lad

I have seen them on the Elk a few times and the people on the boards had no problem running the fast skinnier water. I believe they are going to become very popular. We need to remember we dont own the river and anybody else has equal rights to the water.

I would not bother with waders in the SW of the province in the summer. The water is not that cold. Spring is for waders down here. Best bet is wet wading with some high quality wading boots.

Do you want to shoot Skeet or do you mean Skeet, Trap or Sporting clays? I shoot Trap and it is a great time with good people. I think all the 3 of these sports attract "nice" people. You just need to figure out which one and who the contacts are in the clubs in your area. Which area of the province do you reside? . All three of these sports are a lot of fun and you are picking a great time of year to start digging.

One end to the school yard fence and start walking. Clean the line when its going back on.

Fishpond has a travel case that you can pack your rods, reels and other gear in. Gain a lot of wasted space not taking rod tubes and it's carry on sized. I was told by one of the fly shops in Calgary you can take hooks now up to 2 1/2 ". I do carry all my lines on the reels but have not actually had flys in the carry on. Best bet would be phoning west jet.

X2 Terry! The Crowsnest pass has been very good to me. Calgary is a great city but you can not beat the pass! Lannie

I really enjoyed that myself and am a loyal supporter of my local flyshop, (Crowsnest Angler). The value of any fly fishing shop is the intellectual value of the people who work there first, then the products of the manufacturers.

I would have mentioned the BCMI in Blairmore too but there was a large fire there and the place is closed until further notice. Not sure if it will even re-open. It was a kitchen fire in November/2011. BCMI in Coleman is much newer and nicer but does not have a restaurant.

BCMI in Coleman Goat mountain Getaway in Frank These 2 are decent places to stay.

I just bought a pair of Mj "sport". They are a polarized amber lense, and bi focal so i can still tie on the small flies. I did not realize they made bi-focal sun glasses. The sales person who sold them to me called them "readers". Maybe it's old news but it made me very happy. You can buy them in different magnifications. I paid 219. for them in Kalispell a couple of weeks ago at the ski haus.

You will be fine with those choices. It does make it a little easier if you start with odd or even wt #'s. (eg ,4,6,8) or (3,5,7) to cover your bases. I think a 5 wt would be a great "next" rod for you. Use your 7 on the bow when you want to fish streamers or you are fishing in windy conditions etc. Use the 5 on the bow for your dry's. The 4 and 5 would fill your needs down south on the smaller water.Light weight rods with drys are a pleasure to cast with. The best advice i could give is- When someone offer's free advise that is actually what it's worth.

Saturday A mix of sun and cloud. Wind west 60 km/h gusting to 80 becoming southwest 40 gusting to 60 late in the afternoon. High 9. From enviroment Canada's site-will be a windy day.

Your input is very valued Uberfly and in no means am i directing anything at you. I am not that concerned with the grizzlies as i believe there are many more out there than accounted for. I tend to be much more concerned in the last few years about the grizzly's being accustomed to masses of people in their back yard and losing their fear of us. I also believe we need to re-open the hunting season for them, but that's just another can of worms. They are a unique species for sure as they are an easy picture to paste on the images of saving the area. It is marketing to heart strings. Same as the wolves but they can't use them to much any more after shooting them out of helicopters. An area that is logged will support a much more diverse and healthy ecosystem, it just isn't that pretty in the first few years. As for restricting logging, it is restricted. Spray lakes would rather be logging in Banff than the Castle area. If your concern is just Grizzlies, relax they are doing fine. My biggest concern is not using the renewable natural resources, it is the garbage that we manufacture. You can Guarantee your usage will be 1000 % less than theirs and i agree with that if its only you. That just is not reality though. Spray lakes will come in and leave and their footprint will be exactly that big. You me and a hundred thousand others will always be there creating a large market that uses non renewable resources with tons of garbage as a by product only minimalizing our own little impact. What if Spray Lakes does the math and starts pointing out these things and says "Our foot print is smaller than theirs". I do understand what you are saying but you can't talk about your footprint being 1000 % less . Your footprint is a collective footprint that is by a group who utilizes the Castle in the same manner- humans. Our footprint is much larger than the loggers footprint and we do a disproportionate amount of rehabilitation where we walk. You personally may be the ideal outdoorsman/fisherman that we could all use a lesson from but unfortunately our "group" has some real pukes.

