Itchy&Firey's Dolberg CSI-Klave (Non-NLFT Event)

[RangerBob]

Mike et Al,

 

I have been considering an alternate site, should the campground be officially closed. Afterall, I do Contingency Plans for a living... yes I do work BobALong.

 

Suggest the following as an ALTERNATIVE only.. should Dolberg campground be closed. Any other suggestions? Me and Wally have had fun on this lake in the past, and there is a Pike Lake (Fickle Lake) nearby too.

 

Scratch and I discussed a departure time whilst holding an NLFTF meeting out at Beaumont yesterday. Yeah.. it was a lakeside meeting.. but the plan is for us to depart on Thursday, June 23rd, at 4:30 PM. We were going to meetup and leave directly from my work place in the WestEnd (I will have the Bob Sled geared up and ready to go).

 

So... we must decide on this as a group. Dolberg II.. have a real CSI... or list other alternatives.

 

We would have to make reservations here for Fairfax here:

 

http://www.cd.gov.ab.ca/enjoying_alberta/p...eservations.pdf

 

http://www.agt.net/public/access/lpembina.htm

 

Fairfax Lake Campground

 

Fairfax Lake Campground is located on the Big Horn Highway #40, 50 km. south of Robb, Alberta.

 

Features:

 

* 39 lakeside auto-access sites,

* Vault toilets,

* Hand pump water,

* Dock,

* boat launch,

* fish cleaning station,

* Stocked annually with Rainbow Trout

 

Rates: $9.00/unit/night, firewood included

Discounts for seniors

VISA service.

Rentals, Retail:

Coleman fishing boats, Offsite firewood,

Canoes, Fishing supplies,

Electric motors & accessories, Camping Supplies

 

You can get a map of Fairfax Lake from Angler's Atlas.

 

http://www.anglersatlas.com/pdf/abes3/fairfax.pdf

 

http://www.cd.gov.ab.ca/preserving/parks/l...pra/fairfax.pdf (Government Map)

 

Fickle Lake Here:

 

http://www.anglersatlas.com/pdf/abes3/fickle.pdf

 

And of course Dolberg Lake Here:

 

http://www.anglersatlas.com/pdf/abnb2/dolberg.pdf

 

The 11 PM news did not have the bear segment on it again... suffice to say.. it was a really big bear. And rumours of two and one wounded bear.. don't sound very good at all.

 

[dave robinson]

June 23rd? for Dolberg? Don't think so.

Don't you mean May 26th for Dolberg and June 23rd for Embarrass?

Haven't heard of bears at Weald, so no need for an alternate there.

Which is it you're meeting in the west end at 4:30 for?

[Ian B]

I'm Going to Dolberg fishing with my brother no matter what

[RangerBob]

June 23rd? for Dolberg? Don't think so.

Don't you mean May 26th for Dolberg and June 23rd for Embarrass?

Haven't heard of bears at Weald, so no need for an alternate there.

Which is it you're meeting in the west end at 4:30 for?

Yup, May 26th.. I forgot to run through my DateChecker (patent pending). Got mixed up with ABK2005... so many dates scribbled on my calendar. So little time before the snow flies again.

 

We're meeting at parking Lot of Sobeys Data Centre... leaving 4:30 PM. May give a quick tour of the mainframes... and the place I do work at.

 

I'll be bringing my 12 guage to work.. but uhm.. it will be in a uhm.. double-locked gun case.

 

Yup.. like Ian said... bring on the bears! A chance to see RB become Bear Bait! :lol:

 

PS - I am shore there are bears in Wally World.. in fact.. there are Wolves and Cougars too. Just not the bar kind though.

 

PPS - Must pack for Bow Trip with Barry and Brain H (wink) now. Head out at 3 AM!

 

[dave robinson]

I heard today from a friend that the very large griz at the Dolberg campground

had been put down by F & W as being too habituated to people

and too dangerous to leave or move.

 

We should follow up with someone official in the next day or so

to ensure the campgound has been reponed.

Any ideas on contacts?

 

PS to Alex

Are you still going with me as Ballast?

