Fly Fishing For Atlantic Salmon in the Caines River New Brunswick.

When an Atlantic salmon strikes there is no better feeling for me.

I visited New Brunswick for family but returned to stay for the the great fly fishing for Atlantic Salmon.

I have had a hard time since 2004 with my ticker and it kept me from fishing for more than 4 years. How depressing.

I gave my fly rod a try last year but still wasn’t up to it yet but I was able to fish using my spinning gear and that’s far better than sitting at home wishing I was fishing.

I wasn’t sure how long I was going to last but was willing to give it a try.

A new fishing friend, Tim, and I head to the Caines River for an afternoon of fly fishing for Atlantic salmon last Sunday and were blessed with a calm day. It had been windy and rainy for so long. Less wind means I could last longer, I was hoping anyways.

Tim has been trout fishing with his fly rod but had never been salmon fishing so I was excited as I love taking people salmon fishing, especially if they have never salmon fished before.

Take a minute to read Tim’s Atlantic Salmon fishing post, I think he had a pretty good time on the Caines River.

Man The Water is High

We arrived and parked the car. As soon as we started walking the path along the brook that runs into the Caines I could see that the water was much higher than most other years I have fished here.

When it comes to fishing anyone that knows me knows I waste no time getting my line wet and this day was no different. While Tim was getting his rod and line ready I was already fly fishing.

I decided to try one of my Salmon butterfly patterns. I picked one with white wings and a red butt.

We were only there a few minutes when a huge salmon leaped out of the water to check us out. A site I had missed and one that started my heart pounding like the good ole days.

Tim had seen it also. It’s always nice to watch salmon jumping.

It was just about a half hour I think and I was yelling FISH ON and it was time to see if my arms would hold up long enough to land my first Atlantic salmon in 5 years.

Not sure how long I fought him but my arms gave up a couple of times and I lost ground but didn’t give up. After 10 minutes or so I had the fish to the shore and Tim grabbed it to get it out of the water.

I can’t explain how happy and excited I was but I think Tim was happier and even more excited.

My salmon was just a little over the size limit of 25 inches, at 29 inches so I had to let him go.

It took a few minutes to revive him as I had dragged out landing him because of my lack of arm strength. After a few minutes being held facing up stream he started kicking and then was gone.

I fished a while longer using my trusty butterfly fly but couldn’t seem to get their attention so I switched the butterfly for a golden bug and BAM FISH ON again.

This guy fought harder than the first and did a lot of jumping around, which for me is the best part.

I landed him, pretty sure he was in the size limit. I grabbed my measuring tape and stretched it out to just under the limit at 24 inches. Perfect for the BBQ.

you can see that my arms are worn out just by looking at how I had to use my body to support my elbows so I could hold him up.

The following night we had BBQ Atlantic salmon steaks for dinner. I waited a long time for that meal and plan to get out again as soon as possible.

Tagged with: atlantic salmon • fly fishing • new brunswick

Filed under: atlantic salmon • fly fishing • fly fishing new brunswick • new brunswick

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