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.

My best fly fishing buddy Roland and I headed out for a day of brook trout fishing in a few beaver ponds just outside the north end of Fundy National Park.

There are 5 or 6 ponds that I know of but I am sure there are more. We try not to point out their location as they are small and can get fished out pretty easy.

We used to take my canoe back in and that was always a job that had me exhausted by the time we fought our way through the thick brush. Then came the float tubes and that part of the trip got a whole lot easier.

What used to take us at least a half hour to get in there was now cut down to about 10 minutes or so and I would arrive in a better mood and not so wiped.

I actually dragged my canoe in there by myself a few times and was so angry and beat that I had to sit down and wait until I was more relaxed before heading out on the water. Always better to fish with friends anyways.

We have had a few nice feeds of brookies from these ponds.

This one year, about 10 or more years ago now, where the water was much higher than we had ever seen it.

This particular place I am talking about has two beaver ponds with a water way between them just big enough to take the canoe through and deep enough so that it doesn’t freeze to the bottom in the winter so the beavers can still get around.

So, like I said the water was high and it was early spring so we didn’t have the canoe this time. If we had I would not be telling you this story.

We walked into the first pond and started walking around it amazed at how high the water was. It was like a totally different place. More like a lake now instead of a pond. Okay maybe not that much bigger.

We wanted to get to the other side where we could get a better position to fish for a while. With the water so high it was going to take us another half hour or so to walk around it but we were eager and decided to cross at the little water way between the ponds. It was normally about 3 feet deep at the most.

I tried to step in slowly but couldn’t quite reach the bottom but I was sure I was only inches away but didn’t want to take that first step of faith so we had this ‘you go first’ thing going for about 10 mintues before Roland decided to be the brave one and stepped in.

Quickly the water was right to the top of his waders but he made it to the other side with only the top inch of his getting wet. I laughed and thought to myself how happy I was that I was a bit taller than him.

Well I wasn’t standing two feet from his left arm when he crossed and thought I would be fine. Well I wasn’t fine and that water was freezing cold.

I made that first step, right where I thought Roland did and instantly I was right up to my neck. Even though Roland was right their and grabbed me I was very wet and his laughing didn’t help.

I had to strip off and get the water out of my everywhere but fortunately the day was wasted because the air temperature was a whole lot warmer than that water and after a few minutes of grumblin’ and complaining I stopped shaking so much and got dressed again.

A couple of minutes back in my waders and the temperature all evened out and I was fine.

The excitement was growing by the second. We were flying over scenery that I had never seen from above and so low to the ground. If our trip had of stopped right there I would have has some awesome memories.

The take off was really cool and for me it was the final step to this well planned fly-in fishing trip. We were in the air and barring anything catastrophic there was no turning back. We were on our way to, for all of us, our first fly-in fishing trip.

It was only as we flew over the lake we would be fishing in that I realized just how huge this lake was. It even had rather large islands in the lake. One island had a cottage that was bigger than my house. They would have had to fly everything in to build it. Amazing.

As we landed on the water and headed toward the camp we could see that previous fishermen waiting on the dock. Their time was up and we were taking over.

Forgive the bad photography but I have always shook so bad I could never take pictures without a tripod and the plan vibs didn’t make my task any easier. Fortunately for me the fish don’t seem to mind all my shaking as I caught the most fish. Ha Ha guys.

BTW: I have purchased a digital camera since this trip that cancels out my shakey hands. I am looking forward to using it for my fishing, gardening and travels.

It didn’t take long unloading the planes as we needed two because we had so much gear and beer.

Kerry and I were the first two into the boats after we had taken all our gear and supplies to the cabin. We had our polarized sunglasses on, our life jackets and rods in hand. We were officially fishing first. The sun was up and the glare was on the water but there was no wind and we could see deep into the water with ease. The lake water was a clear as drinking water.

Image via WikipediaWhile I and my buddies were in northern Quebec on our fly-in fishing trip there were Lake trout in the shallow bays but my buddies, well except Kerry, were blind to their presence.

The proper sunglasses was made the difference. Kerry and I could look out over the water and see the Lake trout swimming around, just below the surface.

I was out on my own using my Hummingbird fish finder to finds some big Lake trout when I thought I saw a splash in a little bay. Thinking it was a brook trout I headed in to make a few casts with my flyrod.

BAM!! The first cast. It wasn’t a brook trout at all, as it turned out it was a Lake trout at about 6 or 8 pounds. As I was fighting this little surprise I was looking around and saw that he wasn’t alone, there were dozens of them in this little bay.

I had to make a decision, keep fishing and tell my buddies later or stop fishing and take the 20 minute boat ride back to the camp to tell them. Well I love fishing with friends so I stopped, after two more fish, and headed back. Would have been a great time to have a two-way radio.

When we returned I was the only one with a flyrod but both Kerry and I had on polarized sunglasses. Unfortunately the other 3 guys didn’t. But like I said I like to fish with friends and I like us all to be catching fish.

I told Kerry it was time for him to migrate to one of the other boats and we would fish three to a boat for a while. That way I could direct those casting from my boat and Kerry could do the same in his boat.

I little trick we both tried was to switch glasses with a buddy that didn’t have a fish on. That way they could see where they were while we were fighting our fish.

It is so important to have the right gear when you go out on the water.

Fishing can be an exciting yet relaxing way to spend your weekends. It has been proven that fishing is one of the all-time treasured experiences of thousands of American families. However, any sport has its dangerous side and fishing is no exemption.

