Vagabond

Hawg,if you have smartphone,try using photobucket app,it's easy and works well for posting pics I've found,I do 90% of my browsing on iphone.

BVK 586 is what I have,albeit by mistake.I actually asked for the 9',paid and left the shop with it and drove straight out to Jumpingpound.It wasn't til I was stringing it up that I noticed they gave me 8'6 by mistake......and then right away was dissapointed again with the stripping guide...damn near took it back right then but was Jonesn' so hard to go fishn I lived with it......and as for flyfishn awhile to appreciate quality....does 25+ years qualify,lol?As posted earlier,I'm still replacing the nice toys I once had,no stranger to Sage and Hardy.....building the rod rack back up slowly but surely.I actually have a Zenith 8wt and would likely have the 5 by now but I rarely even use the BVK 5 anymore on the Bow since getting bit by the Spey bug,and usually reach for my 3wt Sage on the smaller streams for Cutts and Brookies. Like yerself though,I'll keep it for backup,string it up with something different on floats,and most likely it will be my lil fellers main rod in another year or two?Its worth more in that regard then what I could sell it for and it sure doesn't owe me anything.

Really?I always assumed golf was for guys that don't know how to flyfish,lol.

I think I'd be more concerned over your commute time to work,wherever that might be?The Bow is quite easily accessible from most of the SW/SE within 10-15min or less for evening excursions.As mentioned,there's lotsa nice communities in the SE bordering FCP that are walking distance to river or a short drive,if you can combine that with <1/2hr commute to work.....??Many of those communities also have private stocked lakes as well for residents only.

Ha,I hear ya,life's too short to fish with ugly reels,hence why my Hardy collection continues to grow,and a 5wt Zenith is on the short list of must haves. All that said however,I've had a ton'o fun with that BVK and probly 200 days on the water with same.It got me onto the river when I landed in CGY 3 yrs ago living out of a Dodge Caravan almost literally with the shirt on my back and on a mission re-acquire all the nice sheet I once had....ya know,important stuff like rods,reels,guns,bows,quad,sled,boats etc......if I'm not mistaken I bought TFO with my 2nd paycheque here,if not my first?? ......priorities ya know.

I have a BVK 5wt....it's ok I guess,pretty good "all around/do it all" rod for around here,maybe a bit fast for a dedicated finesse dry stick.The blank itself is probably as good or damn close to some high end rods costing 2-3x as much,but the components leave some room for improvement.The stripping guide in particular I hate,it's just plain cheesy imho,for a mid-price rod I'd think they could stand to improve on that.

If money was no object....Kola Penninsula,Russia for MONSTER Atlantics.....well into 5 figures $$ for that trip....sigggghhhh Getting back to reality...maybe a week each exploring NFLD's northern penn and eastern Lab? And/or...entire month of Sept on Skeena system,starting with exploring the hidden,off the beaten track little known gems on the coast,and working my way back uphill for the grande finale,skating dries on Bulkley. Reality check #4....I'm gonna have to be quite satisfied (and fortunate)to make 2 trips to Skeena this year,spring and fall,with the better part of 2weeks in July on Miramichi in between. I like salmon....ALOT.....some might think I have a problem?

Hmmmm...well at the risk of dredging up an old topic,I would argue that I can apply the same 11.9lbs of pressure to a 12lb leader with a 6wt as I can with an 8wt and with a more forgiving spine....jest sayin.

90min doc on the history of Hardy(plus annoying interruptions from movie trailer ad every 5 mins!) A must watch for Hardy fans/time well wasted if you can get past the interruptions. http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/lost_world_of_mr_hardy

Here's some step by step articles on a few different weave techniques,I did the bitch creek years ago but haven't really attempted any since. http://www.flyanglersonline.com Sorry,can't seem to paste direct link for some reason? Scroll down menu bar screen left,select "Fly Tying" tab,then "Advanced Tying" to see weave how to's.

I suppose so? Bring some samples to show them,can't hurt to ask. That said,I think you might find it a tough way to earn a buck with many shops sourcing their flies from offshore,you just can't compete with those prices or even earn minimum wage,unless maybe you have a specialty,ie;you tie premium quality steelhead,tarpon,Atlantic flies or wutever....but then in the CGY market the demand for such flies is limited. In a nutshell,offshore sweatshops have pretty much killed the North American tying industry,you just can't compete with $0.25 flies,most anglers want more flies for less $$ and aren't willing to pay what your time is worth.

