MattyTaylor

Bought a Pro 4X a few months ago. Really enjoying it and a huge step up from my previous rig. Definitely go cast several in your price range and see what you like. I brought my lined reel and also played around with 5/6 wt lines on the rods.

Flyfishing has a lot of exceptions to the rules and hey, if you're catching fish whatever you're doing "works". If you're wanting to improve your dead drift nymphing some things that helped me were to keep the rod tip high and reduce the amount of line on the water, play with weight and depths (split shot and indicator position) and mend a heck of a lot. For me, because you don't have the immediate feedback of a dry fly, sometimes your "dead" drift isn't that dead and you might have movement you don't necessarily want. Like many, dries are my favorite but I'll often get nymphing if I'm not seeing rises or grinding to avoid a skunking. Good luck!

Hi all, the discontinuation of the Stewardship License program got me thinking about this and apologies if its a dumb question but are Brookies ever found in the Bow? If so, what stops them from increasing their numbers? Do the big fish annihilate them if/when they make it down? Im definitely not an expert on the watershed but between tributaries, and tributaries of tributaries of the Bow, it seems to me like they could make it in relatively easily. Is it a size of water type issue where the larger streams and rivers are less habitable (perhaps distances to hospitable spawning conditions)? Not sure I buy that given some of the eastern rivers but hey not really sure. Any thoughts and insight would be much appreciated!

That's fair, I guess at least to me anecdotally they shouldn't make them harder to obtain, just the opposite. I'm an old school paper over tech guy though.

Was at a local shop this week and they didn't have them - and it was relayed to me in a way like they won't be getting any (not like they had just run out). Kind of surprised me, definitely think it's something any retail outlet that sells anything fishing related should have. We need as much awareness out there as possible.

Looks awesome! Thanks for posting Rick. The salt is so addicting!

Kudos on the click-bait title haha. Had to see what this was all about. Don't tie though... so apologies for being no help whatsoever.

Gotcha, thanks for the info, I'll play around with shortening things and work on the feel side of things.

I'm going to rig up a setup like you described BigFoamy... you've piqued my curiosity. A couple questions if you'll oblige: Do you still position your largest/heaviest fly at the top? Do you tie your own leaders? Typically what do you have going into your top fly - 2X range? Or do you just hack a leader back and tie on a foot or two of the required tippet? Then what, 8ish inches between the next two flies assuming they're small nymphs? Trying to figure out the safe way to economize on the trailing nymphs. Appreciate it, very interested. I'm growing tired of chucking 10+ feet of knot potential.

Come on... that poor fish probably already had body image issues and now it's all viral on the interwebs:) What a thunderchunk... that's awesome!

Good read! I always find it interesting how much love the BVK 8 gets where the 5 WT is apparently just too stiff for its class. As someone who doesn't cast a ton of different rods, that was my first realization that different WTs of the same rod can vary dramatically against its competitors.

Thanks for the responses guys. Crowsnest - that was literally the most informed and thought out comments section I've ever read. Usually it just descends into madness. Pretty interesting situation, and something I knew little about before. Thanks for the advice Smitty, I'll go cast a couple and see where I land.

Interesting read, thanks Don. Where the author states that several rod companies are making forays into this, would that be a reference to glass? Just curious if any new rods come to mind that have those characteristics, I'd certainly be interested to try one out.

Hi all, looking at purchasing my first nice fly rod (thinking $500-$700 range). I was wondering if, generally, there's any room for negotiating when purchasing a rod. I'll be going through one of the local shops and was looking for a little intel on this prior to doing so. I don't want to be "that guy" but every dollar helps, especially these days (though it's obviously the same for the shops too and I really love a couple of our shops - jut wanted to know if this is part of the process). The reason I ask and what got me thinking is that I also play guitar and when I bought my first guitar (and subsequent guitars) I was surprised to learn this is something you can definitely negotiate. I've always found it random and weird that buying a mattress fits this bill too. I searched the forum but couldn't find anything related. Thanks in advance.

That would be a sweet business card to get ahold of. I'd check with the Worldwide Shepherd Association too, are you a shepherd if you're not tending to sheep? Maybe a goatherd?

But park outside of any park gates. Unless you want a really long night fishing/car camping trip... gates close at 8 pm until May 1 I believe.

Really appreciate the advice and input gents. I'll get researching these recommendations!

Hey all, I'm helping plan a buddy's stag and camping is being thrown around as an option. Good group of guys but I'm sure things will inevitably get loud and late and don't want to be those idiots wrecking things for all the nearby families. Anyone have any experience with group camps in the area - say 2 hours radius from Calgary? Fishing, mountain biking and golf would be the likely things on the docket for the weekend. Thanks in advance.

Dibs a spot on the party barge. Dibs not undoing all the ensuing knots caused by a dozen forum members casting over each other. It should probably have a "streamers only" rule to really make it a party.

Sorry to hear Rick, definitely a nice silver lining though. You can now get out when the rivers are empty and hit the links when us weekend warriors take to the rivers. It seems like these layoffs have moved from the broad "know a buddy of a buddy who got laid off" to impacting virtually every family/close friend circle. My wife was one of the many too and looking for silver linings has helped for us a lot. All the best.

I've seen some great shows at the Nanton Auditorium. They've pulled some pretty sweet acts in their day. Can't speak about the town itself but seems like a quaint place with some neat shops from strictly a fly-by point of view. You could always go the acreage route on the outskirts of a town. Get the amenities of a larger population base but the solitude to quickly return to. Some nice places between Okotoks and Black Diamond/Turner Valley with some great streams really close.

Awesome, thanks Brodie, really appreciate the intel. I'll definitely reach out when we decide to go... might have to wait this economy out for a while but we'll get there. Matt

Amazing pics Buck - thanks for sharing! How was the fishing in Iceland? A trip there is at the top of the list for my wife and I. I think could negotiate a some fishing gear accompaniment if my case is built appropriately.

Thoughts on IF4 2016? I attended the 7:15 showing last night. It was a great way to scratch that fishing itch and interesting to see the different fish/geographies/narratives. Also really cool to see so many passionate anglers in once place (and a lot better than seeing that many anglers in your favorite spot on the Bow!). Arctic Unicorns was pretty cool just to get to see the beauty of the char and especially for me the Arctic Char. Those colours were amazing. The "rafting" video was pretty crazy too, and a good illustration of what folks will do to get some solitude and nice fish. Overall, I really enjoyed all the films although that's probably not hard given my love for fishing. Wish we could have one of those every month! What did everyone think?

Even if trout tasted like prime rib I'd still hold off from harvesting fish from the Bow after seeing some of the storm sewers downtown and the things I've found in the river. I often marvel at the resilience of the fish when I consider what's sent their way.