Image from WikipediaMy life isn’t just about fly fishing in New Brunswick oh no. I also love to bait cast and spin cast for early season salmon, trout, bass and pickerel.
I have a few friends that don’t fly fish but I still love a day on the water with them pretty much any time. Of course if I have been asked to go fly fishing most of the time fly fishing will win out.
We even fish for salmon in the early spring while the fishing rules have not changed to fly fishing only as they do after the middle of May. The dates are not the same for all our salmon fishing areas so you really have to know your guide and the rules.
I have about 6 spots that I like to try on opening day, or as close to it as I can, to see how I do compared to previous years. I have had a couple of great years but for the most part the open day has never been that great so when I get a year that rocks I remember it.
One year that stands out in my mind was a spot just about 1 hours drive from home. It is so easy to get to that I am surprised I don’t see more fishers out there. But then again the first year I found this place I had to crawl through brush and it was tough going.
On the way out I looked for a better way and that’s how I now an easy way to get to it. My lips are sealed.
Back to the story…
I found this spot in the middle of the fishing season about 20 years ago and thought it would be a good place to try opening day.
So April 15, about 1988 or so I headed to this spot which is right at where the lake empties into a nice little brook.
I was standing about 30 feet away from where the beavers had it damned up. I didn’t even get to the water and a snow storm hit. It snowed so hard I couldn’t see across this little brook that wasn’t much wider than rod was long.
I had the best day of brookie fishing I have ever had. The trout all seem to have a death wish and I could hardly get the line to the water before I was fighting one of these spunky little brook trout.
I admit they weren’t big but for the area 12 and 13 inch trout are a good size and in the early spring while the water is still cold they taste soooo good.
The lake was still completely frozen and only about a foot of ice was gone around the damn so getting a cast into the lake was out of the question.
I have had a few other opening days like that in different areas and its fun to get out and see if I can do better than other years.
Sport fishing New Brunswick is a lot of fun but it’s so much more fun when you take a friend.
Well I gotta go and tie a few more flies for opening day. I am going to start tying the Mickey Finn. An easy salmon fly to tie but a deadly one for those salmon that have been in the river all winter and are heading to sea.