Ask?

Great post Hawg,now use that same logic to argue for a 6wt vs. Steelhead then sit back and enjoy the hate mail.

....or a Brown Fairy. (It's an Atlantic fly,I swear!!)

"Alberta's Trout Highway/Fishing the Forestry Trunk Road" by Barry Mitchell...it's available in most local fly shops.This controversial book no doubt raised the hackles of many when it was published and often regarded as a tell-all/where to go guide that would be the ruination of the eastern slopes fisheries?Personally,I don't see it as all that damning,although I'm sure if I was a lifelong resident I wouldn't have been happy to see my favorite streams exposed.....but as a relatively new Albertan myself,it's been a great resource for finding and exploring new waters,and it would literally take decades to actually visit and get familiar with the hundreds of streams feeding the 1/2 dozen major east slope drainages from the southern border up to Grande Prairie.Going on my 4th year in AB now,I've barely scratched the surface. As for curing the itch of Spring Fever,skinny water fishing is pretty much limited to the Bow and Crowsnest until mid-June when the rest of the streams open to angling,after that the choices are almost unlimited.

Muddlers hooked me a ton'a specks also....and EHC,various mayfly dries,buckbugs.....truth is,there aint much that greedy lil Brookies won't eat,they are opportunistic feeders,often schooled up and competing for morsels...hence the frequent doubles with the 2 bugger rig....in my limited experience of 4 decades Brookie fishn,it's relatively rare that they become selective,they are far more delicious then they are sophisticated.....but all that said,when there's no discernable hatch going,visible rises, or any time I'm exploring new waters or prospecting familiar old haunts,99% of the time I'll have a black bugger tied on.

LoL,Black bugger aint no rumor....it's THE meat hook!

Re:tactics...good'ol wooly buggers have hooked a few thousand Brookies for me,best guess at least 2000 on black WBs alone?WB is my hands down #1 go to Brookie searcher,usually black,2nd choice olive.....often both with a black beadhead and an olive non-weighted trailing 3' behind.....hooked many dbl headers that way. Sorry can't offer any locations.....well......more like won't?I was weened on brook trout,been chasing them 40+ years.......btw,did I mention I like Brookies.....and buggers.

Well I dunno bout $600,seems to me iirc that the Abel AC1 was about 1/2 that price point,$50 extra for the color of choice,and the Marquis I ended up buying was 1/2 that again.Gotta agree with the "shirt pocket" comment though.....many/most fish that I play on a 3wt won't even get on the reel....on the other hand,I'm on board with Taco,I like collecting nicer stuff these days and gear that I will only ever have to buy once.....but no argument here,for the most part the reel is for storing line and the least important component....but nice stuff is just....er.....ummmm....well.....nice?

I could see myself spending a lot of time sitting in that chair,assuming it overlooks a river/lake?

I suppose one could argue that a lot of high end FF gear is "overpriced"?Collecting a couple-few Islanders is definately on my to-do list,but at the time I was looking for a LA click/pawl reel suited to a 3wt,Islander had/has(?) no such offerings.I didn't find Abel to be any more pricey than similar quality "heirloom" reels that I hope to pass on to my son and hopefully his son way down the river?....and I liked the option of customizing color to match my blank? Talk about overpriced in that category,Sage Click with plastic guts...yuk! And my mistake,it was AC1,not AC2 that was minutes away from ordering,but again,Hardy Marquis landed in my lap,spare spool and all for app. 1/2 the $$ that I was about to throw on the Abel....not an LA as I had hoped for,but still,'twas a no brainer,it had to come home with me. Re:backing capacity,not really a legit concern or criteria imho with a 3wt outfit considering the target size of fish and size of streams where I would typically use it?Really don't expect to even see the backing very often,let alone get spooled?

Give up the skateboard man,fishing photography is your calling!! Great pics!!

Might want to look at Abel Creek 2 also?I was about to pull the trigger on one last year for my 3wt,but then I found a Marquis 4 w/spare spool included for a great price and went that route instead.

Haha,forwarded to BnL.

Can I assume you're targeting coho being as Lk.O chinook can go well over 40lbs.?