So I left Calgary early on Saturday morning with my gf and our 5-month old pup, Jasper. The plan was to fish the Livingstone for the day. I have mainly been fishing more remote rivers this summer due to the influx of people, but since i am training my new fishing buddy, i decided we would go somewhere that i am more familiar with.
We got to the river and picked a spot a few KMs upstream of the gap. It looked promising. Nice day, no other fisherman to be seen on our stretch. We walked upstream for a KM or so to a nice pool. On the way up i was very disappointed at the amount of discarded toilet paper on the banks. We saw 7-8 places where people had gone #2 on that short walk. Anyways, I had just sat down to tie on our flies when i heard Jasper YELP.
When i ran over to him to see what was the matter, I found a size 6 (or bigger) streamer hooked into his mouth, with another nymph and line hanging from the streamer. After trying to get it out of his mouth and looking at the nymph, we realized that the flies were not de-barbed.
So, my day ended before it even really started. We had to drive to the ER vet in Okotoks to get it removed. They needed to sedate the poor guy to get it done. Needless to say I'm very angry and disappointed in the conditions left by folks this summer.
Anyways, just a warning to people to watch their dogs on the river, especially with the additional disrespect to nature that has come with the extra people this summer.
http://imgur.com/gallery/kjV6SFO
*End Rant*