Another nice brown

The guide book said these were some of the toughest trout to catch in New Zealand for how clear the water, how worked over the fish get, how much food selection the fish had in the spring creeks.

Someone forgot to tell the fish.

In what quickly became typical on this year's trip to New Zealand, it was see a fish, get a take. What happened from there was anyone's guess. But the majority of trout we came across on these particular spring creeks were simply ready to feed, actively pursuing anything that came within 5 or 6 feet of their holding lairs, which in turn generally included weeds or woodwork along bank troughs.

The trout to the above right was a stunning fish, the take perfect in the crystal clear waters. A sunny, calm day, blue sky backdrop, and perfect sighting conditions, the spring creek experience was as good as you can hope for. AJ certainly nailed it perfectly. I just finished capturing the video and it's as good as the photo is for clarity. :)  The weather isn't always perfect, but when it is, things certainly go your way. Given the write up in the guide book, we certainly timed the fishing well.

New Licenses

Tomorrow is a new calendar year - for fishing licenses. Make sure you stop in at a shop, Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, etc, and pick up your new Ab Sportfishing license. You can also purchase them on line at https://www.albertarelm.com/

You can read the 2010 regs online as well.
http://www.albertaregulations.ca/fishingregs/

Cheers

Cloud Formations

If you think we get some crazy looking cloud formations with the chinook arches we get here in Alberta, take a look at this cloud that we photographed in the high country of the South Island in New Zealand. The winds blew that day relentlessly. Photography was fun but the fly fishing not so much. I believe I remember we got 2 flat tires as well. Pretty comical that we managed to get one on the way to our destination and one on the way home. Luckily the friends we were travelling with had a spare for their vehicle and to our amazement it fit well enough. It turned out to be a day to remember:)

Thunder in Red Deer

Weather is always so fascinating. March 29 at 6:30pm and the thunder's been rolling the past 5 minutes now. Neat stuff.

A great idea

I just stumbled across this concept as I'm up a wee late again capturing and cataloging video from NZ. Tri-pods are great but a serious pain when hiking 25km in a day. Mono-pods are ok but lack a little. Enter the hip-pod. It's kind of like an inverse crutch. Something we'll look at putting together here - it really makes sense. It's funny how you ad-lib when taping on the water to get interesting angles. The hip pod will come in handy for a few shots that I'm thinking of. Excellent!
http://otoien.zenfolio.com/p612897758

A few hatches

With the warm weather, no doubt many are on the water this weekend and into next week. The tiny winter black stones are out (#16 to 20), so too are the late winter black stones (#12 - 14) which are considerably larger. Starting soon on some waters will be early brown stones (#12) which are a little thicker through the thorax than the late winter black stones. In another week or two, you'll begin to hear about the annual emergence of the first of our larger stoneflies, the skwala (#8). Some will say that golden stones are hatching but it's really a skwala. Simultaneous to the stones, we have midges and a smattering of blue winged olive mayflies. I hope that helps clarify what's on the water currently. And if you're wondering what fly patterns, keep it simple - a black trude in #12 to 18; Adams #16 to 18; and Griffith's Gnat #14 to 20. The Fly Shops will sell you other patterns that are fashionable as well, but the old stand-bys are worth a go if you approach and present well.
Happy times.

Reader Question

Zach wrote to us "Hi I don't know if you'll be able to help me with this question but if  I'm fly fishing top water flies for shallow water pike (3-6ft deep) would my 9 ft 5 weight rod with a 12 pound leader stand a chance against pike 10lbs and under I can change the leader weight to more I'm just wondering if my fly rod would hold up? thanks."
Hi Zach,
Your 5 wt rod will work, but it might not be as easy to cast as a 7 wt, for example. While your flies might be easy to cast at first, once they get water logged, the weight will throw things out of balance. The set up will be like a dog's tail wagging the dog - the heavy fly controlling your line and rod. If you cast like I do, my mind says you can cast anything even though it might not be so pretty, a 5 wt will be ok. The ideal is a 7 or 8 weight with a wf floating line in that case, more to do with the size and weight (water-logged) of the fly. Don't worry about the size of fish, we've landed 12 lb browns in fast flowing rivers on a 4wt rod. Pike tend to put on a good show the first run or two and then it's a matter of breaking their will and turning their heads. Where you might get into trouble is in the hauling a large fish out of weeds. You won't want a soft 5wt rod in that case. Pertaining to the 12 lb leader, you might want to make sure you have a steel 6" length or something resistant to the teeth and sharp gill plates, as I've seen 20lb Trilene snapped easily on pike. It's no fun to lose a nice fish because of something so simple as a length of steel or heavily braided leader.
Hope that helps a little bit.
Dave & Amelia Jensen"