Pictures of the past that i have seen have much less forested areas. Even the CNP valley was very sparse compared to now. Hardly a tree around Hillcrest. Before settlement to this area a forest fire would strike but would not consume so many hectares because of being so sparse. The land had a much more varied age of trees . Now we have so much forestry that has a small variation in age. The logging is the only improvement on that if we suppress natural fires. If we stop logging we also must stop fighting forest fires. Why are people so up in arms about the Castle being forested ? Because the place they call home is a ecological nightmare ? There were Grizzlies once where you lived but that does not count ? Concern about the rivers here but no one is protesting the thousands of km's of irrigation canal's that are becoming in the name of efficiency wastelands east and south of Calgary. As far as people whining about their cabins being burnt down, tuff luck ! Evaluating logging by the intended use of the end product (i.e. fence posts or pallets) is just not good reasoning. Why don't these protesters go to Spray lakes office in Cochrane and protest ? Just about every problem we face on planet earth is because of our own presence. If you really really want to benefit the Castle don't ever go back there. If you are concerned about the grizzlies for heaven's sake don't fish, you are competing with them. Disclaimer- These are opinions of mine and i do not expect to see anything but a increase in the human footprint down this way forever. That's what i expect. You can't have it both ways, you are part of the problem or the solution. Me i am part of the problem, see you on the river ! My biggest concern is totally selfish- Restricted access is going to be the biggest problem for the future of all us who are causing the problems.

Just to cold out for the media and/or really is not that newsworthy in their eyes. Right or wrong the Castle will be logged so the story is destined as "filler" for the media until someone does something really stupid.

The most efficient form of protest is voting at election time. Because someone does not show up to protest does not equate to not giving a sh!t.

I have never heard of the Duncan knot before. Have been tying the Uni Knot. Did not realize it was the same until viewing posted links above. Here is a site with many knots. Best thing about the site is how clearly the instructions are for learning new knots. The videos and step by step are very good. Using "rope" instead of line aids in clarity. animatedknots.com Look up uni

Sounds Great- count me in. Tropical Temptations is the big draw for me. Going fishing south in Febuary.

QUOTE (lad @ Jan 13 2012, 10:49 AM) * Turning it into a federal park would limit fishing and hunting. "This shouldn't be an issue, for some reason the vast majority of anglers are all for conservation UNTIL our angling opportunties are diminished. Why to do have more right to resources than other user groups?" I "think" I understand what you were trying to say. I don't believe anybody has anymore right to the resouce's than others, including the forestry industry. I do have my preferences though.

I did. I would not like it to become a federal park. Pretty straight forward. You said why not a provincial park. Why not ?

Turning it into a federal park would limit fishing and hunting. If the ATV's were out of there i would not be to concerned. Access is very important to me.

"This is a case of NIMBY but it is also more than that. Water from the Castle supplies the bulk of the water to the Oldman River. It provides for the ultimate fishing experiences in Alberta. The area has some of the best hunting, birding, some of the coolest rare plants, some of the most scenic viewscapes. It has a possibility of bringing in millions in tourism... which will be completely lost, a missed revenue op for all the local residents." I do underatand your concern and every industry in the province needs to be scrutinized. I would be much more concerned if we were turning the area into a park. The area currently does bring millions in tourism into the area. I think you believing that it will be completely lost is grossly over stated. How many people who currently venture into this back country will stop after logging ? Will you ? I would bet it is just as busy with fisherman, campers, and hikers etc as it has in years past. I would actually believe myself that in the future it will be even busier than it has been in the past with or without logging. I have not seen an area around S.W. Alberta that has slowed down to logging or forest fires yet. Go down to the heart of the forest fires or where there has been logging for the last few decades and see if there is any less recreational use of the land.

"One wonders how many house/cabin/cottage owners in the Pass area, Twin Butte, Beauvais Lake, Beaver Mines areas will be out protesting. And then expect tax payers to put out fires that threaten their precious recreational (and permanent) properties? " As for full time residents in the Pass protesting. I don't think you will find one. There are quite a few people from the Pass that directly or indirectly benefit from logging. The protestors are a form of entertainment for us.

I "think" the MD of Crowsnest has put a stop to any new sub dividing on the river. It makes the ones there that much more desirable.

I think the price is a bargain, on a warm day next July it is probably worth 400,000. We need someone from this board to buy it to keep the access open ! I have fished off that beach as many here have. Across from that beach against the grass bank is a deep long trout filled run !