Fishing season is quickly drawing to a close here in New Brunswick so Jamie and I had to get to Chipman for at least one more day of pickerel fishing, and catching, we were hoping.

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.

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.

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Sunday morning and I was up at 5am, had a little breakfast and headed out to the backyard garden to get a few more veggies planted before it got too hot, like it was Friday and Saturday.

It was just after 9 and I was down to just 4 zucchinis left to plant before taking a break. That was when Jenny came out with the phone. It was Jamie asking if I was up for going fishing. Ha, am I up for going fishing, that’s funny.

Jamie said he would be there to pick me up shortly so I planted the last four zuchinni plants in record time, sure hope they survive, and then I was in the house to get ready to go fishing.

On the road to Chipman

I ask Jamie to stop at a bridge on highway 10, just before Chipman. I wanted to show him where I had my first pickerel and float tube fishing experience. It sure looks different without all the weeds choking it.

Even though it looks totally different that the day I first tried my float tube I still took a few pictures of the area. Just imagine it full of weeds with only a few pockets of open water. The put the temperature at about 30 degrees. Now you know what that day was like.

There were four of use with float tubes that day. Roland, Paul, Kerry and myself. The three of them were already familiar with their float tubes and were on the water in just minutes, while I was still trying to figure out how much air to put in the thing.

Now let me clear up a little point. They took off across the water without me but I deserved it. Why? Well I tend to be the first one to the water and almost always the first to catch a fish, so the boys tend to get a little pissed at me now and then.

So this was their opportunity to leave me in their dust and I mean dust. It was a really hot day and as they went through the huge weed patch they caused a small dust storm from all the dust on the weeds.

I finally got my float tube filled, I thought, and headed out. I should mention that back then I was also 60 pounds heavier than I am now.

I was doing fine until I hit that weed patch and then I came to a hault. It took all the strength I had to kick my way through those weeds, but they looked like it was a breeze.

Later I found out that I had not inflated my float tube enough. I had put in so much air that I though the thing would explode but it still wasn’t enough.

I got a major work out that day and the sad part was that we didn’t get as much as a strike there. Didn’t see a fish.

We headed back to our cars but I took a different route to avoid those weeds again.

It worked out good for me because I could fit my float tube in the hatch back on my car and when we arrived at Red Bank it only took me a few more minutes to float tube inflated properly.

Once I had it inflated correctly it cruised across the water and I was hooked on float tube fishing.

On another trip Kerry and I tried the other side of the bridge but again we had no luck at all. Perfect looking water for pickerel and nothing.

We went quite a ways into the background of the image above. Remember there was a lot of weeds, ideal for both bass and pickerel but we didn’t get as much as a strike. We did get one follow but that was it.

Again we packed up and headed to Red Bank where we had great fun as usual. Later in that day we packed up again and moved to another nice little spot for pickerel.

Well, last week I missed the opportunity to go fishing because I allowed myself to stay at our guitar jam just a little too long and had a couple more beers than I should have and then there was that BBQ at 4am. I am sure that didn’t help. Anyways it was after 5am when I arrived home and there was no fishing that day.

I was invited to another guitar jam this past Saturday night and thought about declining the invite, for about 3 seconds, but said yes. Fishing was on my mind so I had no trouble calling it quites early and was in my bed by 2am. 5 hours of sleep was all I needed to be ready for a day of fishing and I didn’t drink enough to have a hangover, I was good to go.

Jamie’s little girl had a bad case of Hives so we almost didn’t get to go as they were concerned they may need to take her to the hospital. I had hives when I was a kid and it was far from pleasant so I completely understood. Well everything seemed under control and his little girl was hanging in there just fine so we took off.

On The Road Again

I tend to babble a lot when I am excited, and I was, and I did, all the way there.

Of course we looked at every bit of water on the way up commenting on how high the water was running in most places. My thoughts immediately visited years past when the water was this high and had memories of little or no fish but heck it was a day out and it was a gorgeous day.

When I fish all day without catching anything I just tell my wife it was a great day for hiking and then smile.

Seeing the brooks and rivers bursting there banks didn’t really prepare me for just how high the water was yesterday.

For starters the spot we park the car at Redbank has a drop off to the water of no less than 15 feet, maybe more but today the water was right up to the car, so if I stepped into the water at the point I am sure it was at least 15 – 20 feet deep.