If you want a bit of perspective, help, or a question answered, please drop us a line @ info@flyfishalberta.com

Timing your Casts

While I was learning to cast I found the information below helpful. Still to this day,  I am doing my best to apply it on the water when my casting gets sloppy. This might be helpful to any fly fisher (beginner - advanced) who struggles with the timing of their backcasts.
One of the most common issues when learning to cast is the timing involved to get longer casting distances. The first few false casts are fine and then maybe the third cast results in a loud crack of snap on the back cast. There are two main reasons for this.
• The timing of both the forward and backward cast has remained constant throughout the false casts. At shorter distances this proves to not be a problem as your rod recovers quickly and still manages to load ready for the forward cast. When the back cast increases in length the rear loop is half formed when the front cast is performed, basically turning your fly line into a whip. To combat this as long as there is enough momentum in the back cast waiting fractionally longer each time the back cast length increases will stop this. You will know that your timing is correct as the your rod will load correctly and your forward cast will increase in distance. If however you have waited too long on your back cast the rod compression will be lost and no distance will be obtained on your forward cast. Through practice you will manage to get the timing of your casts increasing the waiting time for your back cast to unfurl.

• The momentum of the back cast is not enough to both straighten the fly line and compress the rod. Remember that your fly rod is effectively a spring and unless that spring has stored the energy the fly line won’t shoot forward. Since childhood we learn that to make an object go forward we must put all energy into that forward stroke. Now here is the difficulty with fly fishing. Effort must be applied in equal measure to both our front and back casts to store energy in the rod. If we don’t then the rear loop does not form and again we crack or snap the fly line. To remedy this apply equal force. Easier said than done as this is part of the charm of fly fishing. This act can take some of us years to master!
One final point - Let the rod do the work and not your arm.
Steve from Cudafly

Craving Adventure

I awoke today to more grey, blaw skies and a serious case of cabin fever for adventure again. Not exactly the best combination. It doesn't take long for both Dave and I to feel that way. Its only been 1.75 months since we got back from New Zealand, but when you spend close to 8- 10 hrs /day, almost everyday experiencing new landscapes, new water and new fish, you tend to go into a bit of withdrawal when you leave it all. One day while in NZ, we fished a river that was 3 - 9 feet wide,fast moving and had a fairly substantial downhill gradient. We've mentioned this stream before, but we haven't talked much about the gorgy section (kiwi word for canyon) and how it got extremely tight in spots. We went looking for adventure and we certainly found it. At one point we reached the pass or "no pass" spot in the gorge. High cliffs on either side of the river with fast moving white water in between and waist high water in spots. The only possible way to proceed upstream involved Dave pulling himself over a giant granite boulder with rod and pack in hand/mouth and then helping me to do the same. It served me well to be with a guy with some decent upper body strength:) I believe we took 20 more steps after that boulder before a scramble out of the canyon was in order. You're probably asking, was this all really worth it for the fishing? Yes, yes and yes again. In fact, the tough hike to discover 25 - 28" rainbows is actually what made that day so amazing for me. If the day had been easy all the way along, I don't think the fishing would have stood out to me as much as it did. Can't wait for the next adventure. Memories will have to do for now though....back to office work.

Sometimes When You Roll the Dice, ...You Win Some and Lose Some!

Karen and I were looking forward to hitting the Oldman River on Saturday. The weather forecast looked good although the wind might play a factor in how the day went. The wind ended up being the dominate factor. Casting was almost impossible and the wind chill, even at 10 C made the day quite unpleasant. Well what were our options? We ended up heading over to the Crowsnest River looking for a more enjoyable place to cast. The thermometer hit 13C at Lundbreck but the wind was making all the turbines dance. We went to check out a couple of runs that might have some shelter from the wind. Surprise, there were a few spots where the wind was tolerable and so we suited up one more time and hit the Crow. The fish were reasonably active in the limited runs we fished. Thank goodness. At supper time, a quick check of Sunday's weather forecast and we headed back to Red Deer. 80 kph winds vs Spring cleaning. Where is the Windex?

