trailhead

Pretty all round good game, if nothing else Sutter is a survivor. Picks up a bunch of unstars for a prima donna and a dud, the unstars are looking good so far. Penalties were pretty even and I gotta say that Backlund should stick, he has that young gun mentality a forward version of Giordano, just brings it every shift. Oh and the Leafs lost and Kovalchuk did squat. Prima donnas are stars in their own eyes, Dion who?

Have a good one and remember, you're still not as old as me.

Yes he had some type of lymphoma.

I'm always a bit leery of stats saying that the average C&R angler kills X amount of fish. I think there is more to it than straight numbers. Factors like how long do you play the fish, water temperature, angling pressure and of course handling techniques. Don may have exemplary handling techniques and his true mortality numbers would then be much below the accepted levels. I think that as a group the people on this board are generally conscientiuous enough that we do our utmost to limit the mortality numbers. It is the unenlightened majority that probably only fishes a few times a year but keeps everything they catch or culls fish that is the real problem.

Here you go.

I thought I'd write a little tribute to Paul Quarrington, one of my favorite Canadian fishing authors. He passed away last Thursday at 56. If you get a chance to read his books I'm sure you will enjoy it, he covered topics such as hockey, travel, rock n roll and fishing. Some good reads are; Fishing With My Old Guy, From The Farside of the River, Fishing for Brookies, Browns and Bows, Galveston and King Leary to name a but a few. I saw him perform years ago with Joe Hall and the Continental Drift and he could rock it out. He also lived in Calgary and Edmonton for a while and fished the waters here. As they say "only the good die young."

I have to go with the Colts, Manning only got better as the game went on. He relishes playing under pressure, gets that look in his eye and it's real hard to stop him. Brees on the other hand wilts under pressure, a few good hits and he disappears. It's great that the Saints are in the Super Bowl, but unless something real unexpected happens all they will get to do is play in the game.

Good job, nice double header.

Harry your heart is in the right place, thanks for doing this. I'll see you at the show.

And Global Warming is to blame, same for H1N1, SARS, Mad Cow and all the volcanoes erupting. It's prophesized by Nostradamus, the Mayans, Revelations and the Book of the Dead.

Yeah well what about the earthquake in Haiti?

I keep my drag set for the weight of the tippet, I'm like Maxwell if the fish is going to run then it has to work hard. That's why i rarely get into the backing on the reel. So if I have a fish that hits and then runs I know it's big. When I started flyfishing decades ago I was told that the rod is what fights the fish, not the reel.

Another nice vid, and that bear shot at the end is pretty sweet. Thanks again

Yes kind of like the world in general.

Thanks for the late Christmas present, and have a great 2010.

Kind of quiet here these days. Must be the holidays.

Happy Christmas, Merry New Year, Joyful Hanukah, and Peace on the Solstice.

I don't remember a lot of them, my first one was a Shakespeare, then I had a yellow one, then a Berkeley three piece. Then a black one. Then I got a Daiwa 8 wt, which I still have. Temple fork 6 wt, Redington 4 wt (my favorite rod), Redington Wayfarer 5 wt, Sage 5 wt (which is a the bottom of the Bow River now) Redington 5 wt, Lefty Kreh 2 wt, and a Wright & McGill 10 wt. I know I missing some too.

Nice vid, part of it was shot at where my avatar is located, if I'm not mistaken. Thanks for the warm greetings.

what kind of fish is that? Congratulations it is an impressive specimen. By the way what general area is that?

I like Fish and Tell and Go to Hell. It's a nice collection of fact, fishing tales and fiction, so funny parts too. Plus it is local.

I'm with Lynn on this one, support a charity that actually helps who it claims to help. I also don't believe in the alarmist global warmong theories, but I do believe in minimizing my own global footprint. My family composts, recycles, uses mass transit, walks or bikes whenever possible, and we live a very modest lifestyle. If some of what is proposed at Copenhagen comes to pass, there will be a shift of wealth, but I unfortunately don't believe that it will benefit the under developed countries. I get the feeling that a new "business model" will evolve and that will ultimately benefit those with the power to implement it. A banana republic type of scenario with a pseudo-enviromentalist twist. I can see it now........Gore Environmental Inc. or The Suzuki Foundation Ltd. what a minute.

Well the production time on lots of those shows is pretty long, from the time it is written to the time it hits the air. Maybe he was still with the Rangers when they put that show together. My nephew is in the business and he has told me it can take up to 5 years.

Mining was not an acceptable activity after the creation of the Parks..and was always to be phased out however wouldn't be surprised if someday..100 years or more from now it occurs again..nothing should surprise us..who knows what is in some those rocks. The mines in Banff were in place before the area that encompassed them became a park. There is a mineable lead-zinc-silver deposit in Waterton, but it won't be touched in the forseeable future. The interesting thing about it is that Parks Canada wants to preserve the natural rock and that many geological field trips are conducted there, due to the unique nature of the deposit. The unique part being that any other ore body of that type can't be studied because it's usually mined out after discovery. Oh and the original mandate of the National Parks was; for the enjoyment of people.

Is this post still going? Well with the weather we are having I can see why, and with the climate changed winter we're in for I can see it getting worse. As far as value goes, it is an arbitrary concept that has no meaning to nature, it is manmade. So fishing in National Parks or anywhere for that matter is worth diddly squat to the birds, insects, wild mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, single celled organisms and worms. None of them recognize a monetary or reward based system. Everything either is or isn't. IE for bears there either is garbage to eat or isn't. If there is they go and eat it, if there isn't they find another food source. The only value in that is for humans, because the bears are either a nuisance or they are not. As a nuisance they have to be controlled by trapping and relocation. Which costs money, hence has a value. So the only value in fishing is in the enjoyment that humans get out of it, which is why there is a charge for a license and so has a monetary value. As humans can rationalize, there is also an intrinsic value based on the altruistic esperience of fishing, the sky, wind, sound of rushing water etc. It is true that animals also experience these things but they do this in the course of their existence. The primary value a wild organism assigns to anything is based on its survival. A river is water which is for drinking, food is required for sustenance, threats are handled by fight of flight. That's about all the value nature recognizes.