headscan

Pretty sure when they make these devices they aren't claiming that they're waterproof or even water resistant. I've taken a dunking with my iPhone in one of my jacket pockets and it was fine after I dried it out but it didn't get completely soaked either. I keep mine in a waterproof camera bag in my backpack now and only take it out to make phone calls if I need to when I'm safely back on the bank. The beauty of these smartphones is they have things like caller ID and visual voicemail so you know who called while you were busy fishing.

Mike, you didn't factor in the cost and depreciation of your vise and tools plus time. You'd need to tie a lot of flies to start breaking even on what you spent on your tools and vise I think. I know I spend far more money tying my own than I would buying them, but it lets me come up with my own creations and variations and use higher quality hooks and materials. Plus when the fly shops are sold out of the "hot" fly I can just spin some up on my own.

I bought a Hareline Super Fine dubbing dispenser a couple years ago that has most of the colours you'll need for dries. My EHCs usually get mahogany or olive dubbing and there's an Adams gray as well. Third entry from the bottom of the page: http://www.hareline.com/dubbing.html

If you're looking for a dedicated nymphing rod a fast action isn't necessarily your best bet. Fast action tends to mean tighter loops which is bad when chucking an indicator and three nymphs. A 10' rod will be nicer for mending and high sticking or Czech nymphing than a 9' though.

Upload them to an external site like photobucket, flickr, etc. then use the icon that looks like a painting on the reply interface to link to it.

I'd actually rather have just a goretex shell than something with insulation. That way I can wear it on a rainy summer day without overheating or in the winter with wool, fleece, whatever layers underneath.

Yeah I tend to use black tungsten beads for my caddis imitations, but I've caught fish with the gold beads as well so I don't know how much difference it makes.

Not positive but I think the expo timing might be related to the larger sportsman's show this weekend. Some of the lodges and other exhibitors stay in Calgary for the week and do both shows. An indoor show is never going to be the right place to show people the benefits of a two-handed rod, but that's why there are on river claves. Fish Tales is heading in the right direction by doing a clave with rods they have in stock, but until there's support from the rod companies for a clave in Calgary you simply can't expect a shop to have one of every two-handed rod in stock for demos. I think it's a bit of a catch 22 situation - the rod companies probably won't send reps with demo rods unless the event is large enough to warrant their investment but it won't get that big unless the rod companies show some support.

I think they were all the medium ones but I used them all. The tubes were the appropriate size, there was a decent sized head built up behind them, and they had a decent sized lip on them. They pretty much just ripped the lip off the tube and slid up and down the leader. Not sure exactly what caused it or if some superglue would've helped, but I'm pretty sure they're more gimmick than functional.

I've tied with HMH and Eumer stuff. Picked up a Pro Tube sampler at the show and plan on picking up a Tubeology kit in the next couple of weeks. I don't think the tube system matters as much as what you tie on it. The only exception is the versatility of Tubeology since you can tie one tube fly and fish it unweighted or add a cone. My biggest disappointment was the Eumer monster cones. They're a bitch to spey cast because they push a lot of water making it difficult on the lift. I also had all of mine pop off the front of the tube after a day of casting. I took identical flies with monster cones and bullet heads to Alaska and didn't do better on one than the other.

Hah. I had a similar conversation with him on Friday when he said I could fish down there while waiting for the rivers up here to open. I just looked at him funny and said I fished the Bow last weekend.

But is lightbulb changing a sport?

Fished a TCX 7126 and Z-Axis 9143 in Alaska for chinook and chum and loved them both. The TCX is pretty much everything you've heard - a little canon. Can't wait to take it out to BC this fall for some chrome. Took some casts with Max's Metal Detector 510 and thought it was a great rod. Smooth as butter. Also at Fish Tales' Spey-o-rama I took the Loomis NRX 14' 9wt for a spin and the Amundson 11' 3wt. Didn't care for the NRX at all but was pleasantly surprised by the Amundson. The NRX had a weird flex to it that I just hated, but I've never yet cast a Loomis spey rod I've liked. The Amundson seems to be a great bang for the buck rod and well suited to trout. Also recently picked up a Z-Axis 6110 which is a blast to cast and fish with. In addition to rods I also played around with the Rio Flight and MOW tips a lot more. The combination works great together and the MOW tips offer interesting versatility for different fishing situations. The Flight casts very much like the Airflo Compact Skagit but one thing that I like better is they laser print the grain weight onto the line instead of using a colour coding system. Nothing like reading the actual grain weight off the head instead of trying to remember which colour is which and figuring out if that's light green or a faded dark green. Also played around with a Rio Skagit Short which feels like a nice alternative for zero back cast room situations. Now that Rio is making kits for all their heads it should be a lot easier to find the right match for your rod.

Awesome. You should send the pic and story to Kirk - unaccomplishedangler (at) gmail (dot) com

I'd say it depends on how you define sport. I think that fishing like hunting is a hobby/activity/pursuit. Then again I also think golf is a game but not a sport.

I often use partridge feathers for that sort of thing. Any cheap saddle hackle like some of the chinese hen hackles should work just as well.

Was doing some tying today and realized I never posted a pic of my caddis version.

Yup, it's a rights/licensing thing though I think there's probably a CanCon thing there too. Apple just recently got iBooks cleared for Canada and had to make concessions for CanCon. iTunes music, movies, and tv shows are all affected as well. Oh yeah - Blade Runner (best sci fi movie ever), Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Usual Suspects, Holy Grail, Clerks, The Thing, Alien, Full Metal Jacket, Outlaw Josie Wales, all the Leone/Eastwood westerns, Unforgiven, True Grit (both of them), Magnificent Seven, Godfather I and II, Serpico, Bourne trilogy, Reservoir Dogs, the Christian Bale Batman movies, Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day, Tora Tora Tora, A Bridge Too Far, Jaws, original Star Wars trilogy, and the list goes on. Favourite fly fishing movie is Hustle and Fish but I doubt it's on Netflix.

http://www.drakemag.com/hammer-time/565-br...ck-the-fun.html Seems kind of apropos.

It's 270 Euros which is about $350 CDN. Probably can't get a lot of blow or sweet hookers for that kind of money. Looks interesting as a display piece but I'll stick with my Norvise for practicality.

Looks like a good start to me. Don't worry about the one with the wire around the hook, I still manage to do that every so often after a few years of tying.

You're kidding, right? Fishing bait for wild steelhead is completely lame and should be banned everywhere.

Brian, is the technique in part 2 going to be "put big pink fly in water then hold on tight"? Good write-up but I'm not sure about those sketchy-looking guys in the pictures... When we were at Alaska West this past summer there were 7 different species in the water and we hooked into all of them - chinook, chum, pinks, sockeye, dollies, grayling, and of course the monster rainbows. Sadly, most of the other guys were so focused on the chinooks that they didn't get to experience some of the other fantastic fishing up there. The chum are definitely the most under-appreciated fish up there, and they'll get you back into it after swinging through a run looking for chinook without a tug. It was definitely the best and most unique fishing experience I've had yet and would highly recommend it. Aside from the great resident instructors like Brian the guides are also all top-notch.

I don't think those will work at all so I'll take them off your hands... The only suggestion I'd have is to get rid of the nymph hook and use a Gammy or Owner for the stinger because of the wider gape. I find a size 2 in those works well for trout without being too big. Those should have some pretty wicked movement on them.