I’ve caught a variety of fish in my time but have to say that I have had the most fun over the years brook trout fishing. The brook trout, also known as speckle trout, have been entertaining me for more than 40 years.  So I would say I’m quite fortunate to have so many brooks, stream and beaver ponds close to where I live in New Brunswick Canada.

Brook trout are located pretty much anywhere the water is clear, cold and running which covers almost all the waters where I live. I don’t think there are many places here in Canada we don’t have brook trout. Of course Brookies don’t stop at the U.S. border as they all have dual citizenships.

The rainbow, brown and lake trout are great fun as well but where I live it’s only at certain times and places these species are available however the brookie is available from opening day right through closing day of fishing season.

Trout Fishing Tip #1

Trout Fishing Using Live Worms

From opening day during trout season you can catch brook trout on worms day after day. It’s a food source that’s not natural to the trout but they sure love em. They like them so much it surprises me that there are any trout left.

I like to rig things easy and fast so depending on where I am fishing I will use a worm, a hook and a little sinker to keep it closer to the bottom. How simple is that.

When I take kids fishing for trout, and the water is deep enough, like when we fish the local trout ponds I bring along bobbers so that we can set them for the depth we want to fish. It helps to keep the kids from snagging the bottom so much and they don’t need to pay so much attention to the fishing.

It’s important to show kids a good time when fishing or they may not have fun and never get hooked on the sport, so take those bobbers along.

Trout Fishing Tip #2

Trout Fishing Using Artificial Baits

I like using live worms when fishing brook trout but I also keep some artificial worms for those times I didn’t get live worms or run out of them which happens a lot. One product I like is from Berkley.

Berkley Gulp Alive Maggots $ 5.99

NEW Berkley® Gulp!® Alive!™ is the next generation in Gulp!® technology. Now your favorite baits come floating in the “Magic Gravy” in a sealable jar, enabling you to recharge your baits by putting them back into the jar for the next use. The new Gulp!® Alive!™ baits absorb 20% more Gulp!® scent and attractant which, you guessed it, makes them at least 20% MORE EFFECTIVE than the 1st generation baits. They also have a 34% better swimming action than original Gulp!®. WOW! More attractant, better action, BETTER RESULTS than ever before! At Berkley®, our passion is that you CATCH MORE FISH! Get yourself some Gulp!® Alive!™ and go have some major fun! Click to Buy

I like to fish trout using artificial baits as well. On those days they seem a little shy to strike I might tip them with a worm or some other product I purchase like: Berkley Trout Bait.

Berkley Power Bait Trout Bait Twist $ 3.59

Bright, attractive colors swirled together with a sprinkling of dazzling silver fleck — resembling the scales of bait fish that trout love.

Environmentally friendly biodegradable composition. Click to Buy

Mepps and Red Devil lures are two other lures that I always keep in my tackle box. I also keep them in multiple sizes as that can make quite a difference day to day and depending on the water I fish.

Acme Wob-L-Rite $ 3.29
A time-tested favorite of fish and fishermen alike. Wob-L-Rites cast far and true, run deep, and have a darting, side-to-side action that resembles a baitfish in frantic flight. Especially effective for casting on windy days, fishing in swift water, or when you want to go deep where the big ones wait.

SIZE	DESCRIPTION	TYPE OF FISH
1/4 oz.	2-6 lb. test – medium-light spinning, spincasting & trolling	Ideal for pickerel, trout, smallmouth & largemouth bass.
1/2 oz.	8-12 lb. test – medium spinning, spincasting, baitcasting & trolling	Ideal for steelhead, salmon, trout & bass.

Click to Buy

Trout Fishing Tip #3

Trout Fishing on The Fly

I love fly fishing for trout. It’s one of my favourite methods for fishing trout, well really any fish, is using my fly rod and artificial flies. Some of these flies are so tiny that I am amazed every single time I hook into a brook trout with them. Others are bigger and some are ones I actually use for fly fishing Atlantic salmon, Smallmouth bass and Chain pickerel.

Some of the places I take my fly rod look like I’d never be able to use it so, unless it’s fly fishing water only I tend to take my spinning rod as well, for those sections of the river that are too crowded with Alders and other trees.

Brook Trout Flies I Use

I like tying my own trout flies for those days on the water and I never go with anything complicated so even if you never tied an artificial fly you would be able to put one of these together.

Most often, almost 100% of the time I use dry flies. It’s just so much fun watching them take it from the surface of the water, but every once in a while I will use a wet fly, a streamer or even a nymph to get below the surface if they aren’t taking anything from the surface.

