degree angle may not spin at 10 feet and a 15-30 degree angle.....adjust the reel at close distances to compensate for this change...... I hope that makes some kinda sense.

hmmm I was thinking more Pee Wee Herman

my predicited pros and cons for lakes pro- amazing roll casts while fishing from shore pro- lotsa backbone, lotsa height to keep pressure on. pro- turns over long leaders like a dream. pro- I am almost positive these long rods would be great for fishing deep chronie and such as the length will help the hookset pro- you know how the other guy in the boat hides in fear while you are casting... would not be a issue with the spey as just switch hands depending on which side of the boat you are on. pro- those big fish won't know what hit em! con- Not sure about the deer creek but my metolius 5/6 would be a little overpowered for anything under 12 inchs or so con- can't see it being anything but trouble in a floatube.... con- I think a few of the spey elite may kill for such a blasphemy con- I can't think of any more cons but I'm sure a few will pop up once I actually do a bit more lake spey casting. con- ya might catch a burbot

bout time JK The pics are awesome can't wait to see more. Going back for another season?

dont use it in super cold weather or drop it to much..... plastics a little brittle..... took me a month to break a reel seat tab off of mine. Good reel for the low price good drag just not bullet proof......

Great pics wes did you ever do a thread with your summer pics I was looking forward to them but never saw any..... maybe I should look for the thread?

Ohhh boy does that ever open up a couple pokes too rude for this forum LOL

Gloomis streamdance glx 10ft 6wt. Love it. Roll casts like no other rod I have casted......

shhhh don't tell em their just minnows I was trying to show off for the guys out at Elliots lake. Jeez

I will re echo those sentiment...... more money on reels = a shinier reel...... still if you want to spend money on a nice fancy reel.... go for it why not it won't hurt you and it may even come in handy on a few bodies of water in this province..... I guess some of the bullshead fish are reel screamers and I know some of the bow river bullets will take you for a ride. But like brent said you get a hot fish apply palm lightly on the spinning spool and bobs your uncle..... One of my favorite reels is my cheapest one it likely has a retail value of less then 10 bucks and screams like a banshee when a fish takes off on you..... but everyone within 500m knows you just hooked something. I would spend a smaller amount on the reel buy an xtra spool or 2. Or a couple of really decent lines..... The line is more likely to make a noticeable difference to you...... but the shiny reel will bring in all the chicks so..... its kinda a tradeoff

T.H Not sure if I will be able to accept much help as its not my farm and the owner may have a problem with a bunch of strangers..... Glens a friend of the family and might not get shot..... But if I need any help and its ok with the owner I will let you know.... Sorry it was a bad post as I hate to make posts about exclusive fishing spots..... That and the fish are evidently not all that huge in this pond and might be a let down with the long drive from Calgary..... pssst I will just give you glens address and his work/smoking schedule As for his security I know that cats a sucker for a ball of herring scented yarn

Man those were some beefy whitefish eh? Nice to see you hook up on the new rod!

Congrats on the first fish! Your gonna love this fly fishing thing. As for eating bow river fish check the regs as they are different on different stretches of the river. The bow around canmore (seebe to BNP) is C&R for the browns and limit 2 brookies..... however the chances of catching a brookie seems to be about 1 in a thousand and the chances of catching one big enough to eat are pretty much astonomical. The regs will change once again when you get inside the national park so you would need a parks license and a set of the park regs.

Glen we have a small stocked private pond thats gonna winterkill that needs mining..... more smokables if yer interested. Unfortunately last nights turkey kept me from fishing but evidently theres about a 150 of em. Unfortunately they are evidently well fed and tough to catch..... but no ones been fly fishing it so maybe we will fare better.

well I guess if no one wants to drop the arguement part this will just be another thread where you have to read through pages of BS penile augmentation to find the snippets of good info..... Shame as I feel I have a lot to learn about locating big fish on the lower bow..... which if I remember correctly was the original topic. I'm just a hack but heres a few more specific questions that I feel, if answered, could help me and potentially others catch more big fish on the lower bow.... especially when answered in regards to this particular part of the season What sort of features both shoreline, subsurface, and surface might be indicative of a good lie? My own answer though maybe incomplete would be for shorelines- cutbanks. Outcropings, curves and shoreline obstacles that create an amount of slack or slower current beside or below them. And a presonal favorite though maybe not for the lower bow- Logjams Subsurface- Fish size and bigger current breakers like boulders, logs, and other objects. Holding spots like troughs (sp?)and ledges, Surface- riffles- may be indicative of structure capable of shielding a trout, also often indicative of a food supply do to the fact that these riffles are usually a good sign of oxygenated water that bugs like to develop in. I could use help identifying the more productive areas in a large riffle section. Swells- may also be indicative of a large subsurface object.... might mean there is some slack water directly behind the object creating the swell..... these are often tough to fish in my opinion. I have to go to work but maybe somebody can answer these questions that might have some relevance in the current lower bow timeframe whats a good way/rig to fish emerging BWOs? The same question with october caddis? Do october caddis create a case, or are they free living on the lower bow, is there a specific size that they usually come in or do they vary a lot? What are some of the baitfish species most common on the lower bow and of most interest to the trout? Are some of them moving to spawn? Are some of them moving to find wintering water? I have a lot more but I am now late for work so I gotta run PS MTB your rundown of streamer fishing techniques was great thanks for that.