toolman

Just got a call from Hawgstoppah who is heading into Calagary. He wants everyone to know that Hwy. 2 South is blocked at High River, due to a truck which has spilled toxic chemicals and all south bound traffic has been stopped. He advises taking an alternate route if you are heading south of Calgary. Have a safe and fun weekend folks.

Welcome to FFC, RabbiEE. I enjoyed reading your article. Thank you for posting it. I recall reading a great Fathers day piece you wrote, that flyangler linked for us. Recently, I have used the slow fishing days on the river, to observe and collect the aquatic insects in the drift. Some of my best days on the river lately, have had few trout on the line, due to high water run off conditions, but have been great adventures nonetheless. I hope you will join in the discussions here at FFC and share your fishing experiences with us.

Have to agree with Angler and Local. Best to clear up what the expectations are. It all sounds great, fishing the Bow in the Rockies blah, blah, blah... all for the low, low price of... Just know what you're buying, then you can judge its value in terms of costs, expectations and quality of experience. Have fun and take pics.

Not sure, but it doesn't really matter anyway, as 6" or more is fine. Just get the rig stalling every drift with lots of weight with the aforementioned offerings and you will likely find trout on your line.

I would hit the river and toss a #4 BAW and/or #6 Golden Stone, with a #16 Caddis Emerger/Pupa dropper. Nymphs would include #16 Copper John and Pheasant Tail. This should cover the bugs that will likely be on the move today, Worms, Stones, PMD's, Caddis. Dead drift the slow water near the seam, along the banks/runs/riffles. Have fun.

Birchy, you should pick up a copy of Clives excellent book, "The Essential Guide to Fly-Fishing". It's one of my favorite flyfishing books. Good illustrations, descriptions of techniques and tactics for trout and a section on other species such as pike.

I think Kale owes the Dr. a case of talls ones...if I were you, I'd make it a 2-4. Congrats. That's a fine looking trout.

An OZ of Panama Red, fresh off the local freighter that was docked at the wharf in town...Back then I thought I did pretty good on the deal. In hindsight, the exact same model of 74' Gold Top was recently sold on e-bay, for about 85K US, it may have been a good idea to keep it.

I think it is about the quality of wood and workmanship. My 74' Gibson SG Specail is still mint and I have dragged it across the country touring for allmost 20 years. I bought it at Ring Music in Toronto, in 1976. It is my favorite axe, of the dozens I have owned and played. It is a 7 piece laminated body made of Honduras Mahogany, neck through body with Indian Rosewood fret board, real mother of pearl inlay. Very unique and the only one I have ever seen. I talked to Gibsons guitar historian down in Nashville a few years back and his records indicated only 400 were ever produced worldwide. I used to also own a 1974 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top, but I sold it for $ 400 and a bag of weed, back in 1981. What a bad move that was. Oh well, young and stupid. I wonder what it would be worth today.

Spey lines are much larger in diameter than normal WF fly lines and a larger reel is necessary. Secondly, Spey Lines are usually longer, with the average bieng around 120'. Lastly, it is important to have enough weight on the reel, to anchor the rod properly during the cast. Too light a reel and weight must be added to the butt or reel to get the right balance.

TFO Deer Creek Series Spey Rod 12' 6" - 5/6 wt. 4pc. Well, at first glance it is a very nice looking rod, with nice hardware and trim. I used an Airflow Delta 6/7 line, with 55' -450 grain head, on a 12 wt. Tioga reel. Comparing this model to the current TFO Spey rod that I own and use, the differences are many and there are improvement in most area's. The tapers are more progressive which gives the rod a lot more sensitivity when casting and fishing. The thing I liked immediately, was the feel at short distances. I did not need 50' of line out of the rod tip to load and cast it accurately. It was as easy casting with 15' of line out of the rod tip, as it was with 55'. The large grain window 350gr.-550gr., accurately reflects the rods abilities. I loaded it up to the 550gr. max. and the rod delivered the power right from the cork and turning over a big rig at 70' was not a problem. The improved cork grips have a smaller profile, which feels very light and comfortable. They have added extra guides on the tip section and are using larger wire for the guides on section 3. All in all a very impressive line of Spey Rods and with the pricing starting at around $360 Can. for the 12'6" 5/6wt., to under $400 for a 15' 10wt., at Fish Tales, a bargain. The designers of the Deer Creek Series, Bob Meisser and Mike Kinney, have done an incredible job with this line of Spey Rods for TFO. I fished with it for a few hours last night and again this AM and hooked up with around 30 trout, many +20" Browns and a couple in the 24"-25" range. There was not one that I landed, that took more than 30 secs. to have to hand. I really pushed the rod when fighting fish to see how it would react and lost a few bending out smaller hooks and pull outs. Lots of power when you need to turn a big trout around in hurry. The deep flex of the rod is a little more forgiving when using light tippet and fishing with 4x is likely possible. In conclusion, I would recommend this rod to anyone. It is one sweet deal.

Long & McQuade, Guitarworks, Axe Music and more. Plan on hitting a few of the shops and try every guitar on the rack. Like fly rods, there will be one that will best suit your taste and budget.

I'm picking one up from Fish Tales today and hope to get out for a couple of hours this evening.

Good Luck and Good Fishin'...Take lots of photo's!

I'll post it when I get proper illustrations done, with step by step instructions, as it requires the visual component to make it easy to learn and tie. Hey Doc, could you do the illustrations for it and I can write the text etc?

Very nice. Thanks for posting a pic. Do you tie a green/lime Sally as well?

Opps...hit the wrong key back there 126barnes..sorry bout' that. Long rods definetly give you an advantage when fighting large trout and one more good reason on a list of many, to fish with a Spey Rod.

A great Bow River tandem rig for the month of July... #6 Barretts GoldenStone, w/Caddis Emerger/Pupa dropper. Your arm will be aching in no time.

The knot Reel Life is asking about is not a standard Palomar knot, but a Hook Bend Knot.

I will pm you the steps. I developed this knot and would prefer not posting it, as it is part of the program for our Nymphing Clincs.

Hi Jordan, I would recommend visitng a few local fly shops. Tell them what your budget is and see what they offer you. Then take a few test casts with it to see how it feels. Even if you are just starting, one rod will feel right for you. Tell us where you plan on fishing, the Bow River, small mountain streams, lakes? The rod set up you buy should be suited to the type of water you want to fish. The thing about buying from a local fly shop, is you start a relationship with people who can also help teach you how to fish, flys that are working, places to fish . That to me is a bargain.

Welcome lff and CDone...look forward to seeing you guys out on the Bow. What type of line system are you using, long line, skaggit, scando heads, all of the above? Greg

Ahhh...bottom draw dam...stable temps. Thanks.

http://www.flyfishingcanada.net/

Priceless...That's a lot colder than I would have imagined. So they scrapped like hell too, what a great trip.