Fishing Forms

It has been a tough start to the fishing season here in southern NB.  With still a foot of snow in the backwoods as of April 28th, water levels may stay elevated for a while yet.  This makes it hard to fish many of the rivers in this part of the globe.  I  say "hard" but not impossible.  There are some changes for many anglers this season and some long standing restrictions still in place.  The online fishing forums have been alive with chatter on all these management strategies and there are as many opinions on the topic as there are fly patterns.  If you don't fish then you'll have to take my word for it, there are a ton of fly patterns.

I caught this Atlantic salmon in 2013 and released it saftely.

One of the biggest changes for this angling season will be the fact that no Atlantic salmon can be caught and kept this season in NB.  For those who ply the waters in the Sussex area this is not really to concerting as our local waterways have been closed to salmon fishing for a number of years now.  However, for those who make regular trips to the Miramichi or maybe the Restigouche Rivers this will mean a huge change in attitude.  Personally I fully agree with the changes implemented by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. 

The intent of the change is to give the salmon a fighting chance at recovery.  If we keep fishing and taking fish out of the system, it is very hard for nature to recover.  In order to make the $40M (a rough guess) a year industry sustainable we have to make some sacrifices. A catch and release fishery is still very rewarding for the angler and let's face it, who really fishes for sustenance now a days.

The Kennebecasis River has a catch and release section for all fish species and anglers should know where this is.  It is the responsibility of the angler to know where he or she is and what regulations apply to the water he or she is fishing.  The catch and release section on the Kennebecasis River is above the McCully Road bridge (by the potash mine) and extends up to Ketchums Brook near Portagevale.  This management tool was established to protect superb breeding habitats.  

A further management section was created on the Hammond River and a delayed season opening exists on a portion of that river as well.  For more on angling regulations check out the 2015 Fish Guide.

Not all anglers understand the need for habitat and species conservation.  In fact some see conservation as an infringement on their valued hobby.  Some anglers, either knowingly or unknowingly, have negatively impacted the streams they call their home.  There are concerns like introducing non-native fish into streams or maybe diseases or insects or worms that might impact the natural ecological balance.  An example of this on the Kennebecasis River is the recent presence of small mouth bass which are not native to the Kennebecasis.  While many people love fishing for small mouth bass, these aggressive feeding and prolific breeding fish can readily out compete speckled trout and Atlantic salmon for space.  This shifts the natural balance within the river and makes it harder for the trout and salmon to survive.

There are approximately 26 species of freshwater species in the Kennebecasis River but the health of these various species is not fully understood.  Many groups, including the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy, and the Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee along with government departments struggle to better understand all aspects of our waterways.  This requires a great deal of effort and to ensure the management policies are effective and sustainable the more data these groups have the better informed the policy makers are.  The Department of Fisheries and Oceans – Gulf Region (this is the north and east coast of NB) has an on-line creel survey.  This survey will help determine management strategies for striped bass.  The Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee has a similar on-line form that will assist them in directing restoration efforts for salmonid species.  The websites for these are:

http://www.glf.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Gulf/FAM/Recreational-Fisheries/Creel-Census

http://www.kennebecasisriver.ca/creelcensus.html

Battling the "Leaper"

 So here it is my trip report for my trip to the Northwest Miramichi River in search of salmon.  This was published in the July 15th edition of the Kings County Record, but I've added some photos and a short video here.  I'm still working on a Youtube video :)  Enjoy.

Our first casts on the Northwest Miramichi.  Kris Fuller and Dan Reicker try their luck.

     The sky was gray and damp but the rain hadn't yet started.  I glanced quickly at the weather forecast as I finished packing my gear and it was calling for rain for most of the weekend.  It didn't matter because I was too excited to let a little rain get me down.  The boys pulled into the yard and we loaded up the truck and hit the road, bound for the Miramichi, in search of Atlantic salmon.

     The drive is a bit of a blur, mixed with wild conversation, laughter, and anticipation.  By the time we reached the Fraser Burchill Road we were well ahead of schedule and decided to go in a little early and see if we could at least set up camp.  We were happy to find the camp empty when we arrived and even more happy to see the River less than 20m from the front door.  We resisted the urge to hit the river right away and instead made a good lunch with the anticipation that it would likely be a late supper.

     By 2:00 we couldn't wait any longer and a couple of us hit the camp pool while a couple moved down stream.  I opted to move down river and explore my surroundings while I fished.  This section of the Northwest Miramichi was relatively flat but the spruce covered hills that formed the valley were relatively steep and with the low lying clouds the whole scene seemed somewhat heaven like. 

 

     Before I was able to take in all my surroundings, my trip was "made" when a large salmon leaped a full foot and a half out of the water right in front of me.  At that moment I thought it wouldn't matter if I caught a salmon or not.  That would change later.  I continued to fish downstream and my first fish landed on the Miramichi would turn out to be a small brook trout.  I was on my own at the time as I had wandered further down than I had realized.  It was nearing supper time and I decided to go back up river and meet up with the boys and see how they had made out.

