I love trolling motors. I even had one for my canoe and caught lots of big bass on Lake George, Harvey Lake. Even pickerel and trout from Cassidy Lake near Norton New Brunswick.

So today I’d like to share a bit about a specific fresh water trolling motors, the Minn Kota Endura C2 30 12V 30lb 30 Inch. Let’s look at some benefits along with a few features but it wouldn’t be complete without a look at any reported shortcomings of the Minn Kota Endura C2 30.

I don’t mind spending money on fishing related products but I also love getting a real good deal because it means I can usually buy more fishing related stuff. Those of us who are really serious about our fishing and who have a boat loving buying new things for it.

Christmas is getting so close and it’s the time I try to get my friends and family to think fishing when they think about what to buy me.

If you’ve had your mind set on a trolling motor you need to start giving the hints to your family. Wouldn’t it be nice to get the Minn Kota Endura C2 30?

Minn Kota Endura C2 30 Characteristics

Start sharing all the characteristics with your family so they know you’re excited about the Minn Kota Endura C2.

• 30 lbs of Thrust
• 30 Inch Shaft
• 5 Forward Speeds
• 3 Reverse Speeds
• Six Inch Telescoping Handle
• Lever Lock Bracket. A Mounting bracket that’s the strongest
• Runs Quietly so as not to disturb fish.
• Special composite materials resist flexing warping and UV damage.
• Indestructible composite shaft stronger than steel.
• Uses 12 volt Battery – not included.

Yeah the Minn Kota Endura C2 is a legendary performer built to explore, built to last and backed up with our two year warranty. It’s also designed specifically for boats that are small to medium in size.

This trolling motor has been designed for freshwater and is easily mounted using the lever lock bracket. To reduce friction as well as noise the Minn Kota Endura C2 has a ball bearing system that’s extremely smooth so it doesn’t scare off the fish.

Before I finally boat a trolling motor I used to curse the wind, a lot. Especially on Cassidy lake near Norton New Brunswick. The best fishing spot of course is the furthest spot from my vehicle. And of course once you get down in there the wind picks up and makes it tough for one person to paddle out of there. I usually ended up beaching the canoe and walking it along the shore line until I would get out of there. But it’s such a good fishing spot.

Image via Wikipedia

The first time I used my new trolling motor on Cassidy Lake I cruised right out there. Actually caught a couple more pickerel on the way out. When the wind is blowing in there you can’t stop paddling or you lose ground. With the my trolling motor I wasn’t cursing the wind or the the slightest bit exhausted from paddling.

The places we fish for bass, pickerel and trout require a trolling motor as most boat motors would never get to where we like to fish. Take a few minutes to check out the Minn Kota Endura C2 30 and I am sure you will have more productive days on the water.

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I’ve had a lot of fun fishing this year and Casey has taken me to 3 or 4 new locations I am looking forward to fishing again next year but have to say it’s been the worst year for actually catching fish I have seen in my 50 years of fishing.

Chipman Weather Looks Good

Jamie checked the weather for Chipman throughout the week and said Saturday was going to be a bit rainy with a little wind which was better than Sunday’s forecast, so Saturday it was.

Jamie was at my door about 5am excited as usually. I had been outside waiting for about a half hour like a little kid waiting to go to Florida or something. Funny how fishing can turn us into crazy kids.

At Chipman And It’s Still Dark. Where’s The River??

Usually when we leave in the dark it tends to get light by the time we arrive but not this day. It was at least a half hour before it was light enough to see that the water had dropped at least a couple of feet. Getting more excited.

What a beautiful morning, I didn’t even need a coat or sweater until it started raining a bit later. Even then it didn’t rain hard and my sweater was enough to keep dry.

Even once it was light it wasn’t bright as the cloud layer was pretty thick. Looked like it was going to dump on us soon. But there was no wind and the water was like a mirror. Just the way I like it for fishing the weed edges.

No Luck At Our First Spot

There are a couple of spots I like to try first at this area but we didn’t get any attention from Mr. Pickerel. Not a good sign to start with, after the year we have had.

Then we moved to the opposite shore that runs between the cove and the river where immediately we had some action.

All of a sudden we heard a gun shot and then another and then it sounded like machine guns going off. Duck hunters just down the river from us. I told Jamie he was funny but should probably take off the duck suit.

The Fish Whisperer

We caught a couple of perch through the day that were real fighters.  Although the little guy on the left was kind a small.

It always amazes me when the lures are much bigger than the fish and yet they still hit it and yes that’s me kissing my perch before releasing him.

