headscan

Scierra pulled out of North America a few months ago, but word is they're planning to come back soon. You might be able to find a couple of places that still have some leftover stock, otherwise your best bet is to check online retailers.

You should be asked to set the admin password during the initial Windows install. I use Parallels rather than Fusion, so I don't know the exact install process, but that's how it should work. To delete the VM, follow the instructions here.

Great review Doc. I'm sure if you handed most of the naysayers identical Hardy reels - one made in England, one in Korea - they would never be able to tell the difference without looking for that "Made in England" stamp. Let us know how it fishes.

With spring coming up (finally) MEC is offering a free course on bear awareness. Showed up in my inbox and I figured it might be of interest to people here.

I watch all of Gordon Ramsay's shows just to hear him swear. He has mastered the fine art of cursing and it's something I aspire to one day achieve.

Just to clarify on the Sage warranty return - I spoke to Sage after I was charged for the brokerage and they said they had to mark the actual replacement value of the butt section for insurance purposes. If not and the package was lost then they would only get $20 for it. This was over a year ago, so I don't recall how much exactly they listed the value at, but they did very clearly and specifically mark it as being warranty replacement. I do not fault Sage for this at all. Unfortunately, I had the replacement shipped to my office since there's always someone around to receive it during business hours. The package showed up shortly after I went out to grab some lunch, so a coworker thought he would be helpful and paid to receive it. If I had been there I would have refused to pay and sign for it. I called the courier service afterwards to complain, but the attitude seemed to be that since they ahd already taken the money there was no way they were giving it back. I chalk it up as a lesson learned and will no longer deal with any online retailers that only ship items via that company.

Yeah, when they phoned I made sure they were shipping the waders back to me via USPS and not a certain courier company with similar initials. I was charged a $30 "brokerage" fee once for warranty replacement on a butt section for a Sage rod by them.

Usually whenever someone posts about a company's warranty service it's to complain, so I thought I'd post this positive experience. The tape on the stocking feet of my Simms G3 waders became detached a little while ago. I used the new Simms online warranty and repair page to submit the claim. It gives you a handy mailing label to print out (though you still have to pay for the shipping yourself). You instantly receive an email with your RA# and a link to check on the repair status. Then received another email to let me know they had received my waders, followed by another telling me the warranty repair status was approved. Then received a phone call from them to let me know the repairs were complete and verify the return address followed by another email saying the waders had been shipped back to me. The amount of communication was pretty impressive compared to other warranty services I've dealt with in the past (both for fly fishing gear and other things like electronics). The turnaround was decent too - they received them Feb. 17th and shipped them back today. Can't wait to get them back now so I don't have to use these cheapo spare ones with zero insulation any more.

Yeah, I clicked them for larger versions with the step by step instructions and still find them a little small. Maybe my eyesight is just going...

That's great stuff Dave. I hadn't noticed the older ties before. Only two suggestions - bigger pictures and especially for dark flies like the quick leech a light background like on the Bucanero pics would be helpful. Nice to see more fly shops providing these kinds of resources and putting some good content on their websites.

If you wait because there's a hardware upgrade/refresh coming then you'll always be waiting. Apple upgrades various hardware about every few months or so.

Go for the 2.4 GHz just because it sounds to me like you'll regret it if you don't. The extra speed and larger hard drive will be worth it down the road. I agree with Flytyer that "lack of viruses" is not accurate. There are definitely fewer of them out there than there are for Windows. I've run Windows since 3.1 and never had a virus, doesn't mean they aren't out there - just that I've been fortunate enough not to get one. Besides, it isn't just the viruses you have to worry about, it's also the security vulnerabilities that can be exploited to gain access to your computer. Apple has quite a few of those...

Those are made to catch suckers. The two-legged kind.

Tougher penalties are meaningless without adequate enforcement resources. Hopefully "assessing additional monetary payments to support fisheries management and habitat enhancement programs" will mean funding more COs.

The aluminum eyes seem like the ones I want. The Spirit River Deep See Aluminum Eyes look like they fit the bill perfectly. Thanks for the suggestions all.

Since I started fishing most of my streamers with a sink tip I don't feel I have as much need to weight them with dumbbell eyes, but I like the look of them. Is there something out there that still has the same look and shape of Real-Eyes but little weight? I thought of stick on eyes, but not all the patterns I use have a large enough head to stick them to.

