The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

FACT:

We have 49 species of fish in New Brunswick but I really only fish salmon, trout (brookies, lake and browne), smallmouth bass, chain pickerel and some perch now and then.

Our Atlantic salmon is world-renowned and we get anglers from around the world coming for the challenge of catching salmon that don’t eat while in the rivers spawning.

We also have some of the most colourful brook trout that come in all sizes from pan fry size up into the pounds. Many anglers have been surprised by catching them in pounds, when they thought the rivers and brooks had had 8-12 inchers.

I live in Moncton and when I get the urge to cast a line I can be on the water fishing trout in just a few minutes and to fish for a few salmon I am within an hour.

The 2008 Fishing Guide

It extremely important to have your fishing license on your person and to have read the 2008 fishing rules and understood it because their is no room in our system for ignorance of the law and the wardens will take you in.

Image via Wikipedia

To guard against this, it is important that the individual items of tackle be properly balanced one with the other. Unbalanced equipment has been responsible for more difficulties and failures of beginners than any other single factor. Poorly matched equipment is what allowed me to out fish my fly fishing buddies, well until I helped them pick their next rod, reel and line. Then I actually had to start working a bit harder to beat them.

Fly Fishing Rod

To fish with a good Fly rod is to really enjoy fishing. It is much easier to learn with a good rod than with one of an inferior quality. This is no commercial plug to encourage the sale of expensive fly rods, but just a word of warning to prevent any possible or unnecessary discouragement because of using a rod that would be decided handicap to a competent caster.

Fly Fishing Lines

This item of fishing gear must be selected with some careful considerations if anglers are expecting to enjoy fishing or casting.

This is because the size and weight of fishing lines made by various manufacturers are not entirely uniform, that is, the diameter of the line by one manufacturer may be slightly larger or smaller than a line by another manufacturer even though both bear the same size marking.

The Leader You Choose To Use

The leader is also a very important item, and unless it is selected with care and consideration in comparison with the size of the line, the caster will have trouble in making it extend straight out from the line when casting.

The chief function of the leader is to serve as an invisible connection between the line and the lure.

Fishing Flies

The flies may range in size, from the tiniest used, which might be number 18 or 20, up to flies tied on number-2 hooks or larger. The heavier flies you create the more wind resistence. It also requires the use of heavier equipment or more power on the part of the caster during the back cast and forward cast.

I prefer to tie my own trout, salmon, bass and pike flies myself. It saves me time and it’s so cool when you catch that lunker on your own creation.

fly reels

The fly reels may be automatic or single action, but in any event, it should be larger enough to hold the usual 30 yards of fishing line without crowding it on the reel spool.

The fly reel should weigh from 1 ¼ to 1 ½ as much as the bare rod. The reel itself is of no specific use in casting or fishing except as a storage place for the line.

Consequently, the entire equipment should always be in good condition. Other wise, achieving success in fishing is impossible.

This information on Moncton is directly from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Moncton is a Canadian city located in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.

The city is situated in southeastern New Brunswick, in the Petitcodiac River valley, and is about 55 km (34 mi) from the Nova Scotia border. Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The community has the nickname “Hub City” because of its central location and also because Moncton has historically been the railway and land transportation hub for the Maritime Provinces.

European settlement began in 1733 when Acadian farmers arrived after migrating up the Petitcodiac River from the Bay of Fundy. The region was captured by the English in 1755, and the original Acadian inhabitants were subsequently deported. The official founding of the community was in 1766, with the arrival of Pennsylvania “Deutsch” settlers sponsored by the Philadelphia Land Company. The settlement was initially agricultural but by the mid 1800s, a wooden shipbuilding industry flourished. The shipbuilding economy collapsed in the 1860s but was quickly replaced by the railway industry when, in 1871, the Intercolonial Railway of Canada chose Moncton to be their headquarters. Moncton would then remain a railroad town for well over a century.

Moncton was first incorporated in 1855 and was named after Lt. Col. Robert Monckton, the British military commander who had captured nearby Fort Beauséjour a century earlier; and who had later been given responsibility for overseeing the Acadian deportation. The collapse of the shipbuilding industry caused the town to lose its civic charter in 1862 but the community was able to survive and to reincorporate in 1875 on the strength of the developing railway industry. As a result, the city adopted the motto Resurgo.

Although Moncton was traumatized twice; by the collapse of the shipbuilding industry in the 1860s and by the closure of the CNR locomotive shops in the 1980s, the city’s economy was able to rebound strongly on both occasions. At present, the city’s economy is stable and diversified. Moncton’s economy is based on its transportation, distribution, retailing and commercial heritage, but is also supplemented by strength in the educational, health care, financial and insurance sectors. The strength of the economy has received national recognition and the local unemployment rate is consistently less than the national average.

The Moncton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is one of the top ten fastest growing metropolitan areas in Canada and is also the fastest growing urban region east of Toronto. The CMA includes the neighbouring city of Dieppe and the town of Riverview, as well as adjacent areas of Westmorland and Albert counties.

Moncton has a CMA population of 126,424, which makes Moncton the most populous metropolitan area in New Brunswick, and also makes it the second largest CMA in the Maritime Provinces, after Halifax, and the third largest CMA in Atlantic Canada, after Halifax and St. John’s, Newfoundland.

The municipal coat of arms illustrates Moncton’s agricultural, industrial and railway heritages, along with the Petitcodiac River’s tidal bore.