Bob

Sunday drive & Random reports

A balmy +11C just east of Jasper townsite today. The Atha-B is wide open. Most other waters from Red Deer to Jasper are locked with ice but braids look to open. The McLeod is a nice blue with some water on top. Word from the BC Park head is that there are open lakes near Cranbrook to fish already, so give some thought to that over Easter if you're needing a fix.
Cheers

On fish handling...

I just shuddered to myself when I saw a happy-go-lucky French angler post the following on the NZ Fly Fishing Forum. All you have to do is combine the hard-lined fly fishing crowd with the appearance of the fish in the photos, and you knew there was going to be havoc on the forums. His initial post spawned 4 or 5 threads on the subject, let alone the replies in the thread. There are some good points on either side of things here, that keep perspective in the regulations for the country (based on their level of resource use), while at the same time others point out the obvious of respecting the fish. If you follow it after the fish pictures, it's interesting:
http://www.flyshop.co.nz/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=10;t=2281;st=0

Nice fin

It was an amazing brown trout, certainly. But what was truly amazing was the size of the adipose fin.
We've caught smaller brown trout than the adipose fin was long. When the fish came to the net, the anal and adipose fins waved like a dorsal fin of an arctic grayling.

Just an observation.

Fisheries Round Table Meeting Update again...

"Round Table Participants.

You received an earlier email confirming the meeting to take place Saturday, April 17th, 2010 at the Sherwood Park Fish and game Club. I am attaching copies of the Draft agenda and the directions (map) to the facility Please remember that the notes from the April 2009 meeting and other updates can be located on our website (link attached).
http://srd.alberta.ca/ManagingPrograms/FishWildlifeManagement/FisheriesManagement/Default.aspx
If you have questions or concerns with the agenda, please direct them to Matt.Besko@gov.ab.ca, or call him at 780-427-7769
A reminder that only those on the invite list will be expected at the meeting as Lunch and Beverages are being so generously provided by Beaver River Fish and Game. If additional invitees are going to be added, you must get prior approval from Terry Kosinski (Acting Director of Fisheries). Terry can be reached at Terry.Kosinski@gov.ab.ca or call him at (780) 422-3344.

Thank you
Please Note: Attendance Confirmation must be returned by March 24th."
Debra.Drummond@gov.ab.ca

The arches

If you ever happen to be on the south isl of New Zealand, a must stop is the Oparara Arches.
Just north of Karamea, on the northern extremity of the South Island's west coast highway, the magnificent Oparara river basin offers explorers a 'lost world' experience. The basin is one of the finest features of the Kahurangi National Park. For a million years the Oparara river system has been sculpting the 35 million-year-old limestone into an intriguing complex of caves, arches and channels.


The tall forest contains native beech and rimu, and is thickly carpeted with mosses and ferns that squeeze their root systems through cracks in the limestone to gain a hold. Unique ferns and algae live around the arches and cave entrances. Birds, insects and fish flourish in the untouched environment, which is home to the rare short-tailed bat, the giant land snail, the cave spider and blue duck.
A number of walking tracks, ranging in length from ten minutes to one hour, lead to fascinating limestone river arches, spectacular caves and a beautifully reflective mountain pool. The largest of 3 arches, the Oparara Arch, is 219 metres long with sides 79 metres apart and a roof 43 metres above the river that carved it. The popular Box Canyon and Crazy Paving Caves feature delicate limestone formations that can take thousands of years to grow one centimetre. Add in the glow worms in the caves and it's a full day of very unique land forms!

Bumper Cars on Stauffer

The forecast was good, the weather wasn't. It dropped from +13 to +4 by the time we turned south on #761. It was back up to +8 at the bridge but the stream is still frozen at the 761 crossing. I suspect it isn't too far upstream to open water, mind you. We scooted over to BFW and the next bridge up to run into 6 other vehicles. With clouds and a cool breeze, and not a stonefly fluttering, and 1/2 doz other cars in a mile of water, it wasn't what we wanted to do. Home, Charles...

Spot the trout

The dog's name, of course, is Trout. A relatively long legged Jack Russell, the dog is a possum and bunny mass murderer, truth be known. Our friends in New Zealand, Serge & Sharron have a couple of Jacks and while the older, Mr Bean, moves a wee bit slower now, the tandem have likely taken a toll on the local introduced wildlife population. Not to worry, there are some 70M possum in New Zealand thanks to their introduction to the wild years ago. On one walk back to the car across open, grassy pastures, we watched Trout pick up a scent of a bunny, doing loops and cross tracks some 4-500 m in front of us before coming onto his target. Then all hell broke loose as he tore after it all the way back and likely that much again, before finally forcing the bunny into a muddy pond, which slowed the bunny down, allowing for the ambush. Trout got to it and that was the end of the bunny. It was an amazing chase.