My personal favourite dry flies for trout, wet and streamer trout flies:

Dry Flies – Hair Wing Dry Flies – size 8-18

• Gray Wulff
• White Wulff
• Irrisistible

Dry Flies – Fan Wing – size 10-20

• Adams
• Royal Coachman Fanwing
• Dark Hendrickson

Other Trout Dry Flies I Use

• Misquito size 10-20
• Brown Bivisible sizes 10-20
• Brown Hackle Peacock sizes 12-20

Wet Flies

• Black and Grizzly Weighted Wooly Worm – size 2-10
• Coachman Lead Wing Wet Fly sizes 12 -18
• March Brown English Wet Fly sizes 10-14

Streamers For Brook Trout

• Mickey Finn – size – 6-10
• White Maribou Streamer sizes 10-14
• Black Woolly Bugger – size – 6-10

Tying Trout Flies

I have never bought many flies because I like to tie my own flies for trout fishing. I have purchased specific flies so that I could see exactly how to tie them. Fly tying is a great hobby and when it comes to catching fish I get much more enjoyment knowing I tied the flies I am catching fish with.

Fish With Our Children’s Future in Mind

Brook trout fishing, whether on your spinning rod or fly rod is a great hobby but always think conservation for our children and their children. Practice CPR – Catch, Photograph and Release.

Note there is nothing wrong with eating a few trout. I love to keep a few for dinner in the early spring when the water is still ice cold here. They taste great but for the rest of the year I always release them unless I hurt them during the fight and know they won’t survive.

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I love catching big fish, but then again don’t we all. But, using a light action rod and reel setup and I don’t mind catching smaller fish. Heck I fish brook trout about 8 to 13 inches long using my light action fly rod or spinning rod.

Smallmouth bass are no different. I love catching the big ones explode on my baits but the little guys of about 16 inches, are great fun on light action gear as well. It’s so cool to be able to watch them dart around your float tube or canoe so fast it’s unbelievable.

My son Steve caught the little guy in the picture below with just a little yellow head jigg and a plastic grub. He was catching them all day long and never changed his bait, other than to replace the grub once it was munched up too much to stay on the jigg.

Steve With His First Bass From His Float Tube

Keep Your Secret Spots Secret

The little spot I took my son is full of smallmouth up to about 15 or 16 inches. I like going here when fishing conditions elsewhere suck. I can usually fish and catch and release dozens of these little smallies all day long.

I have friends that never release fish and friends who practice catch and release like I do and for this spot I only ever take my catch and release friends. I certainly wouldn’t give up this location to any of my catch em and eat friends, I have lots of other places to take them.

Tricked And Treated To A Happy Surprise

The first time at this place was when a friend I worked with took me. He really didn’t tell me anything about it as we were fishing somewhere else and it just got too windy for our float tubes.

It was funny because he only showed me one small pond first and trust me I wasn’t overly impressed as it was so small I could almost cast to any point without moving my feet.

I did see a beaver and her hut and hooked into a little bass about 8 inches long. After fishing for a few minutes I noticed my friend was not to be seen. I figured he was taking a leak behind a tree but after a few minutes I called his name and then followed his voice.

As I came up over the ridge behind the little pond I was fishing he was snickering away with a 15 inch bass dangling from his fishing rod. He was standing on the edge of a pond that was, at first glance, about 3 or 4 times as large as the first pond. What a funny guy, eh?

We fished there for a long time and cast after cast after cast we were getting strikes, almost every cast was a bass on.

Then he started walking and in just a few minutes came to a channel that led to yet another section of water and then another. We fished all day and I still didn’t get to see all the water there. It wasn’t until the next time we came that I got to see the entire body of water.

By this time I was impressed.

So, the second time we brought our float tubes and that’s when I got to see all the water that was seldom seen by anyone on foot.

Being Prepared With Little Tackle

I can easily carry all the tackle I use for these ponds in just one little tackle box, small enough to fit in my fly fishing vest. Just a few small baits, crankbaits, tubes, top water, jiggs and grubs.

For fly fishing for these bass I use all small top water dry flies and my favourite are brown, anything brown.

When I am not fly fishing for these little smallmouth’s I prefer to use a small jigg and a pumpkin coloured grub like the BearPaw Fat Bear Grub. It has been the setup that has landed me the most fish here, other than the fly rod of course.

BearPaws Fat Bear Grub $ 3.69
The Grub (12 per bag) is a very powerful bait in the world of bass fishing, or any type of fishing for that matter. The grubs outstanding natural action makes it one of the best baits in the water. Fish are attracted to grubs under all fishing conditions making it a sure bait throughout all seasons. The 3″ Bear Claw Grub is exceptional within it’s own right. This grub has a soft texture for a lifelike feel and action along with a special blend of seasonings and scents, just like all our other Bearpaws baits.

All Terrain Tackle Jim Moynagh Rock Jig – Undressed $ 2.49
We build the Rock Jig on a heavy, black-nickel, Mustad UltraPoint hook.

3/8oz – 1/2oz : 2 per pack

3/4oz – 1oz : 1 per pack Click to Buy

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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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