First, my first boat was a double hulled fiberglass boat and it was extremely heavy. I don’t remember exactly what I paid for this luxury liner but it was less than $400 and it came with a trailer to haul it. The thing about the trailer was that the rollers were totally seized up so they would roll the boat on or off the trailer. Instead the boat had to be float because if you had to push that sucker off that trailer you were in for a fight. It seemed lke the trailer glued it’s self to the bottom of the boat and wouldn’t let go unless you floated the boat, like I said. The few places we launched that wouldn’t go deep enoug into the water sure gave us a workout getting that boat wet. Our very first trip two things happened. First we blew a tire on the trailer about half way to where we were going to fish which put us about an hour behind schedule. Secondly. We finally arrived Saturday morning and launched for our first day on the water. It was so exciting and then the boat started to sink, bummer. That’s what happens when you don’t put a boat on a trailer correctly and the bottom of the trailer goes through the boat’s outer hull. So here is it is, early Saturday morning, nothing was open yet and we were getting ready to go back home when I looked over at the road and saw a man and a kid pull into a car repair shop. I pretty much ran from the boat to the car and asked the guy if he worked there. Long story short, for $60 he fixed my boat and we were on the water in just two hours. When I caught that first smallmouth bass both Roland and I did our happy dance. This day started getting kind of windy which is normal here but I had spent my alloted budget on that boat and couldn’t afford a motor for it. I did however had a trolling motor which got us from point A to point B until the wind over powered our little motor. We ended up on the rocks beside the railway line and had to get out of the boat and walk it around the point so we could get it back out into the water. We decided to take a break for lunch and headed to the local grocery store to buy a few supplies. It was very hot that day so we took a drive around the lake while we were eating. That’s when I saw it… There it was just lying there on the grass chained to a tree. A 9 horse Evenrude (I could be wrong on the size but it was small) outboard motor. The owner was home so I asked how it worked. He unchained it and hooked it up to his little aluminum boat and it started first pull. It also pushed that little boat quite fast, I was totally impress. Now this is something you don’t see or hear about any more but that guy gave me the motor and gave me his address so I could send him the money. He had never met or heard of me so he had no idea how honest I am but he just trusted. Well that little Evenrude wouldn’t go any faster than 5 miles an hours once it was on my boat but that was a lot faster than my trolling motor was taking us. That was just about the perfect speed for trolling though and we had a blast for about 5 or 6 years before I sold it. I still miss that old boat even though something went wrong every single time we went fishing in it.
This was a few years back now but my first boat was a headache as well as some of the greatest fishing time I have had. My buddy Roland was with all the way through the good times and a few bad times.
My wife and I went fishing last weekend. I took her to a place she had been to before about 7 or 8 years ago when our dog was just a pup. Our dog was a black lab mix and we soon found out just how much she loves the water. I was guiding my wife to where I was going to fish, she doesn’t fish, just loves to come with me, when Shadow, our new pup, just jumped off an 8 foot ledge into the water without hesitation at all. My son and wife freaked thinking she was going to drown. Well she didn’t drown, she loved it and we had a hard time keeping her out of the water when I was trying to fish, especially when I had a bass on the line. We parked at the same spot I always park and saw that we were alone, excellent. I looked around for a few minutes decided where I would start fishing this pond. I walked up one of the steep hills made up of bits of shale making it hard to walk up because it would shift under your feet. When I got to the top I noticed 4 turtles all in a row on this log. I wanted to take a picture but I wanted my wife to see them first so I was trying to get her to climb the hill so she could see but she made too much noise and the turtles all slide into the water. For me seeing the turtles on the logs is always a good indicator that the bass are ready for just about anything I would throw at them. Next time I go there I will not wait for Jenny, I will just take the picture and show it to her. 
When is it time for bass fishing in New Brunswick? When the turtles are on the logs.
Many years ago, not sure how many but by the size of the trees growing on these mounds I would say it been abuot 50 years or more since the mining stopped do to hitting too many springs and flooding the entire area. The miners just packed up and moved on leaving a huge new area of spring water and potential, so the wardens stocked these new ponds with smallmouth bass after about 10 or 20 years. The result, a lot of fun for bass fishers like me. I brought my son here for his first exprience with a float tube and fishing bass. He doesn’t use a Fly rod but we still had a great time. Actually we always have a great time when we go fishing. This is a great spot to fish. You don’t need a boat of a float tube as you can fish right from the banks around the ponds. It can be a little hard walking here as the shale moves under your feet a bit and the piles are pretty high but it’s all worth it when you see how much fun you can have.
