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Sibbald Pond or Sibbald Lake near Calgary are small, but are going to be busy with the nice weather. You can also head east to one of the many stocked ponds listed in the fishing guide.

Just got a response; unfortunately no specifics: Thank you for your e-mail expressing concerns on the current state and future of Policeman’s Flats. I have been asked to respond on behalf of Minister Phillips. At the outset, I would like to point out that this area is not a park. In fact, the ownership of the lands involved in the access road and “Parking Lot” and boat launch areas is complex. The beds and shores of water bodies are crown owned, however they do change and move especially after events such as the 2005 and 2013 floods. The corresponding private land and responsibility over those lands changes in concert with the changing beds and shores. The department of Environment and Parks is currently involved in evaluating those changes and working towards understanding ownership of the lands. Subsequent to this effort, a strategy to re-establish the Policeman’s Flats boat launch area will explored with affected parties. I understand your concerns regarding potential environmental impacts on the riparian areas because of the current state of Policemen’s Flats. Please understand that we are working towards re-establishing this facility for the benefit of Albertans. Best Regards, Dan Adams, RPFT Team Lead, Land Approvals Operations Division South Sask. Region, Alberta Environment & Parks

Last week I sent a letter to the to government asking what the plans were because idiots have decided that driving through the adjacent wetlands is OK because it saves them 200 feet of walking. I haven't heard back yet. When we were doing prep work for the 2013 fly fishing championships the word I got was that this area is the responsibility of Fish Creek park but exists with the permission of a private landowner.

Taxi licenses have a lot of value and the owners of them want to see as little competition as possible because that would devalue the licenses, so they maintain the face that it's about public safety. In reality its less about safety, etc, and more about greed where they try to treat the licenses as a stock. They managed to keep the number of licenses in Calgary the same throughout the 80s, 90s, and 00s (except for the addition of handicapped taxis) until very recently when the public started screaming for them. I don't think they can sell them alone but I saw an ad on kijiji awhile back for a decrepit van that happened to come with a taxi license for $100k.

The Hook and Hackle club has a beginner tier's course starting up; it's free with membership, and you're welcome to come check out a night as a guest first, and don't need to bring anything as the club has a few setups to try out. You can also check out the different types of vises that members use. Buy your third vise first; there's no point in figuring out what you really want after two purchases.

Proposed map: http://www.albertaparks.ca/media/6372906/castle-proposed.pdf Link to information and public comment: http://www.albertaparks.ca/albertaparksca/about-us/public-consultations/archives/enhancing-the-protection-of-the-castle-area.aspx

I don't use Nikon but every manufacturer has a fast 24 prime out. If you want wider and cheap Rokinon/Samyang/Bower (same lenses, different names) have many different primes, including a sharp 14 mm I use for astrophotography. Downside is nobody in Alberta carries them; I ordered from B&H photo in the states. If money is no object there are many who swear by the 14 to 24 mm Nikon, including Canon users who use it with an adapter.

Lightroom can create videos from stills (timelapse) and can add sound, but cannot edit actual videos. You can use Photoshop to do some video editing tasks, like adding transitions, combining clips, adding sound, adding adjustment layers (exposure, color correction, black and white). Phlearn and B&H Photo on Youtube are a great place to start learning these.

Simply too much area and too few Co's. I was going to head down to that area to do some fishing next week, I'll be sure to bring the 600 mm. I'd post these on every Alberta government website you can, including the MLA for the area, SRD, and the MoE. And try to send them to the CO of the area, as it's a well known spot.

They advertised the free fishing weekend by sending out an mass email to the addresses used to sign up for a license; don't know why they couldn't do the same for these alerts.

Yikes! Got your lottery tickets yet?

That's the second best. First would be a Darwin Award.

I am guessing the GoPro might be trying to adjust for the low light by upping the ISO; in this case all of the colors will naturally be less vivid and muted. Limitation of the technology, but they can be edited afterwards. The photos from the bright days should be easier to correct; they may just need an exposure adjustment.

I use Adobe Lightroom for most of my post; it has a trial but could be a bit expensive. They are also coming out with a newer version sometime in the near future. For free programs there's GIMP and Paint.net; I haven't used these much but they seem to be more like Photoshop. An instructor of mine at SAIT swears by ACDSEE, which is easier to use and also has trial versions. I am sure there's other choices that have less control but easier use, especially for smartphones, but I don't have any experience with them. A polarizer certainly helps; is there a pattern, such as time of day or conditions, where you find you don't get what you're looking for? Also, not sure if either camera exports a RAW file, but you get much more ability to edit with that format than you get with jpegs.

Check out Phil Rowley's and Brian Chan's websites; they have put out a number of videos and books that go from beginner to advanced. The Alberta Fishing Guide, which should be out soon, also has lists of stocked ponds to try, many of which are within a short drive from Calgary.