The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

Over the past thirty years of fly fishing in New Brunswick I have found may great hot spots for Brook Trout. I like to think these are my very own little secret hot spots. I even have a few that my closest fishing buddies aren’t aware of.

Excuse the poor quality of my photo I shake a lot. I do have a new digital camera this years so I hope to take better and less shakey pictures.

New Brunswick has a large number of Beaver ponds that make for great trout habitat. They are not always easy to get to, which is great for those willing to fight through a few bushes for a great day on the water. The spot in the picture however isn’t one of those hard to get to spot. It’s visible from the road and has an easy path right to the water. You can even drive down to the water to launch a canoe.

I had driven by this spot hundreds of times but this one particular day it was almost windy enough to push my car off the road so I was heading to a more protected spot to fish. As I was driving by I of couse glance through the trees to look at the water but something else caught my eye this day. I thought I saw water further back in the trees.

Well I hit the brakes, backed up and waited for another gust of wind and sure enough I did see water. I got a little excited but I have been fooled before after a good rain fall only to find a big water hole.

It was not easy to get through the trees. They are thick and the branches go almost to the ground making it tough to get through, but I didn’t mind as most people tend to be lazy and wouldn’t struggle to get to a fishing spot.

The little trek through the bush wasn’t a disappointment and it was worth every scratch across my face. It was another Beaver pond and it was only a couple of minutes further through the bush and yet in all the years I have fished this spot I never knew the other pond was here. Cool.

Later I found that if I followed the brook from the first pond for a few yards I could get to the new pond easier and I could come back the same way.

Even though this beaver pond was a bit smaller that the first pond it was all mine. I walked around the pond and never saw another human track which made me really excited.

I wonder how many other great fishing spots are just out of view?

Like I said at the start I have been fishing in New Brunswick for more than thirty years and I find at least one new spot to fish ever year.

When we visit family in Ontario the subject of fly fishing in New Brunswick comes up. All the guys in our family are fishermen but I am the only one that fly fishes. In 30 years I have not been able to convince any of them to come down here to New Brunswick and do some fly fishing with me.

They don’t know what their missing. Instead they just sit in the middle of the lake where our cottage is and dangle their lines and drink beer. That’s not for me, plus I don’t drink until after the fishing is done for the day.

I still enjoy getting together with my relatives but I don’t enjoy their fishing strategies, or lack of them.

They are going to read this post and most likely be a bit annoyed with me but hey, I get under their skin all the time. I am the youngest of the bunch at 55 and don’t plan to change.

I don’t care to tell people where I do my fly fishing. New Brunswick anglers can be pretty tight lipped. I can tell you a few locations, just not specific enough for you to find my honey holes.

Just a little plug for one of my website design clients, Big Paw Outfitters. Kevin knows the best places to take his clients when they come to him for a fly fishing New Brunswick experience at their lodge. So giving you Kevin’s website may just lead to you finding a few of my best spots but when a fly fishing guide is taking you there I guess it’s ok.

Big Paw Outfitters is located in Renous, New Brunswick and is only a stones throw away from prime fly fishing for our great Atlantic salmon.

Check out Big Paw Outfitters website. Kevin also guides for black bear and moose, but I will let him tell you all about that.