The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

Didn’t think I was going to get out fishing this week but to my delight I found a note on my coffee mug when I got up Friday morning.

Fishing buddy Casey had called after I hit the sack the night before so he just left a message for me to call in the AM.

I’m an early riser, about 5am each day, but didn’t feel right calling at that time, so I waited until 6am.

Well I apologized to Casey’s wife as she was still in bed. Casey was out walking his dogs and she would have him call me when he came back in.

5 minutes later the phone rang. “Jim, Would You Like To Go Fishing?”

I can’t tell you how much I enjoy hearing those words over the phone or in person.

An hour later we were on the road to Chipman as Casey had never fished the Chipman area for pickerel. And an hour and half later we were at the Chipman boat launch.

Chipman New Brunswick Boat Launch

In a few minutes the boat is in the water and Casey was asking, ‘Which way?’

There was a spot that was very close to where Jamie and I fish but seemed a lot further in a canoe so I said let’s go up river a bit.

As we are putting Casey’s boat in the water he asked me if I like soft ice cream. What a strange question to ask as we are about to head out fishing, but of course I like soft ice cream, hard ice cream and milk shakes.

He was just seeing if I was up for a little wager. The loser for the day buys the ice cream at the end of the day.

I was up for that as it’s always a great treat after fishing for the day. It always tastes better when someone else pays too. Game ON!!

So we launched and headed off to our first spot for the day with our lines already setup and in the water to troll a bit while we were heading up river or was that down river.

The water temperature was still only 54F or 7C, still a little chilly for crazy pickerel action so we would likely need to slow down the presentations for a while, at least until the sun warmed the water up a few more degrees.

The sky was clear and very little wind. Looked like the ideal day for pickerel fishing.

Well Casey hooked into the first pickerel and I was nice enough to net it for him.

We used the net so we wouldn’t lose pickerel at the boat.

Casey replaced his old net with a nice little rubber mesh net that doesn’t get tangled in the hooks and doesn’t hurt the fish.

Fish ON!!

Casey hooked into and landed the first fish putting him in first place. Personally I like catching that first fish just to get into the other guys head but not today, Casey was already in my head.

Shortly after Casey’s first fish he had a second, which was 19″, slightly bigger than the first.

The water temp was still at 54F/7C.

I tried to hit it with the net but some how it got in the net and Casey had me 2 to zip. I have to get better with that net or start catching some fish.

You can see the rapala that Casey was using seemed to work well.

I hooked into a couple as well but they never saw the net, maybe not even the boat. They did poke their head out of the water just long enough to laugh at me though.

After a little bit I did manage to land a pickerel. It was my first for the day but it was equal to Casey’s second fish, so it was now Casey’s 2 to my 1.

Then Casey caught another and made the comment about how it’s can be tough to come back when you are two behind. 3-1 for Casey.

The water temperature had gone up to 55F by this time and we had been fishing for a couple of hours.

Then I hooked into another that came in at 21″ and it was Casey 4, Jim 2 but I now had the largest fish and bragging rights. Plus I was catching up.

First 21″ Chain Pickerel of the Day

Casey caught a couple more pickerel as the day went on but as the temperature went up I changed to top waters and started hitting the weeds on the bank.

Fishing top water in the weeds is my favourite method for pickerel fishing as I spend most of my fishing time in a float tube.

I started getting a lot of action in the weeds but still was landing any more fish. I decided to switch to my other rod which had lighter line and would allow me to cast about twice the distance. Then things started happening.

The wind wouldn’t co-operate with us and it was hard to keep the best angle to fish the weeds.

By this time the water temperature was up to 56F and we could see a lot of minnow action which gave us great direction for casting.

At that time we moved off the river and into a small cove where we could see some weed beds and we could get out of the wind a bit as it was getting stronger.

The water temp in the cove was about 2 degrees higher than the river.

The Weeds Are My Favourite Place To Fish

I spend a great deal of time in the weeds fishing pickerel as I just love their explosive nature. It’s so cool to watch the wakes and see them leave the water for a bait that is still in the air.

Early Season? Look For Green Weeds

Now when I am fishing the weeds early season I look for any green patch above or below the water. Anything that is going to add oxygen to the water. These little spots usually hold a few small pickerel or one great big one.

I’ll Admit I Had An Unfair Advantage

I think I had the definite advantage for a few reasons.

1. I live to fish the weeds.

The weeds are where I started to shine as I fish the weeds every chance I get and I have my favorite baits for the weeds.

2. I had the secret bait

I had one pink 6″ plastic worm that the pickerel seem to love more than anything else but I only had one and it was hacked up pretty good from the week before fishing with Jamie.

I used that pink worm until it was chewed up and then I bit the end of it and put it back on the hook. I fished that pink worm until a pickerel finally took it right off the hook.

By that time I had tied things up. I believe it was now 5-5

3. I was in the front of the boat

Casey was in control of his boat which put me in the front. So I feel I had a definite advantage as long as we weren’t trolling.

Once my pink worm was gone I switched to another worm that was a green with a red tail. Pickerel seem to love that red as it indicates an injury.

The water temperature was up to 60F by this time and the pickerel were becoming very active.

22″ Chain Pickerel, Water Temp 60F

I started getting a lot of following pickerel but my excitement was making me a little too hyper and I was snatching the worm away before they could get it. But I was having a lot of fun.

Then we were getting a lot of them that just followed the bait to the boat then would bugger off. Casey was laughing and telling me to do the figure 8 like you do for a big ole musky.

What a change a few degrees in the water makes.

At the end of the day we had a lot of follows and great fun. The final score for the day was Jim 12 pickerel landed, Casey with 6 pickerel landed.

Oh yeah, I had that 22″ pickerel so that gave me the biggest fish of the day as well.

Note: The wind became a real problem as the day went on but with Casey’s boat we had no problem moving to the back end of coves and behind trees and islands that blocked the wind.

Almost every cast to a calm spot, even with wind all around us we were getting action.

Thanks for the great day of fishing Casey. Most enjoyable and the company wasn’t so bad either.