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Check out the Loop Opti Creek rods. I recently bought a 5 wt Opti Stream and it has quickly become my favourite rod. With the matching Opti line it does a pretty good job cutting through wind. Contact Brian at Whistler Fly Fishing for more info about them.

I just went from felt to aquastealth soles and I'll never go back. The aquastealth is great in the water and won't slip on grass climbing back up a bank when wet like felt does. Aquastealth is supposed to be the same "living rubber" stuff that they make the soles of climbing boots out of. As for hiking long distances in your wading boots that's going to have just as much if not more to do with the fit of the boot and the support it offers in terms of comfort.

So you didn't just wet wade? You aren't as hardcore as I thought you were...

Hence the thread is titled "A Question Of Etiquette" and not "A Question Of Law". Just to play devil's advocate...

Haha, priceless.

nnnnnooooooo!!!!!! you just posted directions to the ultra super top secret fishing spot! (sorry, you knew sooner or later someone was going to say it )

Now go check out some of the threads about reels for two-handed rods. If you get the 5/6 with the matching Elixir line you probably won't be able to fit the line on a reel meant for 5 or 6 wt. single-handed rods. I had to spool my 5/6 Elixir on a Nautilus 8.

Still non-gerard-trout but probably requires more rod than a 4/5 weight.

The Elixir can be used for overhead casting as well, but it won't necessarily give you a delicate presentation. The only non-spey casting I really do with mine is flipping it over while high sticking nymphs.

I think a switch rod would be fine for what you want to do. Honestly I think you could even get away with using your 9 foot rod and just using single-handed spey casts with it. On the weekend I was using a 9' 4wt Loop Opti rod with an Opti Stream line to cast 3 nymphs under an indicator using single hand speys, although my leader wasn't 20' long. I believe the Loop Opti and Multi lines are designed as shooting/spey lines with a colour change between the head and running line so you can see where the load point is with ease. Before buying a new rod/reel/line you might want to talk to the guys at Whistler about the Loop lines or Courtney might be able to suggest a Snowbee single hand line that would do the trick. The Beulah switch rods are quite nice as well, though. I doubt you'd have any trouble nymphing or chucking big streamers with one or fishing for pike. I think the main difference you're looking at between a switch and a spey is the distance you can cast with it. The switch rods are also nice for high stick nymphing and overhead cast decently. The Gawesworth book is good, but you might also want to check out the Rio Modern Spey video. After watching the video I realized that I wasn't getting the full picture from the book.

http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php Great site to learn all sorts of knots. I'm not very good at tying some of the complex knots, hell nail knots give me fits, but I was able to tie a good albright following the instructions on that site.

Agreed. Plus people can sort of scatter a little more that way at some point, maybe half on one bank and half on the other.

I think either Burnsmead or Southland would be best just because of the bridge access. There may be people fishing at either one, but who knows, maybe they'll be interested in the two-handed sticks. Besides, once it's decided I'm sure that everyone on the board who isn't interested will avoid the area that day.

Thanks for the offer Nathan, but I'm in Calgary so it would be a bit of a drive to get it done. Guess I'll get it done at one of the local glass shops. Hadn't really thought about any warranties or guarantees on it so I'll avoid the mall parking lot ones. Thanks guys.

Anyone ever had windshield chips filled? Good, bad, useless? Also is there a difference between the ones that set up in mall parking lots and getting it done at a glass shop? I have a few chips that could turn into cracks next time the car is up on a lift or the temp fluctuates a lot.

Washrooms, but they were still closed for the season last weekend. Not sure when they reopen them. There may or may not be picnic tables around, because to be honest I've never looked for them.

If you want to do it so that you can do both river left and river right, then Burnsmead is probably the place to go since it has a footbridge like cheeler mentioned and pretty straight banks so everyone can see. On the weekend the current there wasn't too fast but still enough to wash your line downstream. Mind you, this could easily change between now and April. Pretty short walk from the parking lot to streamside, though anywhere in Fish Creek you might end up having to fight for space on the weekend if you don't get there early enough especially if the weather is nice.

http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/index.php?...695&hl=icky

Yeah, those Cloudveil jackets look pretty good. Right now Cloudveil, Simms, Cabella's, and LL Bean are the only ones that are licensed to make Gore-Tex waders and fishing jackets as well. I went from only having owned cheap-ass waders to the Simms G3s and you can seriously tell the difference. The material feels more durable and the seams look bomb-proof. I also didn't need as many layers under my waders to keep warm or feel too hot when walking back to the car. It was almost like they were breathable or something. Oh, wait... The warranty may be built into the price on Simms and Patagonia stuff, but when a seam fails after 366 days I just send them back and they'll be repaired or replaced. One year warranty has you shelling out another $250.

Yeah, it's just as important to balance a single hand rod with the reel, but I think that's a lot easier to do. For example, the majority of 6 weight single hand rods are about 9' long and probably weigh roughly within an ounce of each other. Easy enough for the reel manufacturers to make their reels so that they'll balance most of the mainstream mass marketed rods (Sage, Loomis, Scott, TFO, Orvis, etc.). With a two-handed rod you can get a lot more variation I think. I was looking at the Meiser Highlander rods and he has 7/9 rods in five different lengths - 13', 13'6, 14', 15', and 16'. All five of those rods are going to need a reel with roughly the same capacity, but the reel that balances the 13' won't necessarily balance the 16'. Meiser doesn't list the rod weights on his site so I can't say for sure (probably because the weight changes with the different custom components he offers). I think there are just more variables to consider when picking a reel for a double hander.

What's the warranty like on those? The reason I have no problem paying extra for Simms or Patagonia is that the warranty service is top notch. I Googled "mirano waders" but couldn't find a website for them.

Check local retailers for the pricing of the 2007 Simms stuff. The 2008 waders are arriving soon so they probably want to get rid of the old stock. I bought a pair of G3 waders on the weekend and got a good deal for that exact reason. Then again, I may have just gotten the deal because I've established a good relationship with the local retailer by buying most of my gear there.

Gawesworth goes into this in his Spey Casting book, specifically about having a reel that makes the rod's balance point at the same spot where it would be most comfortable to grip with your top hand. I think he mentions that if the balance point is too high or low that it can be more tiring to cast. There's a formula he gives for determining the ideal reel weight for your rod, though I haven't tried it.

On Sunday I fished river left with the two-handed rod for the first time. I found my snakerolls were a lot better left hand up (I'm right handed) than they are either cackhanded or right hand up when fishing river right. I did however find that if you bring your rod tip close to your body too soon on a snakeroll you run the risk of giving yourself interesting new body jewelry.

Didn't see any fall colours yet so...