I have always loved using the colour red for pickerel. I used to be able to get a wicked plastic bait that was red and with. It looked like a small fish with the head cut off. The pickerel went mad for it and I have even pulled them in over the side of the boat without them even having a hook in the fish.

They just wouldn’t let go. Well I don’t know what happen but I was never able to get those baits again. It was year later that I met Jamie, who had some 6 inch pink sinko worms that did really good with the pickerel.

Well he also had some that were red and I found they caught even more than his pink worms so I borrowed some from him and that was it for me. Red worms until they stop producing.

I have so much great luck using a red worm to catch both smallmouth bass and chain pickerel here in New Brunswick that when Jamie and Casey arrived to pick me up Wednesday morning for our day of French Lake fishing they said there was a new rule.

NO RED WORMS ALLOWED

I can’t tell you how much fun I have using them to ‘out catch’ my fishing buddies, in most situations.

Jamie’s 19″ Pickerel on a Plastic Red Worm

I don’t mind watching them switch up bait after bait while I am using the same ole red worms day after day after day. I’ll tell you I get in about twice as many casts. But don’t tell them that or they will start doing the same thing.

Oh wait, that’s exactly what happened. By the end of the day both Jamie and Casey were using red worms. Oh, alright, Jamie uses them quite a bit as well but changes up to other baits too.

Casey got right into the red worm, once I was willing to share one with him. Guess who is getting an oder with me for 50 red worms???

The Two That Got Away

I fish day in and day out using the red worm when ever I can and for me that means in the weeds. I very seldom get bitten off. I lose a lot of worms because the pickerel come up a bit short and take the tail off the worm but very seldom do they bite through my line.

Well on Wednesday we all made a cast at the same time. Jamie and Casey casting toward the shore across a weed bed of lily pads and I cast away from the shore to another set of pads.

Wind Blow Lily Pads Held Two Huge Pickerel

I turned my head for just a second and heard a huge splash. I looked back at my bait thinking it was me and then I realized it was actually two splashes at exactly the same time but it was Jamie and Casey.

They both hollared a nasty word as they were both bitten off at the same time and their lines came flying back to the boat. I’ve been bitten off before but have never seen two guys lose baits at the same instant.

I am sure they were good size pickerel to be able to do that.

I never lost a bait like that all day long. Although I lost a hook and worm because my clasp came undone and thought I had lost a bait.

At the end of the day I was down to my very last red worm and I was beat. What a great day.

I landed 7 perch and 14 pickerel, the largest pickerel I caught was 24 1/2 inches. The half inch in this case is very important because my last biggest pickerel was exactly 24 inches, many years ago. So now I have a new record that isn’t like 25 years old.

Jim’s New Chain Pickerel Record of 24 1/2 Inches

By the way, my 24 1/2 inch pickerel destroyed the previous record holder for the day, Jamie. Sorry buddy. Snicker Snicker

I feel bad kicking Jamie’s behind, well not really, but I should have after casting with too much slack line and I nailed him in the back of the head. Glad his hat and head were pretty thick and the hook pretty much fell out.

He survived long enough for me to kick his butt though.

Yesterday was a day of fishing fun like I haven’t had in a lot of years.

Casey emailed Jamie and myself on Monday to see if we wanted to go to French Lake for a day of pickerel and perch fishing. I said NO immediately, NOT.

I’ve been waiting for a day when the three of us would get out together as I have had so much fun fishing with both Casey and Jamie, just not together.

Well I wasn’t disappoint as I would say I just had the best day of fishing and the most fun all in one day, one really long, hot and windy day.

We were on French Lake at about 8am while the water was picture perfect calm.

French Lake, New Brunswick Early Morning Calm

We trolled to the first spot where we would start hitting the weeds while the water was calm and Casey caught a couple of pickerel and a fat ole perch on the way there.

Casey was using a Rapala jointed lure that was really good at attracting pickerel and perch both. It seemed like he could call them to his lure over what Jamie and I used.

Those of us that didn’t come equipped with Rapala lures didn’t seem to get much action on the trolling.

If my memory is still intact after all that hot sun beating down on my head all day he caught 2 yellow perch and two pickerel before we reach the first weed bed.

