Jenny sent me an email from here office the other day. A big catfish tried to swallow a soccer ball or basketball.

The catfish was able to get the ball in it’s mouth but then it couldn’t swallow it and then it couldn’t spit it out either.

Every time the poor catfish would try to dive under the water it just bobbed back to the surface. It was pretty much exhausted by the time a guy and his wife found it and rescued it by deflating the soccer ball and removing it.

That story reminded me of a day I was fishing pickerel at Redbank New Brunswick from my float tube. No a pickerel didn’t try to swallow my float tube.

It was a very hot extremely calm day, not a breeze blowing at all…

Peter Pickerel Stole My New Popper

I love fishing the weeds for pickerel and bass. I get some explosive action but then sometimes I like to cast poppers when there is no wind and calm water. Those can be very special times.

I like to cast it out from the float tube and let it sit for a minute or two while the ripples die down, that’s if it doesn’t get smacked as soon as it hits the water, which happens so often.

I made my cast and as soon as it hit the water a pickerel smacked it and it was gone and so was my steel leader and brand new popper.

I swear some of those pickerel need glasses, especially this one. He would have had to miss my lure by at least a foot or more to bite through my line.

I sat there in disbelief for a minute, but I got over it quickly and was back to fishing the weeds for a bit.

The thing about fishing from a float tube is that you don’t go very far very fast so I was still fishing the same area when I noticed a flash in the water. It was far too bright for a fish turning so I moved closer to see what it was but I couldn’t see it.

A minute or two later I saw it again but this time it was closer to me and I could see it was my popper. The pickerel must have spit it out, cool.

When I moved closer it disappeared again, it was still in the pickerel’s mouth and when I got close it would dive but the floating lure would bring it back to the surface as soon as it relaxed.

I had a plastic worm on so I quickly put on another popper and cast over the pickerel and let it sit there until the pickerel surfaced again and then I slowly retrieved my popper. Once I reach the other popper I gave a quick yank on the rod and hooked the popper.

I was able retrieved them both poppers as well as the pickerel. I’ll be he was glad to have the popper out of it’s mouth and was no worse for ware when I released him back to the weeds.

Related articles

• Pickerel Fishing Salmon River From Grand Lake To Past Chipman (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)
• Pickerel Fishing French Lake Fun (thejoyofflyfishing.com)
• Saint John River, Harts Lake And Some Smallmouth Bass And Pickerel Fishing (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)

Well it’s past the middle of August 2011 and the water is still high every where I go. My buddy Jamie said it probably wouldn’t go down all summer and I disagreed with him. He’s a bright boy.

Thursday morning Casey and I hit the road for another day of fishing. We went to Oromocto, New Brunswick which was another first for me.

We turned down toward the launch near Phil’s Auto & Recreation, where we stopped to look at all the bass supplies and of course a few boats. On the way out that is, but first we fished.

The boat launch was pretty good, well I haven’t launched a lot of boats but I would say this is one of the better launches I have seen.

I took a few pictures, such a perfect start to the day. You can even see a little mist on the water and the sky is clear.

There was no one around but us and the birds.

A few minutes later, boat check done and we were on the water.

Turned out to be a tough day of fishing. But even a tough day of fishing is better than staying home.

I managed to get a bass on and brought it all the way back to the boat and let it get off two inches from my fingers. Go figure. Casey asked if I wanted him to net it and as it was all that big I said no thanks. Again, go figure.

After the rain we had Tuesday and part of Wednesday the water was pretty discoloured but get a little better as the day moved on.

We tried the Oromocto river for a few hours but the water was so dark the lure disappeared after about a foot. We also tried some noisy baits but nothing seem to work. So, we headed back out. It took use a few hours to fish our way into the river but less than 15 for Casey to get us back to the main river.

When we went in the Oromocto river it was quite and calm like glass. I thought it would make for a nice picture.

As you can see there wasn’t much going on as far as clouds. It didn’t change much but at one point we had a cloud move in front of the sun and it felt like the temperature dropped 10 degrees.

It felt so good I had to take a picture of it. I think we got about 5 minutes of shade.

All too soon the cloud was gone and the sun was right back on us.

Now even though it sounds like I am complaining notice I never once asked to go home. That’s why I bring so much water with me.

Eventually we started getting a few strikes and I hooked into another smallie. This time I didn’t refuse Casey’s help with the net. This one didn’t get away.

Casey took a picture and thought he should get closer to be sure y’all could see it. Smart ass isn’t he?

I lost about 2 pounds from sweating to catch that fish and I wanted proof.

Casey didn’t wait long before he landed his first smallmouth bass. They were few and far between this day. I think they were way back in the bush looking for some relief from the sun. We were sure feeling the heat.

We caught a few more bass and I got a couple of perch. One perch was about the biggest perch I’ve ever caught. That’s not saying it was huge, just the biggest I’ve caught.

At one point I thought I was in Bethlehem as I saw a donkey walking along the water’s edge.

We didn’t have any Lama sightings but the donkey started rolling in the sand and kicking it’s feet up in the air.

Looked kinda like that Lama Jamie and I saw while it was doing that.