Fishing For Flying Pickerel

Saturday was one of those days were the pickerel were literally flying out of the water and travelling through the air before smacking down on our baits.

It reminded me of Atlantic salmon fishing when they clear the water to smack your fly.

There were plenty of boat, err canoe side explosions from pickerel waiting until the last possible second to strike the bait. I even brought a few along side Jamie just to watch him squirm when he got soaked. Sorry about that, NOT!!

We caught pickerel all day, even when it did start raining pretty hard and even when the wind eventually picked up making it a bit tougher keeping the canoe on track.

My best two pickerel for the day were 22” and 23 1/2” but had lots that were 20”. I did catch two rather small pickerel. One was so small that I would have to call it a pencil fish and the other was more like a hammer handle but still feisty.

Excuse the goofy look on my face in the picture above but that’s my ‘So Happy I Caught A Fish’ face. Also notice that red senko hanging from its face. Gotta love those worms.

Most of the day I was not fishing a red senko worm, instead I was fishing with a variety of baits but mostly a black and purple 5” senko, as it was a fairly dark day.

Jamie caught this lovely and big pickerel. I netted it and handed him the net with his big pickerel in it and the hook just falls out of it’s mouth, barely hooked.

Then just as Jamie went to grab it for a photo it did one flip and slid right back into the water. If it was bigger than mine we will never know.

You can be sure the next one he caught didn’t get away so easily.

Jamie Wasn’t Letting This One Slip Away

All in all we had the perfect day, even if it did rain a bit. However, late afternoon the wind and rain both picked up and made it quite miserable on the water. We had caught plenty of pickerel and had the best day of the year so we didn’t mind so much packing up and heading back home.

Jamie’s Been Abusing Froggies, Again

I mentioned in a previous post how Jamie bought this great looking frog and then just gave it to the first pickerel that came along.

Well he bought another froggy to replace the first but this time he thought it would be safer to maybe fasten it to the bottom of his boot.

As we were packing up the gear to head back home I looked down and though the frog was just lying on the ground but when he picked up his foot it went with him. Had to use the pliers to get it out of his boot. The frog was fine and he didn’t even bend the hooks.

I still think he should have given me the frogs for safe keeping.

It was a good thing we got off the water because as hard as it was raining and blowing when we decided to leave it just got worse and worse.

Related articles

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The other day Casey had to go to Rothsay, New Brunswick to meet up with a guy interested in a boat motor Casey was selling. Casey thought it would be a great opportunity to try a new place and wondered if I was interested.

We were there early enough that we got to checkout a few places for fishing supplies where I bought a couple of new perch pattern lures. We finished shopping for the day and headed to Costco in Rothsay where Casey was to meet the buyer.

There was a lot of fog but even so we were able to see Costco perched up on the hill. We met up with the guy and even stayed and chatted with him for a while so as not to appear rude. However I am sure he knew we were going fishing as Casey had the boat and trailor on the back of his van, so the guy said he should let us get to it and we said our goodbyes adn hit the road.

We were on the water and ready to head out for a day of fishing Meenan Cove, before 11am I believe.

Casey's Ready To Go, Don't Leave Without Me!!

The fog had lifted so that it was well above our heads but was still so thick it almost made it appear like it was dusk, yet it wasn’t even noon yet. There was no one else on the water that we could see. Lots of boat but they were all secured and empty.

I was blown away by the shore line and how huge the cliffs were. I think I was spending more time taking pictures than actually fishing. I would have to say that Meenan Cove is the most beautiful place I have ever fished.

Here is a shot that reminded me of some Asian images I have seen of mountains and hills in the distance.

Meenans Cove Scenery

We didn’t catch a lot of fish even though we saw a lot on the fishfinder. They just didn’t seem interested in what we were offering them. I went with the expectations of a wild day of fishing as it usually is in the late summer, early fall. We have been to enough places this year and had good days and not so good days, in the same places.

For that reason I won’t cross this place off my list. The potential is definitely there and we saw so much great water and weed areas. Definitely have to return and give it another try.

My wife, Jenny, is not a fisher, although when we first met she gave it her best shot, she just doesn’t have the fishing gene I guess. Anyways when I got home and showed her all the pictures I took at Meenans Cove she wanted to go there, just for the scenery.

A Foggy Day of Fishing At Meenans Cove Today

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But I received an email from Casey yesterday saying he had gone fishing with a fishing buddy, back to the Oromocto river and had a pretty good day.

