I was always curious about fishing for lake trout but never really cared much for fishing so deep. I am more a shallow water or top water guy. But I still wanted to experience catching big fish that are much deeper than any fresh water fishing I have ever tried.

So a friend and I saved up the money to go on a fly in fishing adventure an hour or so flight north of New Brunswick into Quebec.

The screen capture from Google Maps show where we started and where we landed to go fishing. At the bottom of the image you will see the water that separates New Brunswick and Quebec. We took a ferry across to Baie Comeau.

From there we stayed the night and the next morning, bright and early, we were on a flight north, with lots of beer I might add. I am not much of a drinker but my buddies sure were. I am sure they brought their own weight just in beer. It was funny to see it all piled up for a 7 day trip.

The beer was gone by the end of the trip and we never took any out on the water. Man they drank a lot of beer, at least five to my one.

We started our fishing going deep, real deep, almost 100 feet, but we really were not equipped for that kind of fishing and it took for ever to get our lures down that deep.

We still caught lake trout and were happy as kids in a candy store.

After a couple of days of fishing really deep I took one of the boats out and headed to a couple of spots I thought I might catch some brook trout. No luck with the brookies, never saw or hooked one all week. But…

… I did see a big fish that I thought would be a record brook trout. She was sitting in a small cove in very shallow water, so shallow I am sure it was not more than 3 or 4 feet deep at the deepest points.

I cast my line in that direction and BAM Fish On.

Picture taken by Fishing Friend Kerry Jones

It turned out not to be a brook trout but a lake trout. I hadn’t even thought of it being a lake trout as I had only thought of them in deep deep water.

I am not sure how long I was there before guilt started setting in and I headed back to the camp to tell the boys about it.

It’s getting really close guys and gals, New Brunswick fishing season opens in just 4 days. I was sitting here this morning, like so many other mornings, wishing I was out fishing. Some great days of fishing comes to mind.

It’s kind of funny but I never seem to remember days I was fishing alone. I always have a much better experience when a friend is fishing with me. Yet I don’t like to fish in groups.

The first time I went to Florida I gave off shore fishing, leaving from Fort Lauderdale, a try. It was certainly a fun day of catching fish I had never seen before. It was so much fun I wished I had someone with me to share the experience, but I didn’t. I was the only fisherman in our group so the others did something else that day.

A few years later I was work and started getting pains in my lower abdomen and went home sick. The next day it was so bad I went to the doctor, who immediately sent me to the hospital as my appendix was about to burst and that’s not a good thing.

Well I had a couple of weeks off work to recover so I talked my brother Bob into driving us to Florida. A much better place to recover than the winter weather in Toronto.

It was Christmas and we had never experienced a Christmas away from home.

After a few days I was able to get around pretty good and I suggested we go off shore fishing. He had heard about it about a hundred times since I returned from my last trip. He wasn’t able to go that time.

I am one that is always on time and usually early but Bob could be a bit of pokey ass so of course we were late and the boat had just left the dock.

The guy at the office called and told them they had two more and to pull close to the pier.

We hoped in our car and headed down the pier until we saw that boat.  Parked the car ahead of it and started running. All the people, who were eager to fish, were yelling at us to get our butts on board.

They didn’t stop the boat, they just came close to the pier and we both ran and jumped on board. It was very exciting and we were on our way.

That was many years ago, long before I ever moved to New Brunswick and I have been here for 30 years now. But the memory is as clear as the day we went out fishing.

We caught a lot of fish, drank a lot of beer and eat a lot of food. I caught a lot of sand sharks. They can fight like they 4 or 5 times bigger than they are.

One person caught a turtle, another caught a bird but for the most part we all caught fish and had a lot of fun.

Some day I will do the same thing with my son Steve. Up to this point in his life we have only gone to Florida to hit the amusement parks and rides.

To give yourself a better chance of catching more bass fish, learning some basic bass fishing techniques is recommended. One such technique involves selecting a dark coloured spoon, crankbait, or spinner when fishing in clear water for bass.

Light coloured bait will not be easily seen in clear water by bass, so your chances of catching any are not as great. Whereas dark coloured baits can be easily spotted and will be more attractive to bass, which of course gives you are greater opportunity for success.

