This past Sunday was like most other Sundays in the Mann residence during the winter months. I usually park my butt on the couch, watch TV all day long while playing my guitar and maybe having a couple of beers or maybe a shot or two of Scotch.

It’s usually about this time of year I start feeling a bit of cabin fever as I don’t get out much in the winter due to health issues. Good thing I have a treadmill or I wouldn’t get any exercise in the winter.

So when the phone rang with Casey on the other end calling to see if I was interested in checking out his fishing hut they had just put out on Shediac Bay, I got excited. He wasn’t going for long, unless the fishing was hot, and just wanted to finish up a few things and to bring a couple of items they had forgotten on the first trip.

Casey’s lives at Hopewell Cape, such a gorgeous spot to live. Jenny and I really enjoy the drive through this area, especially the Rocks on the Fundy Bay.

Less than an hour later Casey was at my door ready to head off to Shediac by the sea. Just as I was heading out the door my son Steve handed me a flask with Scotch in it and said, ‘Just in case it’s chilly out there’.

Getting There From Here

We left Moncton heading towards Dieppe and then took Veterans Highway to Shediac. From there we we took route 133 until to the Queens Warf turn off where it was just about one minute to the end where we could see fishing huts.

Casey and a friend hauled his fish hut out onto Shediac Bay, in about 6 sections, and assembled it right on the spot.

It was pretty efficient with four side panels that bolted to the floor and roof. I’ll be it didn’t take long to put it up and it has plenty of elbow room inside as well.

The floor boards opened opposite the door revealing a big hole to fish through. You could bring a whale through that hole.

The first thing I saw when I looked down the hole was what looked like a big hunk of ice but it was on the bottom. It was white bed sheets, with a little floral pattern along the edges, sown together to make a big pillow cases filled with chains.

Sheets Sown Together With Chains

I told Casey I was telling his wife he was stealing bed sheet. Then he told me she was the one who sowed it all together. What a great wife.

We spent a few minutes tightening the bolts that hold the hut together to make sure the winds hadn’t loosened them. And then cleared the ice from the hole and settled in with a nice fresh cup of hot coffee.

He has a nice little stove that keeps the hut nice and cosy so there was no need for all the clothing I was wearing and I started peeling off one layer at a time. The only thing missing was a wide screen TV.

As it turned out the tide was just heading out and the water was really low. Plus we didn’t see any fish. The locals weren’t out there either which is usually an indicator that the fishing isn’t that hot at the moment.

We stay for a few hours and enjoy the Scotch Steve gave us along with a few snacks and then closed things up for the day and headed back to home. I am so looking forward to the next opportunity to go ice fishing.

Jamie’s King Of The Happy Dance

Looking at the image on the left can you tell Jamie’s happy to be out fishing again? That’s his happy dance, what a great job and I didn’t realize he was so talented.

I was doing the happy dance getting from the canoe to the bushes.

Jamie Suggested The Oromocto River

We have fished the Saint John river from Jamie’s canoe and had fun and good fishing but every time a big boat flies by leaving us in it’s wake it gets tense turning the canoe into the waves. So for that reason we thought the Oromocto river would be a bit safer feeling.

The fact the Oromocto is a narrower river with trees along it’s bank might help us if the wind picked up throughout the day.

We left Moncton while the sky was clear and starry but once we got past Jemseg the sky was thick with clouds.

As we arrived we could see that others had already launched before us and two guys were launching as we pulled down to the beach where we launched.

A few minutes later we were on our way up river and there wasn’t any breeze at all. Perfect.

Not long after we started a big hole opened in the clouds and the sun burst onto the scene completely blinding me. It made the trees look so awesome but it was painful. I wish my glasses would go a whole lot darker.

You know that feeling when the early morning sun hits your eyes after a night of too many beers around the campfire. Well the was how I felt when the clouds parted and the sun hit me right in the face.

The Sun Rise Lights The Forest

I was so glad when we came to a bend in the river that put the sun to one side.

Jamie Sees The First Action

I seem to remember Jamie used to wait until I had my first fish before he started catching but not this day. Not long after we started fishing Jamie switched his firetiger pattern lure to a green 5” senko worm that he had wacky rigged.

I think it was on his second or third cast into the structure and Jamie had the first fish on. I did a great job of netting his bass. Love that rubber net.

We’ve had a few days this year that we went a long time before seeing any fish so this was a great start to our day.

