Casey took me out to his ice fishing hut last week and now I’ve got the fishing itch again. So I guess it’s time to start looking at what I can add to my fishing tackle boxes this year.

I never have enough money so love buying stuff on eBay. I can usually find pretty good deal on fishing supplies any time of year. Below is what I have found that is going in my tackle box so I can get those big bass, pickerel and of course anything else that will bite in our New Brunswick waters.

Bass And Pickerel Lures

Last year was a strange year and had the highest water levels I’ve ever seen. I found I lost a few too many of my lures and some weren’t even my own. So I have to replenish my fishing lures and with limited funds I like eBay for that.

Casey just ordered a boat load of red Senko style red worms we have come to love so much. By the way it was me that introduced them to Casey and Jamie. I remember doing so well with them before either owned any that Casey put a ban on red worms. Well until I shared some and then he was hooked.

Red 5 1/2” Worms

There used to be a supplier for the red worms we like so much but don’t find him any more, however after searching for a while I found two other worm types that are pretty much the same.

What a great way to start off summer. A great day of fishing with a friend.

Casey picked me up and we headed off to New Horton Lake for some smallmouth bass fishing.

The weather was pretty much perfect. Lots of sun for vitamin D, almost no wind at all for the entire day. Heck there were even a few fish to keep our interest up.

Oh yeah, and no one came home sunburned, this time.

New Horton Lake

Actually New Horton Lake reminds me of a couple of lakes I’ve been on in Ontario that were left behind after the last ice age backed off, leaving huge rocky gouges in the landscape that filled with water and today hold plenty of hard fighting fish.

New Horton Lake, New Brunswick on Google Maps

We Headed To An Island, Or Was It

Here is a photo I took while we were going down the lake on my first trip there with Casey. I thought we were headed to an island however it was a point of land that come way out into the lake. I think it’s about a half mile long or more.

No Jim That’s Not An Island

If you look at the bottom left of the Google map above you will see the strip of land that comes out into the lake. Lots of fishing area along the shore line here.

You can see just how calm the water was from in the image above.

Casey was saying the wind can quickly whip up waves but no problems this day.

Casey Catches First Fish

Casey didn’t waste any time catching the first fish. I think he may have brought it with him but then again if he was going to do that I’m sure it would have been a bigger one. Ha Ha.

Not A Huge Fish, But The First Fish, Congrats

We didn’t get much action trolling but as were got close to weeds and banks I was casting. As soon as the water warmed up along the shore they started taking baits.

They were hanging around the shore where the water was a degree or two warmer and where they could stay in the sun or move into shade.

We started hitting the shore line where there was a definite line between the sun and shade. I love being able to pop a lure up on the bank and then pull it into the water.

It’s amazing just how fast those bass can strike. Sometimes it seems that the lure would have to land in their open mouth to be so fast.

At one point Casey said he was changing to a spinner bait. I agreed but had given all my spinners to my son Steve for trout fishing.

Casey pulled out a tackle box with dozens and let me take the first pick.

I choose the little #4 Mepps with a nice floresent blade. It’s the one on the left and worked great as I caught the first smallie in about a half minute. First cast to the shore in a shady spot.

I had never fished smallmouth using a Mepps. I have used them on pike, pickerel and trout but now it’s a new confidence bait for bass as well.

The only reason I caught the first bass using the spinner is because Casey let me pick first and in about 4 seconds it was on my line and I had that first cast to the bank.

Look At That Lure Fly

I bought a new shrimp/perch pattern Rapal. I’m no good at names of lures, I just buy em and use it. Anyways I put on this new lure, lined up a spot to cast to and let her fly.

There was a little knot in my line and it snagged after about 6 feet of line went out and that lure straightened the swivel snap and that lure fly so far.

I told Casey it was a floating lure so we headed in the direction I made the cast. I thought it was long gone and probably somewhere out in the bush somewhere.

Just before I gave up looking I saw the sun reflect off the top of the lure which had about a square inch showing about the surface.

It had hit the water a couple of feet from shore. Very lucky.

What’s really funny is that last year I lost the original lure in New Horton Lake and I’m sure it did land somewhere in the bush. That was the reason I had a new one this year.

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• Cassidy Lake Pickere Fishing 2011 Part Two (thejoyofflyfishing.com)
• Cassidy Lake Pickerel 2011 (flyfishinginnewbrunswick.com)

Cassidy Lake Pickerel Fishing 2011 Part One

Casey landed his first pickerel and had the biggest grin on his face. Not sure if it was because it was his first fish of 2011 or because it wasn’t me with the first fish.