Here’s his email:

—–

Fished the Oromocto river on Sunday with a buddy in his boat.

He caught 17 bass and lost 4 or 5 big ones that broke his line or got off tail walking. Several were in the 17 ” range and hardly any under 12′.

I caught 18 fish, 6 or 7 bass,  15″ was the biggest. Caught several pickeral, a few chubby chubs and a couple of perch.

Was using white spinnerbait and that yellow mepps spinner.

It was a great day compared to the week before when I got skunked.

The other 2 guys fishing with us had 40 some fish, not sure of types, but lots of big bass. They went a bit further up river than we did. All fish were caught casting to shore under trees and along weed lines.

———-

Glad Casey had a better trip than his last one. It always sucks to get skunked.

I like casting to the shoreline cover. Used to use a lot of jigs fishing the structure. I also have those days I get caught up a lot but you can get some of the biggest bass out of those spots.

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The catfish was able to get the ball in it’s mouth but then it couldn’t swallow it and then it couldn’t spit it out either.

Every time the poor catfish would try to dive under the water it just bobbed back to the surface. It was pretty much exhausted by the time a guy and his wife found it and rescued it by deflating the soccer ball and removing it.

That story reminded me of a day I was fishing pickerel at Redbank New Brunswick from my float tube. No a pickerel didn’t try to swallow my float tube.

It was a very hot extremely calm day, not a breeze blowing at all…

Peter Pickerel Stole My New Popper

I love fishing the weeds for pickerel and bass. I get some explosive action but then sometimes I like to cast poppers when there is no wind and calm water. Those can be very special times.

I like to cast it out from the float tube and let it sit for a minute or two while the ripples die down, that’s if it doesn’t get smacked as soon as it hits the water, which happens so often.

I made my cast and as soon as it hit the water a pickerel smacked it and it was gone and so was my steel leader and brand new popper.

I swear some of those pickerel need glasses, especially this one. He would have had to miss my lure by at least a foot or more to bite through my line.

I sat there in disbelief for a minute, but I got over it quickly and was back to fishing the weeds for a bit.

The thing about fishing from a float tube is that you don’t go very far very fast so I was still fishing the same area when I noticed a flash in the water. It was far too bright for a fish turning so I moved closer to see what it was but I couldn’t see it.

A minute or two later I saw it again but this time it was closer to me and I could see it was my popper. The pickerel must have spit it out, cool.

When I moved closer it disappeared again, it was still in the pickerel’s mouth and when I got close it would dive but the floating lure would bring it back to the surface as soon as it relaxed.

I had a plastic worm on so I quickly put on another popper and cast over the pickerel and let it sit there until the pickerel surfaced again and then I slowly retrieved my popper. Once I reach the other popper I gave a quick yank on the rod and hooked the popper.

I was able retrieved them both poppers as well as the pickerel. I’ll be he was glad to have the popper out of it’s mouth and was no worse for ware when I released him back to the weeds.

Related articles

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Even though we wear life-vests we still don’t care to be swamped. It happened once with my canoe and it wasn’t a fun thing at all. Not to mention the gear we lost.

Our plan is usually to check the weather and if it’s little to no wind we will head to the Jemseg bridge and launch from there if the river is calm. Just like it was on Saturday morning about 7am.

We had fun and caught a few smallmouth bass as well as one chubby Chub however once those recreational boaters came on the scene it was time to pack up and move to a less traveled area, like Salmon river bays and coves.

We headed back to Salmon river to a few spots we knew we’d be able to get out of the wind.

The action in these spots have not been so good this year. The only reason I can come up with is the fact we have so much extra water for the fish to disperse in making them fewer and further between.

Saturday on the other had was a reminder of years past with plenty of action.

I cast into one spot and had nice strike but I it was gone as quickly as it had struck and didn’t seem to want my bait on a second attempt. Jamie attracted a nice pickerel on the other side of the canoe.

This guy wanted Jamie’s bait and wanted everyone to know it by jumping clear of the water and coming down on top of his bait. What an explosion.

Jamie now had the biggest pickerel of the day. I still had the first and the most fish for the day so I could still hold my head up.

Then as we were coming around a point heading back to the car I made a few casts to the point but nothing. Just before we hit the bank where the car was parked I turned and gave another cast from the opposite direction.

I made a couple of turns on the reel then something to my left caught my eye. I turned away for just a second and of course I had the strike of the day. Jamie got to see this pickerel come flying out of the water and smacked my bait.