On the way back to where we launched the boat Jamie and I had a little better luck trolling and caught a few perch but of course Casey had to be the one to hook into another pickerel.

I was so impressed with how hard the yellow perch hit, every single time I thought I had a pickerel on, great fun.

Had the opportunity to go fly fishing with Jamie. He gave a call about 1pm and asked if I wanted to head to Penobaquis for some brook trout fly fishing action.

I only got out once last year for fly fishing and it was at least 5 years before that so I was definitely eager to go.

I was a little out of practice and it was windy but it comes back quickly. I did end up with a few blistered but they’ll heal up quick.

I had not been fly fishing with Jamie before this so I was looking forward to it. He said he would be over in a half hour. Well I was ready in about 5 minutes and then just paced back in forth for the next 20 minutes.

Stone Brook is catch and release only, well the section we fished anyways, not sure what the range. But we catch and release anyways so it didn’t much matter. This is one of my favourite fly fishing spot near Sussex New Brunswick. I also love to fish Smith’s Creek as well.

I remember back 25 years ago when I was attending Bethany Bible College, I had to drive past these fishing spots 5 days a week from Mocton to Sussex and the longer I went the harder it got.

I love it when a great fly fishing spot is close, only about 3/4 of an hour so it’s quick to get there and when we’re done it’s a short trip home. We were in the water fly fishing by about 3 and fished to just before dark.

This day was a bit of a blessing as it was a little cooler than the past month or so. It even got chilly enough at one point I had wished I had jacket over my sweater. Catching a few trout soon warmed me up though.

While it was so hot the waters around the places I have been fishing are too warm and getting low but I couldn’t believe how high the water level was.

There was a couple of spots I had to get out as the water was just a little too deep and running to fast. But that gave me an opportunity to pick and eat a bunch of raspberries. They are my favourite berry by far and they were so ripe.

I’m not exactly sure how many trout we caught or how many we lost. I did have a couple on that were about 12 or 13 inches but couldn’t seem to keep them on the line.

It would have been nice to have caught them long enough to snap a few shots but heck they gave me a few minutes of extra excitment and we would have just let them go anyways.

It’s fun catching but it’s also fun just being able to pick up and go fishing.

This little Brookie was only out of the water for about
8 seconds and was happy to get back in the water.

Jamie’s a funny guy and at one point he caught a trout and yelled out something about dinner. I sure hope there’s a lot of salad if that’s dinner.

A few times the clouds got pretty dark and I was sure we were in for a soaking but they flew by and things cleared up again.

It wasn’t until we were almost back to Moncton that we say it had been raining pretty hard in place, just not where we were fishing.

Like most fishing trips time flew by way to fast and soon it was time to head home again.

One of the things I really like about the spot we were fly fishing. You can fish all day long and then climb out onto the railway tracks and you’re back at your vehicle in 15 or 20 minutes.

Although it’s hard walking back along the tracks when you keep hearing fish jump right beside you. However it was getting close to dark. We will be back to get those jumpers another day.

Thanks for the great day on the water, fly fishing is so much fun, especially with a friend that doesn’t mind me yelling ‘Fish On’ a lot. Ha

That should teach him to catch more fish than me. Oh yeah, and he should know now never to turn his back on my, cause I can kick his butt again if he ever out fishes me. Ha Ha

Okay, really I got skunked. I forgot what that felt like and now that I do remember I remember that I don’t like it at all.

Jamie did managed to catch 4 fish, a chub, 2 pickerel and a bass. The chub he caught a little off the bank but the others were tight to the bank in very shallow water.

I was too far away to get a picture of the bass or chub but I did get a picture of the pickerel Jamie caught.

Jamie with his second pickerel of the afternoon

The second one was about the same size, small but a whole lot bigger than what I caught.

The water clarity was poor to say the least. I think the visibility was no more than about 2 feet. All the rain we had Thursday raised the water level, dropped the water temperature a bit but muddied up the water way too much.

Couldn’t see more than a foot into the water

That would explain why there was a bit of action along the bank where the water is only a few inches deep.

I am always amazed at the beauty that is all around us when we are fishing, sometimes I get too busy fishing to look around me.

