What a Discovery: Chain Pickerel

Like I mentioned in earlier posts, almost all of my years of fishing have been for trout in New Brunswick. This past summer I met someone through his blog. He wrote about fishing in New Brunswick. He wrote about fishing for bass and chain pickerel, along with other species. I got in touch with James and the rest his history. I made a great new friend and was introduced to fishing for chain pickerel.

When we go fishing for chain pickerel it is about an hour and a half from the Moncton area, which is not bad for a great day of fishing, which by the way, happened every time we went fishing in this area for chain pickerel. We always take my 13 foot canoe, which works great for fishing this small area. We use the anchor to hold us in different areas of the water, as there is a current that will move you away from where you want to stay. In the canoe we used our bait casting rods. We used different baits to try to catch the chain pickerel. We used some plastic top-water baits, which worked well out of the weeds, but we mainly used 4-inch plastic worms rigged weedless. I bought all my baits from this seller on Ebay. He has very good prices and is great to deal with. Click on the word Ebay in the previous line to visit his store.

(James with one of his nice catches)

Once we get the canoe settled in a certain area I would start casting in one direction and James would start casting in the other. The chain pickerel love to hide in the weeds so we cast into the weeds and reel in the plastic baits so they stay on top of the water. If there is a pickerel behind the bait they will start chasing the bait until it strikes. It is great fun watching the pickerel chase the bait. I found the great thing about chain pickerel is that if they miss the bait or the hook does not get set you can throw the bait right back in the same area and they will go after it again. If you miss on a trout you are normally out of luck. If the pickerel are beside the bait they will explode right out of the water at the bait. This is also great fun to watch, especially when it happens very close to the canoe.

On a few trips to this same spot we spent the entire day there. We would just keep making our way around the same small area. We would stay the entire day because the pickerel were always very active. We would always have better luck when the wind died down. When the wind picked up a bit and made ripples on the water the pickerel seemed less active. On most occasions, we would have countless chases and strikes by the chain pickerel and would land roughly between 15-20 fish.

When landing a chain pickerel it is best to grab it just below the back of it's head as their teeth are very sharp and can cause you some damage if you get your fingers in that area.

This summer we will continue to go chain pickerel fishing in the canoe with our plastic baits but we are also going to go fly fishing for them as well. James has two fishing tubes that we are going to use. I bought some flippers to use with them this winter. He says this is great fun so I am looking forward to this as well.

Being a trout fisherman I found fishing for chain pickerel to be extremely exciting because they are bigger and much more aggressive. I am looking forward to this spring to get out and try for some more chain pickerel. I am not sure how early in the spring they become active but as soon as James says the word, we will be there. I will certainly be posting about each trip we take to go pickerel fishing.

Using a Canoe to Access More Water

Over my many years of fishing I was limited to brook fishing with chest waders as I never own a boat for fishing. A couple of years ago my brother-in-law and I went half on buying a canoe that we could use when he comes home from Calgary. It is a very simple 13 foot long canoe but it has opened many new places for us to fish. It is a small canoe but can handle two people with no problems. It also fits on top of my Saturn without any problems so it is easy to transport. I just use the white foam pads and ratchet tie downs. Both were bought at Canadian Tire for a reasonable price.

The first place my brother-in-law and I went to try out the canoe was the Shepody River in Riverside Albert, NB. It is a narrow piece of water but gets very deep in many spots which makes it impossible to wade. Also, the terrain along the river is very difficult to walk and some of the area is a marsh. We put the canoe in at a covered bridge about 7km past past Rivervside Albert and started fishing down the river. We used the paddles to help direct as as the current took us down river. We also used an anchor to stop us when we wanted to fish in a certain area.

The weather was great and we took our time going down the river. We mainly bait fished as there were many trees and bushes hanging over the water. We did not have a lot of action but did catch some trout along the way. The action picked up as we came to an area that we could tell people could not get to by foot. I casted my line under a tree quite a ways away. I had what I thought was a very good bite. I reeled in with no luck. Dave told me to cast back to the same area and leave the bait there. After a few more tricky casts I caught a very nice sea trout(the one in the pic). I could quickly tell why people fish this system when the sea run is on. We caught a few more fish on the way down the system and did not get out until it was almost dark. We had a great day on our first voyage in our new(used) 13 foot canoe!

I keep the canoe at my house when Dave is back in Calgary so I try to use it as much as possible. I was surprised when my wife mentioned that she would like to go for a canoe ride sometime. As mentioned in my last post, we live very close to the Petitcodiac River and therefore do not have to drive far to get to water. We decided to go to the bridge just past the Turtle Creek road. It is a popular spot for people to boat. We put in and canoed up towards Turtle Creek(Yes, I brought my fishing rod). We had a great time canoeing this stretch of water. We saw some ducks on the water and also a bald eagle flying over head. I would recommend this place to anyone who would like to go for a canoe trip. The water is usually very calm. Do be careful of boaters in bigger motor boats. They will usually slow down to keep the water calm until they pass.