I know of this great little spot for fly fishing smallmouth bass in New Brunswick on those really windy days. This spot is protected on all sides by high mounds of crushed rocks and trees from strip mining.
The bass don’t get huge here but with light gear you can have fun all day. This is a great place to bring kids if you want them to catch fish, almost guaranteed.
Like I said in an earlier post, it’s been five years since I have been able to fish due to heart problems. Well I’m getting pretty excited and I have the okay from my doctors to get out and catch a few fish. I would have gone today, being Saturday, but my son is moving out on his own today and I want to be here to see him off. I will go fishing tomorrow instead. The only way I can go fishing right now is to take someone with me for safety reasons, plus if I kick off out there someone will know where my body is. (my attempt at humour) I am not going after salmon on my first trip out as I need to build my strength so I will start with a few places that have small fish. I have two places in mind and they are only 15 minutes apart. The first place I will go is for Pickerel because it tends to get windy here in the after noons and less so in the early morning. Once the wind picks up or the action sucks I will move to the Bass, which are in a well protected area, protected from the wind that is. This little spot for Bass is the best place to take kids. They can sit right on the bank of the ponds and they don’t even have to cast very far at all, just a few feet. A great place to picnic with the family, as long as you take out any garbage you bring in. I spend a lot of money on my fishing hobby and I find that I can keep within budget if I use eBay to find those fishing related products I want or need.
Image via WikipediaI live in Moncton, New Brunswick and love it. A small enough city that I still enjoy it. New Brunswick has a lot of lakes, beaver ponds, rivers and streams that makes fishing here so great.
Atlantic Salmon - My favorite species to fish in New Brunswick has to be the Atlantic salmon and the salmon is the main reason I moved to New Brunswick from Ontario. I certainly had no shortage of species and locations to fish in Ontario but the Atlantic salmon is a powerful reason to move.
Trout - Even though I enjoy fly fishing for salmon I also enjoy a few other species, like brook trout, brown trout and rainbow trout. Most places here you can fish trout with a spinning rod or on the fly but if it’s fly fishing only don’t get caught with a spinning rod.
Nothing is more fun than using your favorite dry fly for trout.
Smallmouth Bass - I also fish smallmouth bass and for bass there isn’t much more fun that throwing a few top water lures that cause the bass to go bonkers. The explosions are heart stopping.
I love taking new friends bass fishing because we are almost never skunked no matter what the weather conditions so my friends are very seldom disappointed.
Chain Pickerel - From a float tube you can’t beat the fun a pickerel will give you, quite often spinning you in a few circles before you land it.
The pickerel is very similar to the pike I used to fish in Ontario but they don’t grow as big, they only fight like they are that big.
Sturgeon - The dad of big fish here in New Brunswick. The strugeon is so prehistoric looking that you will have to look around you once you see one to make sure you haven’t been transported back in time a few million years.
You don’t want to be fishing sturgeon from a float tube because they may just run you right out to sea.
We also have rock bass, sun-fish, perch and other species that don’t get fished a lot by me. When my son was little we fished more small species but when I am with my fishing buddies we fish the species mentioned above.
Fishing in New Brunswick has been exciting for the past 30 years or so and I don’t see it stopping any time soon, as long as we protect our waters.
Smallmouth Bass are one of my favorite species for sport fishing on the fly in New Brunswick. I have caught them up to 4 pounds but only a couple of times. I usually max out in the two, two and a half pound area but I don’t mind because they all think their 4 pounds.
Smallies a blast whether your using a baitcaster, spinning rod or Fly rod. My personal preference has to be using my Fly rod for smallies. I do keep my spinning rod available for those days that the wind is taking the fun out of fly fishing.
I have mentioned a little hot spot for smallmouth bass that I go to when it’s too windy and it also makes a great place to learn how to fly fish as there are plenty of spots one can cast from without hooking up in a tree or a bush.
I have a little spot I go to when it just too windy elsewhere so I get to use my Fly rod here most days. I try to keep my favorite spots a bit hush hush and in the past 20 years or so I have only told two people where this spot actually is. One of those people is my son and I am sure he won’t tell any one.
The smallmouth bass in this spot only seem to grow to about 14 inches but what a day of fun you can have with light action gear.
Another reason I love this place so much is that it’s only about an hour from home and I am within about 15 minutes of trout fishing and pickerel fishing and even Atlantic salmon fishing. Can’t beat that with a stick.
These waters don’t require you to fish using a fly rod like a few other places I fish so those that are just learning can go back and forth between a spinning rod and the fly rod.
Come and go fishing with me, as long as you don’t mind wearing a blindfold while getting there.
