Curious About Ffc Members

[murray]

I've been a member of this Forum for several years now and have been curious about, Who you are, What do you do for a living and How did you come to be fishing the Bow or other waters around here.

 

I'll start off by saying I recently retired from a 46 year career of working on communication towers. That career took me to every part of Canada except the Maritime provinces. The shortest tower was a 15 ft. Tower on top of a mountain and the tallest was over 1100 ft in Manitoba. I came to Calgary from Edmonton 35 years ago to work for Calgary Power( now Altalink). I started fly fishing the Bow 12 years ago through a program at work called the Wellness fund. That program paid for my lessons and a few rods.

[trailhead]

Been fishing the Bow since 78, started fly fishing in 74 on the pothole lakes around Edmonton, and the Athabasca rainbows in the Edson-Hinton area. Still working in the oil industry, as I'm on the freedom 85 plan.

[fishinglibin]

Also on freedom 85. Born in Cowtown fished the Bow since 1969. On the fly about 16 years. I remember when there was still 3 refineries on the river.Been on Ffc about 4 years. Learned lots and still lot's to learn. Have several favorite fisheries but the Bow is the queen. Building in Okotoks so will have 3 rivers close by to have fun with.Owned my own businesses for 25 years and now doing sales for a large company.

[ParsonsBruce]

I retired in April after 35 years in Calgary's O&G industry. I took up fly fishing with the mentoring from an uncle. My first success was on a dry fly where the Okotoks campground currently is located where I landed a 12" cutthroat. I was twelve and hooked. When I was 14 I learnt fly tying on my own by looking at the insects floating on the Bow and creating a fly that best represented what I saw. Returning to the Bow the next day and fishing with my designs. Very rewarding, 25" RB football that took what seemed to be half an hour to net was my greatest success. I grew up at the corner of Heritage Drive and Blackfoot and would just walk down to the Bow (before Deerfoot Trail). Back then the river had a smell to it and rainbow like color floating on top of the water. I don't tie flys anymore, eyes aren't what they used to be. I'm thinking of taking up rod building this winter and Spey casting next spring. I'm a woodworker (only in the winter) and one of my planned projects is to build some trout landing nets. It's really nice to have the time to enjoy the stuff you love isn't it Murray?

[fishinglibin]

Back then the river had a smell to it and rainbow like color floating on top of the water.

 

That would be the refinery's. Fish meat sucked too. Thank God they are gone.

[Hawgstoppah]

Now living near Waterton Park, working in Lethbridge for a large home builder in a purchasing role. Used to guide all over southern AB but decided to get out of it as I was not fond of the politics and BS that goes on behind the scenes. Now I just fish and have never enjoyed it more. Used to fish the Bow when we lived up in Calgary, almost on a daily basis. Sometimes I miss it, but there is quite the diversity of opportunities south as well. Having said that, when the Bow is at it's absolute finest those were some remarkable days.

 

Still my favorite thing to do (and I have had the fortune of doing it every time I have visited the water this fall) is to find nice fish sipping tiny bugs in quiet water. There is something peaceful about watching a fish rise, and I find myself often watching them from a bluff while enjoying the scenery, rather than fishing sometimes. Course' it is fun as hell to hook 'em too, and I've had my good fortune with that, too!

[jtaylor]

Pick up the fly rod as a teenager but didn't have the patience. 4 years ago living in a 1 bedroom apartment with no A/C, the summer heat wave was so bad that I bought a fly rod from wal-mart and waded in the water just to cool off. It was relaxing, peacefully and it was a nice way to get away from all the distraction of life. Then one night I hooked in a rainbow with some serious weight. My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest and got a slight adrenaline rush. I battled with this rainbow forever (probably 4-5minutes). It ended with a broken wal-mart rod and a forearm that was sore for days but was a great re-introduction to the sport. Been fishing the bow at least once a week ever since. (unless it below zero)

Currently work in Marketing for a heavy oil company.

[ParsonsBruce]

Back then the river had a smell to it and rainbow like color floating on top of the water.

 

That would be the refinery's. Fish meat sucked too. Thank God they are gone.

It promoted catch and release before it was regulated or in fashion.

