Fishing New Brunswick: French Lake

Yesterday I had a fantastic day at French Lake withCasey and James. Casey asked if James and I wanted to go fishing at French Lake. After we bothquickly said yes we had the plans made. Casey picked me up at 5:40 am and then we got James and were on the road. We arrived and got the boaready and were on the water by 7:45.

It was a beautiful morning with no wind.....I repeat no wind!!! We started our way going up the lake. We did some trolling and casting to the edge of the lake where grass and lily pads were growing. We made our way to some bigger patches our lily pads and started to get some strikes from some pickerel. As we continued our way up the lake Casey caught the first pickerel of the day while trolling....he is the trolling king, as he catches many fish using this strategy.


We made our way to one spot of the lake that was a dead end. It was very calm and full of lily pads. We got into some very action and we each must have pulled in two or three pickerel each. When we finished with this spot we continued moving around the lake catching and also getting many hits as we tried different lily pads.

I would say by 11am or so the dreaded wind started to pick up. We started looking for spots to get out of the wind but everywhere we went to it seemed like the wind was always in our face and disturbing the water. By noon it was really windy but we did not let in and continued fishing. Our experience with pickerel fishing is they usually turn off when it gets windy but luckily for us we were still able to catch some pickerel at certain spots. We also spent some time trolling for pickerel and perch. We caught 18 perch while trolling. Some of the perch were a good size.

As the day wore one we continued to look for little coves to get out of the wind. We were able to find a few that gave us a little relief from the wind and James caught the biggest pickerel of the day. It was 24 1/2 inches long and was quite heavy.

When we decided to call it a day we decided to troll back to the boat launch. We each caught a few perch and Casey caught another pickerel.

We kept count of the fish we caught during the day for some bragging-rights fun. By the end of the day James landed 7 perch and 14 pickerel, I caught 4 perch and 12 pickerel, and Casey caught 7 perch and 7 pickerel.

I tried many different lures during the day but James and I had the best luck with the pickerel using a red 6 inch senko Gary Yamamoto Original 5" Senko Worm Color: Fading Watermelon w/Black (194J). I also tried different colored worms. I used a skitter pop, hula popper, rubber frogs and some swimming hard baits. I also used two rods throughout the day.  One was with a spin cast reel and the other one was with a bait casting reel.  I have been using the bait casting reel more.  I am getting better with it fishing from a boat as I find casting from a boat with it is much different than walking a river and fishing with it. Strikeforce SF100SH Baitcasting Reel

As I continue to look around for a 14 foot boat to buy it was really nice to go out on Casey's 16 foot aluminum boat. He has it rigged up very nicely. He made storage areas and even has a cd player so we could listen to music while fishing.

It was a fantastic day with two great fishing buddies!
If you have time check out my Amazon.com fishing store.

Fishing New Brunswick: Canaan River

Although it rained all day on Thursday James and I decided to go try the Canaan River for a few hours yesterday. When we got there we noticed the water was up about 2 feet, which I guess is good because it was down a bit and very warm. The water temperature was warm but cooler than before the rain.

We both started fishing with senkos, mine a pink one and James using a red one. Just before some rapids I caught a pickerel. He was just a small guy. He was sitting right in by some grass. We continued our way down the river and came to the area where we have caught some bass in the past. We tried along the grass on the left hand side for some pickerel and also in the middle for some bass. I decided to use a new hula popper that I just bought on Ebay. I was very pleased with the action it created on the water. As I was fishing a fish jumped just behind me saw I threw the hula popper there and as soon as it hit the water I had a fish on. I thought it was a small bass at first but it ended up being a good sized chub.

James testing how deep the water was :)

As we made our way down farther I decided to cross the river and fish the other side as there was quite a bit of brush hanging close to the water. Now using my skitter pop lure I threw it close to the brush and caught a small bass. We went down a little farther without any luck and decided to fish back up the river. As we got close to the rapids again I caught another pickerel in along grass. Again it was just a small one.

The fishing was slow again but it was still good to get out on the water and spend a few hours fishing with James. I am thinking the next time I can get out I am going to give French Lake a try to see if we can get into some more pickerel.

Fishing New Brunswick: A Busy Day

Yesterday I spent a full day fishing(and driving). Glenn, myself, and another friend of Glenn's decided to go to the Miramichi to try some salmon fishing. With the weather being so warm and reports that the fishing has not been good we decided to go early in the morning while the water temperatures might be a little cooler. We left at 4:15 in the morning and arrived close to 6 am. We got to our spot and got set up for some fishing. When Glenn and I walked down to the water we saw a salmon moving around. Glenn tried fishing it for awhile with no luck so I decided to start my way down the river.

