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I had the pleasure of shooting my show this week with the husband and wife team of Matt and Kate Sonier.  We met at 7am and headed for Magaguadavic Lake just outside of Fredericton. Long a favourite stop on the NBSFA’s Molson Mercury Bass Tour we were really looking forward to catching some big ones.

The launch site on Mac is off a dirt road that runs through the woods so it is pretty secluded and we had it all to ourselves. We started off the morning watching 8 Loons fishing their way through the cove. There is just something about the call of the Loon that says Canada to me. I love them.

We go unloaded and powered up the Lowrance, Magaguadavic is not boat friendly with many very large unmarked rocks lurking just beneath the surface...

This pic is Ray and Larry with their fish. My picture gone into the depths of my computer.

Our last tournament before Perth was a total bomb. Our fish got wiped out by high muddy water after a severe rainstorm the day before. We never made the right adjustments on the river and it showed at the end of the day. We were somewhat apprehensive heading for Perth because it had rained off and on during the week but nothing severe. We went up on Friday night and took a drive down by the water and it looked pretty good. Before we turned in we checked the weather again and they were having thunderstorms about 30 miles upriver. UGH
We had a heavy mist in the morning and no sun at take off. We ran downriver to a spot that was close to takeoff but no bites...

I just received word that Rogers TV Sports Plus will be airing our shows from 2012 in Ontario on August 22 for four hours from 11am to 3 pm EST.. What a great compliment to the crew at Rogers TV NB and to Shawn in particular that we have produced a show that they want to air in one of Canada’s largest markets.

Rick Greene

One of the perks about doing a regional fishing show is that I get to meet some great people when they come on as guests. Today was no exception as I hooked up with Saint Louis Blues goal tender Jake Allen. I guess you could say Jake has lived the dream of most Canadian kids who grew up with hockey. He started out playing organized hockey at six and everyone rotated positions and he ended up in the nets and found out he was pretty good at it. Fifteen years later he found himself inside the crease in the NHL. He told me that nervous would not even begin to describe how he felt in that first shift but by the second period he had settled down and went to work.

It was kind of like that on the water today...

Some days a guy just needs a day off and this was it. The Premier needed a break and so did my buddy Mike Eagles so we all went fishing. A lot of our water here in New Brunswick doesn’t get a lot of pressure so when you get out on one of these little gems you can have a ball. I started the guys off early on a shallow shoal that breaks off quick from 2′ to 6′. They were throwing a Blue Fox up over the shoal and bringing it back over the edge. This is usually like using dynamite in this particular lake but not today. The guys caught 8 or nine fish as we worked the area. Normally it is more like 20 or 30. The next spot was the same result, the fish just weren’t on it in numbers.
It was obvious that shallow would get us some bites but not the numbers we were after so I turned the boat out into...

Best Day Ever

Once again I have chaired the Kids Fishing for Charity event on the Saint John River. This is our tenth consecutive year running this popular children’s tournament in support of the Canadian Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In the grand scheme of things we don’t have the resources to make a big donation but I think every dollar helps. Juvenile Diabetes is a growing problem in North American and more research is needed to help find a cure or a better treatment for kids with this affliction. One of our young competitors was just diagnosed this year so it hits pretty close to home.

Registration started a 7 am and it was already up to 20 degrees, it was going to be a scorcher with a forecast of 32...

Early season Smallies

I have been boatless for a couple of weeks and was definitely suffering from some serious fishing withdrawal. As soon as I got one of them back I called my neighbor Bill and we were headed for the lake. Our choice of water was beautiful East Grand Lake on the Maine – New Brunswick border. Most of our NB lakes are somewhat stained and it is a real treat to fish crystal clear East Grand. The only down side is no charts and lots of rocks so don’t run if you aren’t familiar with the water.

We stopped on a main lake point that has a mix of sand, gravel and small boulders. The water temperature was up to 59 degrees so I opted for a jerk bait. I rigged up a Jackall Squad Minnow 115SP in Chartreuse Shad which is a great colour on a cloudy day...

The Striped Bass fishery has been closed on the Miramichi River since 2000 due to over harvesting and a dramatically reduced population. The management efforts have paid off with what appears to be massive returns of Stripers to the river. On the surface this is a great story of the recovery of a population of fish, however, there is a downside. The Atlantic Salmon fishery is also very fragile and there is a growing concern that the Stripers are eating a large number of Salmon smolts on their journey to the sea. The various Salmon groups, guides and outfitters have been requesting that the DFO open up a recreational fishery for the Stripers to help manage the population. What they got was an experimental open season to gauge the viability of the fishery...

Taxis River Outfitters

We treated ourselves with a trip to Taxis River Outfitters for  the first show of the season. Our hosts Larry and Bonnie took great care of us with some great meals and good company. Larry took us out in his canoe for a shot at a Black Salmon on the Miramichi River. This is a serious canoe measuring in at a stout 24 ft..  I had some concern about Shawn and the camera but it was not an issue.

We fished a few pools near the lodge and although there was a lot of surface activity from Salmon we only managed to hook up with two. Larry landed a nice grilse but mine was gone almost as fast as I set the hook. The run was winding down a bit early this year due to the warmer weather we have been blessed with this spring and we had hit the tail end of it.

The lodge itself i...