TroutPanther

Ffc post of the year award!

Well said. That said, there are times hypocrisy is called for. C&R fishing is a huge example. Protest fish populations so we can exploit them. Yes I beat up the bank to launch my boat - in moderation... I don't have gravel bar fires, park my car, 4x4 exhibitions. A time and place for everything, and I think there is a line some are unaware of where those who are on the know can qualify idiots from responsible users..

Sounds like you earned enough wife points for a whole weekend of fishing

It really is easy enough walking the boat upstream to get to the rising fish opposite the launch... I'd love to see a string of concrete blocks just downstream of the launch area at Mackinnon as well to keep out the hillbilly brigade down there.

I've always thought they should divide the total performance ranking by the price, instead of rating the price on the same scale... But I still find the reviews entertaining, and somewhat useful (turned my attention to the one peice hardy, which is amazing). would love to all 20 rods army disposal to cast though!

Wow - big change from a month or two ago where we were looking pretty well avg. Everyone do their rain/snow dance, mantra, ritual... Thankfully the forecast is calling for some rain, let's hope the higher elevations get some of the white stuff. Just looked at the snow data, this last couple weeks have kicked off the melt at almost all of the higher elevation data points - in several cases 2-4 weeks before the 25th percentile "early" melt: Sount racehorse, little elbow, sunshine, skoki... Limestone ridge is well ahead of schedule as well, as pointed out by the Alberta fishing mag blog. i guess that's the upshot of 3 degree temp at time of posting!

Saw the group above the sue Higgins bridge on Saturday keep a couple fish as we floated by. Called the CO, who told me he is familiar with them and that they do keep fish (mostly whitefish) but he hadn't ever witnessed them with oversized trout or over their limit in terms of numbers. So that was reassuring. Would like to see all bow River trout released but hey, that is a different thread. This group was obeying the regs. I didn't get a call back, and he said he was gonna go check just to be sure, so I'm assuming all was good.

I appreciate the links jpinkster, keep em coming (even if once in a while, like the gas leak in the bow, they may be inconsequential!)

That would be great! Watching this with fingers crossed.

Lots of good suggestions here - I will offer one more. Do you ever try tight-line nymphing/ nymphing without an indicator? Sometimes a bugger/nymph combo or just straight nymphs dead drifted works wonders in the winter when you maintain that slight contact with the fly so you can feel the take instead of just watching an indicator which might not be responding. Keep the casts shorter too. my experience is that it can sometimes help as well if there is a bit of splitshot or a tungsten bead fly as your dropper to maintain feel and keep the line taught. All that said, might just be a dreaded bow slump and you are doing everything right! It happens.

Awesome idea - way nicer than my old Plano! Not sure it would fly in my condo though...

Personally, I don't mind launching into the back eddy at the "new" policemans... Get the boat in, move boat out of the way, chance to get organized, park the car etc. without impeding launching. I try not to launch there at busy times. If they could remove the big-ass rock where the back-eddy meets the river it would make take-outs a bit easier and ease the tension at higher flows (hey bigfry? ) but the old take-out had its downsides as well. Went for a couple swims getting out of the boat at the deep bank tie-off... Would like to see some drift-boat capable launches in the nw -whd section built or made available to more than just the fire department and a select group: spread the boat traffic out a little more and open up more water. With all the money that gets spent on statues, public art, bike paths, etc would be nice to see the river get some love. And not more of the pedestrian bridge kind.

Love mousin! Sweet vids! Certainly haven't been too successful at it for numbers of fish, but when it works, it is awesome... I really like this guy's two-tone mouse, but even just using a single tone of natural belly hair it looks good - I have found clipping off the main hook and using a stinger instead on the tail seems to work when a fish tries to pull a mouse under instead of a full-on strike:

Thanks Nick, I dig the streamers too - I fish one that looks a lot like your top fly, the grey and white, and it is deadly.

A few for the NZ backcountry:

Gold fever was my personal favourite, but there were a few really cool ones... I definitely left last night inspired to fish my usual spots less and do more exploring next summer - feeling like there is still a ton of water left on my Alberta bucket list, let alone BC, Montana, etc. Oh and I want a raft now!

Don - I've got 30 (or 31, depending if I can sleep the night before) sleeps as well... I'm heading down on the 14th to the North Island. Planning on heading down to the Hawkes Bay / Te Urewera area in a campervan for most of the trip (2 weeks). Shoot me a message if you are going to be down that way and want to do some spotting and stalking

X2. Sounds a lot like BC.

I wouldn't mind single hook in Cutthroat and bull habitat, because in my own biased view I think it is sacrilegious to fish for cuties with anything but a dry, and a single streamer rig is probably all I would ever use if I was targeting Bulls. I do enough nymphing in the bow. As the bow is less forgiving I would hate to see single hook only as it would screw up my bobber rig for days when deep is pretty much the only way... And it would mean no more hopper dropper or tandem streamers - two of my favourite ways to fish. This would piss off a lot of people - guides and non guides. Bow fully C&R - yep. Fall bow closure for the Browns: I'm agnostic - I can certainly get the benefits of less redd stomping. At the same time, I'm not sure this has ever caused much of an issue in the past as my understanding is the Transalta silt issue, the flood, and sapro might have been bigger factors. I'd rather they hold off until they have better info. If the brown population is recovering from those events, maybe this isn't a necessary step. Has anyone actually seen the year over year data for the sport fish counts in the bow? I can't find them on Google, not since 2008 anyways. If anyone has a link that would be cool. Hard to make an informed opinion with no information.

Looks like a good season - nice hogs!

Obfuscate for the win indeed! I canvassed a couple of our environment people at work yesterday as to what this means - they are happy to chat SARA with anyone who will listen: my newfound lamens understanding of SARA is that after a species is listed as threatened, a recovery strategy is required under section 37-46, as well as an action plan under section 47-55, and a critical habitat order under S 58(as well as a whole bunch of other stuff). I think this means all the pieces are supposed to be complementary. I did a quick Google search, but couldn't find the "action plan" piece. Hopefully the order gives a bit more teeth in protecting the headwaters from burning new ohv trails and clear cutting right next to critical streams (i.e. Hidden creek!)

It looks like the SARA federal recovery strategy largely adopts the provincial strategy put in place. Page 22 of the federal strategy notes that catch and release angling is permitted: http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/plans/rs_truite_fardee_wstslp_cutthroat_trout_0314_e.pdf The strategy (pdf 92) also indicates thatbsportfishing regs should be evaluated. It is worth a skim through, but doesn't go into great detail regarding specifics.

Sidebar: I always like hearing the perspectives of people on this forum - good points on all sides of the issues. Way better than Facebook or the comments you see on news articles online...

I don't think going into debt is a sustainable strategy, so increased revenue might not be a bad move... Particularly a carbon tax like this that will make it more expensive to consume things... Provided those on fixed or low incomes get a fair refund. Smaller cars, homes, etc are probably in everyone's best interest. Industry is onside, which is huge and somewhat surprising. I don't think it can hurt Alberta reputationally either. However, I would have liked to see an honest attempt to cut spending, and I seriously doubt this party will ever do that. Our gov spend per capita is way out of whack here, and for a govt that preaches sustainability, they sure don't seem to care about financial sustainability...

Thanks for the input guys, I will check out the vapours. They look like they fit the bill. Looks like you can get aluminum cleats for them as well - maybe have the best of both worlds.