The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeWhether it’s a fly rod, which is my choice, or a spinning rod, which I use in places the fly rod just won’t work, it’s all fun when you’re trout fishing here in New Brunswick. Stocks are plentiful in most places and there are still plenty of 2 and 3 pound brookies just waiting for the stealthy fisher to entice them.

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 WikipediaIt’s so weird that the weather can be so nice during the week, until quitting time Friday and then the weather turns nasty. I have to blame the weather man, I think he has week days off.

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.

Image via WikipediaFishing in New Brunswick has always been fun and they aren’t that hard to find either. The trick is to catch those brook trout that are more than 8″ long. Although a good feed of 8″ brook trout isn’t anything I would turn away. Mmmm

When I first made Moncton New Brunswick my home I was only working part time and had plenty of time to find new places to fish.

I drove all the back roads and many times found myself rather turned around but I always found my way back home again. My little treks around our great province has led me to many beautiful locations in my search for more trout fishing hot spots.

One fine day I was cruising the back roads, less than an hour from home, and found this little brook that didn’t look much different that so many other brooks and streams I have fished. The biggest difference in this brook was the fact that it wasn’t choked with trees making it hard to fish.

This little brook was wide open and the trees were more mature and not as close the water. This was the kind of place I could bring my son, as he was still a little guy at this time, and a great place for a picnic. I love these spots as it makes for a great family day with a bit of fishing included.

I had such a great day at this spot that it took me longer to walk back to my car than it took me to drive back home to Moncton.

New Brunswick is so full of great brook trout streams you could fish you whole life and never fish the same spot.

Image via WikipediaIt’s always fun fly fishing for trout in New Brunswick. I don’t remember ever having this much fun fishing in Ontario but back then I didn’t use a Fly rod.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. It had been raining for most of the week but we thought we would stop by Stone Brook to see if the water was clear enough and low enough to fish and to our amazement it was. We were sure we heard the brook trout calling our name.

It was still early enough for our chest waders so we suited up and headed down the railway tracks to where we normally get in. The water was too deep there and the current too strong to get a foot hold so we walked down a bit further.

This is such a nice spot. If we have two vehicles we can park a car at one end and the other at the other. We can fish all day and then it’s only a two minute walk to the car.

If we only have one vehicle it’s still just a 20 minute walk back to the car by way of the railway tracks. It makes for such a great day.

Well back to the river and the trout.

This brook is full of brook trout and it’s wide enough for two of us to fly fish together in most parts.

We have a lot of fun trying to get the other guys spot before he can.

Well Roland and I have had a few adventures and laughed at each other for years and it always seems that we forget to snap a picture or two for future laughs.

On this particular day the water was a bit higher that normal for that time of year. There is one or two spots on the river where the trees tend to cover the entire river and the only way to get a cast is to get in under the trees.

Of course this is also where the water runs a bit deeper. Roland is a bit shorter than myself so he decided to get out and walk around this spot but not me.

I thought I could get through it and almost did, just not quite.

It was the funniest thing because Roland saw me bobbing out the other end bouncing from rock to rock on my tip-toes and just keeping the edges of my waders from going under and getting me soaked.

I had my Fly rod extended in Roland’s direction. He was laughing so hard he kept missing the tip of my rod. Eventually he did grab and slowly guided me to the shore.

I didn’t even get enough of a foot hold in there to get a single cast, just bobbed my way through just out of the reach of any of the tree branches that make it so hard to get a cast.

Image via WikipediaSpring here in New Brunswick has been fickled this year to say the least. We never really know what kind of weather we are going to get but then that kind of holds true for any time of the year here. The only difference is that in the spring things can turn cold and it can start snowing without a lot of notice.

This can make for strange and exciting days on the water.

My fly fishing buddies and I head to Renous New Brunswick every year for Atlantic salmon but one year my buddy Kerry invited me to a brook I had never fished before.

Justing getting to the brook was a chore as the underbrush was extremely thick. I am sure this would cause most to move on to another place to fish. I love it.

I had taken Kerry on a great day of brown trout fishing near Shediac New Brunswick and he was now returning the favor and he didn’t disappoint.

We both had our cars as I was coming from Moncton and he was coming from Fredericton. This worked out great because we parked one car as close to the point we could be leaving the brook, where it meets the Caines River and the other car was were camped and entered the brook.

We finally clawed our way through the underbrush and found the brook. The action was pretty much none stop all day and the scenery was eye popping at times.

I have gone back to this spot many times since that day and always have a great day.

It is far too thick to use a Fly rod so we always go with light spinning gear which is great while we are on the brook but when we reach where the book enters the Caines river we have to quit fishing because it’s mostly Fly rod only at that point.

I think it would make for an even better day if we could exchange our spinning gear for our fly gear once we reach that point. I am sure there is another road that we could park the second car at so we could be closer to the water and the car when we are done fishing the brook.

I haven’t taken Roland to that spot yet but I think this year would be a good year for introducing him to a new brook trout brook.

Image by mrcd@sbcglobal.net via FlickrI learned to read the water I fish from an early age. I don’t remember being taught by anyone because I spent most of my youth fishing alone but it’s most important to me now and I try to show those I take fishing.

I was a foster kid from age 5 up and hated moving from home to home, trying to make new friends that didn’t want to be friends with a foster kid. Fishing was my way of getting away from all the crap life seemed to be dishing out to me. I could lose myself in happy thoughts for a short while.
I started fishing catfish and that was no challenge at all. It wasn’t until I started brook trout fishing that I started to learn that fish aren’t always everywhere in a stream.

I learned how to scan the water and see all the potential feeding lanes and structure. The fact that I caught brook trout in the places I thought they would be gave me confidence on new waters. I could read the water in just a few minutes which made the difference between catching and just fishing.

I learned that in the spring the fish were in different areas they weren’t in later in the year. I also learned that the trout like well oxygenated water that is cool. This lead me to learn where other streams and springs feed the streams and brooks I fished so that I knew where the coolest water was at any given time of the year.

When I take friends fishing I try to teach them a little of what I have learned over the years so they can enjoy sport fishing New Brunswick as much as I do.

Image via WikipediaOur new home is taking up a lot of our time this year. I haven’t even been fishing yet and it’s May 15th already. Yesterday as Spring cleanup day and we managed to get almost everything done we wanted to get rid of and just in time. They arrived for pickup about 12 hours early but we were ready.

Unfortunately most people in our city were not ready and are in for a cruel surprise when they get up this morning to see all their junk still sitting at the curb.

In the next couple of days I have to get all my fishing gear in order. I still haven’t picked up my New Brunswick fishing lisence yet. Not having a car since my heart attack really does suck at times.

I am sure one of my fishing buddies will take me Lyon’s store tonight so we are ready and can leave as early as we want.

I don’t think we will be taking the float tubes yet as the water will still feel like ice water and sitting in it too long at this time of year can be painful.

I would like to go to the little pond/lake where I found a second beaver pond in behind.

I always take my Fly rod with me even if I don’t get to use it. I like to see how early in the season we can attract trout on a dry fly. I have caught my limit with the Fly rod in years past but those years are few and far between.

The last time I fished this little spot in the spring it was snowing and raining. The wind was blowing so hard it ripped our panchos right off but the fishing was so hot that we couldn’t just go home.

We froze that day but it was worth every shiver.