northfork

Snuffy, I was thinking this too but I didn't know how to put it into words. You did this much better than I could've. Agreed 100%. I told a fella a few weeks ago about a spot and he said "can i tell other people?" or something along those lines. I mean at least he asked but is nothing sacred anymore? No you can't tell people if you want it to stay good fishing and have it to yourself!

This place is pretty quiet around here typically in the winter months, but I have noticed less guys posting here myself included. Nothing to share. Reports are typically the same: Busy. Slow. Busy. Not as good as it used to be. Busy. Fisheries management sucks. Busy. Beating a dead horse after awhile....This site is much like the fishin. "Ain't what it used to be."

Hey MMAX, happy new year. I sent you a PM.

Had a friend who has had a dozen done by them, all well done, and via recommendation I've had a couple done by them and was reasonably satisfied, but I sent in a lot of photos of the fish. Fine line to walk on a c&r/replica mount to get as much empirical data (photos, measurements) as possible with the fish's welfare being priority. You can't expect perfect semblance on a replica mount. I've had a better experience and product working with a local taxidermist where I can give him all the details and fine-points on the mount, one-on-one. The fish forms are not that easy to alter, however. Something like a square tail on a cutthroat, advanced should have perhaps used a brookie form. I don't believe replica mounts will ever look as good (realistic) as skin mounts done by a good taxidermist skilled with an air brush, but those days are more or less gone of killing a fish to have it mounted. Much like big game and bird mounts, I'm very critical and selective of who does mine. It is one of those things that you get what you pay for, and unbelievably quick turnaround times normally mean unbelievably poor mounts. Just my 2 cents, perhaps talk to some local taxidermists on your next fish mount. I can point you in the right direction. Seems like advanced has grown too large, turning into high volume, too many taxidermists working on projects, and thus the quality is inconsistent. Not sure I will use them again either since you're not the first one I've heard this from lately. Sorry to hear you had a poor delivery. Unfortunately these things aren't really refundable beyond them altering the mount. Expressing your displeasure to them via email/letter/phone will help you feel better but won't yield any tangible results. Best you can do is warn others! So thank you for that.

Agreed - The flies are cheap for a reason. Hooks bend out, "whip finishes" come apart. You get what you pay for.

Agreed, good points. The trouble is everyone has the double standard these days. They don't want to share "their" rivers with others but they never consider giving up days themselves. You hit it on the head with a massive fisherman population in close proximity to the SW streams.

No brainer something should be implemented here, as a start in the SW part of the province. I don't think the AB government would ever mandate systems to fly-fishing-only though. More funds raised to be put directly back into the resource, but like everything else regulation changes, licensing changes, biologist work and efficacy studying only stands on top of having enforcement out there. Everything needs to start there. As for it benefitting guides, outfitters, etc. in Alberta. I am completely in disagreement there. Fishing guiding in Alberta is unregulated, unlicensed, anyone can do it. Why do I care about the benefits to someone who makes their living off a public resource without paying into it? I know I will take flak for this as there are many "guides" on here, some are great. Many are great advocates for the sport, who truly do care about the resource, but just as many care only about themselves and the money. But until we get on board with regulating guiding like hunting (it has it's problems in Alberta too), that argument is out the window. That's like letting a timber company harvest on a crown timber license without royalties, or letting a natural gas company drill and produce gas and condensate without royalties. And when guides from other provinces can, and often do, come to Alberta and guide clients without Alberta getting any money besides license fees (which are fairly cheap but considering the quality of fishing anymore is probably not bad) that's absolutely not okay in my books. At the end of the day this has to benefit the Alberta residents and taxpayers. I am tired of seeing the fishing and hunting opportunities dwindle and lack, due to poor management and high levels of usage and demand. It's all great for the economy but we need a total rework of the system in order to make it work, and let the resource start generating its own money and put it back in where it counts. Just my two cents.

Yup, and who knows how pure they are. If someone is real interested I'm sure you could grill one of the stocking biologists. I'm not sure where they got the original stock for Job, but I would bet that strain that's been there for how many decades is pretty intact.

Every strain of westslope's here are "tainted", minus the system redbeard alluded to. This now, too late as always, has led the Species At Risk team to sound the alarm. This is, what I'm told, a large priority of the native trout recovery program. The ram has both westslope and yellowstone strain cutts, neither pure. Have caught both and they are easily identifiable. Though not pure westslope, they are the stereotypical "cutty". Yellowstones almost look more like a pale/chrome brown trout with most all their spots on the back end.

Haven't done one in a dodge but I have in a Chev. Should go fairly smooth since you don't have to tear down half the truck to get at it. Best piece of advice I can give you is take lots of pictures as you disassemble so you can remember how to reassemble. If you went with redhead or similar you'll have good instructions. Keeping a pen and paper helps too in case you encounter things you want future tired, dirty, frustrated you to remember later. With Youtube videos it helps if you get stuck. Keep a pan underneath because it is messy. Take some time after the job go full lock on both sides a bunch of times, make sure you work all the air out of the system and check your PSF levels. Making sure there's no air in it will save you from an issue later. Hope this helps, it's not as bad as I'm making it sound. Couple cold ones and you can handle it.

https://www.albertaparks.ca/media/6496394/mckinnon-flats-road-upgrade-project_faqsopt.pdf This has been years in the making with geophysical assessments, environmental impact assessments, social impact assessments, etc. The short is, widen the road to create effectively two lanes, take the sharpness out of the switchback corners, reduce the grade, and create better drainages for water and runoff. I believe there will be some of the old road removed/recycled as well. There is a ton of fill to cut and move. Suspect the road will be gravelled a lot better to allow safer access in wet and soft conditions. As it is now with no gravel and a clay crown, takes one person going in there when it's super greasy, and, if they can even make it out, they rut the hell out of the road. This should be corrected with the new road. This link has a crude pre-eng drawing for the public https://www.rockyview.ca/Portals/0/Files/CountyServices/Roads/Updates/2020-McKinnon-Flats-Road-Upgrade-Map.pdf

Will keep an eye out.