     That evening I hung closer to the camp pool and bridge pool where I had seen salmon rising earlier in the day.  As the evening wore on I still hadn't even hooked a salmon while a couple of the guys had.  I changed my fly a couple of times with no luck.  Then I went to a pattern I didn't know the name of that was given to me by Mike Bailey.  I was loosing confidence in my presentation techniques when two salmon jumped in front of me.  Two of us were in the pool and we took turns casting, on about my third opportunity I felt a light hit but didn't set the hook and was sure I had missed my chance.  I placed the next cast in the same location as the previous one and was surprised when the reel whizzed when a large salmon destroyed the fly.  I set the hook and then it was on; the fish ran downstream hard and fast and I was hollering like a school girl.  I focused on keeping the line taut and didn't force the fight.  I let the fish feel like he was in control and when I felt he ran down far enough; I put the pressure on him.  It was then that he jumped and I got my first look at my foe and my holler raised another octave.  I had a big fish on.

I had a broad smile after landing my first, hopefully not my last, Atlantic salmon.

     From this point my line got tangled in my reel and Kris Fuller aided me in getting it straightened out and I realized that fighting an Atlantic salmon is a two man task.  Don Dow and Dan Reicker took photos and video as the “leaper” showed off twice more before taking a short run upstream towards me.  I made good ground on him then and he was now in shallower water but not yet ready to give up.  It took us three attempts before we got it in the net but once he was there, I let out a whoop.  It was a battle that had lasted a little more than 10 minutes on an 8lb leader that ended just after 9:00pm.  I landed a 32-34” salmon that likely weighed over 15lbs and then I was happy to let him go.

Kris Fuller landed a 23" grilse that was very scared of the net.

The rest of the weekend we all tried to duplicate the moment but landed only one other fish.  It was a great weekend and we were sad to leave when the sun broke for the first time Sunday at noon.  It was a great weekend and one I would love to do again.  If you have ever thought of trying to battle a salmon I encourage you to take the leap.  You won’t be disappointed.

Don Dow hooked into a fish at the American Pool but was unable to land it.

Dan Reicker played this Atlantic salmon just a little to long but was all smiles while the battle went down.

The Right Time For Salmon

This is a column I had published in the October 25, 2011 edition of the Kings County Record.  On the day described I was at my full time job as Project Manager for the Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee and I can't tell you how excited I was.  After the fact I was a bit embarassed as I thought how I must have looked to my coleague, Tanya Dykens.  Tanya actually provided me with the picture below and I thought it was kind of funny and would add a laugh to the blog.  This is made more likely by the fact that I couldn't get a picture of the two adult salmon swimming in the pool.

I was trying to catch an Atlantic Salmon here.  I obviously needed to practice my technique a bit more as I was unsuccessful.  At the time I blamed the camera...LOL



Fall is an impressive time of year with so much to witness and observe.  Obviously there is the changing of the leaves from the rich greens to the burning oranges and reds.  Look harder and you can see the geese flying overhead.  The tell tale "V" formation giving them away instantly and as they get closer the loud honking and black and white colors solidify your initial guess that they are indeed geese.  Sometimes when you're looking the other way, Mother Nature offers you up a true gift.  Recently, that is what happened to me.

My job requires that I spend a good quantity of time outdoors.  A majority of that time I am in chest waders wandering up and down rivers and sometimes into a local coffee shop.  Earlier in the summer I had placed a number of devices in area streams to get water temperature data.  The other day I went to retrieve them with a colleague from Agriculture Agri-Food Canada and after I collected one near a nice gravel riffle I thought I would wade downstream to check for Atlantic salmon redds.

I treaded carefully downstream on the gravel and boulder river bottom which was slippery.  The fall colors reflecting off the sun dappled water made the rural setting look like a tourism ad.  I struggled to see the bottom of the river which would have been impossible without my polarized sunglasses.  As I scan the river bottom looking for the subtle difference a Salmon leaves when it leaves it's approximately 25cm redd, my coworker starts to holler at me from a deep pool back upstream.  She is motioning emphatically with her arms, moving them in and out and then pointing into the pool.  I thought "No way?"

I stumbled as quickly as I could back up the bank opposite my coworker and looked into the pool.  She stated that she just saw two large fish but was uncertain as to what they were.  I couldn't see anything even with my sunglasses on.  I slowly crossed the river to the higher bank for a better look.  Just as it looked like they had been spooked off, suddenly they appeared again in the pool.  Two large, long, and healthy looking Atlantic salmon were swimming in a river I have worked to improve in hopes that trout and salmon numbers would improve.

Many times I have walked this same river when the conditions were right looking for Atlantic salmon and never have I seen one.  I felt like I had finally attained a clear identifiable picture of Bigfoot.  I was excited and felt so rewarded at that moment.  We tried to photograph the prize fish a number of ways but to no avail.  As I looked around and took in the whole scene, I once again came to appreciate how truly blessed we are to live in this country.  I gained a whole new appreciation of the fall season and what it has to offer.