toolman

I understand where you're coming from, but if we allow it, where will it end? Do you really want to hear a long list of peoples complaints about guides, shuttles, fly shops. We would be just opening the door to trouble. Then there are the legal consequences for the site operators for doing so. Sorry, but I do have the resources to lose, that could put me in the cross hairs of a law suit for allowing public broadcast of any comments that may end up in a civil suit for damages. It's a slippery slope that I won't risk. Sorry and I hope you understand our position.

Sorry gents, but as SJW has already requested, we do not allow it on the site, as we (site admins/mods) could be dragged into it and have made it a policy here at FFC. No bashing the folks in the business community or personal attacks allowed. So if there's nothing more to add here, lets move on. Best of luck mkm on your next fishing adventure.

The Airflow Ridgeline 30lb. running lines list at $ 38.95.

I think the injuries to the bears rear end is likely from the collision with a high speed vehicle and the bear managed to crawl a short distance to hide before dying.

In order to shoot any line, you need to load the road. Every rod has an optimum casting window requiring a specific amount of line/weight out of the rod tip to load properly. For example, a 6wt. line weights around 180 grains at the 30' mark. If your rod has a grain window of 150-200 grains, then you will need around 30' of the lines head out of the rod tip to be able to shoot extra line. If the rod had a casting window of only 120-150gr., and your line weights 180 gr. at 30', you would need to strip in a bit of line and cast with maybe only 25' of line out of the rod tip. If tips are added that take you over the rods gr. window, you will need to strip in a bit of line to compensate for the extra weight. Using a brief or sustained water anchor created by allowing the line to contact the waters surface during the cast, can add additional load to the rod if required, when casting a lighter line. Another example is one of my 5/6 wt. spey rods which has a grain window of 350-550 gr. I line it with a 450gr. shooting head that is 32' long and can use it with sink tips which adds an extra 60-100gr. to the load and 12'-15' of length and it shoots like a cannon. Find out the head length of the line as well as the WF weight ( the gr. weight of the first 30') or the total head weight for shooting heads. Then, find out what the casting window for your rod is. If you plan on shooting sink tips, then you need to know how much they weight so that you can keep the line system in balance and in the zone for your rod when using it with or without tips. It is important to know the head length so that you can keep the end of the head inside the rod tip, because casting with the running line out of the tip will wreck the line and won't cast very well.

It may have gotten hit by a vehicle and ended up a short distance off the road before succumbing to its injuries.

That's disappointing to hear mkm. Whatever the situation was that caused the guide to be a no show, the least he could have done was give you a call to let you know. Had you used this particular guide before? In all fairness to other excellent private guides on the Bow, they also have to deal with many clients cancelling at the last minute, pulling a no show and then ignoring repeated calls/emails or clients wanting to change dates on the day of the trip they had booked, leaving the guide un-employed for the day. The thing I would suggest you do about this is, hire a different guide or book through a reputable outfitter and go fishing. Maybe post a request for recommendations for Bow river guides that are in good standing in the community. Good Luck.

Exactly...I was'nt going to mention it, but since DDF brough it up, this video is just a guy practising a bunch of stuff and bieng a little messy on the water. He likely does'nt even have a fly on the line and he would not catch many fish bieng that sloppy. I like to make good "fishing casts", like a single spey and try to keep it nice and clean on the pick up and mend, with a brief, short anchor that is placed well away from the strike zone. I have little interest in the circus tricks that look pretty impressive when put together, but it's kind of like a larriot show at a rodeo, versus a real cowboy working the range with his rope.

We intentionally delayed our Steelhead trip by a couple of weeks to wait for the prime run to come in. You've got to try and join us Brett. You will regret it if you don't, as we are gonna slam a ton of chrome. My goals for the trip, is to catch them on the dry surface swing, wet swing, but I especailly want to sneak up on one and High Stick him from 10' away. Are we allowed to fish at night? That would be sweet! I may even hire a Chopper to fly us in deep for a little adventure too. In response to the original posters question. My simple answer is, find a prime feeding lie and show up at chow time. Let the big trout move in, (they are sometimes late, but when they show up the little fishies run for cover) allow them to start to feed and get comfortable. They will move in very close to shore if you let them, so stay on the bank out of sight and then you will be in a position to have a chance at big trout. It's a simple plan really. That's why I enjoy fishing with MTB and Hawgstoppah, they are patient, observant and know the game well. Not to mention their crazy fishing skills also, which obviously helps. When winter hits, the trout will be stacked up together, so find the prime winter lies and fish the tail outs really deep, then it's as easy as fishing at a Trout pond. Well sorta...

John, Could explain to everyone who may be wondering, what the mono coil with visibility stren is.

Kungfools your man Rich...lets just say he's over-qualified for the job. Thanks Kevin.

Welcome gentlemen and we look forward to your posts. I hope you will share all those secret techniques for fishing lakes/loch's, that folks from the UK are famous for.

