BurningChrome

Took my buddy and his girlfriend out to a couple mountain streams yesterday. Forgot the camera in the truck for the first one but remembered for the second. Kind of cool to get people into fish on dry flies the first time they pick up a fly rod.

Yeah this is pretty much right. Usually when I explain to someone what they're doing is wrong and why they say they didn't realize it. I've only had a couple people tell me off. They are required to have license plates: http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Regs/2002_319.pdf Licence plates 18(1) The Registrar must issue an off-highway licence plate for an off-highway vehicle if the Registrar issues a certificate of registration for the off-highway vehicle. (2) The Registrar must issue off-highway vehicle licence plates in the number and of the type and colour approved by the Minister. (3) The owner of an off-highway vehicle must attach the licence plate issued under subsection (1) securely to the front or rear of the off-highway vehicle so that the licence plate is clearly visible. Condition of plates 19 No person shall drive an off-highway vehicle if the licence plate is not securely attached, legible and clearly visible to other drivers at all times.

The only stocked pond in NW Calgary I can think of off the top of my head is Arbour Lake. Maybe another community has one as well, but you need to be a resident or guest of a resident to fish those.

This is what needs to happen. Close places like the Castle and McLean Creek to off roading and open new areas in less sensitive land that is more sustainable. The problem is that all the existing off road trails are on old logging roads and seismic lines. When they put those in, they didn't care about where the "road" went through. Keep trails out of low-lying areas that tend to turn into mud bogs every time it rains, keep them out of the muskeg, and if there is a river or creek around put in a bridge with proper deterrents to keep people out of the stream - if that doesn't work set up cameras or some other form of enforcement. Moving off road trails to rockier land will go a long way. Also implementing trail stewardship programs like they have in Moab and on the Rubicon would help a lot. It would be nice to see the new government do something, but unfortunately between the mess the previous gov't left and the current bust cycle I just don't see this being a high priority for them.

Yeah, the Fishpond one is nice because the metal casing makes it sink as well as protects it from breaking. Get a length of paracord or something to loop through it so you don't lose it in the current.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lille,_Alberta

I love spending time in Crowsnest. For anyone who wants the technical info, Fuji X-T1 with 16-55 2.8 and 16 1.4.

Not a single flower picture?

I drove it a couple of times last summer and it seemed open. Haven't been on it yet this year though.

Yeah, Mike Day turned me onto the Smiths and I picked up a pair of the Chromapop polarchromic ignitors last summer. I had better success spotting fish and tracking small dry flies on the water than with my old Oakleys. I still wear Oakleys for driving and casual, but I don't see anything replacing my Smiths for fishing any time soon.

Combination of both really, and yes I agree 100% about the stormwater management. Lots of people in general might have been outraged when they saw that picture but then went out and washed their vehicle in the driveway and dumped the grey water down the storm drain when they were done. Like I said, easy to jump on the bandwagon over a picture of one guy, but then don't think about all the other *hit we do to this river on a regular basis.

Less impact, yes. No impact? Uh uh. This is one of the problems with internet shaming is that everyone jumps on the bandwagon so quickly for a good lynching that they don't think about the big picture. We've all seen some of the vehicles at the launches that don't look very well maintained. All I'm saying is that we should be checking our own vehicles too so we're minimizing impact, especially when you consider the hundreds of put-ins and take-outs every season. And I still think this guy should be fined.

So just to play devil's advocate for a second, how many people back their vehicles partially into the water when they launch or pull their boats out? How many people can say for sure that they don't have any fluids leaking from their vehicles when they do? It's pretty easy to internet shame this guy (and I'm not saying what he did wasn't wrong) but I'll bet there are some fly fishermen leaking diff oil, grease, etc. into the water every time they use the boat launches.

I think they forgot to renew the domain and it expired over the weekend. Probably the DNS hasn't fully propagated out yet and the servers your phone uses have the record but not the servers your computer uses.

I don't think there's a hard and fast rule that anyone could give you, but if your forceps were in up to the handle I think I'd cut the leader. If I feel like I'm going to need to keep the fish out of the water too long to remove the hook or it's deep enough that my forceps will probably cause more damage than leaving the hook, then I'll just cut the leader.

Just how deep are they taking your flies? Most of my dry fly fish are lip hooked, but I'm almost always getting them upstream unless I'm skating the fly ie. stones. If the fly is fairly deep and you're having trouble getting it out I think that cutting the leader close to the fly might be the better course of action for the fish's survival.

The Vapor boots should be at any of the shops that carry Simms - Fish Tales, Country Pleasures, and Iron Bow.

I hope the Herald photographer got more shots with the guy's face and license plate. I see people parked on the gravel bars down there all the time but this is the first time I've seen someone driving through the water.

I used to use the Simms sandals for wet wading, but I gave up on them because I was tired of the current forcing gravel and twigs into them. This year I bought a pair of Vapor boots and wet wading socks. I've worn the combo a few times now and I'm much happier. The boots aren't too heavy, have good soles and provide ankle stability for walking to/from the water. Can't speak to the durability yet since I've only worn them for a couple weeks.

I clicked on this thread expecting to hear some Europe, so before anyone gets disappointed like me...

I use it as a PFD for myself. I think it's an SA or C&F (think SA distributed them for a while). I got that one from Simon Gawesworth a few years ago and it didn't have a logo on it, but it's identical to the C&F streamer boxes I have.

They do not. You should just stick to a thingamabobber to keep your nymphs off the bottom and give all your hoppers to me so I can add them to my collection of unfishable flies...

Random pictures from walking the banks over the past while. (all the flower pics are for bobloblaw) Blossoms in the rain. Goslings with mom and dad. Something smells like wet dog. Pretty sure that isn't from an axe or chainsaw... Some more blossoms. The fishing dog in his natural environment. Note how he stays back of the bank in the long grass to survey the water looking for rising trout. Snake in the grass. Flower power! Yes, this was taken on the banks of the Bow today. Yes, I'm dusting off my fly box full of foam soon.

Sorry, not sure what that is. Can you provide the full latin name please?