toolman

My view on most guide service's, anywhere, for any type of fishing, is they are usually all very qualified and there will be little difference arranging a trip with one or another, except maybe price and personalities. If you know how to fish, you're gonna catch fish and all of the local guides on a given waterway will know where the fish are most days and the most productive methods to catch them. If you are a beginner, all of the guides will be more than qualified to teach you the basics. You don't need a flyfishing guru to teach you the basics, unless you just want to spend the day with that guide/instructor, which is fine, as fishing should be whatever you want it to be. So, in my opinion, it is more important to talk to the folks at each of the guiding services and get a feel for what they are all about and go with your heart. Try and find someone you want to spend a day on the water with and someone who also understands what you want and expect from your trip.

If someone has had a bad experience with a service that you are asking about, then they can send you a pm. It's really simple. We are not really up for hashing out the reasons why this is the board policy, yet once again, so please respect our rules and enjoy the site. Without further rebuttal please, lets move on, back to the original topic.

This board's "Code of conduct" is pinned at the top of the page here in "General Chat", for those interested. As for referals for a good guiding service, simply post the question asking for recommendations for a guiding service for the location/rivers/lakes that you are interested in. Then, members can give you their nod of approval of who they liked working with from their personal experiences. Good Luck!

Well yak, we have already explained our board policies and they have not changed. So, enjoy what this board offers and you can always do a search on the web for further info on any product/service that interests you. I have used Patagonia products for the past couple of decades and will continue to do so in the future.

Have a great one Gary.

I'll have to lay low for a bit...SJW will be gunnin' for me now...grin

The VT2 13' 7wt is an excellent all purpose rod for the Bow and has received great reviews. Every caster is individual and what is a wooden stick in the hands of one angler, is a magic wand in the hands of another. Great idea for everyone to send enquiries to all of the major manufacturer's, requesting that they bring the toys for us to play with. I will send emails to many of the pro staff'ers to express these same interests.

It is not necessary to have a live line to test cast a two handed rod. A simple frontal anchor on the water will provide sufficient line stick to load the rod to form a D loop. I think we will see a few Beulah rods and the new Dec Hogan Echo rods as well, at least I'm hoping. I'm making a few inquiry's to find out who is coming and to encourage them to bring lots of rods, lines, reels ect.

The Metolious is a terrific trout spey that also makes a great summer steelhead rod as well. I fished one for about a month this year and Max also owns one that he loves. Great rod. That said, the TFO 12'6" 5/6 wt. Deer Creek is also a great rod and maybe a bit easier to fish with, in tight quarters. One of my favorite Bow river rods is the TFO 12"6' 6wt. Pro series with a Scandianvian shooting head or Delta multi tip line. Another great option to consider is the 12'6" 6wt. Sage z-axis. All great rods for troutspey fishing. Give them all the wiggle test at the local shops and try and come out and cast a few rods the next time the guys here at FFC are getting together for a bit of Spey casting, when the next chinook hits. You can give these rods and many others, a test cast or two. Also, there will be many new two handers to test cast at the Flyfishing Expo at the end of January.

Well SJW, I think Ladystrange probably thinks you have an appropriate board name right about now also...

It's possible to have two rods of identical length and weight class, that will have two different actions, line systems and casting properties. One will be lined with a Skagit shooting head and big sink tips, the other with a traditonal long belly line for fishing floaters and light tips at distance. I usually have two Spey rods with me when I fish.

Well, it is no accident that the Spey movement is growing in Calgary. In fact, it has been a determined effort of ours to see that it does. Many of the local fly shops are learning to speak "spey" and there will be a greater selection of inventory coming in the new year too, so the choices are just going to get better for the Spey fisherman. There will be more Spey rods available to see and cast at the Flyfishing Show this year as well. (I'm going to cast everyone of them). In other news, I bought three Loop Spey rods today. An 11'6"- 7 wt. and two 15'- 10 wt's. Should have them by Wednesday. Can't wait to cast them.

yea bigbowtrout thats the pair...freakin love em..and like u said bloom..if ducttape, goop, cored, bindertwine etc...lmao was used in my first few pair and these are lookin after a season ....you should be laughin

Very interesting fly....Looks like an emerging Ephemerella...(Pale Morning Dun).

Hey Badger, is that the two handed Forecast rod you finished last winter in your photo? I believe it was a 13' 8wt. you were building. Have you been fishing it with the 600grain Skagit head with tips?

Great story Badger.

Now how's that for getting off topic...grin... "broome hilda", we'll make a small campfire then...

AAAAAARRRRRHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Hey, are'nt you the gal that likes winter camping... Tell me more about these... "campfires"....

I'm sold guys...I've not ice fished for many years...time to look at alternatives.

Looking at the weather forecast for the week, showing -15C etc. etc., marks the arrival of ice along the rivers. It got me thinking about my first season of winter fishing on the Bow River and reminded me of just how much I hated "Ice". That first winter, I fell through the ice, I fell onto sharp melting ice (30 something cuts on my arms/hands), I hit the hard ice, face first (minor concusion/black eye), I had the shelf ice break and dump me in the river (with a 22" Brown still on the line, landed of course), I had fish on the line that would run under the ice (and not want to come out), I had my leaders sheared off by the ice, I had fish wrap my line around floating ice, I had large sheets of drift ice almost hit/crush me when I was wading, I had my reel/line and rod ferrules freeze to solid ice after dropping it in the water when landing a fish, I had my net become frozen too the ice (don't lay wet nets on the ice in -15)...Ice even took away all my good fishing holes.... To say that I don't like ice, is an understatement....ice is my enemy...he should be yours too. Dam you Ice....Freeze in Hell.

Those are pretty awesome weedy.

See...that guy had it figured out eh boys.

A big Happy Birthday to our main man at the controls...Have a great day Darren. Greg

It certainly is beyond me why Fishead is allowed to be a member on this site. He contributes nothing but venomous personal attacks and jumps at every opportunity to try and start crap. Guess this is ok with some of the folks sailing the ship. Sure as hell is not ok with me and many folks around here.