Location: Fredericton, NB
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Side note #1: I had to look up the date and the day of the week. No clue. I consider this a positive aspect of my life.
Side note #2: This is my first post in 6 days, which pushes the limit on how far I go between posts. But when it comes down to fishing or writing about fishing, well, you now know that outcome.
Tuesday, 14-Jun-11
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| 3-day fishing result |
With weather & water becoming a little warmer, I figured this was a good time to (try to) land my first striper from the salt.
Or not. I didn't see anything: no stripers, no baitfish, no birds. Nothing.
And anyone who says fly fishing the coast at night is easy is full of shit. I can't wait to try it again really soon.
Wednesday, 15-Jun-11
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| Bucky with a nice one |
We hit a couple pools, finding them high, fast, and tea-coloured.
Bucky got into a nice one; however, I had another date with that black & white bastard.
This skunkening was more my fault than the previous night: a strip-set on what would have been a nice trout was a little...over-aggressive...to say the least.
Later I rolled a nice-sized grilse (or huge sea-run trout) on a shrimp pattern but received no love on successive casts.
Side note #3: This was three skunkenings in a row. At no point did I feel like torching police cars or smashing windows of stores & looting.
Side note #3.1: The term 'skunkening' is my own. It is derived from skunked. I got the idea from the movie Your Highness, which used the expression 'the f**kening.'
Thursday, 16-Jun-11
A last-minute invite for a downtown fish for stripers/muskie/smallies resulted in the end of the skunkening.
I wasn't messing around; this is what I rigged up for an afternoon on Pat's vessel:
- 5wt TFO with WF-5F + small cork-bodied popper
- 8wt Redington CPX with WF-8I clear sink tip + size 2 Clouser
- 10wt Redington CPX with sinking-tip Striper line + big, eff-off muskie fly
Side note #4: As a highly experienced smallie-on-the-fly person, I can confidently state smallmouth bass take Clouser minnows 100% of the time. And if you take the previous sentence seriously, you are a complete jack ass.
Side note #5: Smallmouth bass on the fly rod have been my best surprise fish of 2011. It's a good time! I mean, they can hit hard or they can take subtle, they fight, they jump. Fun as hell.
Side note #6: I really, really need a 6wt fly rod, reel & line now...
Friday, 17-Jun-11
Back in April, Bucky & I bid on a trout-fishing trip for two at the Miramichi Headwaters Salmon Federation silent auction. We won.
It was at Rocky Brook Lodge, more famous for its swanky digs & salmon pools, but they also offer trout fishing on their (what I would assume to be stocked) lakes.
Side note #7: This place is really swanky. The manager, Manley Price, is a great guy, and it's staffed with some really friendly guys that probably know more about fly fishing than I will ever learn. Thing is, they don't act like it, which is even more awesome. But I couldn't find a website, so if you ever want to go there, leave a comment & I will get you the contact info.
It was strongly suggested by a few people to use spinning gear. I chose to ignore that suggestion.
Luckily, it was a prudent decision: when we arrived, all the loaner spinning gear we had been promised had gone missing through various means. So fly gear it was.
We weren't disappointed with the decision.
The first two fish were taken on a small black & white Clouser. Then I switched up to a #16 mayfly dry, which brought a lot to the boat. Once that got too soaked with fish slime to float, I changed to a #12 Stimulator.
And then it was on.
We boated a couple dozen. Each. In under four hours.
We released them all, but lost one to the psychopathic loon swimming around (& underneath) our row boat.
Side note #8: Those friggin' things are fast as hell under water. And a little scary.
Good times. Except for the loon.
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| A typical-sized offering |
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| It's not a small trout; I just have GIANT HANDS!!! |
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| Psychopathic stalker-loon |
My weekend was spent relaxing with my beautiful girlfriend (she doesn't fish a lot). We went to see Super 8, which was pretty damn good (and fortunately not a two-hour ad for the motel chain).
I'm hoping to be chasing some St. John River fish within the next couple hours.
I'll try to not wait six days to write a report.
Side note #9: I remember saying I would try to keep my posts to 250 words when I started this. Yeah. Might try to do that again.
*******
Music time: when living a hero's life, you require a hero soundtrack. I think Explosions In The Sky provides that soundtrack. Even if you're just cleaning your bedroom (which, in some cultures, might be seen as heroic).
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