alhuger
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Posts posted by alhuger
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Pieroway Fly Rod co Whistler Spey Series
..just got the new prototypes and have to say they are pretty sweet.
Will be teaching in Calgary all week, let me know if you want to come out for a cast
I was lucky enough to fish the 13'5" 720 grain for a full day (thanks Brian). It's a *fantastic* stick. It can move a ridiculous amount of line (and that mattered where we were at the time) and play nice big fish really well. It's got plenty of strength so you can play large fish but still feel every movement or head shake on smaller fish. If your in the market for this sort of rod you should give it a shot it's got a pretty unique feel to it. I did not get to fish the 520 but if it's anything like the 720 I am buying one at some point.
Cheers,
al
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Hello all.
Just want to thank all that have helped with both deciding to purchase and leader design. Was out on Friday for the first time (Maligne lake) and the advantages of using a switch rod were pretty obvious. Longer cast using a scandi head which dramatically reduced effort and with the length of leaders we were using (on average 20') no tangles and the fly was in the water at least twice as long as my partners. Landed fish with a heaavy hand with no break offs reducing stress on the fish. All in all probably the best piece of equipment I've purchased in a long time. Can't wait to use it on the Bow for our annual 4 night camping trip in July.
Ray
That is cool, I would not have thought of using the scandi but that makes perfect sense. I will have to try that. Which switch did you go with?
al
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All,
I'm looking at a new rod for summer runs and chum. I like the price of the Temple Fork 7/8 130 4 Deer Creek 7/8 Wt. 13'-0. Any opinions on it? I have a DC 12.6 5/6 which I really like. Is the action similar? Also, any feedback on line recommendations would be appreciated. The grain window they publish looks quite wide, makes me wonder if it's closer to an 8 than a 7, I know my 5/6 is certainly more 6 than 5 (if not 7).
al
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FWIW, I fumbled around with a spey rod for quite a while before I took lessons from Brian. I was pretty much unteachable but Brian managed to get me casting well enough to not embarrass myself. The group class is also a great place to meet other anglers who share your interests.
al
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I was using my 4 wt. Meiser, Bob makes a phenomenal rod. Pav, I did get a heart stopping tail walk out of the fish. Had to jump start this 61 year old heart after with a wee dram o" scotch.
Wow. You are officially my bow river hero. This and that massive bow a couple of years back. Truly awesome.
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Could not have gotten it even this close without the Spey rod. Close to three quarter of an hour after he nailed the bugger. Out to the backing so I could see my reel seat 3 times. Hook straightened out after the shot. He was a couple of feet longer than my Meiser.
Oh my. That would have been phenomenal. Awesome fish.
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Definitely sturgeon in the bow.
That is awesome, what was the fight like?
al
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If you have a library card, you can head down and this book will tell you all you want to know about the little fellas:
Fishes of Alberta, by Martin Paetz and Joseph Nelson.
Awesome Keith, thanks!
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All,
I've been tying sculpins lately on tubes for the bow. Problem is though I realized I have no idea what sculpins tend to look like size wise in the summer months on the bow or frankly, in general. My only experience with them on the bow is in the fall when I have seen them up 3-4 inches or more and typically in the late evening is when I see them. Any insight is welcome.
al
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http://bloodknot.net/2009/11/these-flies-have-eyes/
Got a good laugh out of this. I've seen some of these guys in the local shops.
I am now vaguely embarrassed about keeping photos on my iphone of fish.
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hey...lots of noise gets made re: correct handling of fish, types of nets, types of hooks, how to take photos, rod size, eye positioning [wtf] etc etc and i was reading rowley's article "bug sleuthing" in the new fusion mag and re: sampling it states throat pumps 'used incorrectly, can injure fish', and 'use comes with a level of caution'. also mentions to only use on 'fish 14 inches or longer'.
i have been considering finally buying the tools and taking up the pratice however as i've witnessed others doing it what i believe to be 'correctly' and others maybe not so much got me wondering if throat sampling has an effect on fish safety and/or fish mortality, and where that 14" number number comes from, and if study had been done similar to barb vs. barbless or bait vs. no bait mortality rates...
Lots of thoughtful commentary on this thread, which is cool. For my part, I pumped once and I botched it. Likely killed the fish. I no longer pump. I see plenty of guys do it though (especially in Jack's neck of the woods and there about) and I see plenty of dudes there fumble the fish as well. Makes me a wee bit uncomfortable. I personally would not do it but that's because I do not trust myself. Also, the argument that 'biologists' do it and therefore it's safe does not wash with me. I've watched and fished with biologists and seen fish 'mishandling'. Maybe that's because they know the fish are more durable than we (without the benefit of a formal education in it) seem to think. Or maybe they get overly familiar with fish handling and get a little cavalier with it all.
al
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"Small rainbows" (those that are under 2 years old) maintain a much higher metabolism in cold water than more mature bows. It's nature's escape mechanism for the young fish. Higher metabolism, higher energy, higher feed intake, higher volumes of oxygen used, compared to more mature 'bows.
This is the same reason that fish under 2 years old do not survive partial winterkill conditions in stillwaters. When a stillwater has a "partial kill" it is the larger fish that survive because in the cold water their metabolism has dropped significantly and they use and require less oxygen than the little guys.
j
Thanks Jack.
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My 14 foot 9 weight spey is great for salmon/steelhead fishing but just way over gunned for the the Bow.