Also, the temperature of the weather you are fishing in also plays a role. There are cold water bass fishing techniques when fishing during the winter months, and also summer bass fishing techniques for warmer temperatures.

Schools Of Bait Fish

Another simple bass fishing technique is that when you are on a large lake and looking for bass, you should first be on the lookout for schools of bait fish. If you find these schools, you can then rest assured that the bass will be lurking about somewhere close-by. The reason for this is that the predatory bass will always lurk close to their dinner and so you can use such a simple bass fishing technique to help you locate your bass.

Bass fish are selective and will be swimming at deeper depths, at least smallmouth will anyway. When looking for bass fish, you will do well to investigate deeper structures with your spinner and even spoons. The likelihood of getting good results will go up on a slow day.

Species

The type of species will play a role in the type of techniques you should employ. For instance, if you are fishing for striped bass, smallmouth, or largemouth you will to use certain techniques to have success catching each one.

For a smallmouth bass, an important technique is to is to be persistent in your efforts because they are more aggressive and unique than other types.

Meanwhile, skill is more emphasized when attempting to catch largemouth bass. This is in reference specifically to the retrieval process once the fish has taken the bait.

In regard to angling for striped bass, the bass fishing techniques are different. Since striped bass are larger, they will put a great deal of effort and force into escaping once they have taken the bait. Therefore, you will really have to use your strength in order to subdue striped bass.

The basic truth is that the bass fishing techniques used to catch largemouth and smallmouth bass is completely different from those used for striped bass. The striped bass is large, does not show any predictability of behaviour and will cover lot of water.

This means you will have to track them over long distances. Because they have these traits, in order to succeed in catching striped bass, you will have to use the fishing techniques that match their behaviour.

See Also: More striped bass fishing techniques

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I still get quite emotional when I remember my brother Bob but I have some great memories.

I remember back to the day I got the call saying Bob had died of a massive heart attack April 1st, 1999. It was horrible news and broke my heart. As I sat there trying to take it in my thoughts went to the fact it was April Fools day and then I got really angry. If Bob was pulling a prank on my I would never forgive him, unfortunately it was no joke.

One of the funniest stories I remember about brother Bob

I put one story he would not appreciate if he was still with us. It’s on my Fishing in Canada blog.

I went from New Brunswick to Toronto to visit Bob. I didn’t get to visit nearly as often as I would like as life just kept us both too busy. Anyways we were having a beer and catching up when he asked if I would go and pick up some more beer. I looked at him and told him to go as he knew where the beer store was and he was more used to the traffic.

After doing his best to get me to go he told me the following story:

First, Bob was a graphic designer and quite talented but he could be absent minded sometimes.

One year Bob forgot to renew his driver’s license, for about a year. He went to the motor vehicle branch to renew it before he got stopped by the police. As he was standing in line he over heard the lady say to a guy at the counter, ’sir your license is 6 months over due, you will have to retake your driver’s license exam’. Well he just stepped out of the line and went home.

Being the creative guy that he was he created his very own license. He even created tags for his car. Then he lived in guilt and fear.

One day he got pulled over in downtown Oakville Ontario. He asked for Bob’s license and registration. That’s when Bob blurted out a confession.

The officer looked at the license and then at Bob. Then he said that he had only stopped him to let him know that one of his tail lights was out.

The officer waved another office over, that was right across the street, and told him what Bob had done, then showed him the art work. Bob thought he was going to be instantly arrested but instead the two officers laughed.

Then the officer took out a wallet and put Bob’s license in it which stuck Bob as strange so he asked him what that was about. It turned out that Bob wasn’t the first to do something creative and this office like to collect great works. He even pealed the license sticker off and kept it.

Bob was in a huge amount of trouble but it was his lucky day. The officer gave him a fine, a very small fine for something not even related and told him he better get his license renewed because he wouldn’t get away with it again.

So to make this long story come to an end…

He had to retake his driver’s license and at that time as a beginner he had to go one full year with zero alcohol so he was trying to get me to go get beer without telling me.

I still laugh when I remember this story but that was Bob. I sure miss him and have never had as good a friend since.