“Jamie has the first, biggest and most fish, so far”

Once Jamie had the first fish I didn’t take long catching up, maybe 10 minutes later.

My first bass wasn’t as big as Jamie’s first but now we were tied up.

I was using a #3 Silver & White Mepps that had a skirt with white feathers.

If you look close at my left hand you can see the Mepps, a little bit.

I would say we were having a perfect day so far. No wind, rain or cold weather, although we had on a few layers but were very comfortable.

The Silver & White Mepps, and the Red Devils were the best lures of the day by far.

Love Having The Trolling Motor Along

I remember when I had my canoe I didn’t have a trolling motor and would use up a lot of energy on those windy days. It’s so nice to have a trolling motor. Nice to save all our energy for casting and catching fish.

We started fishing just after 7am and fished until about 7pm. So that was 12 hrs of trolling and fishing. The trolling motor battery did run out of energy about 15 minutes before we were back at the launch so Jamie paddled the rest of the way.

I was wondering if the trolling motor would have lasted longer had Jamie not brought so much tackle but then I thought it better not to say that as he could have left me home. Ha Ha

Jamie, How Are You Able To Fit In The Canoe?

Trolling Didn’t Produce A Single Strike

Even though we spent most of the day casting to structure and shore line we did do a fair bit of trolling while casting but never seen a single strike all day long. I thought that was strange as we always catch something, even a perch, but not this time.

Our Two Biggest Bass of The Day

I hooked into a nice fat bass that put up a great fight and even jumped clear of the water a few times.

Each time it jumped I thought it would spit the hook but, even after Jamie tried releasing it with his rubber net, I managed to get it in the canoe.

That smallmouth bass measured in at 18 inches in length.

Jamie’s biggest bass of the day was 16 inches and fought like it was at least 19”.

We reached this one section of the river that seemed to have a lot of pickerel in it although it didn’t look any different than any other part we had fished.

Jamie managed to catch all the little pickerel so that I could get at the bigger ones, he’s good like that.

I would say that we caught 10 or 12 pickerel in that stretch and then they stopped again and the bass took over.

The Fish Action Stopped

I always look forward to fishing at dusk as it always seems to get a little wild about that time but not on October 22, 2011. As soon as we started to lose the light the fish shut right down, completely, not even a strike for the last half hour of our fishing day.

At the end of it all we had a great day, plenty of fish to keep us happy and talking all the way back to Moncton and Riverview. Actually we may have caught more fish on this fishing trip that any other all year.

This Video Shows Atlantic Salmon Jumping Up Rapids

One of the most famous Atlantic salmon rivers in New Brunswick is the Restigouche river. My wife Jenny is from Campbellton New Brunswick, right on the Restigouche river so when we would visit her parents I would usually drop Jenny off at the house and I would head up to Tide Head until it was completely dark, fishing trout and Atlantic salmon.

Atlantic Salmon Fishing The Restigouche River, New Brunswick

My first experience with salmon fishing on the Restigouche was at Tide Head New Brunswick, back 30 years ago. I was actually fishing brook trout at the brook the flows into the main river. It’s so much fun with light line and a tiny trout flies.

It was actually dark but of course I had to make just one more cast and that’s when I hooked into my first Restigouche salmon, I think. Well, like I said it was dark and I either hooked into the biggest trout I’ve ever had on the end of a line or it was a big ole Atlantic salmon. I guess by the way I’m writing this you can already tell I didn’t get to see it, but I did get to hear it clear the water a few times and smack down on the surface.

It sure sounded and felt big but we will never know but at that moment it didn’t really matter because I would have released it. I love allowing the bigger fish to return to breed more bigger fish. I was still shaking from the excitement once I returned to Jenny’s parents home for a late evening dinner of lobster.

Jenny’s dad, Arnold Jardine or Saddie as most knew him, had a big ole salmon ready for the next day’s dinner though. I miss going up to Campbellton since Dot and Saddie passed on.

Before closing here is a video from the Fishin’ Musician and TourismNB, enjoy.

Jamie had wanted to get out last weekend even though it was apple picking time. It was put to a vote and it was close. Jamie’s vote was for fishing.

Hint: We didn’t go fishing, you can figure out how the voting went.

Chipman Weather Was Looking Good

Jamie kept his eye on the weather for the Chipman area throughout the week and emailed me saying Saturday was going to be a bit rainy with a little wind but it was a better day than Sunday was going to be and wondered if I wanted to go fishing. DUH!!

