snuffy

What those guys did is reprehensible that just reading about it got me so mad I wasn't sure I'd be able to sleep Friday night. And if they didn't know it was wrong, they should have their birth certificates revoked. This sort of thing has been mercifully rare for me, but my response is always the same: start throwing rocks and walking upstream, since drift boats only travel in one direction. There are many things driving the crowding of our rivers: our population has doubled; the quadding/poaching crew have destroyed many, concentrating demand on the remnants; and our sport has started to compete with golf as the hobby of choice for retiring baby boomers (have you seen a "learn to fly fish" class lately?). Compared with these trends, I don't think we can assign primary culpability to this site. After all, I have a bunch of Fly Fisherman magazines here from the 80s with the Bow River plastered all over them. If the crowds bother you, I do sympathize, but one does not go to the Livingstone looking for solitude. However, there are remedies. One is to improve your skills to the point where you can catch fish on the difficult waters that most quickly give up on. The other would be to watch a few Humblefisherman videos, catch some inspiration, and go find your own special places. It may not be a big river, but it can still be a big province if you can keep your own secrets.

Found a whack of little brookies on the far side of a small dike from Michel this fall. Should we worry?

"I am 30 years old, but if I have lived 3 years in 1, am I not 90?" C.B.

Hawgstoppah is quite disturbed by what's going on in SW Alberta, as we all should be. The far too high legal harvest, in combination with rampant poaching by the random/ATV crowd has made the smaller streams not worth fishing within a 20 min walk of access and severely degraded the fishing in the larger ones. Imagine how good these streams could be if they were managed like SW BC! It would probably lead to an influx of tourist dollars to the area, something that has worked wonders for the economies of similar communities on the other side of the border. Back to the question of the thread, a month or so back I kept count for an afternoon on what I considered to be an off day on Cataract during which I spent 3/4 of my time coaching my girlfriend: 79 to hand. I've no doubt that there's people here who can do better.

Regular mono is very sensitive to UV, which probably isn't a big issue, and to temperature extremes, which is - leaving your vest in the car on a sunny day will ruin your tippet in no time. But then I've had it go funny on me for no apparent reason, even when I've been taking rather extreme precautions. You must check before you head out! Flourocarbon is more robust and therefore less chancy. So if you're constantly having your tippet go off, it might be cheaper in the long run to go that route despite the up front cost.

The great irony about the organic craze is that it's proponents actually believe that it's an anticonsumerist movement when it is, in fact, the final frontier in competitive consumption: the bogus commodification of virtue.

I think the police like it because it gives them a heads up as to what they might be getting into when they respond to their most dangerous call: domestic disputes.

The 2008 report has them stocking cutts in 4 Mile Creek, the Highwood, Kananaskis River, Lost Knife Creek.......etc The idea is probably to give the cutts a leg up on the non-natives.

Oops, I was going by memory at work. It's actually the C49S. I converted my collection my entire curvy, floating collection to this hook over the winter and it completely solved my bending hook problem. I still use the 2457 for sinkers because I like the shape better, but the 2487 is gone for good.

Try switching your surgeon's knot from a double to a triple. It works better for all but the thickest of troutly diameters. Also, there's a limit on how much the lines can differ in diameter. So if you're cheap on leaders, you'll need a section of 2X to bridge to your 4/5X. For your clinch knot (always use the improved version), it sounds like you're using too many twists. I use 3 down to 4x and 4 on 5/6x. More than that and it becomes next to impossible to pull the knot tight. Loose knots will slip and snap.

I'll match the hatch with parachutes and hackle stackers, but if I start getting attitude, I break out the thorax dun - worked like a charm on the Crow yesterday. I love that "better BWO" pattern, simple and doubles as a spinner.

Those curved shank hooks seem to bend out easier and the 2487 has betrayed me way too many times. Stay away from those 2x fine Mustad R30 standard dry hooks too. For curved dries, I've been using the standard wire Mustad C57S, which both float well and don't bend out.

I've had some bad luck with tippet going rotten on me, sometimes right off the shelf. Now I make a point of testing it before I go out. There's nothing worse than getting to the river and finding that you can snap even your 2x with your fingers. Unless you're a pipefitter, even 5x should sting a bit.

Thanks guys - I'll sort something out.

I really want to try this pattern out, but I don't wanna spend the $60 on the body cutters. Anyone know of a local shop that carries them, preferably on hooks that won't bend out?

Seriously? That's great news! In 30 years of fishing in Alberta, I've only been asked for my license once, in Fish Creek Park.

Couple of weeks ago I came up on a random site on Racehorse. There was no good way to get around it, so I got a good look at it. I'd been hearing sporadic gunfire through the day and when I come up 3 of the 4 members of the family are toting rifles around. A boy, no more than 15, was strutting around the site with an automatic pistol tucked into his jeans. Beer cans were everywhere. I said "Hi" and got a cold stare in return. It's not necessarily the band I hate, but the fans....

I would sooner not, and instead direct such funds towards hiring more conservation officers.

Ditto on USPS. Avoid UPS at all costs!!!!!

I haven't spent a lot of time on these waters, but I have an affection for small/medium size creeks and June 16 is too long to wait. That said, I'm getting kinda frustrated. My recent explorations have taken me to places like the Little Red north of Water Valley and the nearby Fallen Timber by the Fallen Timber Rec Area and have mostly consisted of epic walks for a very few fish, although of surprising quality. I've noticed that these locales are markedly silted up, making the bugs hard to come by. Accordingly, I was wondering: 1. Am I correct in thinking that these heavily silted, gravel bottomed areas are marginal fisheries, or would the right conditions bring the river alive with fish only guessed at? 2. If so, would the higher, rock-bottomed or lower, mud-bottomed sections be better areas to focus on, or are these simply sparse fisheries throughout? 3. Is this siltation a peculiarity of that area or is it what makes these streams brown trout streams? 4. Where are all the brookies that are supposed to break up the monotony?

On a related note, my GF is 5'1". Anyone make them that small?

Yup - a couple of years ago. Unless things have changed, the shop is basically a room in his basement, but he has enough the basics and is a fountain of local knowledge. The guy works up north half the time, but his wife should be around to sell you stuff if need be. Best to call first: 306-662-2567.

And if you don't like it, complain to Orvis. They'll probably replace it. My buddy decided that the drag on his older model Battenkill LA wasn't smooth enough, so they sent him the new one, which is a great reel BTW.

The whole "fire control is altering net fire frequency" thing is a red herring. Simple fact is that the sort of fires that burn significant areas are impossible to contain. Generally, the best you can do is to save structures and even then only sometimes. Everyone in the field has known this for some time, with the notable exception of the lunatic running the controlled burn program in the parks. But then, this is the same guy who's had two close calls with burning down Banff town site. In any event, the ecological consequences of logging and fire are not comparable.

I think the whole buy local thing gets overplayed. I remember when I was working for a small business in Canmore and Starbucks came to town, the owner said, "I'd buy local if they'd stop treating their staff like $hit and train them to pull a decent expresso, but they won't. All they want is to make sure they stay the only game in town." That about sums it up for me. I buy my tying materials locally not out of loyalty, but because I generally find it more convenient and the price difference isn't worth worrying about. But if I can get a reel for $190 off ebay that'd cost me $285 at Country Pleasures, it's not a hard decision, especially after I made an emergency stop there in my fishing grubbies last summer and got condescended to by the staff. Over 20 years of spending a lot of $$ in that store - I won't be back.