I also have started using the canoe to go fishing with a new fishing buddy I met last summer. We have used the canoe to go chain pickerel fishing, which I am very excited to write about very soon.

To anyone that is thinking about getting a canoe to add to their fishing experiences, I would strongly recommend it. You can buy new at many stores for a reasonable price and also look to buy used as we did. We found ours on Kijiji. It has already taken me to places I have never fished before and has allowed me to catch new species of fish that I am truly enjoying fishing. Less than three months before I can strap it back on top of the car. :)

15 Minutes to Bass Fishing

Like I mentioned in my introduction, I mostly only ever fished for trout. I have had great years doing this and will discuss some of these experiences soon. I knew there were smallmouth bass in the Petitcodiac River so I thought I would give this species a try this past summer. Am I ever glad that I did! Like I said, I live in Riverview. I found a spot where the bass from the Petitcodiac spawn. This place, you guessed it, is only 15 minutes from my house.

There is a river that connects to the Petitcodiac and I was told that the bass will come up this system to spawn. This river is called Little River. Depending on where you get in, you can wear waders and walk the system. For those of you that will want to give this place a try I started fishing here the end of last May until the first week of July. After this first week of July, the bass were gone. They must have gone back into the Petitcodiac.

The very first time I went to Little River I got in at the bridge and fished down towards the main river. I used my fly rod and used some green wolley buggers. I did not have any luck on the first couple of bends in the river but then I came to a little pocket on the left side of the river. I threw the fly in and got a hit right away. Compared to the trout I catch on the fly rod this had a lot more weight to it. As I started to bring n the line, the bass jumped out of the water. Now, I am not saying this was a monster fish but having my first bass on and giving me a fun fight and jumping out of the water I was instantly hooked and knew I would be returning many times to try for more! After I released the fish I threw the fly back into the same area. Another hit right away. I threw the fly back in a third time and I had another bass on. What great fun, first of all catching three bass on my first time out but also catching them on the fly rod.

As I made my way back to the bridge I met a gentleman who was fishing. We had a great discussion. I told him I was brand new to fishing bass and he was nice enough to take the time and show me the baits he used to fish the area. He was also very nice and gave me some tubes and jigs to try. When I got home I did a quick search on Ebay for tubes and jigs. There were many sellers that were selling both. I am very pleased with the gentleman who I bought the tubes from, so much so that I have made multiple purchases from him.

Now stocked with a bunch of jigs and different color 4-inch tubes I gave Little River another go. I started at the bridge again and went down the same way. Being new to bass fishing I had no idea how the tubes were to be fished. With the jig, it beat along the bottom of the river popping up and down in an erratic motion. Early in the season this works well as there was no vegetation growing on the bottom yet. I did catch one bass on this trip and had a great time trying the tubes and gaining more confidence fishing for bass.

With only being 15 minutes from home I made many more trips back to Little River. My best night there was a night in early June. The bugs were terrible but that was alright :) This time I decided not to fish down below the bridge but instead I fished up the river. Right after the first bend I caught a good sized bass. Once it was released I continued up the river catching a few more bass. It was starting to get a little dark but I was having so much fun that I continued going up-river. I came to a deep pool and thought it would be a great spot to try. The bugs were eating me alive but it was worth it as I pulled 6 nice-sized bass out of this one spot!! These were all caught on 4 inch tubes. Now I must say that I made my way back to this one spot a handful more times not catching one bass in this pool, so either I hit it at the perfect time or I hit it right at the end of the time that they stayed in this spot. I will try there earlier this season to find out.

My trips to Little River between the end of May and the first week of July yielded me an average of three bass a trip. Being so close to home and a nice walk along the river I can handle those averages. I am very anxious to try the river earlier this year. I will report back when I catch my first bass there this year. Hopefully it will be before the end of May.

Introduction

Hello all,
My name is James Trenholm and I am going to give this blogging thing a go. I met a new friend this past summer and he blogs about his fishing experiences so I thought I would enjoy doing the same thing. Before I begin I thought I would do a quick introduction.

I am 38 years old. I am married with 10 year old twin girls. I live in Riverview, New Brunswick. I am a grade three teacher so I have the perfect job to be able to do my favorite hobby, FISHING! Speaking of, only three more months until the opening of the fishing season here in NB.

I have spent all my years fishing around this area mainly focusing on trout fishing. I normally bait fish early in the season and then fly fish for the remainder of the season. I will make post about these areas and experiences. This past summer I was introduced to bass and chain pickeral fishing and I am completely hooked!