Majority of fishing equipment have sharp tools such as metal hooks which may lead to accidents when the fishing environment unexpectedly changes for the worse. Storms, hurricanes, wild currents, and other mishaps, could spoil your fishing trip.

If you are planning to go on a fishing expedition with family or friends, here is a list of urgent situations and what preparations you need to face each scenario.

1) Weather – Before packing up your bags and traveling to you fishing spot, consult or be aware of the weather conditions for the day and the following days. Whether you are fishing on shores or in a boat, you should be cautious of the conditions such as flash floods, storm movements and darkening of the skies. When signals such as extreme lightning strikes, you should head to dry land immediately.

Having a sun-drenched day is not really an “appropriate fishing day.” You should be aware that spending many hours with exposure to the sun could damage your skin. Be prepared by bringing sun block to avoid sunburns. You should be aware of heat sickness symptoms such as nausea, breathing difficulty, lightheadedness, and unable to concentrate on tasks. Prepare a supply of water or liquid beverages to keep hydrated.

2) Sharp fishing equipments – Since fishing includes many sharp tools, you should always be prepared to treat injuries by packing disinfectants such as medicated lotion or spray and hydrogen peroxide. If an incident leads the skin to bleed, you would need bandages, cotton or paper towel. Bring your own first aid kit.

3) Tangles – One of the most common fishing hindrances is wherein your line is caught in anything surrounding your fishing spot such as trees, logs, etc. Try to get your line or fishing rod out of the tangle immediately to avoid the problem that could lead into a major accident. You could either snap off the branches of the tree or carefully and slowly remove your line away from where it is tangled.

4) Bait – When you run out of bait, it could spoil your while fishing trip. Avoid this by splitting up the rest of the bait into halves, quarters or thirds. The worm, even if divided, could still move, so the divided worms could still lure your target fish.

Be prepared to face any scenario to keep your fishing adventure as relaxed as possible. With all these in mind, you could enjoy your fishing trip safely and successfully.

The five of us were beside ourselves with excitement. None of us had been on a real fishing trip let alone a fly-in fishing trip to northern Quebec. Heck only two of us were experience fishers while the other three we kind of behind the house stream fishermen and maybe a little Mackerel fishing.

We had about 4 months to prepare which probably cost me hundreds more than was necessary but it was a once in a lifetime trip so it was going to be worth it. I wanted all new fishing equipment and so did my buddy Kerry.

My job didn’t give me spending money after all the bills were paid so I had to come up with something else that would help me buy new fishing equipment. But what could I do, I was far too busy at the one job I had to think about a second job, even if it were only temporary. Then it came to me…

I was spending about $10.00 a day on unnecessary things like coffee, muffins and pop. I decided I would give up those things until after our fishing trip. Kerry worked with me and was in the same boat so he decided he would give up the coffee, muffins and pop as well.

Our three other partners in this fishing trip didn’t need the extra money as they didn’t care what they took with them as long as it was beer. I think we had more weight in beer than all our other gear.

Note: I don’t drink and fish and I don’t let any one else either so even though we had a ton of beer it was for after a long hard day of fishing.

I was really blown away by how much I had been spending on food at work when I could have been bringing from home as part of our grocery bill. Live and learn and save.

$10.00 a day, five days a week equals $50.00, man what a waste. It didn’t take very long to start buying new fishing gear. Both Kerry and I bought exactly the same things.

New fishing vests, boots, waders, rods, reels, lures and flies… We looked like twins, well I was about 60 pounds over weight and Kerry wasn’t but other than that we looked a lot a like all decked out in our new gear. The only thing I bought that Kerry didn’t was a fish finder which came in handy for those huge Lake Trout.

The place we were flying out of gave us a pretty detailed list of what we should take. After all we were going into a place so far north it took a couple of hours to fly there so any problems would result in a two hour flight both ways. We didn’t want to spoil our trip so we followed the list as close as we could.

More about our fly in fishing trip in another post.

My life couldn’t be much better than it is today but it was not always like that.

I started life in Ontario, Canada. Our family lived in Scarborough until at age five something happened and I became an orphan. At that point life turn pretty sour and I was shifted from one stranger to another until I guess I just lost myself and turned into an angry little boy.

I am not actually sure how many homes I had been in by the time I was eight but I know it was at least five homes. I was also too young to understand why all this was happening and no one was offering an explanation so as a kid I knew somehow it had to be me.

Then in 1961, just before school started I was moved again. In my mind it couldn’t have been much worse. I went from living in the city to a farm in the country with no indoor plumping. The homes were at least a quarter mile apart and the only person I knew was me.

To make it even worse I was told that it would be best for me to repeat grade two. They felt it would be less stressful on me and I would become more social.

So I was a hurt and lost little boy who didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. But all that was going to change.The people that took me in had an older son, he was almost twenty, his name was Chuck. Chuck took me under his wing and treated me like he had known me my entire life. I had a big brother.

Chuck took me to a small river at the back of our farm and introduced me to swimming and fishing. I had not even held a fishing rod before that.

The day Chuck took me fishing for the first time changed my life forever. While I was fishing I wasn’t angry I was actually free for the first time.

Those days seem so long ago but are so clear in my mind. I have spent many many hours wetting lines and have introduced a few people to the joy of fishing.

All I can think of to end this heart felt post is thank you Chuck and to you…

Take a kid fishing.