BowLurker

Had one of the best summers for dries this year ('24) and one of the best patterns for the great days was a Comparadun...in pink, no less! Sz14 traditional wet fly hook, preeeeeeemo Comparadun hair and the body was 'Dirty Bug Yarn' by SemperFli in the "Shrimp" colour. The Rainbows smashed the pinkies all day, switched to olive or gray...nothing. Scruff it up a bit to make it extra buggy and Sz16 might have done it too.

I had run out of calf body hair, so I used white CDC for the gills on this chironomid. I'm sure there is an official name for this pattern, but I am calling it a Stoplight Chironomid. Sz 14 Klinkhammer hook, using three different colours of floss and a black tungsten slotted bead with a UV resin coating. .

Haven't tried a Green Lacewing pattern yet, too busy tying smaller and smaller midges! Had to stop squinting at Sz20 hooks, so went for a big salmon pattern. McKenna's Freestyle Fall Favourite, on a Sz4 Daiichi 2139 - Bob Veverka's 'Classic Salmon Hook'. Hard to tell from my photo, but the steel is blued. The original calls for a 2441, but I liked the shape of this hook. Time to break out the tripod and big camera methinks! Tim Flagler also has a great tying demo for this pattern on his YT channel. Red holo-tinsel for the butt, silver mylar body (UV resin optional) and small orange arctic UV chenille wrapped for the underwing. Red guinea fowl for the throat with a fire orange arctic fox wing. Top sparkle is Senyo's barred Predator Wrap in Fluorescent orange & black. This is a joy to tie, and one of my favourite patterns. I'm also trying a few different styles to adapt the pattern to a tube fly. Cheers!

Hi folks! Looks like the topic is open, so here we go!! I watched many of these insects over the past 2024 summer ( lacewing / green Sally? ) and would like to tie a version. Any tips would be appreciated!

Hi BrianR, There needs to be a bit more clarification. I get that you have been emailing with shane@gov.... dot dot, but I can't really tell where your post starts and his ends..? Quotes around the emails from shane@ would be great. |

How did Montana and Idaho fare after their battles with WD? I hear many different stories, some on podcast, some via 'the big 3' youtube videos that are out there. Some ( a lot ) of the local podcasts from the area seem to feel it's over down yonder, but always present. There are other scientific guests that say it will always be around and bleach is your friend. Is it more enforcement? More manpower? For someone that hears a lot about a mostly cyclical lifespan, not withstanding the terrible side of this parasite, how did they recover down south? I'm sure that the two states have mostly the same problems with tailwater drought/flood as we do here..?

Just received an email from RELM...sigh. Grab yer thermometers folks!

I trust we can get to this sort of place for our beautiful Alberta streams and rivers. Here's hoping.

Hey folks, No matter how everyone feels about the Euro-nymphing style, the technology has really evolved over the years. I am not someone that calls out a specific brand or manufacturer, in fact I dislike doing it. In this case, I feel I must mention it, but I will not type the name. I will put up a blurred pic. This leader was supposed to be 2X at 30 feet long, or 8.8lbs test. The leader comes with a double-colour sighter piece of mono integrated into the 'front' of the taper, along with a tippet ring. This sighter snapped off within two days of medium fish and a baby snag. Second time, no heavy duty snag, just walking backwards to pull inline, bam! 2 feet up from the old sighters, again, no big deal, lost a couple flies. Today, I did have a fat 20+ Whitey on, then a big fish on with head shakes, but I'd since lost some of the leader already, hopefully I was truly into the 2X...? Nope, lost the whole works, including tippet rings, swivel, two beadhead flies and my sighter mono. The opaque white mono was visibly stretched from 2X to around a 4.5X close to the break. Geez,...I hate losing hooks in fish out there, but the whole rig? Barbless, and smaller...sigh. I was fishing with no drag and was alert for the strike(s). So, if you catch a fish with a bunch of euro gear in its mouth, my bad. I dislike this very much. Sorry folks. But, I didn't think I would have to worry about a friggin' 2x leader from a reputable manufacturer. I have had the same problem with opaque white mono from another manufacturer as well. Here we go: As stated, every situation is different, but over the years. this opaque white mono is just wayyy toooo brittle methinks . I won't post about the other manufacturer. Oh well, nothing I can do, barbless and bigger (Sz 12) so hopefully this fish will be able to work out the hooks and strings. Cheers, -Mike

I've very much enjoyed the journey this forum has taken over the years, and I have learned so many things, not only from its patrons but especially from you. Thank you. Best of luck in BC, and I wish you tight lines, easy wading and happy, happy fish. Thanks, Doc! Mike

I was fishing below the 'moon pool' at the SHP side channel and just started my wade. I noticed a gentleman in a kayak upstream, maybe 200m away. I kept swinging soft hackles and stepping down. A fish hit my hackle really hard, but came off and I was stuck with a really difficult tangle, so I moved out of the lane and proceeded to try and get untangled. All of a sudden, this gentleman in the kayak was coming down the outflow from the moon pool and proceeded to yell 'HEY!!' at the top of his lungs right behind me. I was quite startled and instinctively jumped and yelled back 'What the f*** is the matter with you!?' He answered back with 'You're what's the matter! You guys are all wrecking it! This river is mine, nobody should be on my river...' blah blah blah as he drifted away from me. He was yelling at the top of his lungs and shaking his fist all the way down and around the corner back towards the main. This was weird, almost like he swapped his shopping cart for a kayak!

I find if the threads are waxed from the factory, the Loon does flake off. With waxed threads, the Solarez seems to turn yellow, but it holds. Some of the Loon gets very yellow, and almost rubbery. For some reason, the red is very soft. I’m sold on the Solarez thin for sure. If a UV laser is being used, the resin doesn’t seem to hold up as well, almost like it cures too quickly. It also smokes up like crazy!!. If I use the UV laser on the Loon, however, it seems to be bulletproof. Weird. The Solarez instructions say to use a 3-step method with a ‘traditional’ UV light, ( 6” away for 5sec, rest, 3” away for 2sec…etc. ) but a long soak with light layers of resin has worked for me. I’m sure getting sensitive to the ‘ Loon stink ‘ however, so moving away from their non-water based products.

There can be fish in front and bugs all around, and they rise once in front of you…right after you have broken down your rod. Sigh.

Whoo Doggie, yes @dwday...yes! We need more focus on the 'before parts'. It sounds so simple.. you take a course for a Hunting License...hopefully. Why not some education about vulnerable areas and licensing changes in the Parks ( for example ) as a prerequisite for fishing? Do any of the Tourists/ New Canadians ever buy a license?

I simply posted some new ADVISORIES for said areas. Whewph..even true Science is getting run-over these days! Didn't want to start yet another diatribe about whether we should fish or not...etc..etc... . Deep breaths, everyone. YES I am the OP! I simply wanted to notify folks that might not know about the new areas. If one is reading the Forums for the first time, and trying to learn about the difference between 65ºF and 73ºF fishing here in the Bow Valley...in-fighting is pointless, and 3+yr-old studies of another watershed does not equal our Valley. I respect your posts @toolman and will continue to do so. If I'm able to get out there and fish, with all of you out there too, I'm in!! Let's go! They are sluggish here in Calgary, so get geared up with heavier tippet and get them back quick! Stop photographing our fish to death! Get out early and have some fun! The last posts I made about creating a new ' ES1 - Alpine ' zone were serious. Maybe it's time to separate the Carseland measurements from the Alpine? We've had numerous folks come into the shop, younger, maybe fly fishing for a couple - 3 years... didn't even know about the new advisories, let alone the ES1. Sigh.