If so, drop me a pm and we'll work out details

Edited May 23, 2005 by dave robinson

[Ian B]

I'll call the Barrhead Fish and Wildlife tommorow, and find out what going on out there

[RangerBob]

I'll call the Barrhead Fish and Wildlife tommorow, and find out what going on out there

Did you call Ian? I was to busy to call the campground today.. and when I tried just now they shutdown at 4:30 PM.

 

Also spied this on the Internet.

 

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/E...pf-1039098.html

 

Sat, May 14, 2005

The bear facts

By NEIL WAUGH

I turned off the road to Alaska at the plywood bear. And by the time I hit Rich Valley, it had started to rain some. Not a deluge or a downpour. But enough to need the wipers every now and then.

 

Calling the little two-laner through the farmland the "Grizzly Trail" seems like Chamber of Commerce overkill. Sure, there are supposed to be some big bears still tucked away back in the Swan Hills. But not here. Not now.

 

The Jeep rolled over the Pembina and, at the Peanut Lake corner, there was a healthy gaggle of Canada geese moving north.

 

You had to keep your eye on the ditch. It was highway cleanup day. And here and there along Highway 33 squads of 4-H'ers and Scouts were picking up the winter accumulation of fast-food wrappers and long necks, making a little money for the club and doing a great job for the province.

 

I stopped at the Barrhead IGA for a sack of fried chicken and a jar of tea. Then westward again towards a gloomy, dishwater-grey sky.

 

Dolberg Lake is a place I'm reluctant to write about. Not that it's unknown - no lake with a road to it in Alberta can stay secret for long. But the pressure is such that the rainbows are allowed to grow some. And on a good day it can produce some serious silver slabs. I'm partial to slabs; who isn't?

 

Stuck in the middle of the Conner Creek Grazing Reserve and fringed with virgin bush, it's a spot of great beauty and tranquillity. Even if the trout aren't co-operating.

 

The plan was to belly boat around for a while, casting and trolling a leach pattern. And if that didn't work then switch to chironomids. Or maybe backswimmers.

 

That's the challenge and frustration of fishing Alberta potholes. Unlike a creek, where the trout reveal their secrets, still-water angling is trying to figure out what the fish are doing and feeding on at some unspecified depth and location below a blank sheet of pond water.

 

It truly is Alberta's most challenging and cerebral form of angling. Unless, of course, you're using marshmallows.

 

Past the Mystery Lake Hall the blacktop runs out. And the off-and-on-again showers had made the road in the grazing reserve greasy. I can handle greasy. But what I couldn't figure out were the orange signs up ahead at the last Texas gate before the lake.

 

When I closed the distance some there was also a barricade of poplar saplings and the kind of yellow tape that cops use to keep the rubberneckers away from a murder scene.

 

At the cattle guard I got out and read the orange notice.

 

"Keep out. Dangerous bear in vicinity. This area is closed to the public."

 

Then there was some small print about section so-and-so of the Wildlife Act.

 

You've got to be kidding.

 

Now, what to do? A couple of rigs that had followed me in pulled up. And we debated for a while. This is the time of year when the black bear sows kick last year's cubs out of the den to make way for the new litter. And there are always a bunch of lost and lonely yearlings mooching around, eating the fresh clover sprouting in the road allowances.

 

Maybe one wandered into the campsite. And instead of throwing a chunk of stove wood at it, someone overreacted. Thus all the signs.

 

Still, there's a section in the back of the Wildlife Act that talks about "fines and penalties." That would put my fate in the hands of a fish cop if I crossed the yellow tape. I chose not to take the chance and beat a retreat for Peanut. The other guys followed. The little lake south of Barrhead turned out to be a bust. After an hour of pointless trolling I reeled up and headed for Muir, not bothering to take off my waders. The sun was getting a little low by now and a lot of the Muir regulars were already coming in. Fishing compatriot Emerson was stowing his pontoon boat into the truck by the dock.

 

The bite had pretty well come and gone by then but he gave me the hot fly anyway - a brown chironomid made from some kind of synthetic wrap. Emerson always seems to have no shortage of hot flies.

 

He'd heard about the bear, too, from some guys who turned around at the Texas gate but hadn't stopped at Peanut. But then again, bear stories are only exceeded by fish stories in their unreliability. So I put the grizzly part down as a definite maybe.

 

I picked up a rainbow 50 metres from the dock on a bead head black Woolly Bugger. But after that, nothing. There weren't a lot of whoops coming from the other tin boats and float tubes, either.