As jayhad said, any reason other than weight? Maintenance wise and ops wise 4 strokes dominate. A 15hp 4stroke however won't be a throw in the back of the truck type of motor, it will be permanently seated on boat. Bass pro for sure can't be touched on Mercs. Riverside in St. Albert can't be touched on Yamahas. Both good motors, just some features on one/not the other. Keep an eye on kijiji if you are not in a rush, lots of guys will be selling in the fall. When you go look at them ask them to set it up for you to "test drive", either fill a garbage can with water and put the prop in it, or hook up one of those adapters that runs off the garden hose. Run it through the paces including forward and reverse, check everything. I got a hell of a deal on a barely used Merc a couple years ago in November off a guy in Calgary. Food for thought...

And it's not going to benefit anyone locally in terms of jobs saved/creation either. Feel bad for a lot of rural landowners, not sure why we have to keep paying....

To answer a question from above, yes, ram river coal is still in the works too. Not hearing much locally yet but have been told it's not killed. Haven't seen any activity since exploration drilling a few years ago, but perhaps maybe thats why they're going HAM logging the area first. We should not have any deviation or shortcuts for applications regardless of who is in power. But, this is Alberta after all, act first, get the dollars moving, and deal with consequences later.

I'll play devil's advocate here... Does the world not need steel? Does S. Alberta not need jobs? Mining industry is not like 1940 oil production with no regulation, it is very heavily regulated and environmental monitoirng done every single day. Is it good for the fishery? Probably not. There are how many open pit mines just across the divide from there, with what sorts of impacts on the fisheries and environment? People tend to only see the negatives.... Can't be NIMBYS..... There is one on the docket for this neck of the woods too. They had 3 rigs drilling for an entire winter, about 6-7 years ago, and, guess what? No mine.

Two reasons.... One, cows & fish likely got to them, and paid to relocate the fence to protect the bank from further erosion from cattle or, They set the fence back on an eroding bank so they don't have to replace it again in the next 20 years. Otherwise, if neither of these are the case, and as stated above not posted, I take that as a "you're good to walk outside my fence"

Couldn't agree with this more. It never hurts to ask and be respectful, I'm not on the side of screw the landowners I do what I want - just to clarify. I can count on one hand how many dicks I've had run-ins with, but you don't forget them. I kinda like jayhad's idea of posting locations, it would be funny as hell but sabotaging.

I agree with you about the hunting and road allowances, too. That's almost a whole other topic... And I agree 100% it makes brown trout fishing much more difficult when you have to walk through the creek, in a perfect world I agree we could all get along and hey you know what if you have to go through a guys pasture for 40 yards to preserve a run, it would be great, it's just hard to stay on the right side of legal. And absolutely the right evenings you can have a hell of a night in a couple hundred yards of water. It's the days where you have to cover a whole heap of water to pick up a few fish. I think there's some good debate here and that's what it's about.

Where did you read that none of us have permission to access creeks via private land? I know there is at least three of us in this thread that do.... And I do get your point - I have permission on a handful of places I access creeks to fish, and I hunt predominately private land myself too, but I guess we're all idiots.... Are you new to fly fishing? I think most of us on these brown trout creeks aren't fishing just a half mile stretch of creek, so why would you spend hours if not days trying to track down all owners and renters along a creek to ask permission to use public land? It is absolutely not inexcusable to not make a phone call or knock on a door.... For some places I fish it would take me all day to try and track owners and renters down to get "permission" to fish through their quarter sections. I love how you criminalize fly fisherman for "trespassing". We don't need to ask for permission to cross their property via the creek below the high water mark, plain and simple, it's not abusing a loophole whatsoever. 90% of the places most of us fish I think we could agree that there are never any issues with landowners. There are just exceptions that don't want anyone fishing, hunting, etc. Most weren't made that way and you're right is people legitimately trespassing or having a lack of courtesy that makes them how they are and ruins it for the rest of us, but there are still the crusty guys who've just always never wanted anyone out there. It is what it is. It has nothing to do with respect. High water mark is high water mark, with very very few exceptions PRIVATE LANDOWNERS DO NOT OWN THE CREEK/RIVER/STREAM: THE WATER, THE FISH, THE BOTTOM - THEY OWN NONE OF IT. The thread was started to get some information and learn how to deal with it. I will not be intimiated by bully ranchers. It's a mutual respect thing - I don't go on their property, they don't have an issue. If you catch me on your pasture above the high water mark without permission, sure, that's a different story, but not the one we're discussing. Don't assume we're all idiots and ignorant city folks because like you there's several of us have an agriculturual background...

Thank you Jay, this is how you do it.

Definitely sours the day but hold your ground and be polite. Many of these guys are the way they are because they've been successful with these agressive confrontations and not dealt with someone standing their ground. If you put your tail between your legs and walk away, they think they are right and then get more confidence for the next time. Monger pretty much hit it on the head for my rule of thumb, where the grass meets the mud. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and sacrifice a run by walking through it in order to stay legal. Just part of the game. There's lots of good ones too. As it was pointed out if it becomes an issue offer to call the RCMP for them. As for the fences across the creek, I walk through them. Shouldn't be there even if their quarter is on both sides of the creek.

Wow I drove by there the other day since a month or so ago, it's quite the camp now! Looks like a mini oilsands camp

Basically true. I think you're only loophole is an island on the river, there is some grazing lease land throughout the east but you still need permission from the leaseholder to camp.

Some brush clearing/logging and pipeline integrity digs. Good they're doing it.