I was always curious about fishing for lake trout but never really cared much for fishing so deep. I am more a shallow water or top water guy. But I still wanted to experience catching big fish that are much deeper than any fresh water fishing I have ever tried.

So a friend and I saved up the money to go on a fly in fishing adventure an hour or so flight north of New Brunswick into Quebec.

The screen capture from Google Maps show where we started and where we landed to go fishing. At the bottom of the image you will see the water that separates New Brunswick and Quebec. We took a ferry across to Baie Comeau.

From there we stayed the night and the next morning, bright and early, we were on a flight north, with lots of beer I might add. I am not much of a drinker but my buddies sure were. I am sure they brought their own weight just in beer. It was funny to see it all piled up for a 7 day trip.

The beer was gone by the end of the trip and we never took any out on the water. Man they drank a lot of beer, at least five to my one.

We started our fishing going deep, real deep, almost 100 feet, but we really were not equipped for that kind of fishing and it took for ever to get our lures down that deep.

We still caught lake trout and were happy as kids in a candy store.

After a couple of days of fishing really deep I took one of the boats out and headed to a couple of spots I thought I might catch some brook trout. No luck with the brookies, never saw or hooked one all week. But…

… I did see a big fish that I thought would be a record brook trout. She was sitting in a small cove in very shallow water, so shallow I am sure it was not more than 3 or 4 feet deep at the deepest points.

I cast my line in that direction and BAM Fish On.

Picture taken by Fishing Friend Kerry Jones

It turned out not to be a brook trout but a lake trout. I hadn’t even thought of it being a lake trout as I had only thought of them in deep deep water.

I am not sure how long I was there before guilt started setting in and I headed back to the camp to tell the boys about it.

I went out for a nice damp walk today. The rain stopped pouring although it was still misting quite heavily so I couldn’t see much through my glasses. It was still nice to get out on such a warm day, compared to the previous few months that it.

While I was walking I was thinking about fishing and a few happy memories of days on the water filled my mind. I am sure people that walked by me were wondering why I had a smile plastered on my face. I wasn’t even wearing a head set, just walking along with a big smile.

What was I thinking? Well I was thinking about springs that feed some of the places I like to fish. Most of the season it doesn’t really matter much as the fish are spread out but as the water levels drop those springs can produce catches on days when others are going without any fish.

I never really thought about the springs much, other than they are very refreshing on those scorching hot days. I started thinking more about when an old fishing buddy took me to a few of his favourite late August spots. I asked him why he just walked by so many spots.

He didn’t answer that question, instead he said, okay you fish those spots and I will fish the spots I think are holding fish and we will see what happens. So as we walked I fished spots I thought would hold fish. I was catching a few fish in the 8 – 10 inch range but he was catching them in 16 – 18 inch range.

Then of course I had to ask him why. He wasn’t casting any better that I was, well okay a little but not enough to make a huge difference like that. We were bought quite and didn’t splash around in the water, so what was it.

Finally he smiled at me and said follow me, but he still didn’t tell me.

He told me to look at the stream that was flowing into the brook. He told me to put my hand in the stream and that’s when I realized that this little stream was so much cooler than the brook. As soon as I felt the water I knew it was spring fed and then in an instant all the spots he fished came back to mind. Each and every one of those spots was fed by a spring and had one or two nice size trout, that he caught each time I might add.

Man, I love learning things that have been right in front of me all the time. I can’t tell you how many times I have fished that area, but once the water levels dropped and the water warmed up I moved on to other great spots that I knew still produced fish.

Now I have a great fly fishing tip that I can try on all those brooks I stopped fishing in the late season, if the weather was too hot for too long. You can be sure I will be giving this fishing strategy a try on my own this coming fishing season.

I was looking through some old fly fishing magazines today and was reminded of how many hours of fun I had fly fishing for brook trout in all the brooks around Moncton, New Brunswick. Back then I was only working part time and had plenty of time to fish, just not much money to spend.

Back then gas we a whole lot cheaper but still I managed to fly fish about 5 days a week. We ate a lot of trout back then. Today I do more catch and release although I still like a feed of brookies in the early spring and I love Atlantic salmon steaks, so I keep my limit.

I bought a vice along with some fly tying supplies and started tying my own trout and salmon flies at the same time I started fly fishing. Fly tying is a great hobby. I have tied a lot of trout flies that allowed me to keep fishing when I wasn’t making much money.

A lot of the fly patterns I tied were dry flies. I was pretty hooked on top water fishing for a long time. Some great memories.

There is one brook I want to take my fishing buddy Jamie with the fly rods. It could take us all day to go what would take 20 minutes to walk the way the crow flies.

Casey and I were out fishing Lake Petit last week and he was asking me if I had ever fished New Horton Lake. I said I hadn’t and the only time I was ever in there was opening day of fishing season about 10 years ago.

The lake was still completely covered with ice and snow but I was there to fish the brook the flows from the lake. It’s full of tasty little trout.

On this opening day I was standing at brook about 10 feet from the beaver dam that holds the lake back and it started to snow. In just minutes it was snowing so hard I could barely see across the 8 foot brook.

It no soon started to snow when the brook trout turned on and seemed to go crazy. It was like a light switch was turned on and the woke up.

