My Passion For Fly Fishing Started in New Brunswick

The original plan was to head out Sunday, the 14th, for our last day of Pickerel fishing this year. Saturday morning, after returning from Canadian Tire with the bullet sinkers and hooks I needed for Sunday, I checked my email and found Jamie in there asking if I wanted to go Saturday instead of Sunday.

I grabbed the phone and called Jamie before finishing the email.

Beating The Tail End of a Hurricane

The reasons Jamie changed his mind was one, the hurricane that was tracking up from Texas. The winds were going to be strong and of course would be accompanied by lots of rain. Not a good combo for Chain Pickerel fishing. And secondly, it’s always great to go sooner in my books.

Jamie arrived, we loaded up the car and then I babbled like a little kid all the way there. I tend to do that when I get excited and I am happy to say Jamie didn’t drop me off half way there.

It can be a bit decieving on the drive to Chipman from Moncton. It might look calm and the trees don’t seem to be moving but once you pull around the corner and see the water it can really surprise you just how much wind there is. This day the water was almost calm as you can see in the picture above. An ideal Pickerel day so far.

There was a slight breeze blowing but not enough to affect the weed areas. The water was like glass in those areas and very little wind on the open water. Seeing that just made me more hyper. Poor Jamie, he was probably looking for some ear plugs by that point.

The day turned into a perfect day. It was so cloudy going up we though for sure we would be fishing in the rain like the last trip but instead shortly after we arrived the clouds parted, the sun came out and the wind all but stopped.

We had a perfect Pickerel day in New Brunswick.

No Time Wasted

I have been fishing since before Jamie was even born and I still get excited like a kid going to Disney World for the first time. Jamie was much more in control of his excitement than I was and I am sure he just laughed when I just had to run down to the water for that first cast.

There are a couple of weed patches right were we launch the canoe and that’s where I made my first cast, right along the edge of the weeds.

I was expecting a Pickerel to come flying from the weeds to nail the big pink worm I had on but to my surprise the wake came from the open water and exploded on my bait.

I think they just sit there waiting for anyone to step into the water so they can eat them.

Over the past 5 years I have been recovering from heart damage and haven’t been able to go fishing. I was so excited to just be fishing I didn’t bring a measuring tape or a scale so I am not sure how big the Pickerel was but my best guess would be about 20 or so inches.

Jamie didn’t even push me in the water for getting in the first cast.

Politely Sharing The Water

When we arrived there were already other people fishing from a motor boat. They were extremely polite and never came close to our canoe or the area we chose to fish. In the past we have had people that would fly by and take over the water. One year a jerk swamped our canoe with his speed boat and flipped us right over. My fishing buddy that day lost all his gear and the guy never stopped.

Then The Clouds Parted

We expected the wind to pick up and the rain to start at any time but instead the clouds parted, the sun came out and the wind all but stopped.

To make this day even better the pickerel seemed to go out of there way to make our last day of fishing this year such a great one. It was pretty much none stop action all day. By the end of the day I could hardly stand up and my arms had no energy left at all. They wore me right out, awesome.

I am not sure if Jamie is fixing his line or doing his Pickerel catching happy dance.

I don’t know how many Chain Pickerel we caught Saturday but the action was constant all afternoon and we didn’t leave until it was dark. It was one of those days people pray for.

Our day went from a possible stormy day to the ideal fishing day.

We are looking forward to next season already and I think over the winter I will tie a few weedless pickerel flies and get Jamie to do some fly fishing for Chain Pickerel. The experience is unbelievable and can be quite addictive.

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