[BrianR]

Well i was a bird/big game hunter.Then i bought a house & low a behold across the street was a gentleman.That taught the city of calgary parks & rec. course .On fly tying & casting,beginner & in termediate.We have been friends /neighbors for 34 yrs & still going.We have fished in ab.& bc.He got me started fishing in the bow & sponsored me in Westwind Flyfisher club in Calgary.Great bunch of guys,no politics just fishing & bs..I like Murray am retired [5.5 yrs],my fishing companion [Katie] & i,wet a line mostly in lakes,thoroughout our western provinces.tight lines & sinking corkies Brian

[SteveM]

I'm on the freedom 85 plan.

 

Sounds a tad optimistic to me, personally.

 

I am a professional boxer.*

 

I first used a fly rod a bit chasing brookies in a creek in Newfoundland when I was a kid.

At 17, I followed my older brothers to Calgary. My first success on the Bow came with a big ol' dew worm on the line, back when it was legal.

Started catching trout on spinners, buzz bombs, etc.

Got my first Bow River fly rod trout on a black Woolly Bugger. Hardly ever fish the Bow in the summer, as I prefer to fish smaller waters when possible.

Still feel damned lucky to live in a city with such a great fishery running right through it!

 

 

 

 

*I work in a factory that makes corrugated boxes. (Love the rotating shifts that allow me to get out & fish while the 9 to 5ers are slaving away!)

[kstick]

Interesting topic.

 

I started fly fishing on Northern Vancouver Island in 1987 for coastal cutthroat, resident rainbows, and eventually summer & winter steelhead. I was a deckhand on a salmon seiner at the time and from 1988-1997 I skippered a salmon seiner and worked as a deckhand for halibut and herring. I moved to Lacombe to work at the small university college about the same time the salmon industry changed. Still in administration at the university in Lacombe, it's too far from the ocean! And even too far from any trout stream other than the Red Deer River. Since I've moved here I've fished the Bow at least once a year but no more than 8 times/year. More of my fishing is on the central AB brown trout streams, with the occasional trip to a cutthroat stream also thrown in.

[mcleod52]

I started fishing the Bow and Elbow as a kid back in the 70's. but just chucked gear back then. Did not start fly fishing until the early 90's. Moved out of the area in 96 but try and manage to get back once or twice a year since. Since my move, most of my fishing is down here in Washington State. I chuck gear at salmon but spend most of my fishing in the streams around here for trout.

[murray]

leading up to my actual retirement date, I found I was very uneasy about how to fill in my days. I thought fishing would account for about half of the days while the odd project might account for the rest of my time. Boy, was that ever wrong. I think I've had the rod out about 10 times since the end of April. Filling in the rest of the time has been very easy. That snow storm took about 3 weeks of cleaning up and hauling away branches from my neighbours and friends that I hadn't really counted on.

I guess you could call me an apprentice retiree. I think you have to learn how to slow down and do things for yourself. Quite a change from thinking about everyone else for the last 46 years.

 

I bought my first fly rod in 1969 in Edmonton Sporting Goods, a fibreglass rod, reel and line combo for $20.00 all in. I had no clue as to how to fish it so for the next 40 years it just collected dust downstairs. I took it out a couple of years ago and compared it to my newer graphite rods. Man, what a difference. It felt like I was waving around a 9 ft. Frozen rope. The thing flexed from the Handel all the way to the tip. Rod technology has come a long way in the last 40 years.

 

One benefit to being retired is that now I can go fishing on weekdays and leave the weekends to the crowds. It is a nice change.

 

Murray

[Nachako]

Growing up on the Northwestern shores of Lake Superior . Nobody went to Miami or Mexico for holidays they loaded up the boat and rods or the rifles and headed in to the bush. 1986 after standing a couple days on the side of the road with a sign that said " going no where fast " I ended up in the Canadian Rockies . And just uped it a notch. Bought my first fly rod in the early 90's for a $100 . After spending an evening picking off cutties in my new belly boat that my girlfriend bought me ( you have to marry a girl like that ) Now FF fills half of my garage . Turn this 50 yr old into the new 40 . Helps create a lifestyle that keeps most men awake at night.

[sldrose]

Hi all, great topic.

 

I moved to Calgary from Australia four years ago on what was supposed to be a ski holiday and my wife and I loved the city so much that we had to stay on.

