The Greenhorn Angler

Casting 4 A Cure

2010-11-30T06:30:00.000-08:00

One thing that I have noticed in my short time as a member of the fly fishing world is that fly anglers are passionate. Passionate about everything, the fish we catch, the equipment we use and the environment we do it in.

Fly anglers are capable of banding together for a good cause be in a local river cleanup day or Trout Unlimited.

While sipping coffee and surfing the web a few days ago and I stopped in at The Unaccomplished Angler which is run by Kirk Werner the man behind Olive the Little Woolly Bugger and was immediately drawn to his post about an online auction for Casting for a Cure.

From Kirk's Post:

Casting 4 A Cure is a tremendous organization comprised of folks who love kids and fly fishing. The passion for one benefits the love for the other as fly fishing serves as a vehicle to raise much-needed funding for the International Rett Syndrome Foundation.

Rett Syndrome is a cruel neurodevelopmental disorder which begins to show its affects in infancy or early childhood. It is seen almost exclusively in females, although it can occur rarely in boys. The disorder severely disrupts gross and fine motor skills as well as robbing the girls of their ability to speak and communicate with the outside world. Seizures and breathing problems can also be prevailing symptoms. It affects every aspect of a family’s life, as our girls are dependent upon us for almost everything, from helping feed them to helping them get around, bathing, and most other daily tasks that most of us take for granted.

Currently there is a very special Ebay auction taking place over the next 10 days. View the auction HERE – it includes some really great stuff. All proceeds will go directly to Casting 4 a Cure

There are only a few days left so if you have some time please head over and look at the items up for auction

A Short Post with Yet Another Great Episode of STFTV!

2010-11-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

So some of you know that I work my regular job and also work evenings and weekends at a canine obedience school here in Calgary called Clever Canines. That being said when the dog school is in session I am not left with very much time to fish. Not to mention our new puppy Juniper was going through the class so I was working double time with dogs during my spare time.

This explains the lack of posts on the blog and my lack of fishing days. The good news is the dog school is done until April and I have a beautiful well trained 6 month old Berner as a fishing buddy!

Juniper the Fishing Dog Sporting Her Pieroway Whistler Spey Hat!

While I had very little time for fishing I did however have plenty of spare moments on coffee and lunch breaks at work to keep up to date with my favorite blogs.

Since I love what they do and really enjoy watching them I have decided to link to the third Episode of Skate the Fly TV. Join the boys and legend Coach Duff for another session of fish tales and drinking beers.

(Don't tell my fiancée but this video made me recommend that we should be getting married in Hawaii just so I could spend a day on the water with the Coach!)

Skate The Fly TV Episode 3 - Coach Duff

Work/Life/Fishing Balance

2010-09-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Holy Moly!

I haven't been on a river in at least two weeks and I am sitting at my desk dreaming about it. Life and work is hard enough to balance but add fishing into the mix and it becomes impossible to find enough time for it all. So what do you do give up more work? Give up on the other areas of your life? Make fishing your life...wouldn't that be nice.

The last two weeks have been busy with our new puppy going through dog class, a visit from my behalf's mother, a move at the office and work related training. Work and life getting in the way of fishing.

I fully intend to provide more time to this blog in the future but I also need to spend more time fishing to do so...complicated.

How do you find time to fish?

Wild Steelhead and the Thompson River Bait Ban

2010-08-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

If you fish at all the importance of the well being of wild fish should be on the top of your priority list. I myself am not a Steelhead fisherman (Not yet anyways but thats a conversation for another day!). But as I have done with my introduction to the Bow River I am trying to learn as much as possible about the fish I will be targeting and the situations that surround their well being.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Steelhead, it is more or less is a sea-run (anadromous) Trout that returns to its freshwater birthplace to spawn.

I think that Dylan Tomine of Wild Steelhead Coalition described these fish best in his article titled "State of the Steelhead", which I urge you to read:

"These fish range from fourteen inches to thirty pounds,

from two to nine or more years old, from heavily spotted

to nearly unmarked. And yet, they share several distinctive

traits: A willingness to come to the swung fly. The speed

and strength normally associated with saltwater fish. An

individual beauty that haunts those who fish for them."

