jpinkster

Nymphs: dirty worm, stonefly nymph, hares ear Dries: Stimulator, Chernobyl Ant, Parachute Adams Streamer: Bow River Bugger, 1/4 Lbs bugger, Double Bunny

Toolman stated this earlier, but I'll say it again... I'm just glad we are able to have this discussion in an intelligent and thoughtful matter. This thread has really been a fantastic exchange of ideas and perspectives...sure beats the River Etiquette threads!

Great information Dave, thanks for that!

A caught a handful of Browns last year. All very healthy looking, all very energetic

Dirty worm or an Ice Cream Cone

I love me some Highwood October caddis

With the population projections for Alberta our fisheries are going to be challenged. The new proposed regs for the Bow are certainly a great starting point.

My latest is up: Alberta - The Best Backyard in the World http://pikepinksterab.blogspot.ca/2015/02/alberta-best-backyard-in-world.html

Plenty of other fisheries to focus on in the Fall. October caddis on the Highwood....

I'm not able to address every single point you made, but I'll try to shed some light on some of my experiences: - Cut the river into thirds. You'll have left bank, right bank and the middle. If you conceptualize the river like this, it won't be nearly as daunting. - Fertile waters like the Bow spread the fish out. While you should find fish in 'fishy' areas with great structure, you will often find fish in the strangest of places (like an 18" brown hiding behind a rock in a foot of water - Get that rig to the bottom! If you aren't fishing the bottom with a streamer or a nymph rig, you are missing out on opportunities to catch fish. Add one more split shot than you normally would; the longer you are ticking the bottom on your float, the better chance you have to hook up I know this doesn't answer all of your questions, but hopefully this helps!

Floating down the river on an ice flow is on my angling bucket list. But seriously, keep your eyes upstream when the weather gets nice. Getting hit in the back of the knees by even a small hunk of ice can be a religious experience.

It is an angler's responsibility every time they wet a line that they know what the regs are for a given body of water. Signs would be very helpful, but there are plenty of people who still chose to ignore those. We met a CO on the river last year that told us there are two dedicated officers that cover the Calgary City Limits to the Bassano Dam...that's 200 km of river. These new regs are a step in the right direction, but holding anglers accountable is still going to be very difficult.

I'm really supportive of all these changes. Anyone that keeps something out of the Bow probably regrets it once they fry it up. While I love October floats, I'm happy to sacrifice them if it means more protection for the Browns. There are plenty of other fisheries to hit up at that time of year anyways. I'm glad to see they are finally doing something to address McGregor and Travers. I knew things had gotten bad there, but I didn't realize it was that bad.

Thanks! I'll have something new with a bit more of a serious tone up tomorrow!

So...since fishing is pretty much my favorite thing to talk about I decided I should make a blog. My fishing partner, Guide Dionne, calls me Pike Pinkster due to my sometimes unhealthy obsession with pike fishing. Needless to say, it has turned into a decent moniker. Let me know what you think! http://pikepinksterab.blogspot.ca/2015/02/building-better-fishing-party.html

I wish I could get a camera guy to follow me around and watch me tangle myself up and mistime hook sets.

I'm going to preface this entire debate by outlining that I am solely a catch and release fisherman since I'm a man child that doesn't eat fish for some strange reason. I've always thought Alberta did a poor job of keeping our fisheries sustainable. I'm not going to pretend to be a biologist for even a second here, but I think there is a better way to handle catch limits: Currently we run on length minimums which I have always found bizarre. I'll cite the regulations for Clear Lake near Stavely: 1 Northern Pike over 100cm I've talked to plenty of fisherman that suggest that the meat from fish this large is often poor in quality and there are far fewer of those fish available. Most fisherman would way rather keep a pike in the 40-65cm range since the meat is generally better and there are more fish in that size bracket. Keeping those larger spawning fish in the population is so critically important, yet our regulations encourage fisherman to take the brute stock out of our favorite fishing holes. There are other provinces that run a length maximum or even explore slot sizes for keeping fish. This seems like a way more intelligent option as it keeps large spawning fish in the water and thins the herd of those cookie cutter fish we all catch on such a regular basis. Is there a way to get the best of both worlds here? I appreciate folks that are out to harvest, but I feel the pain of fisherman that are out to catch and release trophy sized fish of any species. I'll defer to some of you folks that know more about this kind of thing than I do, please enlighten me!

Look at those colours!

In unrelated news ERSD has now announced that they will be dumping all road kill into many of your favorite lakes and rivers across Alberta in an effort to entrench Alberta as a world renowned trophy fishing destination.

Just so I'm understanding this clearly: A shallower lake has the potential to hold larger fish? Never thought about that before.

Echo Slanter's statement above. Those smaller high altitude lakes just don't have the food supply to yield large fish. You'll find plenty of long skinny ones, but pretty rare to stumble upon a football up there.

I didn't buy it, my roommate did. I am more than happy to tag along as first-mate

What a great season! Mad props to the guy who takes a picture of a sucker AND a whitey!

And because I'm his free loading roommate, I was able to read it and never had to buy it!