trailhead

I like my Wardells, have had them about 5 years now and though I have had to aquaseal them they are still working well for me. The only reason they leak is I tend to bushwack aggressively and they lose the real tough battles with poplar trees and assorted bushes, they are fine with the smaller stuff it's the big trees that poke pin holes, oh and the rocks I slide down on my butt.

I have seen the same thing on the lower Oldman, Cutthroat body and no slashes or very faint ones. But they all fought more like cutts than rainbows, no aerial acrobatics.

Ahh yes Radiohead, he is my cousin. From the other side of the family than Fishhead of course.

I estimate it to be 19 inches

Now that the season is officially over I will put my numbers up. Got out on 56 days, for a total of 191 hours, which I think is the more telling number. I caught a rough total of 392 fish which included browns, rainbows, cutthroat, whitefish, grayling, brookies, pike, bull trout and catfish. Fished the Bow, Highwood, Elbow, Sheep, Oldman, Livingstone, Vicary, Etherington, Racehorse, Crowsnest, Carbondale, Castle and Flat. As far as lakes go Okanagan, Beaver Mines, Burmis, Mud, Wedge, Kananaskis, Elbow, Quarry, Buller, Bruce, Phillips and Chain. Highlights are my first Pike on the fly, grizzly sow and two cubs at Phillips, cougar on the Bow, black bear on the Oldman, and almost drowning on the Bow. I live for adventure.

Oh I have fished without a point on my hook a number of times. It's still exciting using dries, but not so much with nymphs.

That sure is a nice brookie, good on you for toughing it out, it is definitely the end of it for the year in the foothills. Thanks for the report and pics.

Thanks for the report and pics, looks like you had a great day.

Yes it was a royalty review, and as such it should have reviewed the royalties in the proper context. To review them against Venezuala or Colombia or Alaska was completely flawed. As I said before compare apples to apples. In all of the other jurisdictions in the review, the oil companies bid a price of how much they will spend on the land the government has tendered, they commit to how much they will spend on seismic, geological/engineering studies and finally drilling. All of which they will have to do one way or another, so these costs do not go into the government coffers, they are spent in the economy, hoepefully local, and benefit the oil company. In Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC, the oil companies bid on the land, the only benefit to the companies is the right to drill, and ALL of that money goes into the government coffers. Then they have to spend money for seismic, drilling etc. So why did the panel not compare Alberta to the other two provinces?

Is 5 billion in landsale revenues not a fair share? Again the glaring error that the "panel of experts" failed to adddress was the landsale dollars that the oil & gas companies pay for the 5 year window of drilling a well. Pretty big money for basically a spin at the roulette table. It is a royalty paid upfront.

Great report guys, I too hope to be able to try for steelhead some day.

Don't be fooled into thinking that the exploration companies won't invest their dollars elsewhere. I personally know of a few companies that decided two years ago that the oil industry in Alberta was not profitable enough. One operates in the far east, lower costs, no landsale costs and lower royalties. The price of their stock has quadrupled in two years. The other decided to try things in Northern Africa, they just sold to a European oil company and did extremely well financially. And at the prsent time the most lucrative area in Canada to operate is....Saskatchewan. The authors of the royalty review did not compare Alberta's royalty structure to Saskatchewan or BC. Maybe they just wanted to paint things in their own light, comparing Alberta to Venezuela oil wise is like comparing Alberta to Argentina flyfishing wise.

Good point, but only one of the four knows the economics of the oil industry.

Does your lifting cost include the F&D costs? Or are you basing that on proven reserves and the associated production costs?

A guy walks into a bar and see's a beuatiful woman sitting alone, he orders a drink and sits down beside her. He notices a huge diamond on her finger. So he says he has never seen a diamond like that before. The woman replies that it is the famous Mitchell diamond, but that it comes with an awful curse. The fellow asks "What's the curse?" The woman replies, "Mr Mitchell"

Yes it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. It was also interesting that the chairman for the commitee that authored the study was a forestry executive. I don't think that the oil & gas business will go bust, if the review goes through as written. But it will definitely contract, as for Calgary going bust that won't happen because the companies that operate in the neighboring provinces and states are all based there. The big hit will be in Ft McMurray and in Edmonton, that's where all the hottest action has been and where the biggest bubble to burst is located. Finally the one thing that still keeps not being addressed is the landsale dollars that the oil & gas industry pays twice a month into the provincial coffers, about 5 billion last year. If the business goes south even only moderately, that will contract too.

Lethfisher; Just a tip, if you haven't done it already, but there are some real nice grayling streams in the Slave Lake area and some trout streams in the Swan Hills. Congrats on the pike too.

There are some big fish in that lake, not all of them get caught after they are stocked. Try a slowly trolled leech off some of the inlets and you might get surprised by a five pounder.

So seeing as this is shaping up as probably the last real nice weekend of the season, where are you all heading? Livingstone, Oldman, Crowsnest, Stauffer, Elk, Highwood, Bow.....? No specifics, I am not able to get out and so am living vicareously.

Ah man, we were supposed to head down there on the weekend, and now we aren't going. It is so beautiful.

Oh that's alright, I was just greenin you.

Need any help with that?

I think fish like other animals would have food preferences. I know my wife's cats are picky about the food they eat, so why not fish.

I am also a member and I find the activities they put on are great, it is very educational to watch a very talented tyer, and it is also interesting watching a few of them and listening to the tying tips they give each other. Plus they have put on rod building courses, brought in great guest speakers, and do the social event thing too. Well worth the $50.

With the weather we are having I was going through some shots, and this was so idyllic it brings it all back.