British Columbia E--Fishing Licence

You can get your 2014 British Columbia E-Fishing Licence right here:

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/ds/letters/2014/anglers.html

Thinking Outside of the Box with Don Andersen

Twenty four fly tyers spent the evening taking in the final presentation of the year from Don Andersen. Don Andersen would be considered by many to be unconventional but his innovative ideas work. Don is known in the fly fishing world for his quality bamboo rod construction but tonight he shared three excellent patterns with the group. Don has also developed many tools for fly tying. Don spent a large part of his presentation showing us some of the tools he has fashioned over the years. I hope to do a blog post showing many of these tools. Don's many years of contract fly tying experience has taught him many techniques that made him an efficient tyer. Don shared many of his ideas tonight. Don's keen observations on the rivers also lead to some of the patterns we tied tonight! Thanks Don for a very educational evening of fly tying!

...here is a note from Don

Take a look at the above video to see the slide show of Don's fly tying tools!

Folks,

It was a pleasure meeting folks  and getting a chance to show some of the flies & tooling I have used over the years.

During the presentation I referenced a number of companies products and where to find them.

Here is a partial list of some of them.

1] The scissors I use are made by Anvil - see anvilusa.con and look for the Super Sharp STRAIGHT Fine Point - Rust Resistant Stainless Steel -  One Blade Mirco-Serration scissor

2] Scud back material is used for a host of flies - caddis nymphs, chironomids, dragon nymphs. This product is available from Fabric Land in Red Deer. It's located north of the Super Store.

3] The Booby eyes are a Veniard Product and I bought them through Cliff Harvey fly tying see: http://www.cliff-harvey-angling.co.uk/index.asp? for the home page and the actual product is:

http://www.cliff-harvey-angling.co.uk/prod_show.asp?id=3078 The most useful sizes for me would be Medium and Large.

4] The Macreme Cord used for the BM is available from the Macreme Store. http://www.macramesuperstore.com with the product used is http://www.macramesuperstore.com/4mm-Bonnie-Braid_c_3.html There are many colours listed.

5] The mustache comb I used was bought in Rocky @ Shoppers. Combs are availalbe apparently in Walmart. See: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Trim-Specialtycare-Mustache-Beard-00717-Scissors-Comb-1-St/10414101

6] Scud back can be dyed or marked up with alcohol based markers. The folks @ the Alberta Art and Drafting Supplies carry Pantone Markers [ which are the best there is]. They allow you to try out the colour before buying. 

If you have any questions about the flies or the tooling, give a shout.

And lastly, there was a whack of questions regarding the hows and why of boobies. Here is about the best write-up I've seen on the subject. http://innovativeflyfisher.com/forum/index.php?topic=1331.0

After using them a couple of times, I quit as the hooking was deep. After watch Brian Chan fish them on a lake near Kamloops, I realized the he was retrieving them quite quickly. So, I gave it a shot. The results were no hook ups deep and lots of fish. 

It is hard to be believe that we are bringing down the curtain on another fly tying season! We owe all of this year's presenters a great deal of thanks. It takes time to pull together a presentation. Gathering an idea, pulling together the materials and then doing a presentation takes time. I am so impressed with the creativity of all of our presenters. Our group has a lot of expertise to be shared. The part of the group that I enjoy the most is the friendly atmosphere. Fly Tying Mondays are are great night out and certainly helps us all get through the winter.

The New Fly Fisher this Saturday will air an episode from the Parkland Region of Manitoba hosted by Phil Rowley. The theme is forage fish. It will be on WFN at 8:30 am.

Please drop me an e-mail right away if you are interested in spey casting lessons or single handed casting lessons with Maxwell Robinson. I am trying to line up lessons for around April 19th or 20th. If we get enough interest, I will get everything lined up!

Remember that you need a new Alberta Fishing License starting tomorrow, April 1st. Head over to Alberta Relm. To purchase you 2014 license on line!

I would love to post any pictures of your fly fishing trips. Send me an e-mail and I will get the pics on our blog!

Bob

OJ "Orange Juice"

Hook: Standard dry fly size 12

Thread: White 8/0

Body: Orange antron (or any bright colour)

Hackle: Antron palmered from a rough dubbing brush

Colar: Squirrel

Billy's Monster (BM)

Hook: 3 XL streamer hook size 10 or 12

Tail: Brown macrame

Body: Olive dubbing

Thorax: orange dubbing

Wing/Head: Brown Macrame

Booby

Hook: Mustad C49s size 8 or TMC 2457 size 8

Tail: Marabou

Body: Cactus Chenille or Fritz

Eyes: Booby foam

Escaping Winter With Our Fly Rods

Spring break was early this year but Karen and I decided to still make a dash for a warmer climate to fly fish. The mercury was close to -20C as we pulled out of the garage heading for the south end of the Okanogan. The driving was great until we started to work our way up the Okanogan, then it started to snow. Our I-phone told us that we were going to drive out of the snow. We did. The thermometer read 15C as we pulled into out motel parking lot after an 11 hour drive. 

We had a bit of trouble finding Karen a fishing licence because the new fishing year was about to begin. We still need last year's license. We finally found a place to buy one and we were off to the lake. We were checked by the Fish and Wildlife Officer in the area so it was good that we did find Karen a current license. 

We knew the fly fishing would not be fast and furious but it was steady. We even caught some very impressive lahontan cutthroats. We used our Spring Creek pram to get around the lake. The wind was not a big factor on this 7 mile long lake! It was nice to enjoy spring. 

We  meet up with our dear friend Leon. It was just plain fun to talk and catch up! We had lots of laughs and exchanged some neat stories!

The final day of fishing reminded us that not every day is perfect. A cold front pulled in and the showers were steady. To add to the bone chilling weather, it was obvious that the lake had received 1000's of stockers. The big boys had a feast and our fly rods went relatively silent as we watched large pods of 6 to 8 inch lahontans cruise the shore line. Leon watched a large cutthroat smash a 6 incher right at his feet. We knew that the real thing would trump our offerings. It was time for a hot coffee, a warm shower and some shopping at the Big R Fly Shop! The long drive home was quite painless until we headed north on Highway 2 at Calgary, then the reality of aggressive drivers along slippery roads reminded us that our trip was coming to an end. We arrived home to lots of new snow. We had to shovel the driveway just to get up to the garage. Great trip. The pace was just perfect for an early trip.

Karen fished with her trusty vampire leech. She had a lot of success with Todd Oishi's streamer!

We fished from both our pram and shore.

I love the colourful lahontan cutthroats!

The lake is alkaline! Lahontans thrive in this unusual situation! Other trout species would not survive.