 

At sunset, I loaded my belly boat in the truck. Still wondering how things would have gone at Dolberg if I hadn't got "beared" off.

 

On Monday morning I phoned Bill Peters to see if I had made a major strategic mistake.

 

"We did get a call from a member of the public," said the conservation officer superintendent out of Stony Plain.

 

"Two of our officers responded to the campers - they felt it was a grizzly."

 

But like me, "Of course they were a little skeptical - this is not your typical grizzly country," Peters said. The bear had been gnawing on a beaver carcass in the campground. A "very large" bear is the way the campers described it.

 

"It's a pretty dangerous situation," Peters said. "Particularly if it's a grizzly."

 

The COs evacuated the campground, put up the barricade and hauled in a trap.

 

"They went back the next morning. There was a bear there, and it was a grizzly," the head CO confirmed.

 

"It was just finishing off the beaver carcass."

 

The trap failed to interest the griz, which remains "free ranging" somewhere out there in west-central Alberta.

 

Then Bill asked, "If you could do us a favour."

 

Despite the signs and the tape, some folks took the chance and crossed the COs' line anyway.

 

"When we put up these signs, particularly if there is a grizzly feeding on a kill, it's a serious situation," Peters stressed.

 

"Someone could get seriously hurt."

 

And seriously hurt is something I can seriously live without.

[RangerBob]

Could not find a news release on F&W website... funny.

 

http://search.gov.ab.ca/query.html?qp=&col...&rf=2&rq=0&si=0

 

Someone told me about a Black Bear in North Edmonton today too. Stay or go, makes no difference... bear bait anyways.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/20...4/bear0524.html

 

Bear walks through Edmonton

Last Updated Tue, 24 May 2005 14:13:23 EDT

CBC News

 

EDMONTON - A black bear ambled 30 blocks through Edmonton before wildlife officers caught up with it in the parking lot of a seniors residence just before 7 a.m. Monday.

 

"It's pretty rare to see a black bear in the city," wildlife officer Stacey Hunt told the Edmonton Journal. "Mind you, there is the North Saskatchewan River going through the middle of town, so it is pretty much a natural corridor for all wildlife, including bears."

 

Officers used a dart gun to fire a tranquillizer at the bear, believed to be two or three years old. It took six men to haul the 90-kilogram animal into a cage before it was driven to a wooded area west of the city and released.

 

Police said they began receiving calls about the bear around dawn.

 

"We were a little skeptical," Staff Sgt. Dave Elanik told the Edmonton Journal. "Sometimes we get strange calls at that time of the morning."

 

Elanik said a man driving home saw the bear standing on its hind legs in the middle of the road. The calls kept coming until officers, some armed with rifles, surrounded the bear at the seniors residence and then waited for wildlife officers to arrive.

 

On Sunday, a black bear that wandered into Newmarket, 40 kilometres north of Toronto, was captured after leading heavily armed officers – backed up by a police helicopter – on a chase through urban parkland.

 

It was also tranquillized and will be released into a wilderness area.

 

===================================================================

 

EDMONTON JOURNAL

 

http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjou...ad-41720edb68ca

 

Bear covers 30 blocks in daybreak ramble

Tranquillizer dart used after string of sightings trace route through north end

 

 

Renata D'Aliesio

The Edmonton Journal

 

CREDIT: Brian Gavriloff, The Journal

The tranquillized bear was set free about 10 a.m. in a wooded area south of Highway 16 and Niton Junction.

 

 

EDMONTON - Maybe it wanted to talk to the Queen about those bearskins that her guards wear.

 

A young black bear wandered into Edmonton on Monday, the same day Her Majesty arrived for a three-day visit.

 

Provincial wildlife officers tranquillized the bear in the parking lot of a seniors' residence near 92nd Street and 144th Avenue shortly before 7 a.m. Nearly a dozen police officers, some armed with rifles, kept watch on the bear until the wildlife workers arrived. The bear, two or three years old, rose on its hind legs several times, but never attacked.

 

"It's pretty rare to see a black bear in the city," wildlife officer Stacey Hunt said. "Mind you, there is the North Saskatchewan River going through the middle of town, so it is pretty much a natural corridor for all wildlife, including bears."