And in fairness to Mr Bean, the spoils were shared.
Life is a little different in New Zealand. The food chain is real, the way of life is simple - death will happen. Dogs chase things, kill things. So do hunters. That's the way of it. It's very real. It's different, but it's quite the way it is.
As non-hunters, generally non-killer types that play with fish in our catch & release, we see little death. I think AJ & I were of mixed feelings on the event initially, but see it as "it is", not as right or wrong. It was fascinating to watch the dogs work. In a land of over abundance in possum and bunny population, with no predators, allowing the dogs to play with a few isn't hurting much - big picture. It's an interesting place to observe, so different. Some would be offended (and some reading this might be), some won't be. One thing is for certain, when allowing introduced populations to explode, unchecked, is there any moral code when it comes to allowing another introduced animal to play with the former?

Photos of solar gases about the moon

I stumbled across this today, and it's really neat. The photo to the right, from the link below, shows a corona which can't normally be seen because of the brightness of the Sun, a broiling sea of hydrogen gas at 10,000c. But during a solar eclipse, the Moon blocks out the Sun and the corona is spectacularly revealed. Read the article and see enlarged photos of the event:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1256875/Solar-power-Stunning-picture-shows-Suns-blustery-atmosphere-total-eclipse.html

Rainbows with 6-pack abs

You'll have to click the link to read about the latest genetic play-around. Kind of silly but while the fish is ugly, you wouldn't want to run into a team of 'em in a dark alley somewhere:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1257536/Meet-Arnie-Terminator-Trout-physique-body-builder.html

A random bug

Barry Mitchell told me about a story once - how he found it really neat one day fishing on the upper Blackstone River, a water boatman landed on the roof of his truck. For where he was, it was a fairly random moment. AJ & I just remembered a more random boatman story. There we were on the west coast of the S Isl of New Zealand. We decided to try to find a beach to camp on. Waaay away from anywhere, we found a trail wide enough for our car that found its way to the 40km beach. We had just had fun running in the waves on the perfect beach at sunset, with nobody but nobody around and decided to have supper and set up our tent. As I was taking stuff out of the car and putting it on the roof, a boatman landed beside me. I one upped up your Blackstone boatman story Barry.

Crowsnest March 6&7

Headed down to the Crow last weekend with my buddy Landon. It was a great time with beautiful weather, little wind and if you can believe it only minor fishing pressure on saturday :)

Saturday was an awesome day with many nice 'bows to hand. Its always nice to sneak away once and a while to enjoy stream fishing for these fish. Definately a different game then the Brown trout spring fishing we will all enjoy in the next few months


Sunday was a little slower but to be expected as I know we weren't the only ones enjoying the beautiful march weather. We fished a new section to me and managed to find a few active fish in some of the most beautiful water I have seen. Each bend we turned brought about a different feel. At time its what you would expect from the crow but then you where in tight quarters with spruce banks and mud bottoms like the creeks around here only to open up to plunge corner pools and holes like you would experiance on some of our know cuttie waters. Awesome


The highlight of this trip had to have been the big brown Landon caught saturday night. Now I know we have all heard the rumours about them being in there (Bob found out first hand that saturday as well :)) But I for one have never seen or heard of any this large caught out of this river. It sure was a great suprise and an awesome way to end a great day of fishing!


Hope everyone has a great weekend enjoy the beautiful weather :)
Byron

An instant favorite

We've used the photo at left in a few banner headers in email and on our web pages. I'd set out to take a photo of the side of a brook trout in fall colours. We landed a couple of nice fish but the lighting just wasn't right. This nice male brook trout was landed as the sun came out on a stunning October day. As the fish rested in the netI snapped a few macros with a darker exposure. I thought I'g gotten a couple of nice shots of rich color but didn't think to look at them until later in the evening. I hadn't even realized that the net created a wonderful shadow effect, much less that all the red dots lined up in the shadows. A little stroke of luck!

Alberta Fishing Guide Magazine delivery update

I've been helping Barry deliver magazines this week and the traveling show is motoring through. We did Leth - Brooks - Strathmore - Drumheller - Stettler - Camrose - Wetaskiwin - Leduc - Red Deer today, after a full couple of days in Calgary Tues - Wed. We're doing 15 stops in Edm trying to do the Edm run tomorrow, so we avoid a return Edm run on Monday. We leave @ 7am tomorrow and likely get home 9 or 10pm, and his delivery run will be done in 4 days. It's quite a run.
Check out the magazine at most stores Red Deer - south, soon to be in Edmonton shops.
:)
Cheers

Fisheries Round Table Mtg April 17, 2010.

