Fishslayer74

Beautiful Fish.

Not really surprised on the closing. Great people but over the years whenever I would go in there no one else would be in the store. It always felt so empty with customers. Not like going to Fish Tales or Out fly shop etc. You going into those shops and there was always other customers in the store. The other thing as well with a struggling economy that were in I can't see the need for the amount of fly shops we already have here in Calgary. And you hear in the news that we are coming out of this slump. Bull *hit we are with stores like Wholesale, Sears, CP, etc. closing doors. And not to mention oil companies still laying off. In the end it is still very sad to see because I did like to venture that shop every so often and staff with great knowledge and helpful.

Garbage boots. My buddy has gone through 2 pairs and they've done what you've shown. Stick to Simms in my opinion.

I agree. I was in there not to long ago and felt the same. I always support the local fly shops instead of the big box stores.

I can tell you that we just did it on Friday from policemans to Carsland and it took about 13hrs with minimal stopping.

Thanks so much for the response Bcube. I really appreciate it. As a matter of fact I do have a Sage Smallmouth Bass rod. What type of sinktip have you put on yours? Do you use a sinktip line with a 15 foot sinking head or do you just put a piece of 5 to 10 foot sink tip onto the end of your existing line? As well will that rod be enough to bring in some of the 30" plus fish that the Elk can produce? Cheers.

I'm not arguing with you I'm just trying to figure it out. The lower elk where I said I'd be using it is quite wide. And I've watched many videos of guys hiking on smaller tribs with spey rods out in BC. I just didn't get the comment. Not trying to rub you the wrong way at all. You've helped me out in the past and I appreciate it. And I don't have a switch or spey but looking at possibly getting into it and just want info from people that have applied this technique to fishing bulls. I see that they fish this method on the Pitt River and other BC rivers. Cheers,

They do that for fishing out west for Steelhead and Salmon. What's the difference?

I'd I'd beg to differ on that. I've hooked into many bull trout over the past 3 years with that method as well. Not saying your wrong but it's worked for me. I've used a hand full of different methods and they all seem to work.

I'm just wondering why a switch rod would not be a successful tactic for bulls? I fish areas like the lower elk which is quite a distance to the other side in most of the areas where it would be nice to get it over there and I'm generally just swinging large flies. The other thing is that there are many areas that I find it hard to get a sufficient back cast to get the fly out far enough. I was fishing the Margaree River this summer and it was no larger then the Elk River and 90% of people were using Spey rods. So really what is the difference? Does anyone out there have experience with this?

I've been doing alot of fishing for Bull Trout in the past couple of years and was starting to wonder what it would be like using a Switch Rod for it instead of my traditional 8wt fly rod. I do chuck some pretty heavy/bulky flies and was wondering if anyone had experience fishing this type of rod for Bulls. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

Not even close to what it use to be like from what I heard. However still decent for what it is.

That video is amazing. Todd Moen sure knows how to shoot them....

That lake to cause that's where his cabin is on. And the whitefish use to be just huge from talking to him and he'd sight fish for them getting one after another.

Yeah, a guy at my office was telling that he use to fish Badger Res. years ago before it introduced commercial fishing and it was off the charts amazing. While talking to him I didn't even know it existed. However this is amazing that there getting rid of it. Hopefully it lasts.

Yup the ant for me has been my go to terrestrial fly. I found the two tone black/brown is the best. However the black is good to.

The duty and brokerage fees these days seem to be ridiculous. I've ordered a few things lately from the states and every time I get it there is a brokerage/duty fee attached to it. If you get a good deal on something like Vagabond did then it's worth it but I'm finding alot of things are just as cheep to buy here now. Ebay and shopping in the states isn't the same as it use to be a couple of years back. And the shipping is just getting stupid.

I just had a little ball of joy a few months back now and it's been amazing and she does come before fly fishing. However my wife and I have our one day a week we do are own things to keep us who we still are. So once a week I meet up with buddies and get out fishing. And there is the odd weekend in between that I get a day of fishing somewhere and then a couple of weekend trips a year. It's all about compromise and yes I don't get out near as much as I did last summer but at least I still get to go out and do it. And once she's big enough to put into one of those backpack carriers I'm going to try and take her out. I'd love it if one day she appreciates fly fishing like I do. However that may never happen and that's ok as well. All I can say is just find the balance and let your wife have her time as well. Cheers.

Yeah, it's even easier if you just buy a package of bobber stops somewhere like Wholesale sports. This way you don't have to take the time rigging these up.

So it took just over a week to get my flies from TheFlyStop and from just looking them over I am really impressed with the quality for what I paid vs. paying an extra $150 more if I would have bought them from a local fly shop. I really don't mind supporting the local shops and that's where I've bought most of my gear. And yes as well I don't mind paying for that odd fly that is specially tied and you can't get it anywhere else but for your standard dries and nymphs 0.85 vs 2.50 is a no brainer. I've also bought from Reelfies, Icky Fly Works, and Dave the fly guy here in Calgary and I've had no problem with the flies last season. Cheers.

I just ended up buying a large order from TheFlyStop.com. I think is was 90 some flies for $69.00. All flies are 0.85 cents a piece and they have a large selection to choose from. Haven't recieved them yet but when I do I'll let you know how they look.

No kidding those are amazing pictures.

Big ass streamers and extra weight added.

I have the BC regular licence and then I pay the 20 bones everytime I fish the elk or one of it's tribs. And yes they were hogs and sooooooo much fun. Can't wait to fish them again.

No problem glad I could help. Haaaaaa.. Cheers.