That thread in the Bow river reports got me thinking the same thing too. For me it's how nice the fish looks and the fight it produces. Your order of trout preference is the same as mine - rainbows, browns, then cutties. At this time of year I kind of prefer whitefish though because they put up more fight than the trout in cold water but they're still just so damn ugly compared to trout. I think a lot of it has to do with fly fishers (we are the snobs/elitists of the fishing world after all). A lot of our trout were imported by European sport fishers who immigrated here but missed their native fish. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they were fly fishers too. Their attitude is probably what filtered down over the years. After all, I've heard stories of some fishermen way back (and maybe not so way back) tossing any whitefish and bulls they caught into the bushes because they thought they interfered with the rainbows and browns. At the end of the day any fish on your hook is better than nothing and the harder the fight the better. If it looks pretty for the grip and grin photo then that's just a bonus.

I'm with Doc. I use a 9' 4wt for dries on the Bow and an 8'2" 2wt for small streams but also carry a 9'6" 7wt for nymphing or streamers. The 9' might be too long for really small water and the 8'2" just doesn't have the reach you sometimes need for the Bow. If your 5wt is a 9' I'd consider keeping that for dries on the Bow and get a shorter rod for the small streams if you only have the funds for one new rod right now. You might also want to check out a 2 or 3wt for small stream stuff.

Fish new water and different spots on the water I already know. Head out west this fall to target salmon and/or steelhead. I'd like to get out on the salt flats down south, but that probably won't happen this year.

I've now had the chance to test a few different running lines and thought I'd post some of my thoughts and pros/cons. Airflo Ridge running line - supple and thicker than the others I tried. This stuff seems like it will never coil or turn into a bird's nest. No memory to it at all. But I found that it doesn't shoot as well as the others I tried. Also found that it sticks a little more because it's heavier, so it doesn't mend as well. Nice big welded loop on the front, but they should put one on the back as well. Priciest of the running lines I've tried. SA Floating Mono - thicker than other mono running lines. Shoots well and picks up off the water easily. No loops so you either have to tie them in yourself or tie directly to your backing and head. Because it's thicker than other mono lines the knot when you tie a loop in is quite bulky and can hang up in your guides. Has a fair bit of memory to it and coils horribly in the cold. Pricey for mono. Monic running line - really thin, shoots well, and doesn't coil in the cold and has zero memory. I have only two complaints about this line: the welded loops are small so you can't fit a reel or spool through it and the sleeve at the weld ices up quickly. Mend nicely and picks up easily. If the loops were bigger and they didn't have those sleeves this would be a near perfect running line. RIO Slick Shooter - shoots like nobody's business. If your fingers are cold it can sometimes be difficult to get a good grasp on it. It doesn't have loops in it, but the diameter is small enough that a surgeon's or perfection loop with a bit of knot sense goes through the guides easily. It can coil in the cold and has some memory to it. I soaked the line in hot water then stretched it out before putting it on a reel. I also have it on a reel with a really large arbour and give it a little stretch before I start fishing. Just by doing that I've fished it in the cold the last couple of weeks without any coiling or tangles. You need to put a little work into it, but for about $10 a spool you can't beat this running line. So which running lines has everyone else tried? Pros/cons?

Maybe Grafton & Co, the Bay downtown, H & M? They might not have on site tailoring though. Harry Rosen might even have some especially if they have a sale on. There are also some independent shops downtown but I don't know what kind of price range they carry.

The best thing to do is try a few different rods and see which one suits you best. Try some spey casting with the single hand rod you have. You might find you already have a rod that works well for what you want to do.

I use a fast action rod with a quick recovery for single hand spey casting, but that's my personal preference. Maybe the next time there's a "spey" gathering some people could bring their favourite single hand spey setups (since spey casting is a style, not a type of rod like some people think). Kind of tough to test a setup for spey casting unless you're on the water, unlike overhead casting.

My guess is something to do with this.

Odd, I thought the Sharkskin was the worst single hand line I've spey cast. Do you mainly use touch and go casts with it or waterborne anchor? I mainly use waterborne and found that the Sharkskin didn't have enough "stick" so I kept ripping my anchor off. Perfect example of how much peoples' preferences vary and why you should never listen to just one person's opinion and try everything for yourself before buying.