The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

Casey took me to yet another area I have driven past for 30 some years without fishing. What a great year for fishing new locations. Thanks Casey.

Our last day of fishing took us to the Coles Island, Washamadoak lake and Otnabog lake.

The drive there was a bit wet as it rained from the time we left until we arrived and then the rain stopped and we have a perfect day.

When those leaves start changing colour this time of year I have a hard time paying attention to fishing. I just keep taking pictures to show Jenny when I get home.

By the time we were ready to go home my neck was stiff from checking out all the scenery around me.

We even caught some fish but nothing like we've had in other years. Just too many places for the bass and pickerel to spread out making them a little tougher to catch.

One minute we're fishing a channel and the next we are in the middle of a farmers field that's been flooded with 3 feet of water.

About 10 minutes after launching the boat Casey had the first smallmouth bass, a nice little chunky one.

What a great way to start the day and immediately we thought our day would be much better than the rest of the fishing year.

Casey looked at his bass and politely asked him to tell all his friends we practice catch and release fishing and released him back to the water.

Not long after that Casey brought in the first pickerel of the day. Shortly after that I managed to get a couple of perch with my little Rapala countdown perch pattern.

The fishing didn't get to heavy but it was better than a few other days we were out fishing this year. The high water and dark stained colour hasn't helped much.

We had a lot of action at Coles Island for a bit and then wind picked up and they shut down. It really was great to see the action pickup like that. I will definitely have get back to these spots Casey took me to, next year.

What beautiful pickerel water. I am sure there were thousands of pickerel in that area but the day light was running out and we had a long boat ride back to where we launched so we had to call it a day.

Huge Pickerel Mouth Opens Underwater

A bit earlier in the day I had an experience with a pickerel I have never had in all the years of fishing. And of course with the rod in my hands I didn't have my camera ready.

I am used to bringing pickerel back to the boat and having them explode on my bait. Been soaked lots of times this way but this pickerel was a bit different.

A few times I dropped my bait in the water and watched it disappear after just a few inches under the water, very stained, almost a rust colour.

We were in deeper water here, about 10 feet deep I believe.

I had been watching my baits close when they get close to the boat as it was hard to see when they reached the surface and popped out of the water a couple times and I didn't want to knock Casey in the head with a lure.

Just as I had the bait to the surface where I could see a big ole pickerel came up under it. I didn't even see it until it opened it's huge mouth. What an amazing thing to see close up like that. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that if I was a fish.

It was only for a second. Just as it was about to inhale my Rapala the pickerel spotted me and quickly disappeared back into the deep.

It was so cool looking that I hunted for a similar picture online just to show you what I saw, but after an hour of searching I just gave up looking.

The Scenery Was Breath Taking

The deciduous trees around the shoreline were already changing colour and looked great, like I mentioned at the start so I thought I would add a couple of extra images of the scenery.

The trees around the water line were all changing to gorgeous colours yet the trees behind them, being protected, were still healthy greens.

We saw a couple of lighthouses, not sure if they are active but they looked pretty cool. The two below were directly across the lake from each other.

While Casey and I were heading toward Coles Island to a pickerel hotspot we saw a float plane and of course I wanted to get a picture.

As we got close I could see a couple of people around the plane, so I was kind of hoping it would be taking off.

Well, they weren't taking off and had only just landed. Reminded me of a fly in fishing trip I was on a few years ago.

Another day of fun on the water ended all too soon but Casey took us out of there following the water. What a beautiful place to have a home, cottage or camp, heck even a tent would be special in this area.