Apr 28 2008
Myself and a couple friends got out yesterday and found some open water at Millers Lake, just West of Edson. Got there early and had to break through some ice closer to shore. A couple hits but no fish…. our excuse is that we were more into testing out our new pontoon boats! Thats the story, and we’re sticking to it!
More photos here
Apr 24 2008
Went for a drive to a couple local lakes with Shan yesterday, and actually found one spot had a fair bit of open water. The aerator was still running, and provided that the wind doesn’t pick up too significantly and blow a pile of ice in towards the dock, it should be okay this weekend!
We are so anxious to get the new pontoon boats wet – I set mine up in the living room just to practice the setup, and try and figure out where I want my rod holder and sonar mounted.
Apr 17 2008
I picked up a copy of Barry Mitchell’s “Alberta’s Trout Highway – Fishing the Forestry Trunk Road” today – and started reading the first few chapters. Awesome reading – and tough to put down. I know that I’ll be reading it again and again – and it’s providing some inspiration to get off the lakes and try some river/stream fishing.
If you enjoy fly fishing in Alberta, I would highly recommend spending the $35 and get your copy!
Here’s another review by Michael Dell, a fellow member of the NLFT.
This is the books second printing – the first printing was in 2001. As far as I know, the book hasn’t been updated since, but I didn’t read the book when it was originally published. If the book has in fact been updated since its original publication, please correct me!
Apr 15 2008
I hadn’t been by the Peak web site in a while – and during my recent tying binge, a couple accessory wishes came to mind, prompting me to go have a look.
Wow – have things changed since my last visit! To be honest, my last visit was probably around the same time that I bought my Peak vice – which will be 2 years old this August!
Anyway, one of the accessories that I’m thinking about is a tying basket – something to catch all the clippings. However, I’m not sure about something that mounts to the post like the Peak basket. I think that something that tucks under the desk might be more desireable.
The profile plate would be nice, but the last photos I did (of the woven dragon) I thought turned out really nice. The background is just a sheet of black craft foam, propped up against a big book.
These items really caught my eye though:
The lamp might be overkill – as I already have an OTT lamp, and I do have a roll of hook and look material – the hooks make great dubbing brushes…. but the tool would be nice ;^) Now the magnifying glass – that I could really use – as I definitely don’t have the 20/20+ of my younger days.
Apr 12 2008
Was doing some experimentation this evening, and put together a few flies that show some promise I think.
Using a weaving technique that I saw Don Freschi (one of the hosts on Sport Fishing on the Fly) use for a chironomid pattern, I built up a really nice looking body, using contrasting colors of chenille and yarn. The effect was great – building up the body really nice. Using foam underneath the weave also helped build up the body, and along with the foam eyes, I hope that it floats!
The basic pattern was something like this:
Hook: #6 streamer
Tail: Olive marabou
Underbody: 1/8″ strip of foam
Body: Medium dark olive chenille and light olive chenille (tried other combinations, including peacock ice yarn, which looked very good)
Legs:
Olive sillilegs and olive partridge rump – wrapped a couple times like a sparse carey.
Eyes: black foam
Here are a couple other variations that I did. The one without the foam eyes also uses a lead underbody instead of foam.