On my way down I tried a handful of different flies, some dry and some wet. I was catching lots of chub but that is all I was seeing. The water temperature was very warm, which I am sure was not good for the fish. Glenn and I continued down the river with both of us catching lots of chub. After about 30 minutes we decided to go back to our starting point. When we got there I went back to the small pool that we saw the fish. I was standing quite close to it and could see a fish there. The reflection of the sun made it hard to see. The other two guys came over and Glenn had a better angle and could see a handful of grilse and one salmon. The salmon then had enough and took off between me and Peter. It was a very big fish and it was very cool to get that close to one.

We decided not to go to any other spots and made our way back to town. We got back home around 1:30pm and Glenn and I wanted to continue to fish so we loaded up his boat and made our way to Coles Island. As we got to the boat launch there were two other people there. As we drove by them I had to do a double take to realize it was James. He was there with Casey. They said they only saw a few fish in 7 hours of fishing.

We decided to go on the water anyways but soon realized we would not see many fish. Again, the water temperature was very warm. I suggested since we were only 30 minutes from Chipman that I could show Glenn where I have spent so much time the past few years. So we loaded up again and made our way to Chipman. We put in at the launch by the marina and made our way to the cove I fish all the time. At one of the points Glenn hooked into a pickerel right away using a frog bait that is also a popper. I was getting the camera ready to take his picture when the fish jumped right out of his hands and back into the water. It was quite comical to tell the truth....right Glenn???? :) We continued to fish the cove getting some chases and hits but we did not land anymore fish. Glenn said he really enjoyed seeing what the pickerel can do and I was glad to show him. Hopefully next time we will be able to land some more pickerel. I am thinking it may be time to give French Lake a try.

We left at 4:15am and got home at 10:30 pm. I would say that was a full day!!

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 :)

Fishing New Brunswick: Canaan River......Twice

Friday night my friend Glenn and I decided to go down by Coles Island for an evening fish in his 14 foot aluminum boat. When we arrived at 6 pm it was extremely windy but we decided to give it a try anyways. As we got out into the water we noticed there were weeds beds and grass everywhere so I figure we would be in for a good night of pickerel fishing. Well the wind said different. It stayed windy pretty well night. We were able to find a few spots out of the wind but we did not get any action there. Actually we did not get any action at all during the evening. I would have to say it was because of the wind. It was fun going around in the boat and continued to make me eager to get my own 14 foot boat. I am looking but have not found one yet.

Today when my wife got home from the gym I threw out that I would like to go fishing for a few hours and she said yes....always good to test the waters :) so I went back to the Canaan River at the bridge by the Havelock turnoff. Again when I got there it was quite windy but it looked like the rain was going to hold off. I wore my waiters and started down the river. I tired for a pickerel right away where James caught one on Monday. I got one to move a couple of times but did not catch him. I then walked to to the stretch that is quite flat and fairly deep. This was the spot James and I had some luck early in the week. I walked down the right hand side casting into the middle and along the bank. I tired different lures. I tried the skitter pop, a black with red spots frog, a 4 inch tube for some bottom fishing, and a green with white belly frog. I did get some action on the black frog but I did not get the hook set properly. I would say I had three bass chase that lure. I also used a lure that looks like a salamander, I got some action with that one by some weeds.

I was almost ready to head back up but saw some more calm water so I went down a little farther using the green and white frog. I casted out into the water and when I was reeling in I had a hit but missed it. I casted out again and it hit again but again no fish. There was a big rock in the middle and figured the bass was hanging out by that. I waited a few minutes and threw the frog out again and this time I had the bass on. It was a nice size bass. It is the one in the picture by my rod. It was released back into the water after the picture.

After I caught the fish I decided to start back towards the car. On the way back I decided to walk on the other side of the river to try it while also casting out into the middle. I decided to use my skitter pop, which is the fire tiger color by the way. The picture is a little blurry but it is clear enough for you to see it. I would recommend buying this lure if you are fishing bass. It works quite well. As I made my way up the river I casted straight in front of me in calm spot which was fairly shallow. Pretty well as soon as the skitter pop hit the water I had another bass on. This one is in the picture with me holding it is one hand, another god sized bass.

So, I ended up landing two bass and probably having 5 or 6 hits so all in all not a bad afternoon of fishing. I will have to make sure I ask earlier so I have time to ask someone to come with me but this was unexpected. The other picture is of the frog I caught the bass on. I decided to put the pictures of the baits on in case it helps someone when they go shopping for baits.

