I moved to Moncton, New Brunswick in 1981 after been raised by various foster parents from the time I was 5 until I ran away at age 15. I knew my roots were in Moncton and that’s where I headed. Well I fell in love with New Brunswick and especially the fly fishing.

This information on Moncton is directly from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Moncton is a Canadian city located in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.

The city is situated in southeastern New Brunswick, in the Petitcodiac River valley, and is about 55 km (34 mi) from the Nova Scotia border. Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The community has the nickname “Hub City” because of its central location and also because Moncton has historically been the railway and land transportation hub for the Maritime Provinces.

European settlement began in 1733 when Acadian farmers arrived after migrating up the Petitcodiac River from the Bay of Fundy. The region was captured by the English in 1755, and the original Acadian inhabitants were subsequently deported. The official founding of the community was in 1766, with the arrival of Pennsylvania “Deutsch” settlers sponsored by the Philadelphia Land Company. The settlement was initially agricultural but by the mid 1800s, a wooden shipbuilding industry flourished. The shipbuilding economy collapsed in the 1860s but was quickly replaced by the railway industry when, in 1871, the Intercolonial Railway of Canada chose Moncton to be their headquarters. Moncton would then remain a railroad town for well over a century.

Moncton was first incorporated in 1855 and was named after Lt. Col. Robert Monckton, the British military commander who had captured nearby Fort Beauséjour a century earlier; and who had later been given responsibility for overseeing the Acadian deportation. The collapse of the shipbuilding industry caused the town to lose its civic charter in 1862 but the community was able to survive and to reincorporate in 1875 on the strength of the developing railway industry. As a result, the city adopted the motto Resurgo.

Although Moncton was traumatized twice; by the collapse of the shipbuilding industry in the 1860s and by the closure of the CNR locomotive shops in the 1980s, the city’s economy was able to rebound strongly on both occasions. At present, the city’s economy is stable and diversified. Moncton’s economy is based on its transportation, distribution, retailing and commercial heritage, but is also supplemented by strength in the educational, health care, financial and insurance sectors. The strength of the economy has received national recognition and the local unemployment rate is consistently less than the national average.

The Moncton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is one of the top ten fastest growing metropolitan areas in Canada and is also the fastest growing urban region east of Toronto. The CMA includes the neighbouring city of Dieppe and the town of Riverview, as well as adjacent areas of Westmorland and Albert counties.

Moncton has a CMA population of 126,424, which makes Moncton the most populous metropolitan area in New Brunswick, and also makes it the second largest CMA in the Maritime Provinces, after Halifax, and the third largest CMA in Atlantic Canada, after Halifax and St. John’s, Newfoundland.

The municipal coat of arms illustrates Moncton’s agricultural, industrial and railway heritages, along with the Petitcodiac River’s tidal bore.

Image via WikipediaWhile I and my buddies were in northern Quebec on our fly-in fishing trip there were Lake trout in the shallow bays but my buddies, well except Kerry, were blind to their presence.

The proper sunglasses was made the difference. Kerry and I could look out over the water and see the Lake trout swimming around, just below the surface.

I was out on my own using my Hummingbird fish finder to finds some big Lake trout when I thought I saw a splash in a little bay. Thinking it was a brook trout I headed in to make a few casts with my flyrod.

BAM!! The first cast. It wasn’t a brook trout at all, as it turned out it was a Lake trout at about 6 or 8 pounds. As I was fighting this little surprise I was looking around and saw that he wasn’t alone, there were dozens of them in this little bay.

I had to make a decision, keep fishing and tell my buddies later or stop fishing and take the 20 minute boat ride back to the camp to tell them. Well I love fishing with friends so I stopped, after two more fish, and headed back. Would have been a great time to have a two-way radio.

When we returned I was the only one with a flyrod but both Kerry and I had on polarized sunglasses. Unfortunately the other 3 guys didn’t. But like I said I like to fish with friends and I like us all to be catching fish.

I told Kerry it was time for him to migrate to one of the other boats and we would fish three to a boat for a while. That way I could direct those casting from my boat and Kerry could do the same in his boat.

I little trick we both tried was to switch glasses with a buddy that didn’t have a fish on. That way they could see where they were while we were fighting our fish.

It is so important to have the right gear when you go out on the water.

My life couldn’t be much better than it is today but it was not always like that.

I started life in Ontario, Canada. Our family lived in Scarborough until at age five something happened and I became an orphan. At that point life turn pretty sour and I was shifted from one stranger to another until I guess I just lost myself and turned into an angry little boy.

I am not actually sure how many homes I had been in by the time I was eight but I know it was at least five homes. I was also too young to understand why all this was happening and no one was offering an explanation so as a kid I knew somehow it had to be me.

Then in 1961, just before school started I was moved again. In my mind it couldn’t have been much worse. I went from living in the city to a farm in the country with no indoor plumping. The homes were at least a quarter mile apart and the only person I knew was me.

To make it even worse I was told that it would be best for me to repeat grade two. They felt it would be less stressful on me and I would become more social.

So I was a hurt and lost little boy who didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. But all that was going to change.The people that took me in had an older son, he was almost twenty, his name was Chuck. Chuck took me under his wing and treated me like he had known me my entire life. I had a big brother.

Chuck took me to a small river at the back of our farm and introduced me to swimming and fishing. I had not even held a fishing rod before that.

The day Chuck took me fishing for the first time changed my life forever. While I was fishing I wasn’t angry I was actually free for the first time.

Those days seem so long ago but are so clear in my mind. I have spent many many hours wetting lines and have introduced a few people to the joy of fishing.

All I can think of to end this heart felt post is thank you Chuck and to you…

Take a kid fishing.