These fish are truly one of natures most magnificent creatures. Unfortunately due to a multitude of reasons their wild stocks are on the decline. Anglers as a whole need to unite for this cause and continue to bring awareness to our rivers. Even if you are not an angler the continuous decline in these populations is a direct representation of what we are doing nature in general.

Something that can be done right now to help out in this movement is signing the Thompson River bait ban petition that Greg Gordon created. A bait ban on the Thompson is long overdue and this petition is a solid step forward to giving these fish the protection they need. Pretty much every other river system with wild Steelhead has had this regulation for 20 years so it really is time to take action. Please sign here, it only takes 30 seconds:

http://www.petitiononline.com/baitban1/petition.html

If you agree with the cause please also consider forwarding this link to your email contacts,twitter followers , blog readers or facebook peeps. Our goal is 2000 sigs and we hope to have this by the end of the second week in September. So yes this is a bit of a challenge, please help spread this around.

Take a moment, make a difference.

Gear Review: Jetboil PCS

2010-08-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Being that I am planning some backcountry trips in the coming months and definitly some longer trips next year I have been working on gearing up. The first item on my list was something that I thought would be helpful on short day trips to mountain streams or even on Bow River floats and that is a backpacking stove.

Jetboil PCS - A whole lot of awesome!

I decided to go with the Jetboil PCS. The PCS is a clever little system that packs into the size of a Nalgene bottle. The cooking vessel is the container that holds the fuel, stove portion and even a couple accessories (pot support and canister stand). After emptying the contents out of the cooking vessel, the unit assembles in no time flat.

The cooking canister can be used to cook a variety of meals from dehydrated packages to full blown pasta dinners. The unit can boil 2 cups of water in less than 2 minutes for coffee or tea. The cooking vessel then doubles as a serving device with an insulated sipping lid for beverages.

Although I haven't logged any field time with this fine piece of kit, I have made some killer camp coffee while doing some woodworking in my garage! I will report back after a couple trips to the wild with it to see if my opinion changes. Until then my reccomendation is to go out and buy one!

Blog Feature: Skate the Fly

2010-08-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

I have been following Dylan and the gang at Skate the Fly for a couple months. The blog entries produced are informative and interesting reading to say the least. Roll on over to check out their foray into video blogging...what a concept: crushing beers and talking about fishing!

http://www.skatethefly.com/blog/2010/7/28/skate-the-fly-tv-episode-2-greg-thomas.html

STFTV: Beer and Fish!

Who the F*%K is the Greenhorn Angler?

2010-07-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

I have been fishing since before I can remember. As a young child my family would rent cottages every summer in either Renfrew County Ontario or the Gatineaus in Quebec and fishing is what I remember most. Jigging worms or spin-casting top water lures like the BIG-O for bass is what originally go me into activity. I continued fishing this style to the same types of fish when we bought our own cottage in Quebec until my early twenties.

So if I have been fishing since I was a weasel then why am I the "Greenhorn" Angler?

When I moved across the country from Ottawa, Ontario to Calgary AB I started hearing stories of the famous Bow River. Everything I read about involved Rainbow and Brown trout, neither of which I had ever seen or fished. Lucky for me it turns out my new landlord was a part-time guide. I thought I was set but then I showed him my fishing gear.

After many beers and heated discussions it was decided that we would go fishing together but I was not to bring any of my spin gear. After a few trips that left me frustrated and wanting to snap the rod in half I begin to get the hang of casting and presenting the fly.

One of the outings we got to the river at dark thirty on a late June morning. After finishing our Egg McMuffins and bullshitting a bit we pulled on our waders and walked a half hour to the fishing spot. My borrowed 4wt rod was outfitted with a tapered leader and a Stimulator, could have been anything and I wouldn't have known the difference. A couple casts in to the riffle, a big splash and some one yelled "Fish on". That is when I realized I had a fish on.

Got the fish to the bank, nice 20"+ Bow River rainbow and I was hooked. I decided right there that fly fishing was for me and probably for the same reason a lot of you out there keep coming back... the take.

First Trout on the Fly. A Dry at That!

I invite you to join me as I wade through the details and demystify one of the greatest pastimes out there, ripping lips and crushing beers along the way.