Casey, Jamie and I had such a good time the day the three of us were fishing French Lake for chain pickerel that Casey tried to get us together for another day on the water. That didn’t pan out as Jamie, being a teacher and vice principle, started back to work and was unable to go with us.

Jamie did get to French Lake for some pickerel fishing fun on Sunday with his buddy Matt.

Always Looking For Deer

The first couple of times I went to French Lake I heard about the numbers of deer that hang around the fields next to the lake but never saw a deer.

However, the last time Casey and I were at French Lake we saw about 10 whitetail deer along with 2 really cute fawns. They were running and jumping in a field next to the lake, well until they saw us and then it was off into the bush.

This time around we only saw three under the apple trees but we didn’t stop long, it was day break and we had fishing on our mind.

The Weather Forecast: HOT, VERY HOT

Hot didn’t really cover it as it was the hottest day I remember being out on the water and I do remember some very hot days fishing from my float tube at Chipman in years past.

The water temperature when we arrived at day break was already 78F/26C and by the time it was late afternoon it had risen by 5 degrees.

Even though the water was so hot it still felt really refreshing when I used it to cool down throughout the day.

Catch 22 With The Wind

Personally when I am fishing pickerel I like it to be calm. I think I get as much of a rush watching the wakes and big explosions when they come for the bait.

I must admit that by noon I was secretly wishing for the wind to pick up just give us a break from the heat of the sun. But that was going to happen, it just got calmer and calmer and hotter and hotter.

At one point Casey looked at me and thought I had not put on the ole sunscreen as my face was so red it looked like I was about to explode. I had lots of sunscreen on I was just overheating, big time.

So it’s a catch 22 situation. You want it calm but when it’s that hot you want some breeze blowing across your face.

Hawks, Eagles and Heron

We see a lot of hawks and eagles on our fishing adventures but on this trip they were really actively taking fish from the water all around us.

It’s so cool to watch them floating high above the water and then in an instant into a dive and off with a fish.

The eagles would swoop down and grab them with their talons and off they would go.

However the hawks, if that’s what they were, would beat their wings to stay in place and then dive like a bomber right into the water and then back in the air with a fish.

So cool, I can’t imagine the power in their wings to get them out of the water and back into the air while holding a fish in their talons.

Forgive the poor quality, I had to zoom in

It really cool to watch the heron stalking fish. They can stand so still they are all but invisible. I have seen them standing in the tall grass and all you see is their head. They can look just like a piece of drift wood.

I was watching this one when a Kingfisher dove from his perch and blasted into the water right next to the heron. It scared the heron so much I thought all it’s feathers were going to fly off before it could get into the air.

I love living in New Brunswick.

How Was The Catching?

My Record For Smallest Pickerel

The only time I have ever caught a smaller pickerel than the one above was when I was fly fishing for trout. I pulled my fly off the water and while it was in mid-air a little pickerel, not much bigger than a pencil, shot out of the water like a bullet and nailed my fly.

I think the heat drove the pickerel to deeper water as the action wasn’t as furious as it was on our last trip but we still had a great day.

We didn’t land any huge pickerel. My 22″ pickerel was the largest for the day but they were all fun.

We always have a little contest to see who buys the icecream at the end of the day, well if anything is still open by the time we are done fishing, so we do keep track of what we catch.

I sure wish we had the icecream in the boat, what a treat that would have been in that heat.

We had a lot of action and I mean a lot but they were not quite as explosive as usual and came up short on the baits for most of the day.

Casey started out strong and had 3 pickerel in the boat before I even had a strike. It looked like he was going to kick my butt this time around, but at the end of the day it was Casey with 21 pickerel boated and Jim, that’s me, with 33 pickerel in the boat.

Red 5″ Senko Worms

By now anyone familiar with my blog knows I am in love with the Red 5″ Senko Worms.

Note: I do use other baits but just have the best results using the red worm.

Pickerel are known for coming up short on the baits and can easily shred the worm until your 5″ worm becomes a 2″ worm.

Well I was always quick to put on a new worm but this day I was running short so I just cast the half worm back out there and to my surprise it still got smack and this time the pickerel was hooked.

Can’t tell you how many half worm I just tossed in the garbage when I get home from a day of fishing pickerel. Not any longer, now I am going to see just how many pickerel I can get with just one worm or perhaps one half worm.

As they hit the worm time and time again the front of the worm gets torn up a bit and won’t stay on the hook. Well one day I looked over and Casey was threading the worm on the hook upside down and continued to use it. What a great way to conserve your worms.

I’ll steal that idea and save some worms, thank you Casey.

Confession Time: I got beat by the day.

I never like being the one to call it a day and love fishing right until dark. Heck I usually have the best fun the last hour on the water, just before it gets dark.

Sadly by 6pm, the sun had completely wiped me out. I fought the crappy feeling for another hour but by 7pm I had to admit I was done.

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.

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.

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