Sure glad I had checked the drag on my reel. I immediately had visions of taking first place for the day.

The fight was on and Jamie was quick to grab his new rubber net and was ready but it wasn’t going to be as simple as that as the sun was directly in Jamie’s face and to make it worse it was glaring off the water as well.

I didn’t think we were going to land this guy and he looked bigger than Jamie’s last fish. I was both excited and nervous as it was the last cast of the day and I saw first place slipping away.

Then the pickerel made one last jump and Jamie got the net under it and it was in the boat.

I think that’s when Jamie asked me how long I thought it would take to walk home from there.

Oh I almost forgot to mention I didn’t have any red worms left plus the sun was now lower in the sky so I had changed to a black senko worm and was having a lot more reactions from hungry pickerel.

My winning pickerel came in at 24 1/4” which is exactly what Jamie said it was before we even landed it. Smart guy eh?

I was ordering my red senko worms from eBay and then Casey and Jamie started ordering them as well. We were throwing those red worms at every blade of grass and lily pads we could find.

The last time I checked the person selling the 5” red senko worms stopped selling them.

Well both Jamie and Casey bought the last of them I guess because they had them and I didn’t have any.

The last two times I was out, once with Casey and once with both Casey and Jamie I was borrowing their red worms. I don’t really like borrowing things I can lose as easy as a red worm or lure but the pickerel seem to love them so much.

Well on Friday Casey took me back to the Saint John river at Jemseg and we fished from there up to Swam Creek and into Swan Creek Lake.

I was using a black senko worm as I didn’t want to ask Casey for any more of his red worms, especially now that we can’t find any at the moment.

We fished from just after day break all the to supper time and not a single strike on the 5” red senko worm. Casey’s little red worm didn’t have a mark on it. That’s unbelievable in my mind.

It kind of looks like no one catches bass or pickerel on the red senko if I don’t have any.

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Well another fun day of fishing with Casey and Jamie on French Lake has come to an end. The only thing that stopped us was the fact the big light in the sky ran out of energy for the day so we decided to go home.

Even though the wind was fairly strong and of course always blowing in the wrong direction we still had a blast. There was enough cloud cover so we weren’t frying all day and plenty of wind so that the bugs had to hang on to trees so they didn’t bother us.

Who could ask for more, eh?

The ride up in Casey’s truck was full of joking around and teasing each other but of course once we arrived at French lake things got serious. NOT. That would just be strange see three guys in a fishing boat being serious.

Casey hooked and caught the first fish of the day. For a perch it put up quite a fight but Casey still managed to land it, even without the use of his rubber net. Sadly that had to hold him for a while as Jamie decided to take over.

Casey lands the first fish, a feisty little perch with an attitude.

Now Jamie’s first fish could have eaten Casey’s perch but even so Casey had the bragging rights for catching the first fish.

The score was now one fat perch for Casey and one long skinny 22.000017 inch pickerel for Jamie. I was still in practice mode, I guess.

Jamie’s pickerel trying to flip out of his hand

Then for a while the two of them were going crazy with strikes, although they weren’t landing any. Casey is in the back of the boat, Jamie in the front with me in the middle and I can’t get a strike at all. It was time to change baits.

Jamie landed a second pickerel, a little smaller than his first and Casey was trying to figure out why the pickerel were not getting the point he was presenting. They just wouldn’t stay on his hook.

Casey was trying a new lure he had just bought the day before but the pickerel just seemed to smack it with getting the hook. After a bit he gave up and tried another bait and landed himself a nice pickerel.

Eventually I had practiced enough and got my first strike and first pickerel.

It always amazes me how three people can be in a boat, fishing the same water, structure and weeds with two people getting attention while the third is completely ignored by the fish.

Sometimes we go fishing and one person royally kicks butt and yet we’re only a few feet apart.

We had a lot of action as well as fun of course.

My biggest catch for most of the day was 19 inches. The majority of catches seemed to be right around 19 and 20 inches but my last catch of the day was my best at 22 inches.

Smiling Jimmy with his biggest fish of the day.

At this point is was dark, very dark. Sure glad Casey knew where the heck he was going because I would have had to stay out there all night waiting for daylight to find my way back.

At the end of the day the final score was Casey with 8 Chain pickerel plus 1 fat perch, Jamie with 10 Chain pickerel and myself with 15 Chain pickerel. I may have started off slow but gain ground over the rest of the day.

Another great day. We got home just about midnight and I’ll tell you it didn’t take me long to pass out once I got home.

