trailhead

Great now even more people are going to want to move here. Good thing they didn't mention the quality of the fly fishing or even more people would want to move here. Pretty soon even some Americans are going to want to move here.

Small companies that have oil production close to India or China, ie Niko or Pan Orient.

And a good part of the water from Crowsnest Lake comes from a cave on the Northwest shore of the lake. Rumour has it the source of the karst spring is Phillips Lake, which lies to the north in Phillips Pass behind Crowsnest Ridge.

The typing fickle finger of fate got me again...should be divided IN half.

I heard last week some new rules for dating, you take your age and divide it by half and then add 7. That is the youngest age of someone you can date and not be accused of robbing the cradle.

I could have sworn it was in the winter, but then it was a long time ago and I was way younger back then and wilder too.

The biggest reason the US is up in arms against Cuba is that Dupont and Dole, among others, lost some rather expensive assets when Castro took power. Castro wasn't backed by the US, but the American government was getting embarassed by the human rights violations being carried out by Batista. Because remember that Havana was essentially Las Vegas East at the time and it was receiving a fair amount of media scrutiny from the New York broadcasters. So they turned a blind eye to Castro and let him go. When he nationalized everything he pissed on some rich shoes. The end result was the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, carried out by the privileged sons of the wealthy Cubans who had fled to Miami, the missile crisis, and Guantanamo Bay. The real conspiracy theorists even roll the Kennedy Assasination, the Mafia, CIA and FBI into the fray, but who knows for sure. Anyway the Carter adminstration did look at normalizing relations, but the powerful Anti-Castro lobby in Miami was against it. The official American position was that if the Cubans wanted to open trade with the US, the assets that were lost in the Cuban Revolution had to be returned. I wonder if the assets the British lost in the American Revolution should be returned in the same manner? But I digress, Americans are more than welcome in Cuba, the problem is if they do travel to Cuba and the US government becomes aware of it, they can be fined up to $125000. This has not stopped millions of Americans from doing so, notably Ry Cooder and Johnny Depp to name but two. So when Castro kicks the bucket the theory is that the border will open with the US, so if you are planning a trip go soon. Otherwise it will turn into another land of Starbucks and the Golden Arches.

I don't know if I'd go, I saw these guys in 1970 and they got booed off the stage in Edmonton at the Kinsmen Fieldhouse. Of course everyone was there to see the headliners Vanilla Fudge. Plus it was in February and minus 20 something and Plant made some stupid comment about the weather and they were all over.

Last night I dreamed I was a Cutthroat Trout, So am I a Cutthroat Trout dreaming I'm a man?

I drove from just south of Wood Buffalo to Lac La Biche one memorable winter, so I have also driven on ice roads. They do build those up though so the ice is thicker and you can motor quite quickly, just watch for the corners. Oh and I just heard two guys who were trying to build an ice fishing shack in the NWT fell through the ice and managed to escape with frostbite, too bad about their buddy who went down with the truck.

My two cents here. If you do drive out on the ice with any heavier vehicle, I'm not sure about snowmobiles but I would include ATV's. Do not drive fast, 10 Km/H should be about it. This is because ice is flexible and as you drive you are pushing a compression wave in front of you. If you drive fast the wave is shorter but higher, and the ice is only flexible to a point, and if you run into a ice fracture it doesn't flex, it breaks. That's the reason why some vehicles go through the ice in January and February.

Actually mine look pretty much the same as Birchy's. It is a lake fly fished under a chronie or as they say on the oher side of the pond, a buzzer.

Well I tied my first fly in about 1976 or so. Got the starter kit and tied up a 52 Buick which never caught any fish. Then I did up some black wooly buggers and caught some pothole rainbows at Black Nugget Reservoir, I mastered the scud next and caught more pothole trout. Then I moved to Calgary and spent twelve years working in the field and stopped tying. So about ten years ago I took the City of Calgary course and have been serious about it ever since. So a rather convoluted response and so I say thirteen years tying.

I have previously mentioned the Hook and Hackle Club, a good inexpensive way to learn how to tie flies, and interact with fellow flyfishers. But I understand that you are a new father and that does cut into the time available to be away on fish type activities. So you can always try out the show on channel 14 (PBS) at 7:30 AM on Saturday called "Flytying, the Anglers Art." The tyers have some great patterns, both established and new ones, and some really good tips on tying. Plus just by watching an accomplished tyer you really do learn a lot. Oh and that is a really great first tie on the BHGRHE.

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.

A hopper-dropper system is used in the warmer months when you have larger insects on the surface that the fish are eating. I usually tie the hopper to my tippet with an improved clinch knot or if the fly is size 10 or larger a palomar knot. I then tie the dropper nymph to the bend of the hopper hook. The rule of thumb I was told was that the dropper should be at least two sizes smaller than the hopper, so for example with a size 12 hopper you use a size 16 dropper. The length of the line between the flies is about 18 inches, for deep nymphing you would use an indicator or do the Czech nymphing thing.

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.

Bead head prince in size 16

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?