halcyonsancta

Good one

Never

Fishing from the eastern shore of Upper K Lake I have watched a 10" Bull Trout chasing a 16" Rainbow in about 2 feet of water. It went on for a long time, they would move out of sight into deeper water and then 15 minutes later they were back in the shallows again, this repeated 4 times in total. I could cast right to them but they took no notice. They turn on a dime in very small diameter circles. It was interesting to observe.

I am somewhat perplexed. At the risk of guffaws and hoots, I am compelled to ask: why the significant changes? What is the benefit please?

Having been born in BC before becoming an Albertan, and seeing the carnage that logging brought to the streams and rivers of BC and Vancouver Island in the 60s and 70s, I am dead set against any logging within 1,000 metres of any creek or tributary. Period. Total ban. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not a single tree touched within a 1 km line. There's plenty of forest elsewhere. Nobody should be permitted to cut timber near these fragile ecosystems. Any bridges spanning water for ingress/egress to cut timber must be monitored for conformity to standards of construction which with demonstrable zero impact. It's time to raise the bar instead of this deadly race to the bottom we're trapped in by self serving business interests. It's utterly perplexing how, as I near my 6th decade, these issues are still not effectively dealt with. As a species we are not learning from our past mistakes. This is not a good portent. An Alberta treasure, Andy Russell: What good is easy living and wealth for this generation if it robs those we sire and profess to love? Where does the responsibility lie for the fostering of a deep appreciation for other kinds of life? These are questions people must answer promptly, honestly and intelligently, for time is rapidly running out... ... there's a great deal to be done. Let's get at it.

To paraphrase Louis L'Amour, the great duster writer: A woman to wade the river with

I like to fish the Upper Bow and environs as it's close to home and the scenery is so nice. In the past 10 years, only two encounters with COs - both were quietly calm and professional. They are well trained and they perform a very important job on behalf of us all. One time I was watched by an onlooker while fishing who wandered along the bank and we fell into conversation, as you do. He was a CO from BC on vacation and camping nearby. My daughter was about 11 and fishing about 60 metres downstream beside my wife. She caught something, unhooked it and trotted all the way u[stream to me clutching a 35 cm Whitefish that was gasping by the time she got to me. She was proud and and wanted to show me the fish... we got it into the water quickly and it was fine, but I had a moment there when I was worried the fish might not make it! The gentleman CO just chuckled, and observed politely (and correctly) that Whitefish make up a large portion of the bio-mass in this part of the river and a dead one wouldn't be the end of the world. I asked him if since he was from BC how he knew there were lots of Whitefish in the Upper Bow? He was born and raised in the Valley... back home on his vacation. Another small world vignette... nice guy to boot.

A bit late to weigh in but I have G-Loomis Pro 4X. It's a 4 piece rod, with a modest Lamson reel and a lovely Rio Gold line that is smooth and slippery. The rod is reasonably fast and I love it.

I've worn progressives for years, they're required for my work license as a pilot. I can't wear polarised prescription sunglasses on the flight deck because polarisation interferes with the laminate windscreens and windows and alters some colour on the aircraft screens... so it's conventional grey or brown lenses for work. This makes it hard to fish, and polarised lenses are desirable when fishing as they really cut down on glare, so I eventually bought some huge over-glasses. I think they are named "Cocoons" (got 'em at Wholesale off Heritage). They are amber-yellow and fit right over my regular clear glasses. They look bloody awful, but they work very well.

Crumb... I have felts - for AB only and my travel boots are Simms with the studs. imho, the boot uppers and laces, the waders, staffs, belly boats, nets, gloves... all these materials could be potential transporters. It is also possible that birds have transported the parasite after eating infected fish. I do not mean to understate the problem - it's horrible. I guess a solution may be to sterilise each time one moves between bodies of water, even within a region. I reckon there's a potential market for a commercial sterilising solution, pre-mixed and sold in 4 litre jugs like windshield anti-freeze, at the local tackle shop and marina. I recall reading a recipe for the solution on-line someplace, but since I have different sets of stuff, I've not needed it due to long 4-6 month intervals between fishing stints. Let's hope we can get this fixed in the long term.

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. What a hoot!

How amazing your kin made it to such a great age! Old mooching gear and stuff from the coast still interests me. I have an old wooden Peetz reel, it was a "novelty" reel to use for rockfish. I believe they are still made in Victoria, mine is in need of only a small amount of tlc - it's still in amazing shape. I have two pristine Longstones (pre-anodized enamelled ones) and three badly worn ones which will be cannibalised to make a single good reel. I bought a few new spares to spruce it up a bit. JW Young Windex reels were amazing for Coho... they were bulletproof. The sound of the Longstone serenade when a salmon struck and ran... My folks had a modest 21 foot sports-fishing boat, named Fishtale. I was amused years later to learn of the shop in Calgary of the same name, though pluralized if memory serves. Well then, like a few fellow fisher-folk I am an Alberta transplant. Dad brought me as a wee lad to Banff in 1969 and I never got over it. The majesty of those mountains... Over the decades as we moved around Canada (based in AB with the Air Force for a tour) and overseas with work we always gravitated (wife and I then too our daughter) to the Bow Valley.

Excellent. Thanks for posting this. What a fine initiative. Kudos to you all! Gerry - great narration.

I am laughing... with you not at you. That must have been brutal. I wanted to test my spray. I used an old date-expired can, assessed the wind, and extended my arm and gave a 1 second blast downwind and downwards towards my driveway. I was immediately incapacitated, just from the fine mist of back spray. Eyes burning, coughing and choking. I seriously doubt the efficacy of this in a close encounter with a bear. I'd be toast. Reminds of the bear joke that ends with the punch line: "... and grizzly scat has little bells in it and smells like pepper spray..."

Those Dorado (Mahi Mahi) are beautiful game fish. The last segment of the clip where the fish leaps very high out of the water reminds me of one I caught that did a similar leap, though not quite as high. I was using a #2 bait, and a leader of 15 lb mono-filament. The line broke and I lost the fish. :$*%&: About 20 minutes later I caught another, and landed it. It was the same fish with my #2 in the side of its mouth. The Dorado are voracious feeders. Delicious to eat as well.