rhuseby

At least you didn't wind up lying on the ground beside a parking meter in downtown Red Deer, passed out from pain and scaring the old ladies walking by. Getting those suckers out is the worst.

Great campground. If you have kids, a couple of the sites beside the creek have a nice pool for them to splah in right alongside. My daughter caught her very first fish out of that pool using a Doc Spratley on her spincast rod. She was six and Dutch is still her favorite campgound.

Great looking boat. Now if I only had a garage.

First ever flyrod fish. I was spending the summer on Great Bear Lake as a guide and had bought a fly outfit just before I went up. We had a half-day free so rowed one of the boats out just by the lodge and commenced flailing away. Had several rises but missed them all before I finally noticed the point and barb were gone off the fly. Low backcast had hit the gunwale on the boat. So I'm really peeved and try to make a mighty cast. As usual the line lands in an immense mess right beside the boat with the fly sitting in the exact middle of it. As I start to mutter, I see a grayling come up from near the bottom and slurp the fly. Incredibly, I managed to get tight and land a 17 incher. Ever since then I've known you might get a fish regardless of how bad you're doing at any time.

It's always worth a call, because if F+W get enough calls about a given stretch, they will eventually start paying some attention to it. Sadly, it often takes quite a few calls.

I had a 10' 7wt for 25 years and it was the best rod I've ever used. Unfortunately the rsins failed about 15" below the tip one day and the rod just folded over. Probably nailed it with a weigthed streamer of heavy nymph one time too many. It made a big difference in mending and throwing nymphing rigs easily. A 9' works well, but not as good as a 10.

Short muzzle, small nose, I'd guess a cat. I've had to drag a couple of bodies out of logjams in the Upper Bow. It does ruin fishing for a while.

Privacy, your own little piece of solitude, in South-western Alberta???? Thou dreamest. Especially in the summer.

Soles were about $18. Unfortunately, most fishing gear doesn't seem to be made to keep up with the true nuts. Of course, that's why the squirrels love us.

Try Sibbald Meadows pond. Use a small olive wooly bugger and you'll get some hits at the very least. You can stand on the grass with nothing behind you to interfere with you're casting.

Other than the weirs, there aren't a lot of hazards on the Bow. If the water is up in the trees there is more risk of strainers, etc. but for the most part flow level doesn't greatly affect the safety of the river. Just stay away from the weirs.

Forgot to add in the last note, if you have a BC license, there smallmouth bass in some of the little lakes in and around Kikomun Creek park. If nothing else, take some leech patterns like a wooly buggers and some streamers. Even from shore you can get fish, although casting space can be tough to find. Watch out for the turtles though. I damn near hooked one of them with my kids along a few years ago, and lord knows how exciting getting a p-oed turtle off the hook would have been.

Both nice campgrounds and some decent fishing in the immediate area. Etherington Creek itself has cutts, no brookies. Better fishing is probably a bit furthur south in the Oldman drainage, but it gets awfully crowded for my tastes, especially the Livingstone.

Sounds like a great trip. I think I can help you out a couple of you're questions. Unless the rainbows from the Bow are still in the creek, there seems to be very poor fishing on the Jumpingpound. I've personally never known anyone who did well there. That said, someone out there probably considers it the greatest fishery in the province. Barbed wire across the stream is meant to keep cows from wandering up or down the creek. Some ranchers will get bitchy on you, but as long as you leagally accessed the stream and stay within in the highwater makrs, you're okay. I haven't fished the Spray much, but is's probably like a lot of mountains streams. You have to cover a lot of distance looking for the good water, but when you find it the fish are there in good numbers. The top of the Spray, above Spray Lake can be accessed from Mt Shark trailhead in Kananaskis. It's a fair jaunt though, so be prepared. Good job on the first fish.

