alhuger

They were on streamers and chronnies. The streamers were a mixed bag and the chironimids were black and red size 16.

I managed to get out after work last week a few times to work on my boat and fish. The bad news is my boat needs more work, the good news though was that the bite was decent. I wish I had more time, but such is life. Attached are some of the pics, they all are more or less the same angle given my one handed photo taking skills are not great. All the fish were nice clean (except one) wild rainbows. al

This stupidity is not limited to Alberta regrettably: http://ourrivers.ca/content/view/118/38/

Guys, I just finished out a day of instruction w/ Gordon (it was short because I have to work today). Do not let the snowfall fool you, the river was fantastic with little to no wind in the area we were and the snow was no problem. Plenty warm. In fact, fish were rising all of the place! So don't sweat tomorrow. I wish I could go actually. al

All, I managed to get out for a steelheading trip this last week around Vancouver. I had a great time and managed to get a fantastic guide who specializes in two hander fishing. It was like drinking from a fire hose in terms of learning and was definitely worth it, especially if you have never steelheaded and (or) your new to two hander fishing. I fished a two hander the entire trip with a skaggit set up (both 450 and 550 grain) and fished water I would not have otherwise been able to cover. I cannot imagine double hauling 12 feet of T14 on a single hander 10 hours a day! To sum it up, many casts & no steelies although we did actually see them holding. I can see why it's so addictive, it might be a good thing that I did not hook up. In any event, the guide was truly fantastic, if you are headed that way and want the guide info, PM me and I will pass it on. al

Do you ever tire of baiting people on the board?

Hey Reel, I have done some fishing on lakes with spey rods and I can offer you this, match your line type to the fishing. Remember that many of the lines in question do lend themselves to being stripped much past the head. Often when I am fishing I will strip all the way back to the boat especially when fishing bait fish patterns, damsels etc. I am gravitating towards using a skaggit and a sinking line. The skaggit I can strip in further and it is (for me) likely easier to throw indie rigs for chronies (although I have not done yet, I used a scandi last time). The sinking line should speak for itself. So far I am not sold on the benefits of using a spey for lake fishing from a boat. From shore though.... -al

Rusty, Thanks for the great reply (also, thanks to everyone else so far). Do you know by chance which model you fished in? As for price, depending on the model they run from 1100 to 1450 or there abouts I think. I have actually been toying with the Pac 900 for a long time, they look great but might be a storage hassle for me. I am really looking for something which I can fit *in* my SUV although I may end up changing my mind on that score. al

All, I am thinking on buying a raft for the bow this year. In particular I am looking at Watermasters: http://www.bigskyinflatables.com/WM_Models_and_Specs.html Is anyone here familiar with them or have any opinions about them? I am leaning towards a raft like this primarily for portability reasons. I actually have a boat for larger water (not rivers mind you) and I want something I can fit in the trunk of my SUV. Any input would be appreciated. al

That is telling, any software that is not usable to a complete idiot is a failure. The Apple developers get that. The promise of software is to simplify our lives, when it starts to deviate from that then someone has built bad software. al

I would go Mac, as for Microsoft apps there are some really good options for running them within your Mac (take a peek at Parallels, it's awesome). If you do not want to run your MS apps from a VM then you can dual boot the system with Bootcamp which comes with new macs. It allows you to boot into MS or OS X, very sweet and easy to work with. For what it's worth I work with a Mac and I use MS Office, MS Project and a series of other apps with no problems. Down side is, it's more expensive than it should be. Also, the chances of someone cleaning out your bank account via a compromised Mac are (at least today) quite a bit lower. -al

Sorry for being late, happy birthday Lornce! I'll be thinking of you when I am in your old stomping grounds in BC next week, hopefully catching fish :> al

Well, it's also likely directly related to gas prices actually. I fish the shuswap, it has drops in boat traffic (which you generally need to fish unless you just hit the river mouths) when the price of gas rises. But I'm sure concentrating folks up at white and the many. many other local lakes likely helps matters. We'll see if the fishing drops further now with perch in adams lake.

I would agree but the point I was trying to make was that few people like fishing shoulder to shoulder. It's not fun.

Rick, Statscan says that last year was a record in migration for Canadians moving out of their home province for work. The vast majority of people moving, some 500,000, moved west. As you might guess Alberta was home to many of these folks. Care to guess which city in Alberta saw the most people moving in (not counting Fort Mac)? I think Tako has a point for the province as a whole but Calgary definitely is growing. However in BC where I fish mostly I just got a government report on the number of anglers on my local water last year in addition to the number of fish caught. I was floored, I thought the number of anglers had increased when if fact it has dropped although only slightly. al

Hey Rick, As for question 2, I do not think people should post locations in a picture post for a couple of reasons. First, you are guaranteed to generate more pressure on the location, in some cases a tremendous amount. Also, you'll find that the crowding lends itself to combat fishing. I imagine you've seen rivers in BC (or anywhere) during a salmon run, they can suck pretty bad. All of us benefit from anglers being more spread out. Having said that, I would not know where to fish on the river without being introduced to water by friends which in some cases who I have met here. I am all for direct personal interaction, it helps grow our sport and build relationships. -al

That is an awesome fish.

Thanks Gents, appreciated.

I am looking to buy some self inflating life vests (the type which are filled automatically by CO2 cannisters) for my boat and for fishing the river. Does anyone know where I can find them in Calgary? -al

No, but I found them while searching on the DFO site. I will look around to see if I saved any, if I did I will PM.

Weedy, If you dig deep enough you can uncover actual xls files that list which specific charges were laid and where through out all of the regions for each season. Most of it ends up being fishing without a license or with banned gear or in closed water. -l

I also thought it might be a general way of describing that the line travels under the rod tip versus an overhead cast...?

Hey all, I am thinking through a pattern I want to try and I have selected coyote fur for the collar. After stripping out the under hair the fur is very soft and about 4 inches long. I am wondering though if anyone knows what the action is like in the water? I realize I could try this in the sink and figure it out but I am currently not near the fur and won't be for a while. Does anyone have experience with coyote fur for long haired streamers? thanks, al

While reading about single handed spey casting I keep running across references to 'underhand' casting in the context of single handed speys. I have to admit to being confused by this. I associate underhand casting with two handed casting where the bottom hand is driving the majority of the power (or all) of the cast. Can anyone shed light on what this means in terms of a singled handed spey cast?

Thanks Brian, outstanding post. al