Jamie And I Had Our Best Day of Pickerel Fishing
Well Saturday October 01 may have been our last day out fishing for the New Brunswick 2011 fishing season.
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.
Got an email from Casey inviting both Jamie and I for some fishing fun, last Friday.
It didn’t take Casey long before he hooked the first fish of the day and actually landed it.
I’m proud to be Canadian, eh and spent it doing something I love, fishing with a friend.
The water was still high enough for use to run the canoe and trolling motor right through. Sure beats carrying the canoe to the other side.
Casey landed his first pickerel and had the biggest grin on his face. Not sure if it was because it was his first fish of 2011 or because it wasn’t me with the first fish.
It was a very long winter and I didn’t get out much at all so when Casey emailed me to see if I was up for a little fishing trip to Cassidy Lake I forgot all about the long winter.