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Casey invited both Jamie and myself for a day of fishing Friday but Jamie had already been invited for two other fishing trips and had already commited to a two day trip on Oromocto lake.

I love fishing new spots and Ormocto lake if a first for Jamie. I hope you have a lot of fun and had a couple of very productive days.

Last year Casey had fished the Salmon river from Grand Lake up towards Chipman with a friend and had great fun and wanted to do it again on Friday.

I was certainly up for that, it was my first time fishing the Salmon river. I have fished a couple of bays off the river but never spent any time in the river.

He was here to pick me up about 6 and we were off.

I alway look forward to passing over the bridge at the Cannan river just before highway 10.

Cannan River Was Just Like A Mirror

We took a few minutes to stop at the bridge where I first used my float tube. It’s so much fun using the float tube as I can get into spots that most boats can’t get to.

Checkout The Scenery

I remember that day was about the hottest of the year. I was niche to be so close to the water as it was easy to soak myself to keep cool that day.

Here’s what that area looked like once we were at the water.

Breath Taking View And The Fishing Rocks

We stayed for a couple of minutes taking in the view and then it was off to the Chipman boat launch and Salmon river pickerel fishing.

Chipman Boat Launch

Everything looked perfect. The sky was a bit cloudy which would help to keep that blistering sun off us. Of course I still piled on the sunscreen as I burn so easily.

The wind was, well there was no wind at this point. Who could ask for more?

After a couple checks around the boat to be sure we hadn’t forgotten anything we hit the water.

All Well, Let’s Launch

Before we headed down river I suggested we try a little bay just up from the bridge, about 2 minutes.

The Water Temp Was Low

With all the rain we’ve had the water is still high and to my surprise the water in the river was still only 64 degrees, all day long.

When ever we moved into a cove or bay the temp would go up about 2 or 3 degrees but not much more.

Well Casey landed the first pickerel of the day and as it turned out the biggest pickerel of the day at 24″.

It’s so cool that Casey has a rubber net. The lure he was using had two treble hooks on it and the line was around the pickerel’s mouth a couple of times and hooked right into the net.

Took about 4 seconds to untangle it. On the old net we may have needed to cut the line to release the fish quickly.

By the way Jamie has a nice rubber net now as well. The really are much safer for both the fisher and the fish.

Casey made a cast to a set of lilypads and the water exploded, just the way we love to see it. Really gets the blood going, even if it’s not your fish.

Love Fishing To Lily Pads For Bass And Pickerel

Before we were done in this little bay Casey had 4 pickerel and me, well I was taking pictures I guess.

I never had as much as a follow for hours.

We trolled down the river all day but never had a follow or a strike while trolling, none at all. The only places we caught fish we in the coves and bays along the river.

Casey stayed at 4 pickerel for a while giving me and my new Ugly Stik Lite combo a chance to catch up.

I was enjoying the distance I could get with the Ugly Stik and Shakespeare reel so of course my first strike was about a hundred feet out into the weeds.

I’ve had lots of practice getting pickerel out of the weeds as it’s my favourite place to fish for them as they tend to get quite explosive in the weeds.

As far out into the weeds as I was I was pretty sure I’d loose it before ever getting it close to the boat. However my new rod had the backbone to keep the pickerel’s nose up and I actually landed it.

Felt really good on my new rod and reel.

Before long I was tied with Casey, 4 pickerel each and I was pretty proud of that after going for hours with zero fish. That didn’t last long as about a minute later Casey hooked into another pickerel.

What a show-off. I would never do that to a buddy. Ha

What’s Up With The Wind

That was about when the calm water ended and the wind picked up. I really do prefer to fish the weeds in calm water as I really enjoy watching them come flying out of their hiding places.

I never get tired of watching the wakes they make, especially when there are two or three going after the same baits.

Even though the wind picked up we were shaded most of the day with lots of clouds. I didn’t mind that at all because when the sun did come out I heated up pretty quickly.

All in all it was a really fun day, as usually when I’m out with Casey or Jamie.

I’m already packed for the next day on the water.

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Here is an underwater video from Underwater-Ireland.com Youtube channel. I imagine pike live and hunt pretty much the same way chain pickerel do.

Some of the water I fish for chain pickerel in is very merky water and I’m not sure how far I’d be able to see underwater.

I was thinking about putting my rather inexpensive camera in a clear plastic bag and trying to get some video over the side of the boat. Maybe I’ll give it a try the next time I’m out on the water.

Enjoy the video.

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