 

Hunt was asleep when police phoned him about 5:30 a.m. At that point, the black bear had already travelled some 30 blocks in the city's north end.

 

Police received the first of many calls about the bear an hour earlier. Staff Sgt. Dave Elanik said a man driving home encountered the bear near 107th Street and 172nd Avenue.

 

"We were a little skeptical," Elanik said with a chuckle. "Sometimes we get strange calls at that time of the morning."

 

The caller was adamant about what he saw: A black bear on its hind legs in the middle of the road.

 

Elanik checked out the report, but couldn't find the animal.

 

It was spotted again at 5 a.m. by a man delivering newspapers near 98th Street and 150th Avenue. And the calls kept coming as dawn began to break.

 

Officers corralled the bear in the parking lot of the Polish Veterans Hall, blocking off 144th Avenue as they waited for wildlife officers to arrive.

 

Police were warned to keep their distance and their car windows closed so the bear wouldn't pick up their scent. Black bears have poor eyesight and use their ears and nose to detect danger.

 

They can travel as fast as 55 kilometres an hour, but usually climb trees when scared. The parking lot had no trees, but plenty of vehicles to hide between.

 

"Black bears don't generally attack people," Hunt said. "But in certain circumstances where they're feeling closed or cornered, it would be a way out for them."

 

It took one squeeze of the trigger to hit the bear with a tranquillizer at 6:42 a.m. Wildlife officer Dennis Prodan fired the dart. After waiting for the tranquillizer to take, six men dragged the animal, weighing about 90 kilograms, to a cylinder cage and heaved it in.

 

Hunt and Prodan set the bear free around 10 a.m. in a wooded area south of Highway 16 and Niton Junction. It had awakened by that time.

 

Adam Kursa was glad he wasn't outside when the bear appeared. Watching the scene from his home in the seniors' centre, he first thought police were after a criminal.

 

"I couldn't believe it was a bear, here in the city," the 53-year-old Polish immigrant said.

 

Three summers ago, Hunt was at the scene of another bear encounter in Edmonton when wildlife officers shot a two-year-old bear dead after it jumped a resident's backyard fence and snacked on treats in bird feeders near Hermitage Park.

 

It's not known what drew the bear to the city. Hunt speculates it made its way south from the river valley in Fort Saskatchewan.

 

"This is definitely an odd one," he said after releasing the bear.

 

A handful of bear sightings are reported each year in the Edmonton area, but mostly outside of the city.

 

On Sunday, a black bear wandered into a town of 72,000 residents north of Toronto. Backed up by a police helicopter, police tracked the bear through Newmarket until it climbed a tree. The bear was tranquillized and taken away from the Ontario town.

 

rd'aliesio@thejournal.canwest.com

[RangerBob]

No answer at Barrhead F&W but found the number. Will call Wednesday morning.

 

Fish & Wildlife

 

674-8236

 

http://www.town.barrhead.ab.ca/b-home/home-faq.html

 

---

 

I can usually find almost anything on the Net... with the exception of any current news about this Dolberg bear though. Harrumph.

 

So, guess I'll go get the Bob Sled ready tonight and go check it out Thursday.

[Ian B]

No answer when I called there as well,

 

Can't wait till the camping trip though, Get to teach my brother how to flyfish.

[RangerBob]

You know what they say.. teach a man to flyfish... and he'll forever be leeching from your flybox.

 

Scratch, you got that bar of magnesium... and a file this year? Got road flares?

 

I'll swing by the chemical shop on the way home from work on Wednesday too.

 

 

Teach a man to blow shite up.. and well...

 

[Ian B]

I don't know about the flies, but there has been talk about me building him a Flyrod...

 

Me Love Fire :lol:

 

Which reminds me I have to pick up a Good Zippo next time I am in edmonton...

[RangerBob]

Soon.. the gathering will commence for the battle of the ONE FLY competition... and the making of new Klave fires.

 

(Friendly Competition)

 

+

 

(Naptha)

 

=

 

FUN! FUN! FUN!