“How’s leaving at 5am sound?”

I was outside waiting just before 5 and was surprised at how warm it was. I didn’t even need a jacket on at 5am on October 1st. Of course we talked and joked all the way there and hoping the water level had dropped.

Well we’re here at Chipman but where’s The River??

Most of the time we leave in the dark and plan to get to the water right at daybreak, not today. We were pretty eager so we left a little early and arrived while it was still pitch black out.

We took the canoe off the car so Jamie could get his fishing gear out of the trunk and then we fished for a bit at the shore until it was light enough to get the canoe, ourselves and all our gear in the water.

Jamie bought this really cool head lamp. He looked like a miner. I have one similar but I usually only take it with me when Atlantic salmon fishing. The sure come in handy when there’s no light and you’re trying to tie on a fly.

Once we could start seeing the water we saw that it was extremely calm. Perfect, we didn’t even need jackets on until later when it started raining and when it did start raining a sweater kept me warm and dry, for most of the day.

The cloud layer was low and heavy so it looked like the heavens would open up on us at any second. However the water was like reflective glass and there was no wind at all. Perfect for fishing the weeds for big pickerel.

We Saw Action Immediately

We were only on the water for a few minutes. Once we reached the opposite side of the cove where I like to fish the weeds we had pickerel going for our baits. What a great sign to have early.

It was very quiet, until the first shotgun blast rang out. I think duck season just opened up on us. Once we heard that first shot it was like machine guns going off every 10 minutes or so.

I told Jamie he better get rid of that duck suit for the day.

I landed the big perch you can see on the left, gave it a little kiss and set it free.

We caught a few perch throughout the day. I love the way they tease the bait before they chomp down on it. Don’t sure what kind of fight a 3 pound perch would put up.

They sure can put up a good fight even when they are only a half pound, or less in some cases.

Then There Were Flying Pickerel

If you’re a fisher I am sure you love it when pickerel take to the air. This is what was happening on Saturday, they were wild and wacky fish to say the least.

It’s so cool to cast a bait and have a pickerel right under it. That’s always gets me going but when a bait hits the water and a pickerel leaps 5 feet through the air to smack that bait, well the beats all else.

I love Atlantic salmon fishing and Saturday I think these pickerel we imitating salmon leaping in the air. We need to take a non-fisher who loves taking video and pictures to capture some of the action that was going on.

We also had many pickerel exploding on baits right at the side of the canoe, usually soaking at least one of us. A few times I saw wakes and deliberately drew the pickerel boat side before they could strike.

I even pulled my bait to the back of the canoe so I could bring it right along side of Jamie. HaHa, your all wet.

The pickerel fishing and catching went on pretty much all day with only a few minutes between the action. Just enough time to cram food in our mouths.

The rain eventually started but at first a sweater was all we needed. Later the wind picked up and the rain got to the point I needed my rain gear on. That’s when it became a little tougher to keep the canoe on track, thank goodness Jamie has a trolling motor. We didn’t even have to use the anchor, all day.

Most Pickerel Were 20” or More

My two best chain pickerel were 22” and 23 1/2” however most through the day were about 20”. Well except for when my bait passed through the pickerel nursery and I caught two little guys.

One was so small I could almost hide it in my closed hand while the other was more like a hammer handle. They were good for a little teasing and jokes about size matters.

As you can see I have on my ‘Happy To Catch A Fish’ face.

I had been using a few other baits but you’ll notice I caught this 23 1/2” pickerel on the trusty red senko worm I have been using for the last few years. They do a great job of making pickerel go nuts.

For the better part of the day I was using a black and redish purple 5” senko. I used this bait for most of the day because it was such a dark cloudy day and I find a dark bait gets more action when it’s getting darker. And it did, all day long.

Poor Jamie managed to hook into a nice fat pickerel. I did a great job at netting his pickerel and then I gave him the net. That’s when he took the hook out, well it really just fell out of the pickerels mouth and it flipped and then slide right back into the water.

Didn’t even get a chance to take a picture or measure the monster. Could have been bigger than mine but we will never know now.

I had my camera almost ready when I saw it go. I think I should have snapped a picture of Jamie’s face.

You can be sure the next one he caught didn’t get away so easily.

Jamie Wasn’t Letting This One Slip Away

Even though the rain and wind eventually won out we still had about 12 hours of fishing. Who could ask for more. It was an awesome day and we even got home before dark.