Here was a little flower that was growing right in the water. I have never seen one like this so I am wondering if it was perhaps growing on the shore but after the rain Thursday it was in a foot of water.

I have never walked a river fishing without wearing waders but because it had been so hot and the water so warm I thought I would were shorts and sneakers. I was so much cooler than I would have been in waders, just ask Jamie how his wader felt.

In closing for today I would like to point out that the bottom was pretty slippery and right near the end of our fishing day I slipped and fell right in the drink.

Even though a bit embarrassing it was very refreshing. That must be why I fell in again before I could get back on my feet.

Now that would have been funny to have on video but Jamie was busy fishing instead of filming me flopping around in the water.

I didn’t have a change of clothes so I spent the ride home sitting on three or four grocery bags to try and keep Jamie’s car seats from getting soaked.

Until the next time, keep our woods and waters clean.

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• Went Fishing With Casey on The Cannan (thejoyofflyfishing.com)

We arrived at the Cannan river at 7am. I took the image below from the place we launched the boat. As you can see it was very calm.

Picture from where we launched Casy’s boat.

Note: The air temperature was 18C when we arrive at 7am and the water temperature was 26C. The water was already warm and the sun wasn’t even hitting the water yet.

It was a scorcher today, glad I remember to put on sun screen.

The fishing was so hot and I landed 3 small fish. One white perch and two pickerel. They all came from weeds with lily pads.

That was early in the morning but once the sun was up I had very little action and no landed fish for the rest of the day.

Casey didn’t see a fish all day and like the song says, ‘Shhh, it happens.

I hooked into a smallie at a dock but it had other plans once I pulled it out of the shade. It jumped, laughed at me and spit the hook.

I went at the weeds as much as I could figuring they would be hiding in the shade under some lily pads and I did manage to get a few to chase the bait, they just didn’t have the energy to connect.

I had a great day, as a day of fishing is better than most things. Plus Casey is always fun.

Timing always amazes me. As we were leaving. We had the boat on the trailer and ready to get in the truck when our fishing buddy Jamie and a friend arrived to take our place for the evening.

Hey, what’s the hold up here, are we fishin’ or what?

We chatted for a few minutes and were on our way.

Thanks for the fun day Casey

I have to say for a fishing fanatic without a car I am having a great summer, thanks to two guys, Casey and Jamie. Both are great fun to go fishing with.

The fact that I met both of these guys through my fishing blog makes it all the better. So thanks guys, you both rock.

Just over a week ago Casey called me up and asked if I wanted to fish New Horton Lake. We had a great time and the day was perfect. That was my first time ever fishing that lake.

Yesterday Jamie took me to a little spot on the Cannan river, again another spot I have never fished and we had a lot of fun and the day couldn’t have been better weather wise.

The Cannan River

It was extremely hot, way hotter than I personally care for but once we started fishing the wind picked up and helped to cool us down a bit.

Jamie told me that he has caught some nice smallmouth bass in this section of the river, well actually he had fished a little further down from where we launched.

Strange Looking Smallmouth Bass Jamie!!

I thought it was kind of funny that we were bass fishing and taking a little break from pickerel fishing but what was the very first thing I caught, before we even stepped in the river, a pickerel. How funny is that, eh?

It wasn’t long before I actually hooked into my first bass of the day. I am sure my expression shows how pleased I was with myself.

OH MANN This is a lot of fun.

It didn’t take us long to realize this section of the river was better for walking than canoe as we were out of the canoe far more than we were in it. Although it was great to be able to bring all the food and gear without the need to carry it.

It wasn’t very hard to pull the canoe along with us and Jamie even managed to catch a bass while pulling the canoe behind him our way back to the car.

Jamie fishing while pulling the canoe along

Jamie Multi-Tasking

I was impressed at just how well Jamie was multi tasking. What a talented guy he is.

NOTE: You may see that Jamie caught this little bass using the same 6″ pink worm we use for pickerel fishing. Does it get any better, when you can catch both species in the same spot using the same offerings?

Jamie caught and landed the big bass of the day but if you want to see it you need to visit Jamie’s Fishing Fun in New Brunswick blog.