 

I work in I.T consulting in Databases/Business Intelligence.

 

I started fly fishing 21 years ago in Melbourne Australia, at the age of 13.

My friend and I started at the same time, and we basically taught ourselves how to fly fish.

(Although his grandfather would take us out trout fishing, he remained a worm fisherman)

 

I've been hooked ever since then. The first thing I did when I got my license was to head off on a fishing trip.

I have fly fished Tasmania, New Zealand, Montana, Bahamas and Canada.

 

The pinnacle for me is sightfishing.

Nothing better than finding that shadow hiding amongst the rocks on the bottom;

Watching a big brown slowly sip a tiny dun, and having the patience to delay the strike;

or watching a brown tail in the shallows (only seen tailing trout in Tasmaina, not sure if it happens in any lakes here)

 

cheers

 

[FraserN]

Started fly fishing way back in the early 1980s as a teenager. Walked down to mackinnons flats from the road allowance on top of hill. No parking lot or boat take out back then. The river was very weedy in summers then, had very strong smell and uneducated trout. I used sinking line and Hardy reel, cheap fenwick rod that was poor quality. My leader was 16 inches of 8 lb. monofilament. I tied on a large black wooly bugger and cast until I got a strike. Nowadays the trout in the bow would laugh at this set-up, but back then, I caught some of the biggest Rainbows and Browns I ever got in the river. I have fished the Bow ever since, and still consider it our best trout fishery, but the changes over the years have been mind-boggling. The main one being the fishing is much more difficult and technically demanding now. Those who are just getting into fly-fishing now on the Bow will never know just how incredible the fishing was back then, even for a newbie, and thats too bad. I really miss those days. It was a lot simpler back then.

[darrinhurst]

Born and raised in Edmonton. Learned to fish with spin gear with my dad on Cross Lake near Barrhead, trolling for pike, using marshmallows for bait for perch, etc. Hadn't fished since I was 16 or so until I moved to Calgary in 2001. Had heard of the Bow river and what kind of a fishery it is prior to even moving here, when fishing wasn't really in the forefront of my mind. When I moved here, I won a spin rod and tackle box in a fun hockey tournament with my job at the time and gave the Bow a shot. Frustrating experience. I had been wanting to learn how to fly fish, but being the procrastinator that I am, I never really dug into it much to see where I could go to learn. Thankfully, my lovely wife did that for me and bought me an Introductory Fly Fishing course through Country Pleasures. Actually learned how to fly fish from Jim Mclennan. I didn't really know it was a big deal at the time. From the moment I picked up that fly rod and started to cast, I knew I was done. Hook, line and sinker. This was back in 2008, I have been obsessed ever since and get out whenever I can.

 

I have met, and fished with, several members from this board, all of which have helped me immensely (well, except maybe Bob Loblaw) in learning this sport that I have grown to love over the few years that I have been doing it. So much so that I am trying to get my two kids into it so that I have fishing partners that my wife can't complain about.

 

See you on the river.

[bigbowtrout]

My story starts in Wales, Llyn y Fan Fach, a remote lake in the Black Mountains, where a young farmer named Gwyn won and then tragically lost the love of his life. (My Mother)

He fell in love with a beautiful woman who emerged from the water and she agreed to marry him but warned him she would leave him forever if he struck her three times.

They lived happily for many years and had three sons (BBT I was he eldest) but when Gwyn struck her playfully for the third time she disappeared into the lake and he never saw her again.

She would sometimes re-appear to her sons and teach them the powers of healing with Cake and pastries. They became skilful bakers, as did their children after them. All but one, BBT was set on spending all his time on the remote lake looking for his dear Mother and thus was born a great Fly Fisherman.

One foggy eve on that great lake I lost my way and ended up capsized and sinking to the bottom, I felt a gentle tug on my arm as I was raised up and out of harm’s way.

That night my Mother told me that no matter where I go or where I fish that she will always be right there by my side; with this peace of mind I boarded a ship and headed to my new home in Calgary;

Once here I realized that not only will my Mother be watching over me but after all those years on that lake had turned me into the most superior angler this World has ever seen and so another legend was born.

