osprey

Nice looking tribute. I will sit there next time I'm at BH and remember Jeff.

What sad news. I followed his posts here and communicated with him especially regarding Bullshead and it was plain that he was a very important member of the community that fishes there. He is obviously going to be sorely missed. Condolences to friends and family.

Condolences to family and friends. Fish and fishers in Alberta have suffered a big loss with his passing.

I'm glad you remembered that day, Taco. Some really good fish were caught . I'm also upset that for the last 25 years or so the issues you describe have kept coming up. The paradise I knew when Highway 22 south of Longview was a gravel road is a distant memory. The country I fished around the Upper Oldman in the late 80s and early 90s is almost unrecognizable today. The whole area is suffering "death by a thousand cuts" and it makes me bitter and angry and sad. So, yeah, I understand your frustration.

Well, I guess I'm just not that memorable in person. We have fished together at Golden Pond on Bullshead, Taco. I'm not a faceless online handle but a fisher like you and most others here.

It sounds like you and Winston are on the same page to some degree. From above: "The carnage left by industry, with the G of A turning a blind eye as they are on Star Creek, has left the land susceptible to further damage by motorized user groups and overgrazing which the G of A supports as it helps blur the damage and gives them an ally." There have been a lot of research projects that are unethical or destructive. Scientists don't always agree and where there is disagreement and the possibility of real harm it seems that the smart thing might be to do nothing. Asking for a moratorium on logging watersheds that contain an endangered species does not seem to be a radical act of eco-terrorism. Taco, what is more important to you, the interests of a few timber companies or healthy populations of cutthroat trout?

Taco, I'm not talking about the science here but about Winston's posts which you stated were not up front. As for whether something is temporary or not it depends on your time frame. A forest cut down now in SW Alberta won't be growing back in my lifetime.

Hmmm... maybe I'm missing something here, but I feel that Winston's campaign against logging practices that screw up trout streams was pretty obvious. What is this shadowy cause that you think is really behind his protest? Does it involve the Masons?

Letter (email) sent to Kyle Fawcett. Now I just have to wait for a reply by post. By then the watershed could be logged. Does anyone know if this is a test case so that the logging companies can do more logging around prime cutthroat streams?

I'm with Monger and Taco on this, I always have too many but I kinda like it. It happens because I often tie up extra in anticipation of a trip and just in case some one else needs the particular fly that seems to be working at that time. When I was younger there were lots of times I didn't have a type of fly that was working and better equipped fishers helped me out. It's always nice to pay it forward. Sometimes it's nice just to try different stuff and see if it works.

Quick release tool. No need to handle most fish, big or small.

Filled out a workbook, took a couple of hours. They are available to be filled out online until December 21. A very good use of time, especially given the recent weather. There is also the option to just fill in the part of the workbook that interests you, would take 10-20 minutes.

Yes, I agree, 8 -10 pound fish are rare in the Bow. In over 30 years fishing it I can only be certain that 4 fish that I hooked would fall in that category. All were hooked on size 16 drys or nymphs, all jumped so I got a look at them, and all straightened the hook after a fairly lengthy fight. My best fish landed in the Bow was a 26 inch Brown. I figured him for 6 pounds, tops. Over the decades I have caught a number of trout in the 23-25 inch range both in the Bow and elsewhere. I know when I have something much bigger on. There is an amazing feeling of helplessness, a complete "Oh S***! What do I do now?" feeling. Pretty amazing. I hope to have it again sometime and maybe this time the heavy hooks will let me get a close look at the Bow fish of a lifetime.

Ahh, so good to hear, so sad to see. Great that you called this one in and that the CO was near enough to get him.

Given that there has not been one image of a 30 inch Brown or Rainbow caught in the Bow posted on this board, lots of people would be sceptical.

This is the reason I now tie all my caddis on extra heavy hooks. I have been straightened by fish several fish in the 8-10 pound range on the Bow in the past.

I generally find that the tippet must be sinking. If it's floating fish avoid it. Especially anything over twenty inches in less than two feet of water.

That is very tough luck. However, there are two good things. You still have a wife and kids (that clean things up), and you now need to go shopping for extra gear. Stuff can always be replaced. People, not so much.

Yep, these all make my flies look better!

Great pictures, Maxwell. Looks like you had a very intense summer, in a relaxed sort of way. Makes me think I should have spent a bit more time SW of Calgary this summer. I won't be surprised if I see some of these shots in fishing mags in the near future.

Excellent looking fish. Did you lose any bigger than those? The silver bullets of the south have been especially hot this year.

I remember brook trout getting stolen out of a creel by an otter on Prairie Creek in the 1970s. They were scarce then but they were native. In England and other less wild countries than Canada, rivers are managed for optimum trout populations. It's a bit like fishing in a theme park. Predator control is a big part of that scene. I'm not anxious to see that happen here. My vote is with the trout and the otters and the ospreys, herons, loons, mergansers, mink, cormorants, pelicans, kingfishers and others that feed on them. Though I still reserve the right to yell and throw rocks towards the pelicans!

So reading through yesterday's Globe and Mail there was a big notice from the National Energy Board regarding Transalta wanting a permit to export electrical power to the United States. Lots of it is being generated in their Alberta facilities. It strikes me that if they can't manage their hydro projects properly here they should be shutting them down and using their other facilities here to provide power here where it's generated, not selling it to the US.

Try Fish Tales. That's where I got my Korkers with that system and they are always really great about fixing gear they sell.

Just upsteam, unfortunately.