The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

The drive to Chipman seemed like it was going to be a foggy one but the fog was always just up the road ahead and by the time we reached the Canaan river the fog as gone. It was still cloudy though.

It was good to have the cloud cover as there was no wind at all. That only lasted a short while and then the sky was clear of clouds other than what you see when a plane flies overhead.

Once I saw the clouds disappearing it was time to pour on the sunscreen. I came home with only one tiny spot I missed that was burned. It's that little spot the gets burned when your shirt sleeves move up and down your arm.

Some Days The Wind Is A Welcome Friend

It was one of those days when the wind was truly a welcome friend, even though it has a tendency to turn off those top water fish which are my favourite kind of fish. It also pushes off the spots we want to fish so we either have to use the anchor or the trolling motor.

The trolling motor is fun but this day it seemed to NOT be getting any power even though the power was there. So I was anchor detail for the rest of the day. But that was good as it was Casey that seemed to be doing most of the catching.

I'm getting ahead of myself. First we stopped at a location we pass every time we go to Chipman. I have fished this area from my float tube so I've never gone very far from the bridge and never had any luck there.

We stopped and walked down to the launch which is normally blocked with downed trees and debris that gets blown onto the short. It's usually so bad that you would never be able to launch anything more than a canoe, kayak or float tube.

When I fished with the float tube there was usually about four of us but never saw any action and would quickly pack up and head elsewhere.

We were so impressed with just how clean this spot was that we had to at least give this spot a try so Casey backed the boat down and in a few minutes we were fishing for pickerel.

There weren't many weeds here yet but we figured there would be pickerel here and headed out to give it a go.

Who Ever Cleaned This Spot Up Needs A Thank You

I have never had a good feeling about this spot but was excitedly anticipating a day where the pickerel would be jumping over each other to get to our offerings.

Sadly that wasn't to be.

It was a couple of hours before anything at all and then it was Casey with a fat chub. We then fished for another hour and it was again Casey but this time he landed a nice fat 21" pickerel.

That was it… Nothing else even looked at our bait. 

I'm not sure what it is about that location. Maybe later in the season when it's really thick with weeds we'll have to give it another try. But now it was time to get out of there and head to Chipman.

Wouldn't Want My Hand Caught In There

The fog that was over head making it look cloudy soon burned off and the few clouds that remained didn't stick around for long. Once the fog burned off the wind picked up but I didn't get upset with the wind because it was getting hotter by the minute and the breeze made it easier to handle.

I'll admit I'm a top water guy and I'm always happier when I can fish top water baits and see the action. When it's as hot as it was I accept the wind and adjust.

This trip I was prepared with my new wide brimmed hat. It's not quite a sombrero but close and it kept the direct sun off my tender head.

The fishing was tough and the fish were acting very strange. Maybe the barometric pressure was squishing there head and messing with their vision because they sure were coming up short on the strikes. I think they needed glasses.

At the end of the day we both had 7 fish. The two biggest was Casey's 24" pickerel and my 23 1/2" pickerel.