Dear Round Table Participants:

There will be a Round Table Meeting on April 17 at the Sherwood Park Fish and Game Clubhouse from 10am-4pm. An Agenda and a map to the clubhouse will be forwarded to you by the end of this week.

Debra.Drummond@gov.ab.ca

Purchasing your 2010/11 BC Fishing License Online

The information below from the Ministry of Environment Fish & Wildlife Branch will be helpful to those wishing to purchase their 2010 BC Fishing Licence online.

Dear Anglers,
The new angling season is approaching and anglers wishing to purchase their 2010/11 Non-Tidal Angling Licenses before the season starts on April 1, 2010 may do so now. Go to http://www.fishing.gov.bc.ca/

New season licences will be valid from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011.As licences for the current year 2009/2010 (which expire on March 31, 2010)  will still be available during this time, please ensure you select 2010/2011 for your new year licence purchase.

Returning anglers will require their Angling Number (found at the top of your printed licence), date of birth and phone number used at the time of registration in order to purchase licences. If you require assistance in returning to your Angler Profile please contact the Front Counter BC Call Centre at 1 877 855 3222.

Anglers may access the 2009/2011 Freshwater Fishing Regulation synopsis as well as any in season regulation changes at www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish/regulations. Hard copies may still be available at Visitor Information Centres throughout the province, although supplies are limited.

Fish & Wildlife Branch
Ministry of Environment

Fortress Lake Stillwater Fly Fishing School

Fortress Lake Stillwater Fly Fishing School
With Phil Rowley
June 18-21, 2010
Join author, fly fishing instructor and T.V. Co-Host Phil Rowley for an educational four day stillwater fly fishing school amongst the snow capped peaks at Fortress Lake Wilderness Retreat.
Draped against a spectacular and visually stunning back drop you will have the opportunity to hone your stillwater skills against some of the largest brook trout on the planet!
Phil will provide detailed stillwater instruction in a focused, almost one on one, environment. The timing of this seminar is no accident and is intended to target the intense annual chironomid emergences Fortress Lake offers. Here is a sample of some of what you will learn:
Ø How to read a lake and locate trout on a consistent basis
Ø Equipment requirements and preferences
Ø Detailed leader construction techniques
Ø Retrieves and presentation
Ø How to fight big fish (Fortress Brook Trout range between 3-7 pounds)
Ø Sinking line tricks, tactics and techniques
Ø Chironomid techniques using both floating and sinking lines
Ø Entomology
Ø Tips on choosing the right fly for the right conditions
This unique four day package costs $2500.00* per person and includes the following:
Return float plane shuttle from the base near Hinton, Alberta.
Accommodations at Fortress Lake Retreat
Meals, snacks, and beverages
Use of boats, canoes, kayaks
Stillwater fly fishing instruction including comprehensive morning and evening seminar instruction prior to heading out on the lake.
Minimum of 2.5 days fly fishing Fortress Lake
Memories and instruction to last a life time!
*Prices are in Canadian funds and do not include taxes, alcohol, fishing licenses, gratuities, and flies.
*Non course guests rate $2350
Space is limited so please book early by contacting Fortress Lake Wilderness Retreat at 403 346 1698 or email info@fortresslake.com

Awesome

There's a loop of connecting roads in New Zealand, up behind the village of Hanmer Springs. Jack's Pass and Jollie's Pass roads angle from the town like a pie slice, then join a tangent road on an alpine plateau nearly 2000 feet above. It's an impressive set of gravel roads that twist and switch back relentlessly. The views are wonderful and on a summer evening - coming back from a day's fishing it gives you a sense of really being alive as you stare to the valley below.
The steep grades are also used by the mountain bike club and the folks from Christchurch that come to town every weekend. Our friends in Hanmer - she works at the local medical unit as a nurse. And every weekend someone comes in with a slit open nose, leg, scalp, forehead - you name it the mountain bikers manage to do it. It's a steep and crazy set of trails between the gravel roads. Many times we've passed cyclists pushing or trying their best to cycle up the grades. The cars we've had in our trips have all had to go up in first gear.
And so it was that we were set out fishing one summer morning, driving in first gear through the steepest part. Around a corner we came and 1/2 way up the straight away was a fellow running up hill, all by himself. "Look at this crazy bastard," I commented to Amelia, shaking my head that anyone found joy in that kind of suffering. We all enjoy our physical exploits, but running up a steep hill for 9 km? As we drove closer, something wasn't right. He was using ski poles to run up the mountain. Closer, we noticed his legs were incredibly skinny. As we came behind him, things hit home. He was a double amputee from his thighs down, running up the mountain, using the poles as support, and moving faster than I could have. There were so many things I wanted to ask him right then, not the least of which was what motivated him to run up the hill. But you can easily read into that kind of thing - because it's there and because I can, the most likely replies. It's no different than hiking 20km a day for us to go fishing. Why? Because we can, because we want to, because we enjoy it. The fact that he was a double amputee running up a mountain shouldn't be seen as any different. He was just going about life. And for the 10 seconds of my life that I was watching as we drove past, it was simply awesome to watch someone living their own life to their terms.

