What a Bass!

James and I decided to go fishing yesterday to our favorite pickerel place. When we got into the canoe we did a loop by the culverts under the road. On the way there we made a few casts with no action. The last time we were there we had a few pickerel that were hitting just in front of the culverts in the running water so I decided to throw my line in that spot. As soon as the 6 inch pink worm hit the water there was an enormous splash on top of the water. I was very excited as I thought I was about to catch a huge pickerel. Well, the way the fish was acting James and I quickly said that it was not a pickerel. James was the first to say that it was a bass. About a month and a bit ago we saw 2 people with some small bass they said they caught there. This was the first that we heard bass being in this water so I was not terribly surprised that it could be a bass. What was very cool was the size of the bass. I have caught a few nice bass on Little River and another nice on on the Canaan River but this one is the biggest I have caught to date.

We did catch some pickerel and had others case like we normally do but the wind picked up and made fishing very difficult in the canoe. We went to another stretch of the river but it was still very windy so we decided to call it a day. Hopefully there will be another fishing day very soon.

Another Awesome Day Pickerel Fishing

I got permission from the boss (my wife) to go fishing on Tuesday so I gave James a call and we were off to our favorite pickerel fishing place. We decided to go early to get in as much fishing as we could. We left James' house at 6am and were fishing by about 7:45. We fished the same area we normally do and were getting some action but not quite as much as we normally get. We worked our way around the area and then decided to take the canoe to the other body of water across the street.

We worked our way around the edge of this water getting some pickerel to chase our lures. We were using different color worms, hooked weedless. The way to fish these is to cast out and beat the worm across the top of the weeds and water. This takes some practice but not too hard to get the hang of. It is very important to get the worm on the hook properly. I still had a bend in mine and I was getting caught up on the weeds a lot. James showed me how to fix that and the rest of the day I did not get caught up as much.

We kept going along this edge until we got quite a ways down. We decided to cut across the water to head back to the other side. When we got to the other side of the water we noticed a nice spot protected from the wind. The water was calm and there were weeds on top of the water. It looked like a perfect spot to catch some pickerel. Let me tell you, we were right about that! I would say for a good 2 hours we had pickerel chasing our lures on about every cast. We caught many of these pickerel. The were some very nice sized ones as well. Some were the biggest I have seen come out of this water.

Some of the pictures I have with this blog are from both sides. This time out we certainly had much better luck on the "new" side. In the pictures you will notice I am wearing a glove. Yes, it looks silly; yes, I know that; no, I do not care. :) I am new to pickerel fishing and after seeing James get his finger cut a few weeks ago I figured I better wear something that helps me get a good grip on the fish. The glove has rubber spots on it and it helps very well holding the fish.
Needless to say I am extremely excited to head back to go after more pickerel.

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. :)