I imagine you find times when you wish you had a magic rod and reel that you could store in your briefcase or perhaps the glove box in your vehicle. I have thought about having something like that for decades and now I can have it. It’s the Mini Pen Fishing Rod with Deluxe Spinning Reel, how very cool.

I’ve had so many days that would have been much better days if I had a rod and reel like this while I was going college, driving past so many great fishing spots on my daily trek back and forth from Moncton to Sussex New Brunswick. So I know what I’m getting for Christmas this year. It will be so awesome to just pull over and pop a mini fishing rod from my jacket pocket and be fishing, where before I would have to just drive right past these great little spots.

I have seen fishing rods that were small but most of those were for kids and made to look like it’s made for kids so I don’t really want one of those. But this mini pen fishing rod looks like it’s just what I have been looking for. I have just the right tackle boxes with some of my mini baits and I always have my fishing license in my wallet, so I’m always ready to go fishing.

I have a couple, well a dozen or so spots that would be perfect for a mini rod and reel setup. The trout are all 12″ or smaller and I have a special spot for bass where they never seem to get past 14″.

The perfect gift for the fisher that has everything. Take a few minutes and pop on over to see this  Mini Pen Fishing Rod with Deluxe Spin Reel today!

Casey was heading to Salmon River, off Grand Lake New Brunswick this past weekend so I asked him to tell me about it. I also asked him to send me a picture of his 24 1/2 chain pickerel, that he landed in French Lake, as the three of us, Jamie, Casey and myself are always trying to out do the others. Ha.

So here is Casey’s catch.

Congrats on Your 24 1/2″ Pickerel Casey

Now here’s what Casey’s wrote:

Salmon river was pretty good in the morning.

We landed 31 pickerel and I had a 24″er for the largest.

There was a huge amount of boat traffic which by the afternoon had pretty well ruined the fishing by mudding the shoreline and weedbeds.

I would never go there again on the weekend.

One big boat hauling a tuber put 2 large waves right into my boat and we had to stop and bail out the water.

I was ready to go above the bridge but my buddy said he was tired at 4 o’clock and wanted to go home, the wimp!!!

Used a lot of worms !!!

We went downriver to about a km from Salmon Bay.

Talked to a boater who said it was very rough further down so we turned back.

End of story.

Well 31 pickerel is still a good day, consider his partner for the day wimped out at 4pm.

I like hearing stories from those who hooked into their first Atlantic salmon that they managed to land and photograph. Well even if they didn’t get to photograph it, like my first salmon, but that’s another story.

A guy who has become a good friend, Jamie, who has also taken me on so many fishing trips got to go on a salmon fishing trip and got his first salmon.

Take a minute or two and read Jamie’s Atlantic salmon fly fishing experience. I always love the excitement when someone is sharing.

You might laugh at the title but sometimes I need protection for other fishers trying to catch my fish, so I started training pickerel, when they are still pickerel pups, to recognize my call for help. They protect me for those that would catch my fish.

They usually do one of two things. First they will try to cut the line of anyone close to me that has a fellow fish on that exceeds 20 inches and if that fails they will come out of the water like a torpedo and try to knock them out of the boat.

Even with all that training and dozens of them scattered around New Brunswick I still couldn’t stop Jamie from catching a bigger pickerel than me. I may have to resort to sharpening the edges of his paddles so they cut the line better.

Jamie took a good hit to the kidneys from one of my trained pickerel but it didn’t stop him, barely slowed him down.

Well now I’m off to think up a new scheme for getting the bigger fish.

P.S. I did think of leaving him home the next trip but it’s his car and his canoe, so I had to rethink that one as well.

First, my personal best chain pickerel was caught while fishing with a friend some 20 years ago in Cassidy Lake. He was pickerel fishing for the first time and landed a 26 inch pickerel, show off.

Well I have caught plenty that size over the years but was never able to break my personal best until Casey took Jamie and I fishing in French Lake a couple weeks ago. I laned a 24 1/2 inches for a new personal best. And was the biggest for the day as well.

Then a week later Casey was out with a first time pickerel fisher and Casey landed his personal best at 24 1/2 inches, tying my record.

I guess Jamie felt left out because when we went fishing a few days ago he caught his personal best which smashed our previous record. Jamies’ chain pickerel measured in at 24 5/8 inches.

Jamie’s Record Breaking Pickerel

You can read about it on Jamies’ Pickerel Fishing in New Brunswick post.

Hi from New Brunswick’s Pickerel Jim. I think I will wear my new hat on our next fishing trip. It really does help to keep the sun out of my eyes.

