Fishing New Brunswick: First Eel River Lake Again

Mat and I decided to go back to First Eel River Lake again for a day trip. We went there back in May for an over night trip with three other guys. Actually these same three guys came again. Mat picked me up at 4:30 am....yes 4:30 am :) It is a three hour drive and we wanted to get there around 8am so 4:30 it was.

When we got to the boat launch there were some lily pads around so I threw my line out a few times with a rubber frog on it. I had a few pickerel chase but did not get anything. We then got the boat ready, Mat has a 14 foot aluminum boat. We then made our way to the part of the lake that is a good spot for bass. On

Once we got there I threw out my skitter pop lure. On about my fifth cast I caught a nice bass(pic below). So I thought this was going to be a good start to the day but of course, like most days this year, the wind picked up. It got quite windy and stayed windy for most of the day. Mat said it would be better to try to fish the bass with under water baits so we started using 4, 5, and 6 inch rubber worms(senkos). We put a little bullet weight on to help get the baits to the bottom quicker. Mat caught a few bass at this area. We then went across to a cove that was protected from the wind. It was nice and calm in this area but we did not have much luck. Mat did catch one bass. The other three guys arrived so we went over to say hello.

Mat and I then decided to go try the top part of the lake. This is where there is a crazy amount of lily pads. We were hoping to get into some pickerel for awhile. No sooner did we get there and start to fish then the wind really picked up. In my experience with fishing pickerel, when the wind picks up the pickerel stop. This was the case as we only saw a could chase. With the amount of weeds and lily pads this area must be polluted with pickerel. After a frustrating 30 minutes or so we decided to meet up with the guys and go fish down close to where we stayed on our over night trip. Mat knew there was a rock bed near there and that it dropped off all around it. We were not having any luck so we thought we would have nothing to lose.

Well, when we got there the other three guys in their boat started catching bass like crazy. I had a 4 inch tube on and tried that one for awhile. The picture below shows the bass I caught with it. The other guys were still catching and said they were using a blue and black worm so mat and I put them on as well. I caught one more bass and Mat caught a good 6 or 7 bass. The five of us must have stayed there for a good hour and a half and must have pulled in 30-35 bass.

We were thinking that perhaps at this time of year the bass leave the shallow waters and go to the deeper water. Perhaps they do this because of the hot weather and or they do this when they are done spawning. Next time we are there we will have to look for a few more areas like this one. That way if the bass are not in the regular spots we will be able to try these.

Although I would have liked to catch some more bass, it was a great day and it ended on a great note getting into all those bass.

Lures used: I used the skitter pop(fire tiger color) when the water was calm enough. I mainly used different colored rubber worms. I used a rubber frog green in color. I used an orangish frog that was also a popper. I used the Mister Twister Top Prop some in the weeds for the pickerel. I used a 4 inch tube with a weighted hook.

If everything stays the same I will be going to the Miramichi to try salmon fishing again. I will write a blog about that upon my return, hopefully with some pictures of some salmon :)