trailhead

So is Chess a sport?

Well there is that old term for fishermen and hunters..... Sportsmen.

There is a method of cooking that results in a dish called "Blue Trout"

I usually don't fish for small trucks, though I have hooked a sailboat. And I don't even own any 7X tippet.

I am obviously a Muslim-Socialist, paid $150 for my latest 8' 6" two piece 5 wt, with reel and line. I believe my line speed, accuracy and hook setting are competent. Maybe I am missing the point, and probably on purpose.

It's pretty obvious that this is the first sign of the impending apocalypse. Next we get a rain of frogs, then the rivers turn to blood, and I forget what comes after that. Oh yeah I got it backwards, there's a swarm of grasshoppers and the fish in the river eat so many it turns to blood. Then in 2012 the world ends. So make sure to hit the Bow when the hoppers are out.

That sweet rod would do excellent on any lake stocked with "put & take" pan sized trout.

I am hoping to get a day out with sunshine, friends, and a decent number of fish of a variety of sizes. I also would like to fish some new waters. Maybe do a bit more lake fishing. I especially would like to have a real summer, one that isn't cold, windy and rainy.

A buddy of mine was fishing in the winter a couple of years ago and the ice shelf he was standing on broke loose. The water was only a foot deep or so, but the piece flipped back and pinned him against the ice still attached to the shore. He managed to extricate himself and ended up with a bruise and a slightly sprained ankle. Needless to say he doesn't fish in the winter anymore.

Four in a row. I think we should have the Stanley Cup parade down 9th Ave.

I have a real issue with a lack or wilderness responsibility. Why do people feel the need to dump their fast food leftovers on the ground? I see it all over the place, in small towns, big cities and what really burned me; in the National Parks. Is the world your garbage can? If it is then you are a pig, and live in filth.

A bit of a subpar year for me. Didn't get out as much as I wanted, and when I had the time the rivers ended up high and cold. 44 F on the Castle in August. Had a good morning on the Bow in May with a nice March Brown hatch, a decent morning where I managed a few big browns on stones, and a good day on the Crow with some friends and tons of little fish. Just nothing stellar that really stands out.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, have a Crazy Kwanza, a terrific Tet and an awesome Ashura. Seriously I hope you all have a wonderful festive season and that 2011 will bring us all good health, happiness, prosperity and fishing adventures to remember for a long time.

I went out with a buddy to fish the Liv years ago and packed up all the gear, had the vest, waders, boots, flies, license, bear spray, hat, glasses, net, reels and rods. I always take two along because truck doors and rods don't get along very well. Anyway my rods are in a rack in the basement in the evening I put them in the rod tubes and in the morning I grabbed the tubes picked my buddy and drove down to the river. When I got there I pulled the tip of my 4 wt out and the butt end of my 6 wt, and I had the tip of a 8 wt and the butt of a 3 wt. Don`t ask how that happened, but luckily I had the Red Green fishermens friend in the toolbox. Fit the 4wt into the 6wt, a bit loose, but the duct tape held it in place and I did very well that day as I recall.

email address is info@bowriver.org

The link headscan posted worked for me, took me to the chapters page and there's a drop down menu at the top that takes you to contacts or whereever else you want to go.

I think it is water body specific. In some cases they have bouys or signs marking the division ie on the east end of Slave Lake, and in some cases it is a certain distance, kind of like where the Highwood flows into the Bow and the Bow regs are in effect for a certain distance upstream on the Highwood from the mouth.