Ha, maybe a little of both. I sure hope it’s not a sign of things to come for 2011 as he just kept catching them and smiling, a lot.

Casey was using minnow baits with blood red hooks and what a huge difference it made to the fish catching.

I didn’t have any lures with the blood red hooks and they just weren’t interested at all.

He kept offering me lures, even ones with red hooks but I don’t like losing other people’s lures so for a time I just said thanks but didn’t use them.

Well after Casey’s 7th fish to my zero I was willing to lose one of his lures. Errr I mean use one of his lures.

Finally I hooked into a monster. Well maybe not a monster but I am sure it was all of 12 maybe 13 inches, it just thought it was bigger.

Fishing Tip of the Day: If you haven’t given blood red hooks a try yet you don’t know what you’re missing out on. Casey was smart and started replacing the hooks on his baits at least a year ago.

You can be sure I will be ordering some red hooks to replace my existing hooks.

I will tell you that if you invest in lures with blood red hooks or buy new blood red hooks for your lures you just might get a whole lot more action.

Casey couldn’t seem to do anything wrong Friday, even though it was Friday the 13th.

Even though I started catching pickerel they were few and far between for me. Casey on the other hand just kept catching them.

A Great Day of Pickerel Fishing

I was still determined to catch some pickerel on lures without red hooks. After all I fished for many years before red hooks and did great.

Well I did manage to catch a few more using a perch pattern and ended my day with 7 pickerel and a sun burned face. It really looked like I was most embarrassed about getting my butt kicked.

I believe that Casey landed 25 pickerel by the end of our day. So he caught the first fish of the day, the most fish of the day along with the biggest.

I am already looking forward to my next trip to Cassidy Lake. I had kind of forgotten about the lake once we started pickerel fishing the Chipman, New Brunswick area.

I guess there’s just not enough time to fish all the places I love as often as I would like.

Maybe I will get more fishing in once I retire in a couple of years.

Casey, thanks for the great day of fun and I love what you’ve done with your boat. It’s going to be an awesome summer.

The patented KickTail® is the only hard swimbait that swims like a
real fish, with its tail! It out-fished other baits 19 to 4 in a Florida bass contest.

I’m planning on giving the new KickTail XL lure a try this coming fishing season. I have seen a few ads and videos, from what I have seen it looks so life-like that smallmouth bass as well as pickerel or pike have a hard time NOT biting it. So much so that the claim is that the KickTail XL lure will increase my catches as much as 3 times.

I’m certainly up for giving the KickTail a try.

The KickTail XL has:

• steel-hard construction
• more life-like scales
• better swimming action
• dazzling colors

I have fished a lot of minnow lures and have a few that I have confidence with but I am always looking for new and better lures that can give me the same confidence.

Watch this video I found on Youtube. I makes me want to head south and give it a try as our fishing season doesn’t open for another 2 months here in New Brunswick.

Watching it move through the water, it looks like a real minnow, no wonder that fish can’t seem to resist it.

Checkout the patented KickTail XL Series Lure @ NGC Worldwide Inc. today and get your new confidence bait.

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I think Jamie and his twin girls had a great day of fishing Smallmouth bass. Here is another little post from Jamie.

After talking to James and sharing the day I had with my girls I asked him if he would like to go fishing for the day. I know it is hard to believe but he said yes.

I strapped my canoe on my car and picked James up early in the morning and we were off to try to catch some pickerel and bass. I went to Cassidy Lake earlier this summer and caught a few small pickerel so I was excited to go to some water that had pickerel that would be more plentiful and larger in size.

We arrived at the location and of course we were both excited to get fishing that we fished off shore for a few minutes. James had one follow his lure after just a few casts which got my heart pumping. We put the canoe in the water and made our way to where James said he normally fishes.

I had an excellent time trying to catch these fish. It was great fun watching them chase after the lures in the water. I quickly realized that they are quite a predator. We caught a few, but that did not matter, as I told James it was just as much fun watching them chase and hit the baits. If not by the end of this fishing season, I am truly hoping that James and I will be back to try for some more pickerel very soon.

The day was actually very winding and it came to a point where we decided to leave and try for some bass. We loaded up our gear and the canoe and in a short time we were fishing bass. This was non-stop action for about three hours, I would say we caught and released about sixty bass. They were not monsters but that made no difference to me at all as I am someone who just has a great time catching fish no matter the size.

James was a great help teaching me how to fish in the weeds for pickerel. I am hoping to practice lots more very soon. I am very thankful that an evening surfing the internet led me to James’ fishing site. It led to a great day with my girls and also to another great day fishing for pickerel and bass with a new fishing buddy!

 

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