scel

Good story... In the previous 3 years (but not this year) there was a single male pelican that would fly up to around the 22X bridge and float down to around Christmas Tree Island, before flying back up to 22X area to float again. He would come by 5 or 6 times in a single evening. He was impressive---big and 'clean' (if that makes any sense, looking more like a bird and less like their dinosaur lineage) I watched him float by one evening. Chasing the pelican, a wildlife photographer scrambled by me. He wanted a picture of this bird. I told him to just wait. The bird floats within a couple metres of shore usually through a couple of key runs and that he was only on his first float---he will be back. The photog did not take my advice and hauled his tripod and spotting scope hurriedly down the riverbank. Sure enough, the pelican did his follow up drift about 40 minutes later, stopping in the run in front of me, less than 2m away, to scoop up a big brown trout, and a couple little unidentified fish and then immediately flew away. The photog came back upstream. I told him that the pelican came back and drifted very close to shore. The photog said that he knew and that he saw the pelican stop in front of me and catch a couple fish, and that he also said that he saw my 'i told you so' grin. On Friday, I saw a flock/herd/gang/murder of pelicans try to bully a group of Canada geese, clearly trying to eat the goslings. While the pelicans are bigger, few birds are bigger potential a$$holes than Canada geese but when protecting their young, they go super saiyan. The pelicans eventually gave up. I have seen them eat ducklings before though.

I know exactly what you mean by the Oakley lens scratching easily. I keep on buying them. I have owned other brands, but I have a small head, and Oakley seems to be the only ones that stick to me. However, I cannot recommend enough the quality of Oakley bronze prescription sunglasses---they are in a different category from their retail lines. 3 years and thousands of hours of wear-time later, they are as good as the day I got them. My wife as surprised how I would wear my sunglasses even when it started to get dark. When she tried them, her comment was, "how can sunglasses make everything brighter?" However, when I got my sunglasses, Smith Chromapop were not producing prescription lenses, but they are now. I feel they have some of the best contrast of non-prescription lenses. My prescription Oakleys cost around $600.

The best thing you can do is dry them in the sunshine---the UV plays a valuable component in killing any bugs. Imagine a sponge. If you submerge it, squeeze it (or step on it), release the pressure, the sponge will hold a great deal of water. To get the disinfectant throughout the sole, you would have to walk through a basin of disinfectant.

Actually, it is not obvious that it is submerged. My thought process was: it was banned because it is laying on bare rocks. No. Wait. I think the tail is under the water. No. Wait. The whole fish is nearly under the water. Where did BF find water so clear?

I would guess that it was incompletely cured. Replace the batteries in your light source and cure for a 5 or so seconds longer.

I am not sure if anyone is properly educated. Most of it comes through peer education. I hate to admit it, but I learned my skills through trial and error (i.e. dead fish) and the appropriate razzing from fellow anglers. The other issue is the rules are not consistent between species. It is totally OK to handle a pike by the gill covers. Actually, it is the best way to get control of the fish and avoid the use of jaw spreaders. Again, it is totally OK to handle a bass by the lip, but a faux-pas for almost every other species. I also believe there is no excuse for poor handling skills, but unless we can provide educational materials to anglers at the time when people get licences, we will continue to have armies of dingus khans.

I fish the Thompson River system every year for a couple of weeks. The Rainbows and bulls will sit just a couple metres behind spawning salmon to eat the eggs. Best success is to match the size and colour of the actively spawning species, but seems more important to match the size than the colour of the dominant spawn---sockeye eggs are smaller than chinook eggs. Painting a little red dot of nail polish on the side of the bead seems to be more valuable than the actual colour of the bead. Last year, we were out with a DFO biologist. He had fished with an 11mm bead in mid-September. Three of us were out together mid-October. He was using the same 11mm bead from mid-September. My friend and I had both caught 5+ fish on an 8mm bead but he had not yet caught anything. He looked at the bead we were using, facepalmed himself, then started catching fish with an 8mm bead. The trout did not seem to care if the bead was yellowish or pinkish, but definitely preferred the red dot over the plain beads. These are trout that could afford to be picky though. I am not sure how it would translate to the Bow. Like I said---I have only had whitefish eat egg patterns.

In salmon rivers, it almost feels like you are cheating fishing eggs. On the Bow River, I have caught whitefish on egg fly patterns. Quite honestly, though, if I fish an egg, I use a trout beads and a toothpick with a dark hook dangling about 3-5 cm below the stoppered egg. It is more effective than any fly I have used. The separation between bead and hook means the hook set generally misses the small mouths of a whitefish, but trout hookups are unaffected and (so far) seems to avoid the risk of trout swallowing the hook. Great looking flies btw.