Now I can’t end this post without making a little bit of fun of Jamie.

Jamie’s Been Abusing Froggies, Again

About a month ago Jamie and I were fishing and he pulled the lovely looking segmented frog from his tackle back. He tied it on and let it run along side the canoe to see how it moved through the water.

It looked marvellous so he made his first cast with it, right into the weed bed and BAM a pickerel came up out of the water and slammed it good.

Immediately it headed toward Grand Lake with Jamies froggy.  Well the tension on Jamie’s reel was real tight and the line snapped and the fish was gone, with Jamie’s frog.

Since then he purchased a couple more of these great little frogs and decided to give it another try Saturday. This time he managed to keep the frog but it wasn’t getting as much action as some other baits we were using so he set it aside.

Later when we were packing up to go home I noticed that his little frog was following him around but when I took a closer look I realized it was actually hooked into the bottom of his boot. We rescued it with a pair of pliers and now it’s safely back in his tackle box for next year.

All in all we had a really good day with non stop action. Thanks Jamie.

The catfish did manage to get the ball in it’s mouth and then it was stuck. It couldn’t swallow it nor could it get it out of it’s mouth.

No matter how hard it tried to dive and stay down it just popped back to the surface. Fortunately for this guy a couple came along who deflated the ball and removed it allowing the catfish to return to the deep.

It immediately reminded me of a pickerel fishing day, of course. It was a day I was fishing from my float tube in a cove off Salmon river out of Grand lake.

If you’re thinking it tried to eat my float tube, you’re wrong. Surprise.

It was a very hot extremely calm day, not a breeze blowing at all…

Paulie The Pickerel Stole My Bass Popper

When I can fish the weeds for pickerel or bass I’m having fun as they get very explosive in shallow water, especially when your fishing from a float tube and your elbows are on the water.

When it’s really calm and the water is like a mirror it’s time to get out the top water lures, like my bass poppers. Those can be some really cool moments and it’s even better when it’s almost dusk.

I put on one of my trusty bass poppers, as pickerel love them, and made a cast directly away from the weeds and let it sit until the ripples disappeared and then gave it tug. Love the sound a popper makes when it’s pushing water.

Nothing…

I made a second cast and the second it hit the water things exploded and my line went slack. That was it. The crazy pickerel must have made a turn, caught the line, above the steel leader and then smacked my popper.

My line was cut so fast I didn’t even feel any tension on the line, just slack line. I was dumbfounded for a minute or so. Probable said a few nasty words as well and then I tied on a new leader and went back to fishing.

After a few minutes of fishing I saw something reflecting light and moved over to see what it was. Then it disappeared but came back to the surface again.

It was my lost popper, still in the pickerel’s mouth.

I took my second popper and cast beyond the pickerel’s position and waited for it to pop up again. Then I just pulled my line until it was close enough to snag the first popper and the fight was on.

I landed the pickerel and had my bass popper back again.

I’m sure the pickerel said thank you as I released back no worse for wear.

Related articles

• Pickerel Fishing Salmon River From Grand Lake To Past Chipman (thejoyofflyfishing.com)
• Pickerel Fishing French Lake Fun (thejoyofflyfishing.com)
• Now I Know Why I Like Getting In That Last Cast (thejoyofflyfishing.com)
• Saint John River, Harts Lake And Some Smallmouth Bass And Pickerel Fishing (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)

A few days ago, just before daybreak on Thursday Casey arrived at my house and we headed to Oromocto, New Brunswick for some fishing. This is another place I had never fished. I always like trying out new locations.

We managed to get through two traffic circles without a problem and in a few minutes arrived at Phil’s Auto & Recreation where we turned to head down to the boat launch.

Lots of cool boats but we were going fishing, not shopping, although we did stop in on the way out. When I went up stairs I am sure I started drooling. I had never seen so much bass stuff.

Sure beats the heck out of the Canadian Tire store on Mountain Road Moncton.

I haven’t used a lot of boat launches but the few I have launched from don’t match the quality of this boat launch.

As always as soon as we’re near water I start taking pictures. This day the water was like glass with a little mist floating just above the water, pretty cool.

The sky was pretty much clear of clouds. The birds were singing and there was no wind at all.

A double check around the van and boat to be sure we had everything and that the plug was in and we were on the water.

