alhuger

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

As per usual, thanks SD.

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

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the feedback. I will tie them up and see if I can get a pic posted.

Yep, more or less what I am doing, I just hate to waste the time if someone has blazed this trail already and found it leads to nowhere :>

All, I've recently started tying flies modeled after intruders. I am tying them somewhat differently than the classic recipe but mine are close in that they have long flowing collars tied in so they stand well off the shank and undulate well in the water. I was thinking on using them here in AB versus where I usually fish in BC. My question is though, am I wasting my time? I know that typically these are tied for steelhead and salmon and I have seen very, very few references to them being successful picking up freshwater native species. Am I wasting my time tying these for the bow and local SW AB water? Anyone fish them with success locally, advice? -al

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

Cool, did you pick it up in town?

Awesome, thanks.

Can anyone give me a good suggestion for a single handed floating line that deals well with cold weather? By cold I mean in the -10 +10 sort of range. I am looking to buy it for a 6 weight rod, pretty fast action. Any advice would be appreciated.

That's a fair question I guess, my answer is pretty simple, I do it because it's fun. I do it because I really enjoy it. I do it for the same reasons I fly fish with a single handed rod. I do not do it for any technical reasons or because it ups my odds of landing fish. Fly fishing to me is all about what I am NOT doing when I am fishing. I am not working when I am fishing, I am not fretting over a mortgage or a litany of other unpleasant things that would regularly be eating my guts. The only thing that matters when I am fishing is the 'here and now' and anything that makes the brief time on the water that I get more enjoyable I am all for it. Give it a shot, I bet you'll enjoy it. If you don't, well at least you've tried. -al

The elixir 380 w/ a 16 foot floating poly leader works really well on the sage 7134-4. I found the sweet spot for me was about with 1 1/2 feet of running line outside of the rod. It casts nice tight loops with little effort, lots of fun. I also finally got a chance to try a skagit (Rio) on the same rod. I cast it with a 10 foot section of T14 (plus a 5 foot cheater) and it was like there was no sinking tip at all, I can see why everyone loves these lines for big flies. -al

That's a great story Courtney, thanks. What material do you usually use in your intruders?