It is really difficult to read the tables on your phone. It is 2 print pages per PDF page. At the very least, the PDF version should be split into single print pages.

I voiced the same concern. My wife schooled me. You are not wrong in that birds will often carry mites. These mites, however, do not eat the feathers. They eat the bird. A bird with mites will often look like its feathers are disappearing, but that is a side effect of the blood sucking bites. Once the host is dead, there is very little reason for the mites to stick around. Without a blood-serving host, the mites have little interest in other feathers. As a decontamination protocol, the feathers go immediately into a plastic sample bag. With as much of the air removed as possible, the plastic bag then goes in the freezer for at least 2 weeks---most of the time for 4 or so weeks.

My wife is an avid birder (also a professional biologist). It is my understanding (which is admittedly completely second-hand) that feathers simply do not 'ruff off' especially in the winter time. Many owls start breeding at this time of year. There are a surprising number of nest sites within city limits. There have been many strong north and west winds over the last couple of days. Since owls (and other birds of prey, like a sharp-shinned hawk) will just roost somewhere and pluck off some feathers before eating, it is very likely there is a nest site relatively close by. it is kind of a crappy picture, but this hawk was sitting in my back yard only 4m away, but he was sitting under a massive group of cedar waxwings (which is what I would guess the bird your feathers are from) in the mountain ash right beside the tree he was sitting in. https://photos.app.goo.gl/tIRSSxtVIdIW8wEG3 My wife picks me up feathers all the time. My personal favorites are Canada goose and swan flight feathers---biots for stoneflies, copper johns, and prince nymphs. They also tend to be part of the 'non-edible' group, so they are easy to salvage. Post a picture of your find. Collectively, we can probably figure out what it is.

Thanks mate.

I have had this happen to me on the Bow and it was singly the most terrifying experience of my life. I only floated about 80m or so downstream, but I was deposited on the opposite side of the river in neck deep water. It was only a 15m scramble to the bank. I had to walk about 1km to get to a bridge, then 1km backtracking on the opposite bank to get back to my car. I had scared the absolute sh!t out of myself. Thankfully, I had unconsciously done something that prevented this turning into a real disaster. I wore my GorTex jacket outside my waders, such that it covered up my bib and wader buckles, so very little water actually got into my waders. GorTex worn as the final layer over the waders has saved me from other random shallow water falls. I never wade deeper than my knees now.

Country Pleasures was the catalyst of my love of fly fishing. Whenever I needed something new to me (a first trip to the salt or to get started tying), I went to Country Pleasures. Their advice and wisdom was the most consistent. I went in on Saturday for a restock to bare walls. This feels like a break-up. I cannot believe it is gone. Stupid Country Pleasures. I guess that means I can see other stores---they probably are good too. I mean, someplace else has to sell Dai Riki hooks. I will work through DEPRESSION and ACCEPTANCE later. Best wishes.

Midges are chironomids. They are a year-round staple in the Bow. When the BWOs come off in the spring, they are not as plentiful as fall, but they are also the only big hatch. The trout will surely key into the nymphs---an evil olive or WD-40 is are my key go-to flies. Until run-off, zebra midge is also a killer good fly. Really any size 18-22 nymph will work. The voodoo seems to be understanding when topwater becomes a valid food source. The larvae are definitely around. Like everyone else seems to believe, a calmer warmer March that allows a good blanketing of midges seems to be the warmup for a good dry fly spring.

I have experienced amazing topwater BWO fishing in late April and early May on the Bow, but it certainly does not happen every year. I think Bow River fish kind of forget to look up after a long winter

Barry Mitchell's book is probably the definitive guide, but Jim McLennan's runs a close second. If you are running solo, once you are in Alberta, a Backroad Mapbook for Southern and/or Central Alberta and Google Maps will take you to most of the great trout streams in Alberta and get you sorted with good local camping information. The famous Forestry Trunk Rd is mostly crown land, so access is generally limited by vehicle power and/or personal willpower.

Not really. If I were to guess, water levels are lower now. However, back then, the reservoirs were dumped in early May, then there was no run-off. There was not really a heat wave like this summer, but the long days, and low water levels allowed the water temperatures to get dangerously high. Right now, the longer, relatively cool nights allow the rivers to cool down.

Dams are a Catch-22. On one hand, they cut off habitat from fish. On the other hand, something especially important for trout populations, a bottom fed outlet provides cool oxygenated water with potentially more stable flow. A final thing to consider is how dams create somewhat protected habitats. Adding a fish ladder on the Oldman would help the bull trout move around, but it would also allow the rainbow trout to move around (for example). I know there is already considerably cross-breeding, but there is still a fairly good population of mostly cutthroat trout.

