ginger

When there is nothing good on the shopping channel I sometimes I watch the gear fishing shows on WFN and am always appalled by the fish handling. For example I recently saw Henry "The Poacher" Waszcuk lift a big snook out of the water by a gill plate, hold it vertical, and then switch to horizontal with his fingers visibly touching the gills. Most of the pike and walleye seem to get lifted vertically by a gill plate as well. Finally, the bass bubbas always lift the fish by the bottom jaw, hold em vertical and then just drop them back in without even leaning over. My question--are all these other fish way tougher than trout or are these guys idiots.

I agree with the doctor and would add that I think that unless you are very skilled landing w/o a net the potential for squeezing and abrasion on rocks is very much higher. Both net and non net landing removes some slime (maybe a bit more for net)but slime removal is lower on the list of problems.

Last year I caught a Burbot on a #14 prince nymph fishing a deepish hole on the Bow downstream of the city. I actually thought it was a log and it scared me when I first saw it. Hard to measure but definitely over 30". So there is hope of getting one on the fly.

I'm still trying to get over the shot at snowboarders

Very interesting and scary video which I have forwarded too many of my fellow riders. We were in the northern Monashees on the same day where ,surprisingly, the stability is fairly good. Although there is a layer in the area in the Monashees we were in similar to the one that nearly got you it is not reactive like it is in the Purcells and Selkirks. Thanks for sharing,I'm sure you're thinking that one clip makes the GoPro all worthwhile.

Also,Dan at Whats Your Racquet, like Felix,has been doing it forever and is certainly an expert.

Fair enough Don, you may have guessed I have a hard time resisting this debate. Taco,ouch,good point but I'm guessing with that fuel burn you have a job and the success of the oilpatch is clearly the reason we currently have one of the lowest unemployment rates anywhere. Cheers.

Oilsands investments can be very profitable but they are also very risky. The NEB figures are from around 2004 and are out of date. Although producers try to keep this secret, cost per bbl (including a capital cost component) for the existing developments probably varies between $35 and $65. Don't forget oil was $26 in 2003 and below $40 in 2009(not to mention that in 1998 the price went below$11) In other words some multi billion dollar operations were under water very recently. In addition to the oil price risk enormous construction cost overuns have been the norm,fires and other calamities commonplace and there is even technological risk--see Nexen/Opti Long Lake. Finding and producing oil,conventional or otherwise, is an entrepreneurial activity that demands levels of investment and assumption of risk which are unheard of in other industries. On the conventional side, when Ed launched his "Our Fair Share" review(gee,how was that going to turn out!) and jacked royalties oilpatch entrepreneurs headed for the hills of Northern BC and SE Saskatchewan. Ed's constituents noticed no one was hiring their excavators and water trucks or staying in their motels and some of them got it--EVERYONE IN THIS PROVINCE OWES THEIR PROSPERITY TO THE OIL INDUSTRY. Although he doesn't say it I gather Don is advocating increased royalties, taxes or price controls. Wildly excess profits are distasteful but can we agree that if you take a huge risk you might be entitled to a jackpot and can we also agree that if you are an Albertan high oil, gasoline, and natural gas prices are A GOOD THING.

Here's an easy salad for guys and for Lynn F Grilled Romaine Salad Cut whole romaines lengthwise into 1/2s Dress lightly with your fave simple oil and vinegar type salad dressing (ie 1/2 cup olive oil,2tbsp balsamic vinegar,1tbsp dijon mustard,1clove chopped garlic,salt pepper ) Saute mushrooms,walla walla or vidalia onions and lots of thickly sliced jalapenos in butter Grill romaines on hot grill for a minute or two until slightly charred Serve each guy(and LynnF) 1/2 romaine covered with a bit more dressing, mushrooms,onions peppers,anchovies etc and lots of freshly ground black pepper surprisingly good

Thanks for all your input. I've learned a lot from the incident and from the comments as well. The best and only consequential way to identify this poacher is by his gear and technique: spin rod,rod holder,tight line heading out to slow deep water. I think this is the infamous"pickerel rig". I'm guessing I haven't converted him to legal techniques and the next time out he will have exactly the same set-up. For the sake of the guy who is buying a new truck tire this week call this poacher in when you see him (very carefully). I'll never go out again without my cell.

I am usually just a lurker on this forum but yesterday a bad thing happened to me and another fly fisherman on the Bow that I thought I should post. I was fishing downstream of the baseball diamonds in Douglasdale. On my way back up to diamonds where my car was parked I encountered a spin fisherman with his rod in a holder and a tight line heading out to a deep hole. It looked like a bait rig so without thinking much about it I asked him what he was fishing with. He said corn. I told him that was not allowed. He said he didn't know that and I continued upstream. I noticed that he continued fishing and that irked me so I approached another fly fisherman and asked to borrow his cell so I could call the poacher hotline. He was very friendly and lent me his phone. By the time I got through to the hotline the poacher was leaving and the operator and I agreed that there wouldn't be much point sending out a CO. As the poacher passed I yelled at him that I had called him in. The other guy and I fished for a few minutes more and then headed back to the parking lot to find that a tire on the other guy's truck had been slashed. It seems pretty clear that the poacher thought the truck was my vehicle. I felt terrible about the whole thing particularly because I initiated the call and riled the poacher. The other guy graciously turned down my offer to pay for the tire. I gave him my number and hope he reconsiders. I'm going to continue to call in poachers but in the future I'm going to be less naive about how I do it and more careful about where I park my car. At least the fishing was pretty good.