Always let the law deal with it. Call report a poacher or if you're in K-country phone the emergency center (591-7767, if I remember correctly) and they can radio an officer tout suite. Photos are always good and if you know which vehicle they are in get the plate number. The problem is that a lot of streams and lakes have large parking lots full of vehicles. Always mention the regs to the miscreant (maybe they are just ignorant) but drop it after that. Lousy finish to a great day.

Best stuff in wader world. If it's a big rip, cut out a piece of cloth big enough cover the hole plus at least 1/2" all around. Coat the whole area of the wader with aquaseal, put some on the cloth patch and put the two sides together make sure they stick together well. Then coat the whole thing with a final layer and let dry for a day. Never had one of those suckers break down me. The rest of the wader will fall apart before the patch.

Crowsnest Angler sells them, just off highway 3 as you're going through the pass. I think it's Bellevue, at any rate, just off the highway on the north side, can't miss it.

No, live in Calgary now. Used to do a lot of climbing and ski mountaineering before changing jobs and the knees giving out. Also not thrilled with the increasing cost of getting into national parks, hence the lack of trips fishing there lately. Definitely enjoyed the good times though. Might have to suck it up one more time, just for auld lang syne. An easier but much longer approach for Moraine Creek is down the creek from the lake. Either way, grunt city.

I've know a couple of Kiwis, great guys. They both said that there really aren't a lot of fish in most of the streams so each fish just gets more to eat. Most of the fish live in the same streams year-round, so sea running isn't commonly part of the equation. No one I've talked to or read have a definite reason for the relatively low densities of trout.

You can pick up the replacement soles, with the holes, at Wholesale Sports, and possibly some other places. Howevetr, be very careful in which size you get. I got the ones that were labelled for the size of boots I had and they were too big by far. I would up just getting new boots since my old ones were curled up like potato chips from so many wetting and drying cycles. At first I was cranky, but than I reallized I had about 150 trips on them, and I used to be estatic if I could get 100 climbs out of a pair of mountaineering boots. The Chotas are good boots. Good luck with the soles, and take your old boot in with you to compare the replacements.

I'm not a great distance caster but you may have to experiment a bit. I was reading an article about four well know casters, 2 of them being Joan Wulff and Left Kreh (can't remember the other names) having an informal competition to see who could get it out there furthest. They were all really close but the styles of casting were all completely different.. That said I think timing is really important. I find that when the odd cast really takes off, I can tell it's a good one halfway through the forward cast. No help for you, just a comment.

I've used Mustad ever since I started tying over 30 years ago. I've had very few problems with them and prefer them to Dairikis for sure. I find the dairikis very brittle and prone to breaking, a problem I've never had with Mustad, except of course on the old rock backcast. You definitely have to sharpen the Mustads for nymphing but hey when you like a hook!!!!!! I've used Daichi a bit and they are good but I've had quite a few bend open with fish on. Interesting how people have different experiences with the same brand of hook.

All of the above guys are correct as far as where to fish. I grew up in Blackfalds and used to ride my bike down all summer. The goldeye are up around Red Deer from about the May long weekend to just after Labour Day, then they seem to disappear from that stretch migrating downstream. One of the keys with flies is let them drag a bit if the fish seem reluctant. Just a bit of wake makes a big difference sometimes. Fun, fun fish though.

I haven't fished Banff much lately, but I used to have some good luck on cutts at Herbert Lake, right beside the Icefields Parkway, just north of the Trans-Canada. There was a good caddis hatch in August that got them going. Dragonfly nymph were also productive. If you are willing to hike a ways (ie. about an hour) try Cirque and Cephren Lakes. Access is through the Waterfowl Lakes campground north of Bow Lake. Another decent spot in cloudy weather is Consolation Lake near Lake Louise. The only stream fishing I found any good was in Moraine Creek, where the upper stretch is rather meadowy. You have to find parking on the Moraine Lake access road and make a rather stiff hike downhill to the creek, but of course it's the return trip that isn't any fun. I'm not a big river so I didn't fish the Bow much. Hope this helps.