In 27 years of fishing Redbank I have never seen the water this high. The reason I remember it was 27 years is because that was the year my wife and I married. On the way to Fredericton from Moncton the river was right to the road and the moose were all standing on the road side. Police and rangers were everywhere along the highway keeping people from stopping to take pictures as the moose were stressed enough already.

NEWS FLASH

Just as I am writing this post the gal on the radio said the Saint John river just peeked so hopefully we can go a few days without rain allowing for the water levels to drop. I am sure the fishing will pick up after that.

The two culvarts at Redbank, both are about six feet high, were almost complete submerged by the water. There was only about 2 inches of space at the top of the culvart and the waves were smashing through it making such a roaring sound you would expect a sea monters to reach out and grab you.

Already looking forward to our next fishing trip.

Fishing season here in New Brunswick was quickly drawing to a close, a time of year that always brings a tear to my eye. As dedicated fishers Jamie and I weren’t willing to let the season end without getting out just one more time.I am semi-retired, our son is in his 20s and lives on his own, I work from home and my wife has always been the best when it comes to me going fishing so I can pretty much go fishing at the drop of a hat. Most of the time my clients give me plenty of notice when they want me to do something for them and time isn’t usually an issue at all so I am always ready to go fishing, especially for Chain Pickerel.

Now Jamie on the other hand is a husband, father of twin girls, a school teacher and a hockey coach so he is more than just a busy guy which can make it rather tough to find an entire day to dedicate to fishing.

The last day we were fishing we planned one more day out but it hindged on whether Jamie could fit it into his schedule. It would be tough as the Thanksgiving weekend seemed to be the only slot available before the season closed.

I hadn’t heard from Jamie and time was running out. I knew he was busy and didn’t want to bother him especially if he wasn’t going to be able to go, why torment him, right. I even put all my fishing gear away for the year and tried not to think about it.

On the Thursday the 9th I got an email from Jamie asking if I was still interested in going fishing. I laughed out loud when I read that as I am always interested in going fishing. He either thought that was funny or he just hasn’t known  me long enough to know just how fanatical I am about fishing.

Fishing In The Wind

Over the years fishing pickerel here in New Brunswick I have found that when fishing the weeds for pickerel the slightest breeze can put them off and make an otherwise beautiful day non-productive. It also makes it a lot tougher to fish from a canoe and maintain your position out from the weeds.

Most days here start out very calm and as the day progresses the wind tends to pick up and then just before dark it usually calms again.

I was sure hoping Saturday wasn’t going to be like Friday as Friday started windy and just got more and more windy as the day progressed.

Well I woke up Saturday at 5am and immediately looked out the window to see if it was calm but it wasn’t. I could already see the branches moving when they are usually dead still at that time of the morning.

It was a bit depressing but our backup plan was to fish for smallmouth bass if it was too windy for the pickerel.

Jamie picked me up and we headed to Chipman. I spent the entire time watching the tree tops to see how the wind was doing, hoping the closer we got the less wind. We arrived and saw that there was a little ripple on the water.

I know we could fish the open water all day and catch pickerel but we both love the action in the weeds. When you cast to the weeds and the water explodes or you see a huge wake coming at your bait, well there is something about that that makes pickerel fishing in the weeds so darn exciting.

Over the years I have noticed that the slightest breeze can bring the action in the weeds to halt, immediately. Even though the water in the weeds can remain calm, if the breeze isn’t too strong, it still move the weeds enough to turn them off. As soon as the breeze stops the action starts again.

The wind also plays havoc with the canoe and even using an anchor you can’t keep the canoe facing the way you want. Well I can’t seem to get it to any ways, so I like those really calm days for ease of canoe control and plenty of top water action.

The wind picked up and died down over and over but every once in a while it would get windy enough to make it really tough fishing the weeds and maintain control of the canoe, even with an anchor. A number of times I suggested we leave and head to our bass fishing spot, but then the wind would die down and the pickerel would go nuts again.

Eventually the wind stopped and the water became like glass. Perfect for fishing the weeds and the pickerel didn’t disappoint us, the action was none stop all the way to dark.

We spent 10 hours in Jamie’s canoe and a great day. It did take me about 10 minutes to stand up straight after getting out of the canoe.

I am already looking forward to and planning for next year’s fishing season.

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