SilverDoctor

Great brown. Good on you for sharing the experience with your wife.

Always protect myself with glasses and polar glasses with sides. Twice I've had to cut hooks off for stranger that impaled themselves, both times in ears. Side cutters sure come in handy.

I tie and fish classic dries and wets a lot. They where the first flies I learned to tie way back. Still work great, and sometimes better. here are some links to get you started. There are some great books out there. http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/bergman/ http://www.ultimateflytying.com/ClassicWets.htm http://www.classicflytying.com/

Looks like you had a stellar day.

Sigh....

Planning to be up in Terrace with the brother in law for the latter part of October if all goes well with work and family. My stomping ground is the Zymotez (Copper) and some tribs. Also love the Kalum, Gitnadiox and Kwinamass. Can't pin a date as yet. I've been blessed to the the big rivers for Steelies almost ever year. Here is a local report: It rained just about all week and the rivers are struggling to remain in fishable conditions. The Skeena however has turned brown. Most of the colour is coming from the Zymoetz (Copper) River. The Kitimat is high also. If there is any good news in any of this it is that this should move in lots of fresh Coho. Fish the edges and the clean seams and you may be able to keep the bite going. Tyee test fishery still showing very good number of Steelhead, Coho and Sockeye moving through…best in many years actually. Ocean fishing remains good as the Coho start migrating to their home rivers. The Nicholas Dean Lodge “out-post” camp did pretty well for the first few days of the week then things slowed down. Most of the fish in front of the camp must have moved up river. Same can be said about the Kitimat River, fishing was very good at the beginning of the week and then slowed down. Please read the detailed report from Ron Wakita of Reliable Guide and Charters. WOW…they had some GREAT Coho fishing early in the week. What’s that old saying, “we cannot control the sky”. Nice day today so hopefully the rivers will shape up soon.

Haven't seen any Rattlers in Alberta yet, lots of bulls and gardners. Ran into a lot in BC and and of course big bush rattlers in northern Ontario.

Ran into over a dozen Gardner snakes last Sunday. There seemed to be one sunning on almost every big river side rock along about a half mile stretch. Had to be a bit careful, didn't want to hurt one with my wading studs. Even had one join me as I sat down for a tea break in the picture below. Beautiful little guys. Nice to see a healthy eco out there. Only had my cheap camera with me. Would have liked to get a good close up.

Nice Whitie

Toolman is hard into a fish

It was a fun evening with truly great company with all who turned out. Lots of swapping Spey tips, lies and flies. Grateful thanks to FrenchCreek for bringing the great selection of rods for everyone to play with and drool over. Special thanks to Toolman for getting the evening going and caring about the Spey community.

I'll be there throwing the Deer Creek. My Meiser Highlander kit arrived at my door yesterday and I'll have to get building it. Can't wait to line up that one.

I'm a fan of the strip set for more control like Max. I find it gives a better and immediate hook set. When you try to set by raising the rod it opens up a host of problems. Think about it this way, when the rod tip goes up, it produces a slack downward loop, it then slowly tightens the line. Too many actions there and not direct enough. you do need direct contact between your line and the fly with no slack for good hookups. A bankside movement of the rod tip would produce a decent set also. If a trout hits the streamer as a territorial hit it is usually along the flank of the other fish or minnow. When a trout feeds it normally strikes at the head not the tail. A feeding trout would chock to death taking in a Minnow or Sculpin by the tail because of the spines. I often have a quick sharp strike by a large trout followed by a strong take. Thus the timing of a slight pause befor setting your hook Trout will do a quick stunning hit then turn and take the prey. I once watched a big brown stun my mudder three times before turning and gulping the fly. I watched the action and paused the fly after the first few hits and quivered it a bit. If i would have kept it swimming it would not have been natural. You have to be the prey. A long shank streamer hook is harder to set than a short shank, and harder to keep a hook set. Hope this helps a bit.

Sounds interesting.

OUCH!!!! I feel for you man.

Glad you enjoyed our modest little corner of the world. Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting your picture and comments.

This is a classic lake BC fly. When I lived in BC I tied thousand of these for the local shops in a variety of colors., Olive,Green, Red Sedge and Black. Originally called the "Monkey-faced Louise", it was then changed to the name Carey Special. It was aptly named the Carey Special from its originator, Coloney Carey of Kelowna who originally taught me to tie it when I was a kid.

9 foot is way too long for a bamboo trolling rod. It might be a salmon rod or some other version.

You can also place some fine dubbing in the wire while making the twist.

They're suckers for a large Mickey Finn.

I suggest you contact Don Anderson, he has ads on this site pm me if you need his info. I love bamboo and rewrap but just for myself. Post some pictures of the rod.

Time on the water is never time wasted but instead time gained. They are in there just have to figure em out.

I've tried a number of wading staffs, some where too light thus tended to float and a couple of the collapsible ones collapsed or broke at the wrong time (not really a good thing). Used a ski pole with the bottom filled with a bit of hot lead which wasn't bad. The best one by far was a staff that I bought from Speyghillie a couple of years ago (Sharpe's of Aberdeen Wading Staff). Bottom weighted with a great strap system that keeps it right out of the way when fishing. He has brought a few from England for people who wanted them the last couple of fly fishing workshops that he put on. This staff is bottom weighted and stays put. Put it through it's paces here and on the big Steelhead waters at the coast. Now I wouldn't step into a river of any size without it, saved my bacon a few times. You might check out some of the local fly shops to see what they have in staffs based on my above comments or send Speyghillie a pm. Hope his helps

Just a comment about wading. A wading staff will help you keep your balance. I started using one about 8 years ago and it sure has made a difference. Don't go swimming any more. The other thing is wading cleats. The little screws that you sink into the soles of your waders. They help with positive traction immensely. Especially when the weed growth fires up on the rocks.

I've bring in a few pike every year, I imagine many times when you have a fish "break off" it's actually these toothy critters slicing your leader to shreads.