http://rogerstv.com/media?lid=237&rid=18&gid=253343

This is a short clip from our show on the Miramichi. The full show will air in the fall.

Crazy is one of the words to describe the Striped Bass fishery on the Miramichi River. Other words would be outstanding, phenomenal, world class, unbelievable but crazy sums it up pretty well. It seemed like a fitting spot to start off our new season and as always, it did not disappoint.

Shawn and I hit the water today with Economic Development and Tourism director, Jeff MacTavish of the city of Miramichi. Jeff has been so busy promoting the Striped Bass fishery that he hasn’t had time to actually go out and catch some. We took care of that little problem this week. He not only got his first Striper but he also caught the biggest one that came to the boat at just under 9 lbs.

Shawn called this morning and said we put 60 fish in the boat on camera plus all the ones we caught when it was off...

My buddy Jeff flew down for his annual week of fishing and as always we hit the Stick Marsh / Farm 13 impoundment. I don’t know why, but the fishing is not what it used to be. The pressure was off of the lake for many years during our last recession and if anything you would think the bite would have improved but it is just the opposite. That being said when you average 30 to 40 fish most days with the odd big one thrown in its not a bad day on the water.

Oddly, this year most of our fish came further out and away from the grass. It is not a depth issue because it is really pretty consistent at about five feet in the south end. We had to figure them out but once we did we got our fair share. This year most of the fish came on soft stick baits and 10 inch worms...

We have had a succession of cold fronts through the area for the last little while. The water cools right down and the bite cools right down with it but the warming trends in between make for some good fishing. Jeff Rathburn was down last week and was lucky to get in on one of the upswings in temperature and was able to come down to the Stick Marsh for a day out on the water.

A 7am meeting was arranged and we headed in to the lake in a very heavy fog. It was just as bad when we finally got into the ramp and launched the boat. With the Lowrance up and running on the map screen we headed out across the lake at a relatively slow speed which is pretty much normal with my jet drive anyway...

The talk has always been if you hit the spillway when they a pulling water through, you don’t need to go anywhere else to catch fish. There is no way to find out when they will open the gates so you have to go look. Mark Osgood and I headed out across the marsh in his Bass Cat for a look and they were really hauling water through.
We weren’t early enough to get one of the prime spots, the guys ahead of us must have run over in the dark. We tried a mix of baits and caught fish on 10″ Black and Blue Worms, Rattle Traps and Sticko’s.
Mark ended up with the two in the photos plus a bunch of two to four pound fish. I had some nice ones but nothing that was worth photographing.

It was a costly day for me...

Chrissie and I put on our rain gear and headed out on Florida’s inter coastal waterway to test out the new Stella that Santa got me for Christmas. A super nice reel is an understatement. We spooled her up with 10lb Power Pro and put it on a 6’6″ Compre spinning rod. We were catching a bunch of Trout and Ladyfish when this hit. As you can tell from the audio, I have no idea what I have on and the guessing is fast and furious each time I get a glimpse of it. I cut the video down but it took six minutes to get this one to the boat. Lots of fun and the silky smooth drag on that Stella was awesome on the first big runs it took.

Dave and I hit the inter coastal waterway this morning with Captain Ryan Dean of Final Point Charters out of Sebastian. He had his work cut out for him with winds that far exceeded the forecast. I bet nobody is surprised by a wrong forecast. We only had a half day because Dave had to work this afternoon.
What we had asked of Ryan was to give us an understanding of what he looked for and what types of baits he liked to fish. Surprisingly he preferred artificials over live bait for what we were looking for.
It was a tough bite with the wind blowing against the current but I caught my personal best Florida fish which was a big Jack Crevalle and Dave hooked and landed a half dozen spotted sea trout.
Overall it was a great day on the water...

David and I took a trip down to Stuart, Florida to try for Snook. The idea was to buy live bait but it turns out the bait guys don’t work until spring. We tried our hand with a cast net which is a whole other story and quite comical. It is not as easy as the pros make it look.
This was a new area for us and we were not having any success at all. Dave suggested moving over to the channel and hitting the bridge pilings and he gets a small Jack on the first cast. Nothing else as we moved across the different bridge piers until Dave saw the gulls diving into the water on the other side of the bridge.
We moved the boat over and for the next two hours it was absolute chaos with a school of Jacks and Ladyfish busting into bait. There were numerous times we were both hooked up at the same time...

Paul Dow holds an annual tournament in memory of fishing friends who are no longer with us. It is held every year of the Thanksgiving weekend. This year I thought it would be a different show if we filmed my day on the water with Shawn both filming and fishing. You don’t get to see him in the show because he is behind the camera or it is off and he is fishing.
The day started off cold, wet and windy but we had a great time on the water. Our first stop only produced a couple of small fish so we were quickly on the move. Our second stop put some fish in the boat but still not the big girls we were looking for. Shawn took a break from filming and put his share of fish in the boat as well as helping me with culling. We now have a five fish limit in the boat but not the size we need to win...

We had some great fun fishing with Monique and Herman Allain this week. Monique hadn’t been fishing with her dad for many years and it seemed fitting to get them both in the boat and head for the lake.
Monique started the day off with a solid 3.5 lb Smallmouth that turned out to be the biggest fish of the day by a little bit. Herman gave it has all and almost caught her but it was not to be.
The bite seemed off a little and I am sure that the 78 degree water had a little something to do with it. It took a slow presentation and most of the fish came to the boat today on a green pumpkin BPS Sticko fished Texas rigged.
Herman got quite attached to my 7’2″ M Cumara and stayed with it for the day. Monique and I were using Crucial 6’6″ MH. All of us were using 2500 Series Stradics with 20 lb...