The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

For the first 30 or so years living in New Brunswick I waded many brooks and rivers fly fishing for brook trout and Atlantic salmon but only recently started fishing smallmouth bass in rivers.

When I finally was able to buy a boat I started fishing lakes for smallmouth bass and chain pickerel but never thought about trying rivers for bass.

In 2008 I wrote an article about changing a kids life by taking them fishing and is when Jamie, who has twin girls, contacted me asking if I would give up the location to a bass pond I enjoyed walking around or taking my canoe to.

Well I like nothing more than seeing people take kids fishing so of course I shared it. We became friends and have been fishing together every since.

Just last year Jamie invited me to wade the Cannan river for some smallmouth. It was the first time I've waded a river for bass and I had great time. This year we waded the river twice.

Then in May 2009 I met Casey on a fishing forum, of all places, and he invited me to go fishing with him on Lake Petit, which was really just the Petitcodiac river, for smallmouth bass.

Back in the mid 80s I lived with the Petitcodiac river in our backyard and never knew there were bass in there. I would drive for an hour for bass fishing. DUH!!

Since then I have fished many time with both Jamie and Casey on a few rivers in New Brunswick such as the Oromocto river, the Saint John river, the Cannan river and a few others I can't remember the names of.

That's Jamie on the right with a big smallmouth he caught while we were fishing from his canoe. This was in a little inlet off the Salmon river near Chipman.

I had been fishing here for many years and never once caught a bass, lots of chain pickerel and perch though.

We have done a lot of fishing since then but last year he called me to see if I would like to do some wading for smallmouth bass on the Cannan river.

There are a lot of rivers in New Brunswick that hold bass but my understanding is that most people fish the lakes and ponds for them but not so many fish the rivers for bass.

Some pictures of the smallmouth bass I've caught in New Brunswick rivers:

Smallmouth bass fishing with Casey on Lake Petit before they opened the dam for good. So glad I had the opportunity to experience fishing this river.

This one is the first day Jamie took me bass fishing in the Cannan river. I wore the life vest because I'm not all that steady of my feet. Only fell in once.

Casey and I launched his boat on the Shepody river near Riverside-Albert.

This smallmouth bass was caught on the Saint John river near Jemseg. This was my first time fishing the Saint John and couldn't wait to get back there again.

This was my first smallmouth bass caught on the Salmon river near Chipman and was a huge surprise as I usually only get chain pickerel in this area. Great fun.

Jamie took me fishing the Oromocto river in his canoe. I made a cast to a rock right next to a steel bridge and this guy slapped hard. Thought he was going to get off a couple of times before I got him back to the canoe.