Fishslayer74
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Posts posted by Fishslayer74
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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.
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Garbage boots. My buddy has gone through 2 pairs and they've done what you've shown. Stick to Simms in my opinion.
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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.
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Didn't fish the main portion of the elk river but yes I did notice how busy it was with boats just lined up at the fly shops every morning. My favorite area to fish by far and worth $20 bones a day in my opinion. 4 days of fishing and never saw another person and that's the way I like it.
Cheers.
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So in the end I got a 4wt 8' St Croix Imperial with a lamson liquid reel. Used it on a four day trip down in the Fernie area and just loved it. Thanks for the advice everyone.
Cheers.
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I can tell you that we just did it on Friday from policemans to Carsland and it took about 13hrs with minimal stopping.
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Yeah, in a couple of years I may pic up a 3 but for now I'll try the 4 and see how it goes. Thanks again everyone.
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Thanks Peter. Hopefully this 4WT 8' imperial will do the trick. Like I said I also have my 5WT 9' that I will carry with me as well. So I was out on the West Castle a week ago or so and was using my 5WT and really felt the need for a smaller rod. On the bow or elk or rivers like that I will still use my 5WT.
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Awesome and thank you all so much for the information. So I just called and cancelled the 7'6" and split the difference from what you all have mentioned and went with the 8' rod. This way I can also use it back in Nova Scotia for brookies when I go home to visit.
And yeah, I didn't want to go with a 3wt as that is a little to small in my opinion for the river/streams that I mentioned. I don't think I'd want to get a common 19" to 20" cuttie on that rod. I know you could probably get it in but that's too much on the fish.
Cheers and thanks again everyone. I really appreciate the feedback.
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So here's my dilemma. I have right now a 5WT that I use on most rivers around Alberta and in the Fernie area for fishing dry flys. However recent outtings to some of these rivers I've been finding my 5WT a little big for them. Rivers/Streams that I'm talking about would be like the South and West Castle, Livingston, Highwood, Michelle down near Sparwood, the Wigwam, upper Oldman etc. So I'm planning on picking up a 4WT but I'm not sure what length to buy in that. The rod I'm getting is the St. Croix Imperial and I was leaning more towards the 7'6" length. Does anyone have any insight or recommendations if this length of 4WT would be good to go with or would a 8' be better. Keep in mind that this rod would only be used for dry fly fishing only.
Any information on this would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.
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Spey rods are really really shitty at one thing in particular, and that is stripping.
I've done a LOT of bull trout fishing (and a ton of Spey fishing)!and most of my success for them has been while stripping. Spey rods are truly unwieldy when trying to use them to strip flies back in, especially if you're trying to do it at any reasonable speed.. Good for swinging, not ideal for stripping. Considering that the elk really isn't that large, I think you'll be frustrated if you're stripping for them.
Also, to be able to toss a good size bull trout fly (say a Chuck and Duck), you're going to need in the range of a 600 gr skagit, especially if planning on using a sink tip. When I was in Mongolia, the Spey guys are fishing similar fly size and tips are using 9-10 weight speys, with 700-750 gr skagits (and no, it's not just due to size of the fish) to be able to turn over the flies. Spey fishing comes down to one thing, and that is mass turns over mass.
To compare it to steelheading, most steelhead flies are a lot smaller and certainly less heavy than most effective bull trout flies.
Personally I bought one of the Sage Smallmouth Bass 290grs. They're built to turn over big bass flies, and have no issue putting a 300 gr sinktip on when I want to get really deep. Short height helps with overhanging trees, etc. also a great pike rod.
Whichever way you go, improving your casting will improve your success over any gear change
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.
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Size of the water..... dude you asked for input and now you are arguing your points you asked on, just fish your switch if that's what you want.
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,
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But just imagine trudging to the next hole sporting a 11 footer. .
They do that for fishing out west for Steelhead and Salmon. What's the difference?
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I'd
"High sticking" isn't a successful tactic! As it is WAY too passive for Bullies!
P
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.
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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?
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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.
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I had know idea that there was commercial fishing as well. Badgers still good right, two years ago I rad an article that stated it was in the top 20 pike lakes in all of canada and that a 20lber would be a regular occurrence. That said I fished it two days straight and never caught a fish over 30" imo pike aren't big unless there between 40-50" and I've never caught one that big
Not even close to what it use to be like from what I heard. However still decent for what it is.
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That video is amazing. Todd Moen sure knows how to shoot them....
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As an example they net huge numbers of Whitefish out of McGreger. Unfortunately lots of other species like Walleye get caught and killed. There was a time when I would fly fish for Whitefish there but the numbers have fallen to the point I no longer would see them in the shallows.
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.
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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.
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Thanks hydroman,
I just don't have the cash to drop on another rod like that. And it's not like I'll be using it all the time either. But thanks anyways for the input. I appreciate it.
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Heya FlyFishingEMT,
I've actually been up to Jeff's shop here in town and was actually thinking of that rod plus if something was to ever happen to it then I can take it in to get it fixed and not worrying about shipping it off.
Cheers, and thanks for the input.
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So after 3yrs of fly fishing I'm now wanting to finesse my skills a little more with the dry. I've been using a 5wt setup for most of my days out dry fly fishing but there are some rivers and streams that I'd like to start using a 3wt. I was recently out on the Livingston and my buddy was using his 3wt and it was just perfect. So I guess my question is what is a decent setup to get into without breaking the bank and I do know that the rod is definitely the more important part of the mix. Reels on 5wt and lower aren't as important. So any input on a rod, reel and line would be greatly appreciated. I'm actually going to NS tonight and I'm going to borrow a buddy 3wt setup till I can find what will suit me.
Cheers.
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It really all come down to personal preference and that's really all it is.
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Pics from the 2016-2017 Season
in Photo Posts
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Beautiful Fish.