The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

After years of fly fishing Atlantic salmon and Brook trout in New Brunswick, every chance I got, I was introduced to smallmouth bass fishing and decided to give my fly rod a try on some smallies. That’s a day I will not soon forget as it was an experience that was completely different from any other fly fishing experience I had to that point.

Fly fishing for salmon and trout has a specific feel when the strike comes but nothing even close to a smallmouth strike on a fly. It was a powerful strike and the fight was spectacular with so many jumps and spins I was dizzy. Oh yeah, plus that fact that they spin your float tube around and around if you can’t lock your feet to the bottom some how. Great fun.

I can thank my friend Kerry for that experience although he never tried the fly rod so he doesn’t know what he missed. It was completely different that fishing smallies with a spinning rod, as much fun as that is.

Even the water I fished was different than the brooks, ponds and rivers I fished for salmon and trout. Now I was fly fishing lakes looking for lily pads and weeds more than open water.

Smallmouth bass on the fly is heart stopping action and I can’t get enough of it. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time to do all the fishing I want to do, bummer. Maybe we need to move to a more southern climate, eh? Not really though, I love New Brunswick.

I guess, for now, I will just have keep dreaming about fly fishing for smallmouth bass in New Brunswick, well at least until spring arrives once again.