Report from the Crownest River

Usually warm weather in southern Alberta brings nasty winds this time of the year. Saturday was the exception. Karen and I hit the Crowsnest River. It was our first trip of the year. We were quite surprised to see that the Crow was wide open. The river was busy but we were early enough to find a stretch to fish! The fish were in their wintering holes. Our expectations were low and we ended up with a double digit day. We had one nice surprise. A chunky 15 inch brown trout took a purple copper john. Catching a brown on the Crow was a new experience for us.

We stopped at the Oldman bridge to take a look. The wind had picked up and the tailwater visibility was about 3 feet. There were again lots of fly fisherman out.

Bob

Alberta Fishing Guide - 40 years

Barry & Ann Mitchell's Alberta Fishing Guide Magazine is hot off the presses, celebrating its 40th year. We'll be out and about delivering the magazine beginning next week and it should be in local shops within 5 to 15 days.

This year's lineup pg:

6 - Spring Creeks & Big Browns - Jensen

10 - Alberta's Bucket List - Bailey

14 - Gator Aid - Fenson

18 - Fooling Pothole Trout - Noddin

22 - Streamers for Year Round Action - Bergman

26 - Going Big - Schwanky

28 - A River for All Seasons - Waugh

32 - Slow D-A New Twist on Walleye Fishing - Fenson

36 - Branch Out - Norstrom

40 - Weed Walleye - Schwanky

42 - Forgotten Art of Wet Fly Fishing - Sliwkanich

48 - Longer Lunches - McLennan

Be sure to check out our ad in the inside cover!

 

Finding the Internet

In most cases, internet in New Zealand is very good, readily available, and decent speeds - surprising considering how remote some connections are. It's about $3Ca an hour. Finding a quiet place to type emails, reply to booking inquiries, or trying to do any sort of blog posts while we were away was another story.

At left, we found a perfect little chair outside a cafe in Nelson to sit and type a few emails. A drizzly, grey day with poor sighting, we took the morning off to catch up on work before hitting the water for the afternoon and evening.

Finding reliable internet on the west coast - or the southern reaches of the west coast - is a little different story as not every cafe is exactly anywhere near civilization. Much less do they want you bringing civilization from the outside world into their cafes. :)

My Wild Alberta Newsletter

Featured in this edition of the My Wild Alberta (MWA) newsletter:

Ice Fishing for Lake Whitefish
Safety and Hunting
Conservation Site Getaway - NW102 Pouce Coupe Winter Range
Let's Go Outside
Recovering endangered species and enhancing wildlife habitat benefits hunters, anglers and all Albertans

To download this month's issue, visit the MWA website at:
http://www.mywildalberta.com/home.aspx

Previous issues can also be accessed at:
http://www.mywildalberta.com/join/Newsletter.aspx
Thank you for joining and being a part of the My Wild Alberta community!

Please pass this email along to anyone you know who may be interested in information about hunting, fishing and trapping in Alberta - all are welcome to join the My Wild Alberta community at:
http://www.mywildalberta.com/join.aspx

Catch Magazine

The new issue is on line...
http://www.catchmagazine.net/

A Winter Visit

Yesterday we got together with a friend we hadn't seen for a while and shared some time together on the Bow River. The Forecast called for 9 C, but after spending an hour fishing in the water our cold feet told us otherwise. My Olympic mitts came in handy and we caught a number of rainbows but we spent more time sharing life stories on the big ice shelves above the river than bobber chucking. Guess which part of the day I enjoyed more? I think the guys I was with would likely feel the same way. It's not always about the fishing:)