Fishing on the Canaan

James and I decided to go fishing yesterday. We decided to try something different and since we did not leave until 1 pm we went to the Cannan river and put the canoe in at the bridge by the Havlock turnoff. As we were getting the canoe ready James tried by some weeds and caught a nice little pickerel right away. I have never fished this stretch of the river as I usually drive a few more kms down the road. I was hoping the water would be fairly deep and we could just float down and fish until we got to my regular spot. This was not the case as there were many spots that got quite shallow and we had to walk the canoe. We did manage to stay in the canoe some and fish.

In the deeper spots we did get into some nice bass. We also each had some very nice ones get off before we got them into the boat. Early in the trip I was using a Skitter Pop and a bass smashed it and once it pull a certain way my knot to my leader gave way and off went the bass with my lure. I had another one so I put it on and I think on my third cast I had another very nice bass on........guess what....off went my Skitter pop lure again. This was my fault as I did not tie a good knot again. An expensive way to learn to tie proper knots.

We used different top water poppers and also pink worms. We caught fish on both kinds of lures. I really enjoy using the top water lures because you can see the bass hit the baits. It was fun to be able to catch bass and pickerel in the same area. I hope to go back again soon and try another part of the river with James. I think a little farther down it flattens out and gets a little deeper.

Fishing New Brunswick: Afternoon in Chipman

James and I decided to go fishing on Saturday. James came over to my house and helped me put the canoe on my new car as I wanted someone there to help me as I just got the car two weeks ago. The canoe went on and is more secure than on the Saturn.




When we got to Chipman we went to our regular spot to take a look. We figured the water would still be fairly high and we were right. We decided to go to another spot as we thought the water would be a little lower. We also wore our waiters which turned out good as we were able to get out a few times and fish from the sore to give us a stretch.




Throughout the day I had had a few pickerel chase my baits and I did not land any fish. As for James, I am not sure what he was doing all winter but it worked. He landed 6 or 7 pickerel and was was a very nice size. (See pic). If I was getting skunked I was at least glad someone was catching fish.....not really :) We used many different colored 6 inch worms and we used a little weight as the weeds have not grown much so we thought we would keep the baits a little below water level. James had most of his luck using the color red this day.

I am sure the water will continue to drop and our regular spot will look more to normal within a few weeks. I look forward to trying it again and hopefully this time James can take a few pictures of me catching some fish :)

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.

A Fun Day Fishing Pickerel

I took a fellow teacher buddy out fishing today. Guy and I have gone fishing a few times in the past. We have mainly gone for trout. I really wanted to take him to try for some pickerel and when I mentioned that to him he was all for it.
He picked me up at 7am and we were off. Today was the first time this year that I used the canoe. It was great to use it again but I am still all knotted up :) When we got there Guy said the first one who catches a fish does not have to pay for some treats on the way home. We got into the canoe and started fishing. Guy caught a nice pickerel about 5 minutes into fishing. I was pleased that he caught his first pickerel ever that I did not care if I had to buy the treats. Guy was quick to catch his second pickerel of the day.

We crossed the cove and started fishing up the side. Before I knew it I was down 5-0. guy reminded me it was 5-0 :) I did not mind as I was getting a few pickerel to case my bait. We were using different 6 inch rubber worms. Guy thought I was crazy when I showed him a certain color but it was the color that worked the best today. The color was pink.

We continued to make our way around the water. I finally caught two back to back pickerel and they were 2 very big pickerel. They were probably two of the biggest I have ever caught.
When we stopped fishing we probably landed around 15 pickerel and had many more chase our baits. Guy had a great time and is anxious to try it again. Of course I am always looking forward to going back to this spot to do more pickerel fishing.

First Day Of Fishing......Finally

Well, it took me eleven days but I finally got out fishing last Sunday. Things came up and I could not get out until then. I called James and we were going to go to Smith's Creek to try some early season trout fishing. When I picked him up he asked if I wanted to go try for some chain pickerel and bass. Of course it took me all of 2 seconds to say yes.

So off we were to our pickerel spot. It took about an hour and twenty minutes to get there. We had a nice talk and the way there as we have not seen each other over the winter. As we turned the corner and saw the spot where we were going to fish we say that the water was extremely high. This did not stop as we put on our waiters and went fishing.

I am not sure if the water was still too cold, the water level, or if it was the wind but we did not have any luck catching any pickerel. We did not even see any movement on the water. We tried for about an hour and then decided to try the bass spot.
The water level was fine here as I do not think it changes much there, so I thought we were in for some fun bass fishing. Well, I was wrong. Again, perhaps the water temperature was still too cold. We did not have any luck at all. We tried for over and hour.

The weather was very nice, it was great to get out with James again, and I can finally say I have been fishing. Hopefully I will get out this weekend again.
Now that I have started fishing I will be keeping my blog up to date.
Happy fishing.

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.