There isn’t one fly rod that is ideally suited for every situation. By answering a handful of questions, a beginning fly fisherman can determine the rod which best suites their needs, whether it’s a G Loomis or St. Croix. Fly lines are rated by “weights”, generally ranging from 1-9 weight. For example a Royal Wulff 2 weight fly line represents the lighter end of the scale, while 9-weight lines are much heavier. A fly rod of a certain weight is specifically designed to cast its corresponding weight line.

What are the major factors you should consider when choosing a fly rod?

1. Species you will be fishing for
2. The types of water you intend to fish
3. The action of the rod

Read more on ‘how to choose the right fly rod” here.

Advertisement: Once you have the fly rod of your choice selected you can see what’s available on eBay at a better price.

How do you choose a fly rod? by ‘TheFlyFishingFanatic‘

There are many ways to choose the right rod. For the beginner this can be a daunting task, as they do not know what to look for. I will write a little about what to watch for, but you will need to do some research into the rods after you have taken a look at them at the shop.

Read the entire ‘How Do You Choose A Fly Rod’ article here.

My fishing buddy Kerry and I love the Bass Pro Shop catalog.

I love Bass Pro Shops catalog. It keeps me up-to-date on all the things I am interested in about fishing. Cool place to get great prices on fly rods.

I like to visit the local shops and if their prices are favorable to my wallet at the time I purchase local but sometimes I have other priorities and have to stay with in budget, that is when I use Bass Pro Shops.

The excitement was growing by the second. We were flying over scenery that I had never seen from above and so low to the ground. If our trip had of stopped right there I would have has some awesome memories.

The take off was really cool and for me it was the final step to this well planned fly-in fishing trip. We were in the air and barring anything catastrophic there was no turning back. We were on our way to, for all of us, our first fly-in fishing trip.

It was only as we flew over the lake we would be fishing in that I realized just how huge this lake was. It even had rather large islands in the lake. One island had a cottage that was bigger than my house. They would have had to fly everything in to build it. Amazing.

As we landed on the water and headed toward the camp we could see that previous fishermen waiting on the dock. Their time was up and we were taking over.

Forgive the bad photography but I have always shook so bad I could never take pictures without a tripod and the plan vibs didn’t make my task any easier. Fortunately for me the fish don’t seem to mind all my shaking as I caught the most fish. Ha Ha guys.

BTW: I have purchased a digital camera since this trip that cancels out my shakey hands. I am looking forward to using it for my fishing, gardening and travels.

It didn’t take long unloading the planes as we needed two because we had so much gear and beer.

Kerry and I were the first two into the boats after we had taken all our gear and supplies to the cabin. We had our polarized sunglasses on, our life jackets and rods in hand. We were officially fishing first. The sun was up and the glare was on the water but there was no wind and we could see deep into the water with ease. The lake water was a clear as drinking water.

In fishing, trout are one of the favorite “fishing friends” of most anglers. These crafty fish are abundant anywhere. The native habitat of these crafty fish depends on the type of trout.

For brook trout, the native habitat includes the territory from Labrador westward to the Saskatchewan, while the rainbow trout is a native of the Pacific slope from Alaska to California.

On the other hand, brown trout has found its way into the waters of every state in the United States except Florida, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Texas. It has been reported in the waters of some of these states, but according to conservation officials, no authentic reports have been received. It is also found in many parts of Canada.

In trout fishing, there are some factors that need to be considered in order to have a successful catch.

1. For trout fishing, the leader should not be greased. It will not sink far enough to cause any difficulty when picking the line and lure from the water, but if it is allowed to float; it will cast a shadow on the bottom of the stream which may scare the trout.
2. The trout is one of the fishes that are usually secured through the use of the dry fly. For trout, the current as well as the pools should be fished. It may sometimes be a bit difficult to keep the fly from sinking or dragging because of the various conditions of the current, but this is a matter that the angler will have to figure out for himself.
3. It is not good practice when fishing for trout to fish directly upstream so the flies, line, and leader will float directly over fish. The fisherman should make the cast from one side of the stream so the fly will only float over the fish.
4. It is important to make the first cast the best. A feeding trout will usually strike the first lure presented if it is cast so that it will float over his private domain. The angler should never fail to fish the lower end of the pool first even if the trout are rising in the middle or upper end.
5. Trout are sometimes very moody or selective and will try the patience of any angler; hence, possibly a fly with less hackle will do the trick or it may be necessary to use a spent-wing fly or a fan wing.

Indeed, catching trout fishes can be lots of fun. The anglers just have to remember these tips in order to have a happy catch.

I do use a spinning rod when I can’t get through a stream with my Fly rod but if I can see a path that my fly line can take I use the Fly rod. It’s just so much more fun, for me anyways. Each to their own.

When I first came to the Maritimes I was only used to fishing catfish and pike but it was only a few short hours and my brother-in-law had me fishing for trout with a flyrod.

The learning process took about 10 minutes and I was up to speed enough to catch brook trout. They were a whole lot bigger and easier to catch 30 years ago than they are today but I still get out when I get the chance.

One of the most important things I learned about trout fishing and it goes for a lot of other species is:

• The big ones are there and if they know you are there you will never catch them. Stealth is the key and that is why I out fish my fishing buddies.

Sometimes, especially late in the summer when the water is low I actually crawl to the river bank and cast from behind a tree. I have caught my biggest brookies doing this. I can’t take credit for thinking of it as it was one of my college professors that showed me how to catch the big ones.