The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

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As an angling method, fly fishing differs from other methods in its technique for casting. Other methods rely on the weight of the lure to pull the line.

But in fly fishing, the line is cast rather than the lure since the lures used in this method are too light to be cast.

Casting in fly fishing can be compared to the way a whip unfurls when it is being cracked. It is said that a good angler can unfurl his/her line even before he/she does the return motion when casting.

This angling method has been around as early as 200 AD. It was first mentioned in a book entitled “Natural History”,
written by a Roman author named Aelian.

One chapter of his book mentioned in passing the Macedonians’ way of catching their fish. It talked about how they tried to lure fish using imitation flies that they made themselves.

Based on Aelian’s description, the methods that they used are closely similar to the methods and purpose of the modern-day fly fisher in catching fish.

While it has been around for two millennia, fly fishing remains a relevant and exciting method of angling until this day and will remain so in generations to come.

Sport Fishing on the Fly is one of my favorite fly fishing show to watch. I enjoy sportfishing on the fly myself and get out on the water every chance I get.

I have been watching their TV show for some time and always learn something. I especially like the time spent at the fly tying bench. I get to see how to tie the flies that are new to me and then I get to try them here in New Brunswick.

I get a fair bit of fishing on TV but when I heard that Sport Fishing on the Fly had moved to WFN I contacted my satilite TV dealer and had them add WFN to my account. Now I can record more shows than ever. Thanks WFN and thanks Bell Express.

The SFOTF hosts, Don Freschi and Grant Fines do an awesome job. They know what they are doing and unlike so many other fishing shows they keep fairly sane during the taping which I appreciate.

I have a couple of float tubes and love taking friends fishing. It’s nice to get out fishing but I really do enjoy it so much more when the day on the water is shared. How much fun is it to yell fish on when you are all by your self?

It’s also nice to have a friend who can take good pictures. My hands shake too much, ever since I was a young boy, so I really suck at picture taking.

I bought a viedo camera this years and a tripod. I am hoping to finally be able to take great pictures and share them with my readers.

This was a few years back now but my first boat was a headache as well as some of the greatest fishing time I have had. My buddy Roland was with all the way through the good times and a few bad times.

First, my first boat was a double hulled fiberglass boat and it was extremely heavy.

I don’t remember exactly what I paid for this luxury liner but it was less than $400 and it came with a trailer to haul it.

The thing about the trailer was that the rollers were totally seized up so they would roll the boat on or off the trailer. Instead the boat had to be float because if you had to push that sucker off that trailer you were in for a fight.

It seemed lke the trailer glued it’s self to the bottom of the boat and wouldn’t let go unless you floated the boat, like I said. The few places we launched that wouldn’t go deep enoug into the water sure gave us a workout getting that boat wet.

Our very first trip two things happened. First we blew a tire on the trailer about half way to where we were going to fish which put us about an hour behind schedule.

Secondly. We finally arrived Saturday morning and launched for our first day on the water. It was so exciting and then the boat started to sink, bummer.

That’s what happens when you don’t put a boat on a trailer correctly and the bottom of the trailer goes through the boat’s outer hull.

So here is it is, early Saturday morning, nothing was open yet and we were getting ready to go back home when I looked over at the road and saw a man and a kid pull into a car repair shop. I pretty much ran from the boat to the car and asked the guy if he worked there.

Long story short, for $60 he fixed my boat and we were on the water in just two hours.

When I caught that first smallmouth bass both Roland and I did our happy dance.

This day started getting kind of windy which is normal here but I had spent my alloted budget on that boat and couldn’t afford a motor for it. I did however had a trolling motor which got us from point A to point B until the wind over powered our little motor.

We ended up on the rocks beside the railway line and had to get out of the boat and walk it around the point so we could get it back out into the water.

We decided to take a break for lunch and headed to the local grocery store to buy a few supplies. It was very hot that day so we took a drive around the lake while we were eating. That’s when I saw it…

There it was just lying there on the grass chained to a tree. A 9 horse Evenrude (I could be wrong on the size but it was small) outboard motor.

The owner was home so I asked how it worked. He unchained it and hooked it up to his little aluminum boat and it started first pull. It also pushed that little boat quite fast, I was totally impress.

Now this is something you don’t see or hear about any more but that guy gave me the motor and gave me his address so I could send him the money. He had never met or heard of me so he had no idea how honest I am but he just trusted.

Well that little Evenrude wouldn’t go any faster than 5 miles an hours once it was on my boat but that was a lot faster than my trolling motor was taking us.

That was just about the perfect speed for trolling though and we had a blast for about 5 or 6 years before I sold it. I still miss that old boat even though something went wrong every single time we went fishing in it.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

One of my web design clients, Big Paw Outfitters owner Kevin Caissie dropped in yesterday and was telling me how the Atlantic salmon fishing was doing in the Main West Miramichi River. He and his clients have been having a blast.

That was awesome to hear but one thing that really caught my attention was the size of brook trout they caught. I know there are a lot of salmon and I enjoy fishing for them but my heart has to go to the brook trout. Their beauty just can’t be beat and they fight like there is no tomorrow.

So many people I talk to tend to think there are only small brook trout in the brooks, streams and rivers here in New Brunswick but they are dead wrong.

What it comes down to is the fact so many fish where every one else fishing and those spots tend to get over fished but if they would take their time and go to spots that are a little off the beaten track they would find a lot more and bigger brook trout.

An important key to catching brook trout in brooks and streams is stealth. If you can see the trout you can be sure they can see you, unless…

… you are really stealthy and keep low, don’t cast a shadow across the water and keep the noise, especially your feet, quiet otherwise you will alert that 4 pounder behind that downed tree.

Image via Wikipedia

It was early season for brook trout and the weather does change frequently here but we were still going, even if it was to snow. It wouldn’t be the first time we had to fish in a snow storm. It was later enough into spring that we really didn’t expect snow.
We could have gone brook fishing instead. I think that would have helped with fighting the wind as the trout brooks we fish are usually surrounded by trees, giving the trout some protection as well as the fishers, like me.

Kerry had come down from Fredericton the night before so we could get an early start Saturday morning. It looked like maybe the weather guy was wrong, again. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as we leaving.

We had packed everything the night before, well everything except our rain gear. Not sure what happened there.

We were well on our way when the clouds started rolling in, dark heavy looking clouds and that’s when I remembered exactly where my rain gear was. We decided to wait at Sussex New Brunswick for a store to open so we could get a couple of panchos for the day.

To make a long story short we had a great day of fishing even though we only got a couple of hours in before it was so windy we couldn’t use our fly rods and went back to the car to switch to spinning rods.

Normally on a day like this we would have gone home or sat in the vehicle hoping it would get better but this day the fish were biting on every cast. I am sure I could have cast into the bush and a brook trout would have found it.

The wind had torn my pancho, literally to ribbons, and eventually the wind ripped it right off and it was gone with the wind. I was soaked through and through and shivering like I was on a vibrator but I wasn’t about to quit fishing, not a chance.