I was thinking a 12.5 foot 6 or 7 weight would be a better match for the Bow and will help to keep my casting strike ready for a fall trip to the land of Bring Cash.
Which rods seem to be the most popular on the Bow?
Thanks for the replies...
I echo Marc on the 5126 Z-Axis. I *love* that stick. I also like the Deer Creek TFO 12.6 5 wt.
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yeah i read the speypages stuff on it. I was hoping you guys had a better description. The speypages makes it sound kinda like a snap T that you "snap" out into the current above you then your loop is formed kinda off to your side. Maybe this is what it is but who knows lol
Also how would a perry poke work any better than a single spey? Won't your loop still form behind you? I guess if your talking casting out maybe 45 deg into the run then ya...
I like the guys post below on speypages saying "I feel that the mark of a great caster is the ability to present the fly to the fish - no matter what the conditions"
I know there are lots of air mends you can do in single handed casting to work different currents and situations, I wonder if you can do all these air mends with spey casts? Spey Pile Cast? Spey Reach Cast? Spey Hook Cast?! Oh the possibilities haha
Here is an excellent link on single handed casting games if you are interested http://www.sexyloops.com/carlos/index.shtml
The poke dumps all the line in front of you so the act of picking it up loads your rod. You can power out a cast without as much of a d loop required. Or so I think. I tend to do it when I am situations like that because it gets the line in front of me so I can perform a cast, perhaps it's more of a roll cast now that I think of it (mine, not the actual poke). You can definitely reach cast with a spey rod, I am sure you can perform pretty much any cast you wanted to.
al
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I have been reading up on different types of spey casts and apparently this "square-cut cast" is really good for when you are tight to the banks with bushes behind you. I can't seem to find any good description or video of this cast. It is in the Spey Masterclass video by Derek Brown, does anyone have this video?? Does anyone here do this cast or give a description of this cast at all?
Thanks guys!
I've seen it in the video but I am at a loss to describe it properly, I think the speypages descriptions suck as well but I generally have a hard time visualizing this stuff from reading it. .I think a perry poke works just as well in most situations and it's a lot easier to perform IMO.
al
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Hmmm... Not sure I agree with you Al!! The 22" Rainbow I landed on Monday was full of "piss and vinegar" (with 2 huge jumps), as was the 20" one, as well as the 18" one!!
LoL
P
I suppose it could be subjective but I think in general winter trout need to conserve energy to live through a time of abbreviated food access. Hence less fight as their metabolism drops off in order to get through winter. Or I think anyhow. Could be I just get into the lame fish.
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I am not a huge fan of winter fishing for trout. I find the fight sluggish and pretty unrewarding. Of course, I still do it because I cannot help myself but I tend to do it less because of the lethargic fight. However, I find that smaller, younger fish (especially bows) seem to have *a lot* more fight in them than their larger counterparts. Anyone know why that is? Is it because they have less mass and are more aggressive in order to see it through the winter months?
al
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There is an interesting method to preparing these fish. A buddy nails the head to a board slices the skin around the "neck" area and then peels the whole thing back over the tail with pliers. They did taste very good.
I remember my grandfather doing that so I suspect it's common (or was) here in AB. I know gear guys catch them at night on the Shuswap all the time too, rather large ones in there. I suspect they use scented bait for them there which makes me think Max is right about them hunting at least in part by smell.
al
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Gotta say...There are better alternatives to chucking flies in some cases. Not a hope in hell you are getting a streamer down to that bull in 15 feet of water as fast or as effectively as a 2oz jig. That is, if it is even getting into the proper depth zone. After all is it really flyfishing with a 8 inch streamer and a bunch of big ass splitshots?
Maybe you should take your own advice and adapt
I catch fish on the fly in 15 feet or more (often much more) all the time. Does it matter how long it takes to get the fly there? If I was in a hurry I would be at work, not fishing.
al
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Awesome, thanks.
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"Our next show - Fly Fishing Trout Lakes - Part II
Brian Chan is back for Part II of Fly Fishing Trout Lakes.
We had so many questions for his intial show that we had to
schedule a special extended edition to get through the
questions. If you thought the first show was great wait
until you see what we have in store for you in this one.
Go to his 'ASK' page using the link below and ask him a
question...
http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com/speakers/brian-chan
Tune in, Wednesday February 3rd to hear his answers...
6:00 PM Pacific
7:00 PM Mountain
8:00 PM Central
9:00 PM Eastern
To access the show using the Internet just visit our home page
at the time of the show and you'll see the red link 'Listen to
the LIVE Show',just click on this link to launch our media
player and listen to the broadcast.
http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com
One click and you're listening in LIVE."
j
Hey Jack,
Is there a link for a recorded version of the first show?
-al
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Those are wonderful. You must be proud.
al
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Colors on this hen were unreal.
Cheers
How can you tell it's a hen?
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So do you have any facts to back this assertion up or is this just your opinion being passed off as facts ?
Regards Mike
Facts and zealotry rarely share the same house dude. It's easier to make broad based assertions (no matter how feeble or soft they are) than actually stand up your arguments with fact. Facts are for liberals & left wing pinkos.
al
Jet Boats On Bow
in General Chat - Fishing Related
Posted
Why would you stick it out for an hour if he was messing your water up as such? I assume that the fishing was good enough not to care?
al