Every once in a while a plane would come out of nowhere it seem. I haven’t fished much where there is an airport within spitting distance.

At one point we saw 4 helicopters heading straight towards us and then right over our heads. We were kinda hoping they would let us know where the fish were hiding but they kept going.

They made some noise which reminded me of fishing from my canoe on a lake in the Renous area. I think it was called Mitchell lake.

It was so quiet back in there you could hear a mosquito fart. Well all of a sudden I heard or felt this rumbling and then 3 jets flew over the water and scared the shit out of me, well pretty close.

I was sure I could feel the canoe moving.

We see all kinds of birds bald eagles, hawks, kingfishers and quite a few osprey but I can never get a good picture. So as usually I tried to get a picture and got closer than most but it’s still a ways away.

I’m not up on my birds but think it’s a young eagle.

So we saw a lot of water, a lot of sites, got some sun, drank a lot of water and caught a few fish. Not a record setting day of fishing but still always fun to be out on the water with a friend.

Related articles

• Pickerel Fishing Salmon River From Grand Lake To Past Chipman (thejoyofflyfishing.com)
• Saint John River, Harts Lake And Some Smallmouth Bass And Pickerel Fishing (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)
• Saint John River Bass Fishing At Jemseg (thejoyofflyfishing.com)

I only took about 30 years to actually get around to fishing the Saint John river and now that I have I just can’t get enough. The only thing is that it can be a bit nerve racking fishing from a small canoe.

Even though we wear life-vests we still don’t care to be swamped. It happened once with my canoe and it wasn’t a fun thing at all. Not to mention the gear we lost.

Our plan is usually to check the weather and if it’s little to no wind we will head to the Jemseg bridge and launch from there if the river is calm. Just like it was on Saturday morning about 7am.

We had fun and caught a few smallmouth bass as well as one chubby Chub however once those recreational boaters came on the scene it was time to pack up and move to a less traveled area, like Salmon river bays and coves.

We headed back to Salmon river to a few spots we knew we’d be able to get out of the wind.

The action in these spots have not been so good this year. The only reason I can come up with is the fact we have so much extra water for the fish to disperse in making them fewer and further between.

Saturday on the other had was a reminder of years past with plenty of action.

I cast into one spot and had nice strike but I it was gone as quickly as it had struck and didn’t seem to want my bait on a second attempt. Jamie attracted a nice pickerel on the other side of the canoe.

This guy wanted Jamie’s bait and wanted everyone to know it by jumping clear of the water and coming down on top of his bait. What an explosion.

Jamie now had the biggest pickerel of the day. I still had the first and the most fish for the day so I could still hold my head up.

Then as we were coming around a point heading back to the car I made a few casts to the point but nothing. Just before we hit the bank where the car was parked I turned and gave another cast from the opposite direction.

I made a couple of turns on the reel then something to my left caught my eye. I turned away for just a second and of course I had the strike of the day. Jamie got to see this pickerel come flying out of the water and smacked my bait.

Sure glad I had checked the drag on my reel. I immediately had visions of taking first place for the day.

The fight was on and Jamie was quick to grab his new rubber net and was ready but it wasn’t going to be as simple as that as the sun was directly in Jamie’s face and to make it worse it was glaring off the water as well.

I didn’t think we were going to land this guy and he looked bigger than Jamie’s last fish. I was both excited and nervous as it was the last cast of the day and I saw first place slipping away.

Then the pickerel made one last jump and Jamie got the net under it and it was in the boat.

I think that’s when Jamie asked me how long I thought it would take to walk home from there.

Oh I almost forgot to mention I didn’t have any red worms left plus the sun was now lower in the sky so I had changed to a black senko worm and was having a lot more reactions from hungry pickerel.

My winning pickerel came in at 24 1/4” which is exactly what Jamie said it was before we even landed it. Smart guy eh?

I don’t want to mention Jamie’s name as it might be a little embarrassing so I won’t.

So, I was fishing with this guy, “NO NAMES”, and we were catching a few bass and pickerel, very few for some.

All in all though it was a pretty good day.

We came to this great looking spot that was calling to us so ‘the guy in the canoe with me’ decided to grab his second rod and use this new segmented frog that had a spinning legs.

This frog looked real and the segmented body gave it such presence in the water as it beat it’s way back to the canoe. Very sexy frog.

It had already shown it’s ability to attract predators, bass and pickerel.

So, ‘this guy’ puts his rod together snapped that little frog on there good and made one cast to a lily pad about 30 feet from the canoe. A big mamma pickerel, bigger than my little 24 1/4” pickerel, came flying out of the water, her entire body was airborne and smacks that little frog.

This pickerel knows a tasty treat when she sees one so she decides to get out of there with her dinner.

She shot out of there so fast all I heard was twang like a guitar string snapping and she was gone. Sadly with that brand spankin’ new froggy.

I guess I should have taken a picture of that frog although it was the spitting image of the frog in the top left corner of this post.

The lesson on this fishing trip is to give the drag a testing before casting to a potential pickerel hangout. And to be fair to ‘the guy in the canoe with me’ I’ve done exactly the same thing so it was  a good reminder for me without the pain.