We didn’t know it then but we were about to have a tough day of fishing but heck the should surprise me. The whole fishing season has been a tough one.

As tough as it was it was better than staying home.

It took us a while before we got a strike. The weeds were eager to bite though so I had a lot of those. Finally I got a strike that stayed on and started reeling it in.

Casey asked if I needed help with the net. I said no because it was just a small smallmouth bass and I was just going to grab it or bring it right in the boat.

My mistake because my chubby little fingers we just inches away from the leader when it flipped off so we were back to zero fish.

The switching between high and low pressure every other day has really made things tough plus the amount of rain we had a couple days before fishing churned the water up good so that there was only about a foot of visibility below the surface.

We turned into the Oromocto river and tried casting to a the boats on my left but nothing. We spent about 2 hours maybe more moving up the river but nothing at all.

So Casey headed back to the main river which took about 10 minutes or so to get back. I like Casey’s new motor.

We didn’t see many clouds and those we did see were just puffs and gave us no relief from the sun. Then a cloud moved in front of the sun and I am sure the temperature dropped about 10 degrees.

Immediately we felt relief, which lasted about 5 minute and then back to hot again. I just had to snap a photo of that relief cloud.

Hope I don’t sound like I’m complaining too much. I had a great day and never once asked to go home. After all a dip in the drink that was all around us would have cooled us down if it got that bad.

Finally we were getting a few strikes. The strike was very light so we had to be quick on the hook set. I hooked into another fish. As it cleared the water I could see it was a smallie.

This time I didn’t refuse Casey’s help with the net. This one didn’t get away.

I think Casey was teasing me, something about the size of my bass so he moved really close so the smallie would look a little bigger. Funny guy isn’t he?

The fish were few and far between but we managed to catch a few. I even caught a big perch. I think it was probably the biggest perch I’ve ever caught.

I didn’t say it was a monster, I just said it was my biggest. Perch are a cool looking fish.

Donkey Sighting

I was looking to see if I would spot another Lama like the one Jamie and I saw on an island at Jemseg.

But I did see a donkey strolling along the river. It came to a patch of dirt and took a minute to roll around, just like the Lama had done.

Lots of plane around. There were a few that came in so low I thought they were going to land in the river but they didn’t.

Right behind the trees there was an airport.

It was kind of cool to see the variety of small plains. I even say one that looked like it out of WWII.

Next I could hear them but I could see them and then they started to come into focus. Four helicopters, in formation, were coming right at us. It seemed strange that the middle two had a big head light while the other two didn’t or didn’t have them turned on.

I said to Casey that maybe they would be able to let us know where all the fish were but they just kept moving right over our heads.

As usually there were plenty of bird. We saw bald eagles, hawks, kingfishers and a few osprey, all watching the water closely. They wouldn’t tell us where the fish were either.

I saw what I think was a young eagle sitting in a tree. It was still quite far away but as we got closer it didn’t move. I took this picture and had to use my zoom so it’s not all the clear. We thought it looked great.

We didn’t have a record day but we had fun and saw a lot of great scenery and animals. Oh yeah we even caught some fish so that’s a good day in my books, especially when fishing with friends.

On our way out Phil’s was still open so we stopped in and checkout some boats and then moved up stairs to look at bass stuff. I felt like a kid in a candy store.

We weren’t fly fishing on Saturday, instead we were on the Saint John river trying to catch us some smallmouth bass or chain pickerel using a variety of baits. It’s not always easy to fly fish in the wind so we were using some spinner baits.

One time Jamie and I were heading to Chipman for a day of fishing and saw a bunch of wild turkeys which I had never seen before, other than on TV. They look pretty impressive up close.

Anyways once I was back home Saturday night I wanted to tell my wife and son but thought it would be fun to see if they could guess what I saw. I told them it was an animal that wasn’t from around here.

Of course Steve didn’t even take time to think and started listing off things like cows, deer, more and then he asked if it was an alligator. I’m so glad it wasn’t an alligator.

Jenny let Steve continue and then out of no-where Jenny says she knows what it is. Of course I didn’t think she would even come close but she says. “Was it a lama?”

She is so smart so I’m guessing she had one major brain fart when she said she would marry me. But other than than she’s pretty bright.

It took me a few minutes to get a clear enough view of the Lama to be sure it was one because it kept moving it’s head out of our view but was watching us closely.

