Barry Willis

Very nice shot with the fog. How's the fishing at Mountain Lake these days? Speaking of making the move out west took a little grit but not all that much really as I had my mind made up and my wife was a behind me all the way, as she so nicely put it, a new beginning and we were young and loved adventure. I should have mentioned my younger brother came with me. From Wiarton to Beaver Lodge in northern Alberta, almost a 4000 km drive and made the trip (winter driving) in 43.5 hours. Of course we didn't have GPS back then just a road map. Conditions permitting the speedometer was seldom under 70mph and quite often 90 with my 76 Dodge Royal Monaco. Upon leaving I told my brother I was going to drive 1500 miles, not km. non stop except for gas. which I did. It took me 28 hours and 20 minutes. The last 3 miles were the worst as I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Jumped in the back seat and became wide awake for 4 hours LOL. I don't remember how much gas was then but it was a fair size car, weighted down with a 360 (5.9) it cost me $224:00 for gas. Yeah, Happy days.

I really appreciate your emails, and am very happy you and your wife like the mountain lake pics. Some are are worthy of hanging on the wall. Most our families on both sides after coming out for a visit have moved here. We are only an hours drive from the mountains and as the 100's of times as we have been there they are still breath taking. I was born and raised in Oxenden and after getting married we lived in Wiarton for a couple years then move out the 21st onto a hog farm right across from the airport runway. The last Christmas we spent there It took me 8.5 hours to get the car out of out long driveway to visit my mom and dad which were less than an hours walk across the airport. The airport recorded one inch shy of 15 feet of snow that winter and I don't believe it has happened since. I remember back in the day Colpoy Bay would only freeze over once every four years or so. In 1981 upon my dear old dad's advice I decided to make the move out west. With my old 1976 Dodge under my ass (which made the trip four more times to first and foremost get my dog, then my fishing gear among other things, fish and deer mounts etc.) I arrived in Alberta February 14th 1981. Had job offers coming out my ying yang. Saved enough money to get a place and fly my wife and boys out and never looked back. I do dearly miss Bruce Peninsula. for the fishing especially, didn't matter what species you wanted to catch on any given day they were there. Keep playing them lottery tickets and I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Have a super day. picasabackground-359.bmp picasabackground-359.bmp

Very nice as well. Seeing that open water and down rigger is making me a little jealous LOL. It's gonna be another two to four weeks before the ice is off the lakes here. Depending on weather of course it could be up to six weeks for the mountain lakes to become free of ice. It could be earlier this year as we only received around 60 percent of our average snow pack in the mountains and there are already 48 active forest fires.

Just a couple kinda cool sunrise pics over looking the prairies east of town.

Well my dinosaur computer says it's ready to go back to work so I will try and get the pics of the other Lakes on here that I am very fond of. Having seen them I am sure you will understand why. I guess this is it, can't find the ones I want. Thank you.

Back to Crowman, Yes, and as you obviously know they are a char. Years ago they were thought to be a dolly varden. But bull trout sounds better than bull char, same as our lake trout LOL. Bull trout, Alberta's provincial fish have had a very rough go. For such a gorgeous fish It truly sickens me to say that decades ago they were considered a pest as they were at the top of the food chain. When caught, in most cases they were just left on the bank to rot. Thank fully in August of 2019 they were finally put on the endangered species list. To this day, in spite of everything Fish and Wildlife biologists and volunteers have done for them during spawning they haven't made much of a recovery. They resemble a big brook trout even though colors can vary, it is surprising how many anglers can't tell the difference, so came the motto, no black put it back. I don't even have a picture of my record one. As my 35mm pics of it were being processed, which were actually taken by a Game Warden with my camera (he seemed as excited as I) the power went out in the camera shop and they lost my negatives and pics. I did take it to a taxidermist friend but before he had chance to finish it he passed away. Some time later his son in law called me and told me he had it, I was very excited to say the least as I thought it was gone to who knows where, so I rushed to his house. I don't believe I have ever been so ticked off, it was painted the color of a brown trout and most the fins were broke to the point even with fin backing they were beyond repair. After several choice words I told him to shove it and that was the last I seen it. I did release most my fish at that time and this is one I truly wish I'd never kept.

Pictures of some of my favorite mountain lakes. Most are so gorgeous they look fake, but are not. I hope you's enjoy. Maligne Lake, Peyto Lake, Waterton Lake, Lake Louise, Upper and Lower Kananaskis Lakes where in 1983 while fishing from shore I caught the Alberta record Bull Trout, Alberta's provincial fish, one oz. shy of 18lbs. And it still stands today. Lower Kananaskis Lake, Abraham Lake. I have a couple more that are well worth a gander but as usual my computer decided to take some time off, I will try and post them later.

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Thanks very much for that BillM, that's an awesome shot. I am trying to find the one I took a couple months back of the full moon just as it showed itself with a flock of geese flying in front of it. It's pretty cool and won't likely happen again any time soon.