I will jump in with my tale. I was about 12 or so and our family used to go to Rock Lake on the NW border of Jasper Nat'l Park. The lake is the headwaters of the Wildhay River. My dad wasn't much of a fisherman, but one of our neighbors was older British gentleman and he used to give me tips and also flies. I only had a spinning rod but he taught me the bubble and fly trick which nver worked for me, I thought a real flyrod would solve that problem. So I saved up my paper money and bought a Shakespeare rod and reel setup that came with a woven line. I practised casting in the field by our house using books from the library and on the July long weekend we went out. The weather was terrible, cold wet and windy. Myself and my best friend were game though and we tried to catch fish, my friends dad caught a whitefish, but that was it. On the last day my friend and his family left early, they had enough of the rain. My dad said we were going to leave soon too. So I grabbed the rod and my brother and I went down to our cartopper to take it around to the boat launch. I tried casts from the boat and trolled back to the launch, all to no avail. My brother took off to tell our dad the boat was ready to load, I had to keep casting. When my dad drove up in the car he told me to stop fishing and help load the motor, life vests and oars. So I left my rod for last, leaning over the edge of the boat. When we came back to the boat I flipped the fly forward, and a little Athabasca Rainbow grabbed the Royal Coachman. Not very glamorous was it.

I got them all right

I will post my five favorites in no particular order; Red Coyote Parachute Adams EHC Lime Trude Dark Stimulator These just don't work on the cutty streams, I have caught some dandy browns, bows and brookies on these. I'm not bragging, just saying.

Shack Nasty Buster or Bustin da Shak Nastees

I have encountered jerks on the river repeatedly, and not just in the last 5 years. Had one guy come up to me on a very popular stretch in the city, and accuse me of stealing his spot. I'd been there for an hour at least. This was in July of 1993, he promptly stepped in 20 yards upstream and started fishing. I vividly recall this because I was shocked and something like that had never happened to me before, I'm a pretty easy going guy so I left. This board didn't change or cause anything. Some folks blame Barry White for taking famous American sports writers on floats in the 80's, some folks blame Jim McLennan for doing the same thing, some folks blame Barry Mitchell and the Alberta Fishing Guide, some folks trace it back to Dave Jensen and the old Flyfishing Alberta forum. It's just that there are way more people on the river now, including yourself, and you unfortunately will run into the inevitable jerks that seem to be just about everywhere. So if you are going to let them ruin your day that is your choice. I choose to take it in stride because I'm out to enjoy myself, have a bit of adventure and if things work the way I hope, I'll catch fish. I refuse to let anyone ruin my time on a beautiful river doing something I love.

So I'm riding the bike home at the end of the day, and as I ride by the Pumphouse Theatre area I hear voices down along the river. Being the curious individual I am I peek over the chain link fence that has been erected to keep people off the crumbling concrete abutement. There I see three guys sitting on lawn chairs, rods propped up with their bait rigs in the river. I will sometimes give fishermen the benefit of the doubt and provide a heads up that the river is closed. And I have found that flyfishers and spin fishers will respond in a positive manner and leave. Some have even asked where the river is open, and I have given them the proper information. But in all the instances where I have run into bait chuckers they have been beligerent and/or threatening, so nowadays I just call RAP. About two hours later I got the return call from Ranger Bob that he got down there and issued "tickets".

If you saw that fish upstream of the Irrigation weir, it's already closed. Though it reopens on the first of Dec. I have seen more that a few people fishing in the downtown part, and in every case but one they immediately stopped when I mentioned it was closed. The one guy told me to mind my #*+@ing business, so I did and phoned RAP. They busted him. It is a good thing and I think allows those big spawners some peace to do their thing.

So I'm going to wade in here again and say thanks to everyone who voted. Largest voter turnout since the Klein 80's, and from what I saw at the polling station a lot of the voters weren't even born at that time, I overheard one young lady say "this is like a party". I believe that Nenshi will be a very good fresh new perspective at city hall, much as Klein in his day. I also think that the turnout overwhelmed the election officials, and like the snowstorms last winter, this was the "one in a 100 year" election. I say this because I worked at a polling station, and though we didn't run out of ballots our Prime Deputy Returning Officer was totally over her head. She told me she had never seen anything like this election in the 15 years she has been involved. Electing Nenshi has put the global spotlight on our city, resulting in a Peter Mansbridge interview and one on the CBC Francais. If you didn't vote for Nenshi and you don't like what he has done complain all you want, and come next election kick him out. Druh and Brian made it through, but unless they win support by acting in the voters interests, this is merely a reprieve. All and all a great example of the democratic process, congratulations to all of us.