 

http://ranger-bob.net/nlft/Dolberg%20-%20The%20Movie.wmv (Dolberg I - The Movie)

 

Sequel Theme:

 

http://ranger-bob.net/themecsi.mp3

 

"Dances With Fire"

[dave robinson]

Ballast says he's ready and raring to go. So now I have to load up Chiquita and all her paraphinalia, including the new Fishin Buddy I bought today and the yet untested, home made, anchor boards designed to give the girl a two ended, no-swing perch for chironomiding.

Even bought an extra battery for my old 15 lb trolling motor at Rocky's and put it on the charge.

Loaded up the dry food in the Rainmaker pantry and started rooting around in the garage for all the rest of the camping gear. Then made the mistake of checking the web and found that the City playing fields were open, so it was off to my 8pm soccer game. Shoulda stayed home as we had lots of subs and won in a 13-0 laugher. Just got home and finished coordinating the canoe and fishing stuff. So tomorrow at noon I'll gas and propane up and throw most of the junk in the van and after work load up the clothes and other stuff. Ballast says he can go Thursday after 2pm so I'll pick him up about 3 and we'll hit the grocery store for perishables and ice and hope to be on the road by 4 or so. Supper in Barrhead and on to Dolberg, should arrive before 7. If anyone gets there before me, save a spot for the hippie van. Bears permimtting that is. RB give me a call Thursday AM if we need to go alternate.

[RangerBob]

Awwww.... Scratch and I were gonna get you an inflatable fishing buddy this year... to fill with sand as ballast.

 

If you wanna meet at my office (12910 - 163 Street) we can all leave together at 4:00 PM and FRS it out there. CSI Channel 3. On the west end of the Yellowhead behind Inland Cement.

 

Map Be Here:

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=12831+-+163+...,0.034250&hl=en

 

Will call F&W tommorow and see if they've done a CSI on the bear yet.

 

We missed getting a shot of the Yellow Tape already.. so we may have to find and bring our own.

[RangerBob]

Scratch et al. Think of or bring an item to stash in the Geocache I'll get started up here this weekend. Poopy.. missing the GC Event here.. and they were planning a six foot bonfire too... so now we gotta make ours bigger.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...b8-24c01f41fe62

 

:: http://geocachingedmonton.com/

[dave robinson]

No, you can't have any of my feet for the bonfire!

[dave robinson]

Meeting in the west end is a possibility.

Id probably be coming up 170th

so how about the truck stop on the south side of the yellowhead @ 170th

to save a roundabout detour for me to get to your wh@rehouse.

Sure you want to travel with the rainmaker?

It don't go real fast.

[RangerBob]

No answer at Barrhead F&W but found the number. Will call Wednesday morning.

 

Fish & Wildlife

 

674-8236

 

Just spoke with Fish and Wildlife -- they said (and I quote).. "The Bear Is Gone!"

 

[dave robinson]

Woo Hoo!

A Fishin' we will go,

A Fishin' we will go.

Hi! Ho! And off we go!

A Fishn' we will go!

Whatta ya say to meeting at the truck stop?

[RangerBob]

Whatta ya say to meeting at the truck stop?

 

"It don't go real fast."

How about... No. Or... Maybe.. Or no way hoser.. .. perhaps.. we'll see. Why should WE detour off the South of 170 ST.. when we'll ALL be heading west outta the city.

 

But then, I wasn't planning to stop at Chez Barrhead&W for a meal either.. was gonna zip straight out there to the lake. So perhaps meet you out there.

 

Yellowhead Inn would be better compromise.. still only two block from work... where the uh... liquor shack is at baby... 156St & Yellerhead.

 

Can the van do 90?

[Ian B]

No answer at Barrhead F&W but found the number. Will call Wednesday morning.

 

Fish & Wildlife

 

674-8236

 

Just spoke with Fish and Wildlife -- they said (and I quote).. "The Bear Is Gone!"

 

I got the same Answer

[dave robinson]

Rainmaker does 90 K no problem.

Miles an hour?

Downhill with a tail wind. :lol:

What say we meet out there.

Save me a spot.

I'll keep the FRS on 3/0 and we may be able to chat.

Edited May 25, 2005 by dave robinson

[Ian B]

If possible save a spot for my brother too, since I have no idea when he's getting there, or when his wife will let him out of the house...

[RangerBob]

If possible save a spot for my brother too, since I have no idea when he's getting there, or when his wife will let him out of the house...

Is this your brother.. since I have no idea what he (or you) looks like?