Yeah I know, you're right Rick. At times it has been a bad winter, -54 for a couple weeks. A few big dumps of snow and more in the forecast the rest of this week I guess I let my imagination get the best of me. I don't think it's because I'm getting old as it's always been that way LOL. Due to a back injury that I'm still waiting for surgery, I haven't been out fishing for a couple years now and it's driving me insane. Some days I'm in a wheel chair and my favorite and secret fishing holes are far from wheel chair accessible. Can't even tend to most my trail cams, I still hold my head high though and keep a smile on my face as I know one day I'll be better and can get out and do the things I enjoy most again.

Hey Rick, I understand what you are saying, I do. If you zoom in on it, it certainly doesn't look like any crater I've ever seen. There is so much detail the same on both ends that doesn't resemble a crater. As you zoom in on all the pics and as the shaded areas change and darken it's shape doesn't change. As I mentioned giving the size of the moon, if it is an alien craft it would have to be incredibly huge. I appreciate all the feed back guys. I don't know what the Hell to think. I just thought it was worthy of mention. Who knows for sure what it is. I just received a lead from a meteorologist at one of our local news stations. as to where to send the pics for analysis. Where's Captain Kirk and Spock when I need them.

If in fact you are referring to a fish HH maybe I should go catch one and ask it what it's thoughts are LOL. There's lots of them out here.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your input. I'm not saying you are wrong but it does bring a couple questions to mind. I thought of that too and I know the sun can make things look unusual depending on angle and the shape of what it is shining on but if that's the case why is there darkness (the back ground) between it and the moon? In other words I believe it has to be suspended above the surface as it doesn't appear to be a shadow as it isn't uniform compared to the rest of the shaded surface, and why so shinny from the sun? And why just this one if it's a crater? I don't know, all I know is that it sure has me befuddled. I've been observing the moon and stars for 60+ years mostly through a high powered telescope and have never seen anything like it. If I find anything more out I will post it.

I understand this is way off topic but I must ask if there are any Astronomers or UFO enthusiasts on OFC that can shed some light on this? Around the 21st of February I took my cameras out to fool around with them about 3:00 pm and took a few shots of the moon and this is what I got. As you can see it appears to be a shiny metallic craft with the sun reflecting off it on the surface of the moon. It looks to have legs and feet - landing gear. I know it isn't something on the lens or a fault of the camera as each image is positioned in a different place on the lens. These were taken with a high end top of the line Canon digital camera and zoom lens. I had eight color shots of it as well but unfortunately deleted them before I noticed it. If it is in fact on the moon, giving the size of the moon it would have to be incredibly huge. It may be of some importance, I don't know. Maybe I'm just losing what few marbles I have left. I did send an email to Mufon and haven't heard back from them. I did read an article to put them on Youtube and go from there. In my old age and lack of computer literacy I haven't a clue how to. So I don't know where to send the pics. I thought of the TV show the proof is out there on the history channel which I would prefer but they want just shy of $50:00 to do so and having been through Identity theft twice I don't, and never will do any on line banking. Sorry for such a long letter guys, any suggestions?

My sister is Windsor sent it to me. I thought it was too good not to share.

Dinner is served.

Never heard of it and I can't wait to watch it. Thank you.

Missed the best one of the coyotes.

A very disappointing trip to tend to my trail cams. I was only able to get to one as the snow was up above my knees. Frikin near killed me to get to this one to swap cards. Not much on it. Most folks have seen a dust devil, but I had never seen a snow devil until now. Here are some pics of a couple I think are kinda cool. I have videos of them as well, spinning the snow around like a mini tornado. .Unfortunately my computer wont let me post them. If it wasnt for this trail cam, out of all the decades I have spent in the wilderness, I would have never known such a thing ever happened, never seen it happen.

Good one HH. Speaking of cast's, and I get what you mean. Several decades ago my fishing buddy lived in Kitchener (I lived 3 miles outside Wiarton at Oxenden) In the spring when the rainbow started running I would call him and within a couple hours he would be on his way. This one time he had just started a new job and couldn't get time off so he faked an injury at work and had his Dr. buddy put his whole arm and hand in a cast so he could get time off to come up and fish. Of course arriving at my house I asked him how he was going to fish, after a short explanation the cast came off and away we went. LOL.

This is the only line I prefer to be on.

Came across this in a old album from my wife's grand parents. Taken in the 50's, Trout River Newfoundland. Thought maybe some of you might get a kick out of it, or not. The other pic shouldn't be here, couldn't help it.

I know what you mean, I've been thinking about my boat all morning. They are calling for +12 and above starting Saturday out here.

March came in like a lion out here in Alberta. Friday, the 1st, between 9:00 am and 10:00 am with a Chinook wind the temperature went from -3c to +11. Then the wind changed direction, in one hour beginning at noon until 1:00 it went from +11 to -5. A few hours later came the snow which ended 24 hours later, yesterday afternoon, and here's what we got in them 24 hours. This is my work bench and grill which up until that time were free of snow and completely dry. The temperature bottomed out at -19 this morning with a wind chill of -30.

Man, some guy's get all the breaks. AWESOME.