Jamie used the paddle to bring us in closer. We took about 5 to 10 minutes to get close enough to actually see that it was a Lama. And another few minutes to get a pictures as it kept moving being a downed tree.

We watched it for a few more minutes trying to figure out what it was doing. We noticed it was digging the ground up. I thought it was going after a root of some kind and then it disappeared in the tall grass.

A second later we saw it’s feet up in the air. It was rolling around in the hole it dug. Likely in an attempt at cooling off as it was a hot day.

That was the strangest thing I’ve seen in the bush here in New Brunswick.

Related articles

• Smallmouth Bass on the Saint John River, New Brunswick (thejoyofflyfishing.com)
• Pickerel Fishing French Lake Fun (thejoyofflyfishing.com)
• Canada Day, Chipman And Chain Pickerel (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)
• Bass Fishing The Saint John River At Jemseg (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)

As we were on our way from Moncton it looked like it might be a cloudy day but they were almost gone by the time we arrived at the launch site.

First Catch of the Day: Casey was backing his boat to the water and I was walking along side holding the rope so it wouldn’t head down river without us. I looked down to step over a water hole and to my surprise I found a $10 bill stuck in the mud. I’ll have to buy another Rapala Countdown Perch as mine other one kinda got stuck in Jamies fishing vest on the way home last time we were out and it’s at his place.

One more check around the boat and van to be certain we had everything we needed for the day and we launched and were headed across the river and up towards Swan Creek.

Our last trip to the Saint John river was in the opposite direction, and Harts Lake.

Other than the boat traffic picking up at about 11am and the wakes the water remained pretty calm all day. It looked like the picture above most of the day. I love fishing the weeds on days like this.

Casey Politely Kicks My Behind

It didn’t take much for Casey to win the day as I couldn’t seem to get much attention from the bass, although I was getting a variety of weeds.

I did get to take a lot of pictures and saw a lot of new water I had never fished, all while Casey was catching bass and perch.

The final tally at the end of the day was Casey with 5 bass, 8 perch and 1 chain pickerel

Thanks to Casey asking if I wanted to stay an extra half hour I was able to end the day with 5 bass and 5 perch.

Oh yeah, he also gave me a new lure to try and in that last half hour I went 4 fish for the day all the way up to 10 so I was quite pleased.

You can see the lure Casey loaned me on the right. What a difference that one lure made for me.

Well even though I didn’t get a lot action for the day I did manage to catch the biggest bass of the day and that’s gotta be worth something, eh.

This little smallmouth really had me believing it was much bigger.

Chain Pickerel On Strike

I am not sure if perhaps the pickerel were on strike or maybe vacation but one thing I do know is that they didn’t want to strike at anything. Casey caught one little pickerel but that was the only one we saw all day. Not even a single wake or follow.

No Trespassing On Swan Creek Lake

We fished our way to the Swan Creek entrance and tried to get a strike or two in the creek without any success. We even tried a huge cove/bay that looked like pickerel heaven, without a single follow or strike.

We saw a couple of no trespassing signs but thought that they were about not going ashore but soon found out it was a military base and those were Military No Trespassing Area signs.

We turned the boat around and headed out to the main river again and then back towards the Jemseg bridge again.

All too soon our day was done and we were back on the road to Moncton and Hopewell Cape.

Casey’s buddy ShiftChevy flew by us with his great looking fishing boat in tow and in about two minutes was out of site.

It was great to get home before my family was in bed as I always like to share my day with them. Okay, really it’s because Jenny snores so loud I can’t sleep if I don’t get to bed first.

I’ll be sleeping in the garage if she reads that last remark. Just kidding dear, you purr like a kitten.

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The clarity of the water in the river and bays is pretty poor. We saw boats hauling kids around on wake boards, having a great time. I noticed the colour of the water was more like tea that river water.

Well we turned into a cove that had big green patches we hadn’t seen in the other coves. As we got closer we could see it was new weed patches on the bottom. The colour of the rest of the system is so dark we couldn’t see this anywhere else.

The water here is 6 feet deep, looks like 2 feet

I saw the back of the bay. It looked like a building or something white that looked out of place. As we got closer I could see it was actaully a brook feeding crystal clear water into the bay.

Very Clear Water in This Cove

Casey’s fish finder shows the water temperature and in this little bay the temp was about 5 or 6 degrees higher than anywhere else we were that day.

Casey pulled the boat around so that we could get close to the mouth of the brook so I could snap a few pictures. The water looked about 2 feet deep here but the fish finder said it was 8 feet deep.