Well it’s really a hat my wife Jenny picked up at a second hand clothing shop in town while she was looking for costumes to wear during some Christmas songs at church.

With the wind we get here in New Brunswick I am sure I would have to tie both the hat on my head and my butt in the boat or it would lift me right into the air.

Did I Tell You I Love My 5″ Red Worm

The pickerel love it as well and the numbers of chain pickerel I have caught makes it a real confidence bait for me. I have converted a few people. I think Casey even likes them now.

I placed an order for 50 5″ red plastic worms and 50 more for Casey.

As soon as they arrived I shot an email off to Casey and he sent one back asking me if I want to head off to French Lake in the morning. Like I would ever say no.

6 Deer playing in a field at French Lake

I did get a picture as close as I wanted as they all decided to take off into the trees as soon as they heard our vehicle but they were sure having fun.

There were two groups each with a cute little fawn in each group.

It was nice to see them after hearing about them but never seeing any when were hit French Lake.

We also say some people who where floating around the sky while parasailing, if that’s what it’s called.

I saw this one just as it was about to disappear behing the trees so I only had one shot to get a picture. Not the best but we thought they looked pretty cool.

We say 3 or 4 of them but there was a stand of trees between them and us so I couldn’t get a picture.

I think it would be fun to do that once in my life.

Yes we could have stopped and maybe I would have gotten a better picture but HEY, we were going fishing eh.

Well we got to the launch and the water was already broken by the wind. I of course wanted it to be completely calm so we could give the weeds a good go right off.

We started trolling right away but headed directly to where we knew there were lots of weeds but weeds with lily pads among them as I have much better luck when there are lily pads.

Casey caught the first pickerel while we were trolling to the pads, of course.

I did my best to shrink the image down so that it looks like a little minnow but his hand is in the way. Okay his first pickerel of the day was 20″. Man they can make you think they are much bigger when they smack your bait while trolling.

Later I did manage to catch a 23″ chain pickerel while trolling. Once we were done with one set of weeds we would troll to the next and caught a lot of perch and a few pickerel. Most were caught in and around the weeds though.

This pickerel just swallowed my little Rapala and I cut his tongue a little getting it out but he was fine and jumped right out of my hands just before I put him back to fight another day.

As the day went on it got even windier but the fishing didn’t let up. Pretty much every set of weeds with lily pads had a couple of fat pickerel hanging out under them.

We caught a few rather tiny pickerel and some big perch while trolling but of course Casey has to catch something different so he caught a catfish on a jointed Rapala.

He marked this one down as a BF for Bonus Fish, worth 5 points.

I have never, in my 50 years of fishing, seen a catfish caught on a lure, especially while trolling.

Actually catfishing in Ontario was my first fishing experience as an 8 year old. I spent a lot of my spare time down by the river at the back of our farm. Love eating catfish.

Next Casey caught a freaky looking pickerel that has his nose missing.

I imagine it happened while it was still a pretty small fish as it was completely healed over.

Leave it to Casey to caught things that are a little different, just for extra bonus points.

I have seen fish with fins missing and even without a tail but I have never seen a snub-nosed pickerel.

He still hit the lure as hard and fierce as any other pickerel and he was a fat pickerel so he wasn’t starving, that’s for sure.

The Wind Blew Away

Then just about 7pm, I think, the wind died down quite a bit and just kept getting less and less. Then the pickerel really turned on and went on the feed.

I was laughing so hard I think I had to sit down for a minute as my brain wasn’t getting enough oxygen. Okay I made that up but I was laughing pretty hard.

I couldn’t cast anywhere that the water didn’t explode. They were coming for my 5″ red worm from all angles and it stayed like that until dark when we had to come back home.

At one point I was casting back into the weeds as far as I could just to see those monster’s wakes and great leaps out of the water at the baits.

I made sure I pulled the baits away just before they got smashed as we would never have gotten them out of those lily pads and weeds. They were too much for the motor.

At the end of the day I had landed 25 pickerel ranging from 23″, the biggest fish for the day, all the way down to a couple that weren’t much longer than my 5″ red plastic worm.

I also caught about 15 perch and they are big and fat at this time of year. They hit as hard as a pickerel sometimes. They are a lot of fun on my light action rod.

Casey caught 15 pickerel with 21 1/2 inches as his best for the day. Of course his BF (Bonus Fish) and I believe he also had 15 perch.

The amount of pickerel we lost in the weeds and even right at the boat far out numbered the amount we landed.

So I have to say this was my best fishing day of the year, so far.