[Taco]

I never knew you worked in sales

[eagleflyfisher]

Hey all

 

Good topic Murray

Been here in cowtown since 76

Early youth dunked worms, spin cst, buzz bombed for salmon, any way I could fish I would.

Introduced to flyfishing by a friend 30 years ago.

Not much instruction just hacked and muddled my way through for years.

After many lightbulb moments I finally caught on gradually honing my skills.

Absolutely love dry fly fishing.

About 20 fly ins for pike under my belt. Still haven't broke 30lbs (29.5 twice)

Married, kids (2) awesome wife who let's me fish too much.

25 years in hardwood flooring ... My back !

Here's to the next adventure .

 

Dave.

 

[Muffin]

I grew up in Brooks on an acreage and we had a pond by the house that we got stocked with some rainbows. I used to use a spinning rod and bobber but I was always unhappy with the amount of damage they could cause. I managed to stumble upon some of my Grandpa's old fly fishing gear and teach myself a bit. The next step was to call up the local expert, as he was a friend of the family. Ironic, as years later I ended up bumping into the expert again on this forum, dryfly(Clive). He was kind enough to come over and teach me some of the basics although looking back at it now I am fairly certain he enjoyed just sitting on the edge of the pond smoking his cigar putting a fishing clinic on. After the lessons and the success I saw dryfly having I knew this was for me. Sadly life got busy and the pond froze and all the fish died so I sort of fell out of fly fishing for a time.

 

When I was going to school in Laramie, Wyoming I was lucky enough to have a classmate who had guided for ~15 years. He took me out a few times which really got me back into the sport. I bought dryfly's book and a rod and have been fishing pretty regularly ever since. In Wyoming, Montana a bit, Alberta and BC.

 

This summer I even took my father out a few times and he now has the itch worse then I do. He bought all his own gear and is now fishing all the time as he is retired. It is turning out to be a perfect retirement hobby for him and a great way for us to spend some time together.

 

Now currently working downtown for a big Oil and Gas Company in a very, very tall building. Provides me the funds and schedule flexibility to get out and explore the river systems we are so fortunate to have.

[monger]

Born in Cowtown, spent my '70s summers split between the Highwood and the Bow a few miles above Caresland. We'd make a few trips up to the Oldman/Dutch Cr in the summer for a big Cutty fish fry on the coleman. My Dad taught us kids to swing 3 wet flies across the water to the hungry trout and it was awesome. The caddis hatches used to be so thick below Legacy Island we would wear hoodies to try and keep the critters from crawling in your ears and in your shirt. There would be pods of fish rising every night from 7pm to pitch black and quite often we would get 2 fish at a time. Looking back now I wish we knew about fishing dries ( not to catch more, just to enjoy the eats). Today I love hunting big fish in skinny water with dry flies. Started fishing lakes to find fatter fish and less angler density. Lots to learn in regards to new bugs and techniques. I still have the bamboo rod my Dad got as a teenager in Longview....the one I got my first Highwood fish with. Need to get it wet again soon.

When I'm not fishing I'm playing with rodents, fish and amphibians at a big school.

Cuttcrazy...did you grow up in Fairview?

[SteveM]

I have met, and fished with, several members from this board, all of which have helped me immensely (well, except maybe Bob Loblaw) in learning this sport that I have grown to love over the few years that I have been doing it.

 

What the hell???

I'm pretty damned sure I've helped every person I've ever fished with.

Mostly in the area of self esteem.

As in, "Shoot, I'm a way better caster than ol' BobLoblaw!"

 

Also, I'm going fishing for a couple hours after work tomorrow. Hopefully will get a few trout on dries to end the season on a certain creek. So, suck it, Oiler fan!

[Birddog]

Dad dragged me out every weekend pounding the rivers west of Calgary, never with a fly rod only 3 hooks and a coat hanger for a weight , top fly royal coachman , second hook was a stonefly harvested from the rocks and the 3rd hook was a big old dew worm, now remember this was over 40 years ago, Dad taught me how to read water and where to look for fish, started fly fishing 15 years ago, did a lot of river and small stream fishing on the trunk road , busted up the back in 2007 riding my horse and field trailing with my Brittany's, so now I most only fish still waters from my pontoon.

[fishinglibin]

Good post Murray. Neat to hear some of this stuff.