Over the past few years I have enjoyed using the 5” red senko worm for fishing chain pickerel. I was catching so many pickerel while my fishing buddies were struggling a bit, well until they started using them as well.

I was ordering my red senko worms from eBay and then Casey and Jamie started ordering them as well. We were throwing those red worms at every blade of grass and lily pads we could find.

The last time I checked the person selling the 5” red senko worms stopped selling them.

Well both Jamie and Casey bought the last of them I guess because they had them and I didn’t have any.

The last two times I was out, once with Casey and once with both Casey and Jamie I was borrowing their red worms. I don’t really like borrowing things I can lose as easy as a red worm or lure but the pickerel seem to love them so much.

Well on Friday Casey took me back to the Saint John river at Jemseg and we fished from there up to Swam Creek and into Swan Creek Lake.

I was using a black senko worm as I didn’t want to ask Casey for any more of his red worms, especially now that we can’t find any at the moment.

We fished from just after day break all the to supper time and not a single strike on the 5” red senko worm. Casey’s little red worm didn’t have a mark on it. That’s unbelievable in my mind.

It kind of looks like no one catches bass or pickerel on the red senko if I don’t have any.

Related articles

• Saint John River, Harts Lake And Some Smallmouth Bass And Pickerel Fishing (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)
• What A Perfect Day On The Water (thejoyofflyfishing.com)
• Canada Day, Chipman And Chain Pickerel (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)
• Pickerel Fishing French Lake Fun (thejoyofflyfishing.com)

I love watching underwater videos of fish doing their daily thing. I fish for smallmouth bass, a variety of trout and Chain pickerel and would love to see some quality video to see how they sit in wait and how well they are hidden in various types of cover and structure.

Here is an underwater video from Underwater-Ireland.com Youtube channel. I imagine pike live and hunt pretty much the same way chain pickerel do.

Some of the water I fish for chain pickerel in is very merky water and I’m not sure how far I’d be able to see underwater.

I was thinking about putting my rather inexpensive camera in a clear plastic bag and trying to get some video over the side of the boat. Maybe I’ll give it a try the next time I’m out on the water.

Enjoy the video.

Related articles

• Fishing Smallmouth Bass on the Saint John River, New Brunswick (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)
• Canada Day, Chipman And Chain Pickerel (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)
• New Horton Lake Fishing June 23, 2011 (thejoyofflyfishing.com)

Our Canada Day may have started as a chain pickerel fishing trip but half way through the day Jamie asked if I’d like to try the Saint John river at Jemseg for some smallmouth bass.

Casey and I were on the Saint John river at the Jemseg bridge a couple of weeks ago and we had a great time.

We launched at the bridge and trolled along the shoreline down to the enterance to Hart Lake for a few pickerel.

Well it didn’t take long for me to respond to Jamie. I love fishing smallmouth bass and it’s one of my favourite fish to go after.

I never get tired of the power these guys have.

Jamie Makes Sure The Canoe is Secure

Jamie and I launched at the same spot Casey and I launched his boat but instead of crossing to the other side we chose to stay on the side we launched.

Great To Have A Trolling Motor

It wasn’t very windy but it doesn’t take much wind to make the waves uncomfortable in a little canoe. There are also some big and fast boats that move up and down the river. They leave quite a dangerous wake if you’re not hitting them straight on.

We wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for the fact that Jamie has a trolling motor. It’s so great to have on those days that go from day break to dark and sure beats using the paddles all day.

Checkout the affordable Bass Pro Shops Prowler T30/30 Trolling Motor and let the fishing wear your arms out, not the paddles.

Jamie headed his trolling motor down river along the bank. We soon came to a big island the protected us from the boat traffic on the main part of the river.

I was trolling with one rod, under my foot and used the other rod to hit the shoreline structure. Love fishing that shoreline structure.

It wasn’t long before Jamie hooked into the first fish. It hit hard like a smallie but was a perch. It was still the first fish and that always feels great.

Jamie Which Is The Lure??

It always amazes me when I catch fish on lures bigger than the fish. Of course when it’s Jamie with the little fish it’s time for me to tease him a bit.

A few minutes later I thought I hooked the bottom of the river but an instant later the water behind Jamie’s head exploded, just where I couldn’t see it.

I didn’t get it landed but it sure felt good and Jamie said it just almost 3 feet out of the water just as it spit my little Rapal countdown at Jamie and took off for Fredericton.

We fished until the trolling motor battery started running dry and then headed back to the car and then on to home.

On the way back to the launch point Jamie hooked a fish. I didn’t want my line to get tangled in his so I started reeling it in quickly.

I thought I hooked the trolling motor but at that same moment the water behind Jamie, again, exploded. This time I saw the smallmouth and it was so close to the canoe Jamie got a good soaking.

I think perhaps that bass was going after Jamies catch but as I cranked my Rapala back to the canoe it saw it and smacked it instead.

What A Great Way To End A Day of Bass Fishing

I wouldn’t want to be out there on a really windy day but I would love to give this spot a try with my float tube on one of those really calm days.