(Another) All-Encompassing Blog Post

Time/Date: 1515 AST, 11-Aug-11
Location: Fredericton

This one's gonna cover a lot of bases, so let's get started.

First up, a recap of the mini-odyssey.

Wednesday/Thursday: drove into the New Brunswick wilds, 50 km down dirt logging roads to catch monster trout & salmon.

We caught neither. A few salmon parr and a few trout, the largest for me being 11". Biggest trout of the trip was about 17". Lots of fishing, lots of rain.

Humble abode of night #1

What my buddy Steve refers to as his bear burrito

The five-star kitchen area

Makeshift storage locker

Thursday evening I spent at my folks' place, where I ate. And ate. And ate some more. Herb & garlic cheese rolls, heated with butter. Pasta. Cookies. Cake. Brilliance.

While there, I started some heavy-duty research into my next leg of the mini-odyssey: I flipped a coin. Heads: Gaspe, Quebec for Atlantic salmon; Tails: Fundy short of Nova Scotia for stripers. Oh, the joys of having a full quiver of 5wt, 6wt, 8wt & 10wt rods traveling with you.

Tails it was, so off to Nova Scotia for some striped bass dreams (delusions). With a loaf of fresh banana bread & a bag of chocolate chip cookies, courtesy of Mom.

I fished the incoming/outgoing tide on Friday night. I fished the incoming/outgoing tide Saturday morning. Same for Saturday evening. And on Sunday morning. And again on Sunday evening.

Finally, while on my last legs on Sunday night, in piss-pouring rain, with a Clouser that was also on its last legs, it happened. I hooked and landed my first striped bass on the fly rod.

It was 14" long.

I awoke to strong winds and a torrential downpour at 5AM Monday (I actually woke up because if it). My tent was half-floating, and run-off was visibly flowing by the door of the tent. I planned to fish, but decided enough was enough. I hit the road home.

All total, I camped out 4 of 5 nights, bought only one "meal" at a restaurant (egg mcmuffins on Monday morning on the drive), drove over 1300km and fished over 40 hours for a bunch of fish where the two biggest totaled twenty-five inches.

I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

Camp Striper, right on the seashore

8- & 10-weights, locked & loaded

Sunset at Camp Striper

Dawn Patrol

Due to the early departure from Camp Striper, I planned on scouting a rumored smallie hotspot on the drive home; however, a few flashes of lightning as I approached the turn off for it scuttled that plan pretty quick. I'm not sure if carbon fiber rods conduct electricity or not, but I didn't really feel like finding out. So no fishing on Monday.

Tuesday I was back at it, with a few 10-14" smallies caught, but H-core fishing was being interrupted by numerous kayakers and unleashed dogs & kids (yes, unleashed kids) going through the spot I was fishing. It became quite apparent that "urban angling" is a relatively unheard of phenomenon here.

(Side note: a kid throwing a rock into where you're fishing is kinda cute & funny the first, and maybe the second, time it happens. When it happens 5-6 times in a summer, I'm tempted to launch a 1/0 Clouser in the direction of the parents. Just sayin'.)

Wednesday was wet & miserable. I drove some coffee & donuts out to the shale gas protesters blockading the road (this blocking the seismic trucks from their exploration targets) and ended up donating a tarp to the cause to help keep them out of the rain. That deed done, I went fishing.

I decided to try out a new spot, Just upriver of one of my usual haunts for smallmouth. I looked at about five square feet of a foamy back-eddy, and thought to myself, "There has to be a bass in there."

All I gotta say, karma can really rock sometime. There was a bass in there. A big-ass bass.

So now I'm done fishing for another three weeks. Packing fishing gear away and packing work gear into my duffel bag.

*********
This weekend is FredRock. If you're in the area, I can't stress how much fun it's gonna be, so go check it out. Click here for more info.

I'm terribly sorry to be missing it (again) this year, but c'est la vie. Small-term sacrifices for long-term gains.

Here's a tune from Sam Roberts Band, the headlining act. I find it semi-appropriate as a post-mini-odyssey tune.

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