Barry Willis

Back up to Spiel, there are two irrigation reservoirs out here in southern Alberta, well several actually these ones I am referring are about 23 miles long each, Lake Macgregor, that I have fished since 1981. The RCMP decided to train their divers there but it was short lived as the divers came up grasping for the ladder on the boat scared half to death because of the size of the pike. My wife's cousin was one of them, pastor of a church, and stated that they were well over 6 to 7 feet long and aggressive towards the divers. Yeah, seems hard to believe but I do. There was a time we were camping at the south end and my wife decided to take a walk out on the berm with our dog for a few casts. (My wife is a very accomplished angler, she'll put most men to shame, she had a good teacher, LOL) I had the video camera on them and first cast she hooked into something huge, she leaned back and set the hook at the same time it came out of the water and she yelled, it's huge and she wasn't joking. The splash it created totally blocked her and my dog out of the video, width and height. You can make out the fish and the size of it was nothing short of huge. Unfortunately it threw her lure.

I'll be tending to my trail cams tomorrow morning up in the foot hills of the Rockies so hopefully I have some pics worth sharing with you all, I am expecting some good ones, but one never knows.

Thanks Smitty.

Very nice Lew, it is always nice to witness first hand birds raising their broods. And yes it is a very sad thing to us the way Mother Nature works.

Yeah, I hear that.

I would consider it greater than great fishing. Your arms must have needed a rest.

Hi Rick, it is actually taken through the wind shield with my little pocket camera, Nikon Cool Pix which takes very nice pics and the windshield was clean but still distorted it. I wasn't about to step out of the car and become his next meal as they are very protective of their food and he could have been on me in a second I also didn't want to take the time to get my Canon from the back seat and out of the case which should have been out of the case as I would have missed the shot. it still would not have been very clear and sharp. It all happened very fast.

Howdy, long time no yak at. Not a very clear pic as time was of the essence. This was on the way to check some of my trail cams. The grizzly actually caught and killed the elk as it came down off the mountain and entered the deep snow in the ditch and barely made it up onto the road. In the picture it is dragging it off the road and back up the mountain, they have incredible power. A grizzly can break the back of a four year old steer with one swipe. The bass is from last summer. One of my buddy's sent it to me. I was caught somewhere on the Bruce Peninsula.

Three things I miss the most having moved to Alberta from Wiarton Ontario in February of 1981. The Great Lakes and their abundance of big trout, salmon and large mouth and small mouth bass among many other species. Morels, better than steak in my books and of course puff balls. I used to shake and bake them and fry them in a little oil, awesome. And of course the maple trees for their fall colors and sap for syrup come spring. On the other hand Alberta has a lot to offer that cannot be found in eastern Canada. The scenery and abundance of wildlife is so awe inspiring it can sometimes become difficult to concentrate on the fishing. Seems you have to give up one for the other. No regrets.

Can't wait.

I wish I had a few of these in my yard. White cherry - Japan.

Can't get much closer than this. I'm just glad I wasn't holding it LOL.

I wouldn't want this one chasing me down while sitting in my Sportspal.

Managed to get some more pics posted of my little Matty to show off his beautiful markings, In the last pic he appears to be in deep thought about something LOL 15 weeks old now.

The guy obviously knows his way around fly tying, same as yourself. Woolly buggers are very popular out west here especially on the Bow River for rainbow and brown.

Good choice in my books HTHM. Very nice. Congrats.

Hundreds or whitetail pics and a very unusual one losing its winter coat to the likes that I have never seen before. I've been around whitetail deer my whole life but this is really different. It must have looked like a sheep prior to shedding. Pic of a Pine Marten, my favorite little critter, A pair of Ravens, Ravens, with luck on their side can live to 70 years and like a lot of other birds they mate for life and a gorgeous wolf. And my 80 year buddy just of this morning managed to get that ugly piece of black trim off some type of machine out of the ground from decades ago that's been spoiling my pics. It is very disappointing to say the least one camera, brand new out of the box on a well used moose trail never took a single pic. I also got some awesome videos of moose with another cam but unfortunately I can't post them. When I try to the computer pulls up a screen I know nothing about. I hope yous enjoy what little I got. Not all in order obviously.

Man oh Man Misfish, They look incredible, not that I'm surprised. Your creations truly blow my mind. I will be hooking up with you in the near future as I am anxious to try them for the western trout and walleye. Thank you.

Even though I am still having an awful time losing my boy Trooper I got a puppy. Trooper and I did everything together. The only time we were separated is when I went to tend to my trail cams as a dogs scent can trigger a grizzly attack. I got this little guy a week ago. He is now 14 weeks old and incredibly intelligent. King Shepherd and Belgian Malinois cross - the best of both worlds. I found him on Kijiji and responded right away and the lady never back to me. A few days later she emailed me and asked me for my address which I sent her, a couple days later she asked me for it again, so I sent it again. A few days after that I was making supper and the door bell rang, I almost didn't answer it but I did and here is a lady and here husband holding puppy's in their arms. The lady had to let hers down as he was squirming around so much as soon as he seen me. He came straight to me and jumped up on me. It brought new meaning to the phrase, love at first sight. We love each other to death. He won't leave my side. If I do manage to sneak away from him my wife says he cries his head off and frantically looks for me. As of Sunday night both of his ears stood straight up. As usual my computer is acting up and I can't post the pictures I want, he has beautiful markings, I'll try again tomorrow. I call him Matty, it suits him and he likes it. There is no better friend than a dog.

I can certainly relate to that. I did think at least one of them houses belonged to you Rick, with the pics and all.

Biologists in the eastern parts of North America claim coywolves number into the millions. Coyotes adapt very well into urban life and become very bold, not much seems to bother them. Here in Calgary it is estimated about a thousand live within the city. One can almost set their watch to animal routines when they come out looking for their breakfast and supper, especially white tail deer. Those are some vey beautiful houses and properties there Rick.

I believe this is a coywolf, female coyote sired by a male wolf. Popular in eastern North America especially throughout New York but not in Alberta. It's obviously to big to be a coyote. The coywolf strongly resembles a coyote but larger. I am waiting to hear from biologists that were very anxious to see the pics. I will be tending to my trail cams in the foot hills of the Rockies on Tuesday morning, I am expecting some good stuff on them. Also, in about three weeks, I am (not alone of course) heading deep within the Rocky Mountains on horse back into big time grizzly, big horn sheep, elk and moose country, so stay tuned.

Awesome as always David. Man, you sure know how to make a guy envious. In my books you did very well in the tournaments. That's a lot of competition to go up against. Very nice looking chain pickerel. I used to catch them when ice fishing for perch.

There is no comparison, it's like apples to lemons. One quick glance and I know what my choice would be. I'd be damn proud to be seen out on the river with it. Looks beautiful Spiel.

I was watching the CTV news last night at supper time and I couldn't believe the nasty weather that was predicted for Ontario. We've been going through much the same out west here for the past few days. Rain, hail, snow and violent thunder storms all night long. I'm almost deaf as a stone and don't wear my hearing aids to bed of course and the thunder has woke me up every night, not to mention the lightening that lit up the inside of the house almost steady. We usually don't get this until later in July and especially in August. There are actually several airplane pilots on stand by in the event of a storm with large hail and they will go up and seed the clouds to reduce the size of the hail to lessen the damage. As I mentioned before Calgary is called hail storm alley. I hope it has ended and yous have a non eventful night tonight.