I have my best day of trout fishing for that season and never had to move my feet. The action just never stopped and I left with the freshes trout I had in a long time. Ice cold water, they almost froze instantly once I pulled them from the icy water.

Some day I will get to fish the lake but until that time I have a great memory of trout fishing opening day.

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As usual I was dragging my butt around yesterday after a great day out fishing Sunday. I do my best to completely wear myself out before heading home. For me fishing is worth every ache and pain I get.

I was puttering around the yard taking a few pictures of the flowers and veggies in our little backyard garden. I like adding lots of pictures to my gardening blogs.

It was a nice day, the sun was shining but a moment later I looked up to see dark black, really thick clouds moving and and headed for the house. I just got my butt in side the door and Mother Nature let loose.

The rain was so heavy we could barely see across the street that was instantly turned into a river. Then the wind picked up until I thought the trees were going to come down. We did have a couple branches come down and then it was over as fast as it started.

I heard on the radio this morning that a lot of people were going to be without electricity until about 10am.

As I was looking out at the river running infront of our house I remember a trout fishing trip my son Stephen and I took when he was about 6.

We were both pretty excited and had everything ready the night before so we could just get up, grab breakfast and go. Mom had made us plenty of food for the day and lots of treats and drinks so we were set to go.

Time for some bonding with my bud and hugs and kisses with mom were hit the road.

Steve never stopped asking questions all the way there. As a matter of fact he is still asking questions today at 23.

We finally arrived and headed off road through the trees to brook trout fishing heaven.

We couldn’t wait to get things together Steve wanted to see the water so we walked in first.

From my point of view the water was gorgeous and as smooth as a mirror. I picked Stephen up in my arms so he could see more.

I took the canoe off the Samuria and hauled it in to the lake while Steve carried his fishing rod and tackle box. It still took a couple trips back and forth to get all our gear and goodies in the canoe.

Then we put on our life jackets, climbed in and shoved off.

We weren’t there long before thick dark clouds moved in across the trees and by the time I decided to head back to shore the skies opened up and we were soaked instantly, right through to our skin.

What was the one thing we didn’t think to pack? Rain gear, DUH.

Stephen was kind of shocked at how hard it was raining and became quite scared. A few words to reassure him he was safe and we started laughing.

We got back to shore and ran to the protection of the car and a dry set of clothes. The rain only lasted a short time and we were back on the water fishing.

It’s one of those memories that we will share for a life time. Maybe some day he will marry and have a child of his own that he can share experiences like that with.

Heck if he does it soon enough maybe he will take his old man too.

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Testimonials are great to have and word of mouth can be like gold if the experience is good. I could tell the fella who introduced us to Chipman Waterfront Campground was certainly happy with his experience.

I have been fishing the Chipman area for pickerel for more than 10 years and love it. The only thing is that we always end up driving back home at the end of the day.

Now that I know there is a campground and a well kept campground I might add we will be able to stay over night and get two days fishing in before heading back to Moncton.

As the guy was telling us about camping over night he told us about the fishing and how the campground owner, Bruce, had some canoes, lifejackets and even a couple of paddle boats.

He was saying how they had gone out from the camp site and had a lot of fun catching pickerel right there.

Well he immediately had my attention. I asked him for directions and found that I have driven past this place many times in the past 3 years and never saw it.

When I get fishing on the brain I don`t see anything else.

It was a very windy day and we had been working hard to keep fishing the weeds but we needed a break, well our arms and back needed a break.

So we headed back to Chipman from Redbank and turned right at the train tressel. Coming from highway 2 we would have made a left just before going under the train tressel.

We drove across the bridge, up to the school which is less than a minute and took a left. I think it was about 2 minutes from there. Easy to find and it has a nice big Canada Flag to get your attention.

Looking in from the road you can only see the lane in and not the campground which makes it more private. I didn`t hear any car or truck noises while we were in there either.

As we drove in and turned a little corner there it was and the first thing I saw of course was the water and the weed beds across the river. I wanted to jump right out and start casting.

The owner Bruce came out, with a big smile, to greet us.

We talked for about 15 minutes and he told us about his campground. You can tell it is something he has a passion for, just like me and fishing.

I was impressed and instantly liked Bruce. I think the fact that everything was so well kept and clean helped with that first impression and I feel strongly about those first impressions.

I was a little distracted by the river and the weed beds I could see. I hope Bruce didn`t think I was ignoring him or being rude.

I could tell you what I saw there but because Bruce has a web site about his campground I would like to let him tell you about it. So take a minute or two and check it out. Chipman Waterfront Campground.

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Well Jamie called me to see if I wanted to hit Little River for a few smallies but because it’s spring and rains a lot I had already exhausted myself while the sun was shining. It was only lunch time and I was done for. I think I am going to have to keep from starting any work in the yard on the weekends, just incase I get the opportunity to go fishing. Okay, I think my wife would have something to say about that bright idea.

I don’t feel so bad that I did go with Jamie as he didn’t see a bass at all. He did meet a fella that was having some luck using live bait for some brookies. This is the time of year I like to catch and eat brookies, while the water is still really cold. Later I just practice and release.

Not sure how much the water level would down now as we have had rain pretty much all week, which bites a bit because I couldn’t even do any yard work so I wouldn’t have to on the weekend.