The only other place I’ve seen with water this clear is the Restigouche river at Campbellton where my wife is from.

Casey couldn’t believe the water was that deep so he stuck the paddle down into the water but wasn’t able to hit the bottom.

Maybe next time we give the Salmon river a go we will find this little spot again and have a swim.

We didn’t get any pickerel in this little spot but I’ll tell you that it didn’t matter where we cast our baits they could be seen clearly. Maybe it’s just too clear in there and the pickerel find it hard to find a place to ambush their dinner.

The rest of the bays and the river, when you drop your bait over the side of the boat it’s only visible for about 2 feet.

I jumped all over that opportunity however Jamie had already been invited for not just one fishing trip but two of them. What a popular guy Jamie is.

I’ll be waiting to hear how his two day fishing trip on Ormocto lake turned out. It’s his first time there and I’ve never been there, yet.

Casey wanted to give the Salmon river from Grand Lake out of Grand lake. He did this run last year with another friend and had a great time.

It sounded great to me. I have fished a few coves off the Salmon river but never actually fished the river itself.

By 6 Friday morning we were on our way.

Whenever I am heading that way I like to see what the water in the Cannan river looks like and this morning it was like glass, just the way I love it.

We weren’t slowing down so I had to snap a picture on the fly. It looked perfect to me.

Cannan River Reflections

We took a few minutes and stopped at the bridge I first tried out my float tube at about 20 years ago. It didn’t really look like a spot you’d want to try backing a boat into.

Checkout The Scenery

I remember that day was about the hottest of the year. I was niche to be so close to the water as it was easy to soak myself to keep cool that day.

It’s a beautiful spot as you can see from the picture below. Made me want to run back to the truck to get my fishing gear.

Breath Taking View And The Fishing Rocks

We only hung around admiring the view for a minute or two as we were eager to get to the boat launch at Chipman and start fishing the Salmon river for some Pickerel or Smallmouth bass fishing.

Chipman Boat Launch

It didn’t take long to get the boat in the water. At this point there wasn’t a breath of wind, just the way I like it when pickerel fishing.

All Well, Let’s Launch

The water temperature was only about 64 degrees so I suggested we hit a little back bay where the water might be warmer. Just up from the bridge there’s a nice cove so we gave it a try.

It didn’t take long to notice the water was still quite high compared to other years I’ve fished there.

It didn’t take Casey long before he hooked the first fish of the day and actually landed it.

Turns out it was the biggest fish of our day as well at 24″.

I grabbed the rubber net and brought it into the boat. You have to love those rubber nets, especially when things are a big tangled up like that pickerel was in the leader.

Two seconds to get it untangled from the rubber net. Would have been a lot longer on the old net.

I don’t usually use a net for that reason but I grab that rubber net every chance I get now as it’s quick and doesn’t seem to hurt the fish at all.

Casey cast his RED WORM into some lilypads not far from the boat and, just as we love it, the water exploded and he had another pickerel.

Love Fishing To Lily Pads For Bass And Pickerel

I wasn’t even getting a strike and before I knew it Casey was up to four pickerel leaving me to take pictures.

Then the wind started and the fish turned off, for hours.

We left the cove and hit the river for a bit of trolling to see how we’d do at that. Still now fish.

Actually we never had a strike while trolling, not a single one all day.

We moved into another small bay after some time on the river and I finally had the chance to give my brand new Ugly Stik Lite combo a try.

I was so pleased with how smooth the casting was on my Ugly Stik and Shakespeare reel that I was probably casting further into the weeds than I should have been.

Of course my first strike was about a hundred feet out into the thick weeds and the battle was on.

I’m happy to say I landed that fish after a few minutes fighting him and the weeds. Then another cast and another pickerel, I was catching up.

Before long I was tied with Casey. He hadn’t even had a strike while I was catching up but once it was 4 all it only took about a minute and Casey landed #5.

What a show-off. I would never do that to a buddy. Ha

All in all the day was a lot of fun and Casey and I spent most of it laughing at the silly things we say and do.

By the way I love to have people take me fishing and I’m already packed for the next day on the water.

Related articles

• Canada Day, Chipman And Chain Pickerel (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)
• Cassidy Lake Pickere Fishing 2011 Part Two (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)
• Saint John River, Harts Lake And Some Smallmouth Bass And Pickerel Fishing (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)