As for next years event, hopefully it will grow and we will see more volunteers/sponsors participating. It certainly was a lot of fun for everyone.

I wish someone would post their photo's from the day..Rich? Anyone?

It will likely be difficult to cast or mend 8lb. mono at any distance unless you are reeling in and casting only the end of the leader using a spin rod/center pin rod and you may get a lot of tangles, especailly if you use a corkie for an indicator. Also, when High Sticking, there is very little of the 20lb. mono on the water. Maybe a foot or two at most and the 20lb. is a good diameter to be holding in your hand to feel the take, where as the 8lb will be difficult to hold and feel as it is very small. You can extend the 20lb. leader section so that a section of it is still in your hand when you have one and a half rod lengths of the leader hanging out of the rod tip. You can make a few small knots in the 20lb. leader, spaced 6" apart or so, where you will be gripping the line, to allow improved sensistivity through the leader system to your hand, for detecting takes. I learned about this leader system on a website that is owned and operated by former world champion Czech nympher and Coach of the Czech national team, Jan Siman.

The reasons I use 20' of 20lb. mono, is too allow more stretch in the line/leader system so that I can use finer Fluro tippets. Fluro does not have a lot of stretch and has a tendency to break if there is a sharp spike in the load placed on it. The 20' mono section of the leader can have 12" of stretch in it or more, (monofilament has an average stretch factor of 10%-15%), which protects the finer fluro tippets from overloading and breaking. Mono will float and only the weight of the flys/split shot, make it sink. Flurocarbon leaders and tippets will sink as they have a higher specific density than water, allowing weighted flys to sink quickly, right down to the stream bottom and most importantly, stay on bottom, extending your flys drift through the strike zone. Using finer fluro tippets will allow a more natural drift of your flys improving your presentations, which will catch you a lot more trout. If you need to use an indicator, place it on the end of the 20 lb. mono section, above the 8lb. fluro section of the leader. Czech nymphers use "in line" strike indicators, which are made up of a 12" piece of brightly colored floating fly line, with loops at both ends. The 20', 20lb. leader body is looped at both ends and the 8lb. Fluro leader can also be looped to connect to it. I do not use a strike indicator very often, but a small piece of foam indicator tape will work well. Use 4 wrap surgeons loops for 100% line strength on tippet connections and dropper loops. Use a paste floatant on the strike indicator and the first couple of feet of the 20lb. leader section. The spin rod method using the 8lb. mono that you speak of Rick, is used for center pin fishing technique.

I had a great day today and enjoyed meeting folks from our flyfishing community. We could have used more hands for the clean up as there is a lot of shoreline that needs attention, but we did our best and made a difference. The BBQ, compliments of Fish Tales Fly Shop, was delicous and gave us an opportunity to reaquaint with familiar faces around the campfire and get to know a few that were new. Many thanks go out to all who participated, with specail thanks to Rich and Rob for gettin' er done. Our sponsors were very generous and we appreciate the great prizes. Rich will list this years sponsors. I sure wanted to win one of those 6 Orvis packs from Country Pleasures...oh well, next year. See you there... Greg ps. Osprey, 20' of #20 mono, then 5'-6' of #8 Fluro and then tie the first fly on. Fluro tippets to the next fly. Good Luck!

Great story Doc, thanks for posting...

Well Birchy, I'll take you fishing and you will be catchin' trophies without using any of those things... Next week if your up for it.

Remember Max, Nov. 1st. winter rules in affect, same as last year.

I'm with your dad on this...no cheatin. Fancy glasses, cheatin... Waders, cheatin'... boats, cheatin'... net, cheatin'... indicator, cheatin'...

Well I still want my royalty cheque dam it. And it should be a big one as there will be an extra 2 billion in the slush fund. Ralph only had 1 billion to give out. Ed better pay up or else...we revolt! See, if we all stuck together and took this position, we would all have an $800 royalty cheque by the first of Feb. Danny Williams for PM.

grin...true, forestry companies are responsible for a lot of the deforestation, but I'm not happy about it and I think all resource based industries need to pay their fair share and be responsible corporate citizens. I have to be one, so should everyone else.

Thanks Don, yes I meant Sundays Spey School. You can join us on Saturday also, if you can make it to the Bow Clean up & bbq. greenteal, Gordon will respond to your enquiry this evening. Thanks, EDIT: Thanks for signing on Greenteal, we will see you on Sunday, 9:00am.

I understand the fear of the industry slowing with the new royalty rate bieng discussed, but it is long overdue and Alberta is at the bottom of the list of rates. With oil at $80 a barrell, big oil companies are cleaning up and it's time we got a fair piece of the pie. Why should we give our resources away for free like we have been for half a century. In Alaska, the citizens get a royalty cheque for the resources extracted from their state. Why should'nt we? We pay for all of the infastructure and deal with the deforestation, pollution, inflation etc. and will have to clean the mess up when all the oil developement is completed. I say, good on Ed for having the balls to do the right thing for the citizens of this province. I don't get a free ride in my business, why should the oil industry.