The felt totally picks up the mud---that is why they are not permitted in the parks. It is there; you just cannot see it. The mud gets deeply packed into the felt soles and takes something like 10x longer to dry. After a quick wash with a garden hose, the vibram soles will dry in a few hours. It would literally take a pressure washer to clean the mud from the depths of felt. The average male is 180-200lbs. when you walk, you roll the boot, so probably 1-2square inches are in contact, so it would take 90-200 psi to blast the mud out of a felt sole. So, think about it...even if you use a disinfectant, you would still have to walk through a cobblestone laden wash-bin in order to force the disinfectant to the base of the felt sole. Fine...just dry out the boot. The density of the felt is designed to take the wear of a couple hundred PSI. The water is sponged into the felt, so once it is in there, it takes a great deal of time for it to evaporate out without forcing it out the same way it was forced in. I do not know anyone who meticulously squeezes the water out of their felt boot soles. Yeah, regardless of the disease and its vector, you always have to thoroughly clean and dry any transmission source. It is the same for the common cold. It is the same for measles. It is the same whirling disease. So, felt and vibram both have to be cleaned and dried. Yeah, cleated vibrams get muddy, but you can see it. I would hazard I could clean 90% of it with a garden hose, and completely dry it. The same is simply not true with felt.

My wife is a biologist who works in the national parks. When she works, she only wears rubber boots (which she regularly changes), which can be very easily cleaned and dried. She literally has a car trunk full of rubber boots. She is happy if I simply clean debris from gear and *completely* dry everything in the sunshine. The drying, heat, plus the solar UV is analogous to a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Drying kills almost all of the tubifex worms and spores, but the heat and UV act as accelerants and kill some of the parasite in the process. Interesting note: goldfish are a natural carrier of whirling disease.

I took Joe up on his offer---I tried the Chironomid today. I spent an hour or so paddling around Glenmore Reservoir with Joe. The Chironomid really is an amazing boat. It has the speed of a kayak, the payload of a 1-man canoe, and the stability of a pontoon. It almost effortlessly glides over the water. With very little effort, I could get going to the same speed as my kayak. While it does lack the tight quarters manoeuvrability over a kayak or pontoon, the speed and anchoring system I believe are fair trade offs. It is quite easy to stand up in it. Your ability to stand up is ultimately limited by personal balance. It would be incredibly hard to tip. To tip it over, I almost think the user would actively have to try to do so. I brought a rod and did some casting. Having the option of standing up is nice, but I actually think that I would spend most of my time in the comfortable seat. The front half of the boat is almost completely free of any potential snags or tangles. All the 'clutter' is confined to the rear of the boat (and by 'clutter' I simply mean all the things that make the boat great, like the outrigger supports, rod holders, anchor reels, etc), but there is still plenty of space to pack your gear and supplies in the back part of the boat to maintain the clear area in front. As a fishing boat, I have to reserve my opinion since I did not have a good chance to fish out of it. I cannot presently see any circumstance where it would be any different from a canoe or kayak.

I am simply wondering if anyone has ever tried one of these boats. https://www.cunninghamboats.ca/best-lake-fly-fishing-boat/ They look like the bees knees, but there is a fairly heavy price tag attached ($3000 CAD, I believe), enough to afford both a good pontoon boat and a good fishing kayak. I guess it is local company, but I have never seen one or heard anyone speak of them (other than the review in Fly Fusion Magazine). Oh, the places you could go with that light sleek frame and oars. The only downside (other than the price) compared to a pontoon or kayak is the on-the-spot manoeuvrability.

I have also found this too. I have also found that adapting my tippet knots have often mitigated this. I find the double uni-knot to be the most reliable when going mono to fluoro.

The density of the spotting is the biggest indicator. Pure strain will have higher density of spots near the tail and the pinkish colour rarely runs the entire length of the body. The only way to tell strain purity is by the presence of the hyoid teeth near the back of the mouth on the tongue since that is a purely recessive trait. But even then, being almost genetically identical to cutthroat (you have to be in order to interbreed), and having interbred for 70+ years (or whenever rainbows were introduced). Finding hyoid teeth on a rainbow trout would be like blues eyes on a black person---rare but totally possible. It really only indicates that sometime in that fish's history both sides of the genetic tree got some sexy time with a slutty cutty. EDIT: colour is not a great indicator. Cutties have a pinkish colour to them, but tend to have green backs over the darker or silver backs of a rainbow. But still, colour is not a great indicator.