Fishing in New Brunswick

[00:00:00] I am Mark, the New Brunswick Traveler and here is where we talk about New Brunswick Stuff.

[00:00:12] I am particularly excited today about talking about a topic that I have a lot of interest

[00:00:18] in.

[00:00:19] A special thank you to Denny for getting me a cup of coffee.

[00:00:24] I am sitting in Catapult, one of my favorite coffee shops here in St. John.

[00:00:32] And now, let's get started.

[00:00:40] I am happy to have Joe Moran with me here today.

[00:00:42] We are going to be talking about fishing in New Brunswick.

[00:00:46] Joe, welcome to Envy Traveler.

[00:00:48] Hey, how is it going?

[00:00:50] It's going fantastic.

[00:00:51] Tell me a little bit about your experience fishing in New Brunswick.

[00:00:55] Well, I grew up in southern New Brunswick and most of my life.

[00:00:58] I was born and raised around the St. John airport area.

[00:01:01] And I was lucky enough to grow up around a lot of lakes and brooks.

[00:01:05] As a younger child and kid, back then we didn't have a lot of cell phones and different

[00:01:10] things that kids do now.

[00:01:12] We had to keep ourselves occupied in natural ways which a lot of times was on our bicycle

[00:01:17] poles or swimming and fishing.

[00:01:20] So growing up, it was just part of our lives really.

[00:01:22] As I get older, it became more of a hobby and something I turned to just for peaceful

[00:01:28] moments and times.

[00:01:31] As you grow, get older and the world gets crazier and you know, and you get pretty much

[00:01:35] work day in, day out.

[00:01:37] And fishing was always something I could go back to and it's helped me in a lot

[00:01:40] of ways that way.

[00:01:42] That's fantastic.

[00:01:43] What species of fish are here in southern New Brunswick particularly?

[00:01:48] Most of our brooks and lakes, it's brook trout, lane lock salmon.

[00:01:52] Some of them have brown trout.

[00:01:53] There's a good handful of lakes in southern MB to have brown trout.

[00:01:57] And also we have a couple of lakes that have lake trout in them, some of the deeper

[00:02:01] lakes.

[00:02:02] And there's also a lot of other sport fish, smallmouth bass and perch and white fish

[00:02:07] and different stuff like that too that's available.

[00:02:11] It all depends on what you're kind of going after.

[00:02:13] Well if a person doesn't have a boat, are there places here in southern New

[00:02:18] Brunswick to fish from shore?

[00:02:19] What's the best ones?

[00:02:21] In my experiences, most of all the lakes in southern MB, you could have a little

[00:02:27] luck at any time with us at certain times, depending on the time of year.

[00:02:30] And some brooks and rivers actually change.

[00:02:33] Like one year they could be good.

[00:02:35] You go there and get a few trout and the next year you go there at the same

[00:02:38] time and it may not be.

[00:02:41] So they change like year to year.

[00:02:43] So if you absolutely tell somebody, oh, go right there.

[00:02:47] That's kind of hit or miss.

[00:02:49] But just because of the temperatures and the amount of water that might be in

[00:02:53] the brooks and mainly the temperatures and the amount of water to be honest

[00:02:58] with you, I wouldn't expect you to tell me about any of your favorite fishing

[00:03:02] places because you don't want anybody else to pull the fish out of.

[00:03:06] No, no, no, actually to be honest, I don't mind sharing places to fish.

[00:03:11] Most of the lakes I fish are like the Loch Lomond, first, second, third lake.

[00:03:16] We've do a lot there. Any brooks that come out of them, you'd be apt to get

[00:03:20] a brown trout. I did a lot of my brook fishing years ago, where now I own a boat.

[00:03:25] So I need to get out of it and go do a little more screened

[00:03:31] walks and fishing that way.

[00:03:32] You know, I really do.

[00:03:33] But to be honest, any of the brooks in the southern

[00:03:36] New Brunswick is worth to take a walk on. Don't really know.

[00:03:39] To be honest, even living here all my life, like I say, I could try to try one,

[00:03:43] two or three seasons on the road and not be good.

[00:03:46] But you know, you had luck there one time that you did and you just go back

[00:03:50] and check again and it's good again. I've seen it over and over.

[00:03:53] So what kind of basic gear does the person need if they want to get

[00:03:57] started fishing here in southern New Brunswick and what other things

[00:04:01] might be helpful in addition to the basic?

[00:04:04] You really only need to get yourself a small spinning rod and very few

[00:04:09] like things is what you need.

[00:04:11] Maybe some swivels, some hawks, a little bit of weights.

[00:04:14] If you want to use a spinner and worm, that's great too.

[00:04:17] Just for casting. A lot of guys at the lakeshores,

[00:04:20] you'll see them it's not hard to find a good spot in the spring because

[00:04:24] you'll see everybody out along the lakes.

[00:04:26] And most of the times they just put a big bell weight on and big

[00:04:30] globber worm above it and they drifted out and they sit closer

[00:04:33] to the rod, tending it and wait. That's what most of them do.

[00:04:37] So what kind of worm was that?

[00:04:39] I would say crawlers would be your best bet, but you know,

[00:04:42] truck worms are good too.

[00:04:43] Where do I find worms at?

[00:04:45] Oh, geez, you'd be surprised like the airport general has them.

[00:04:48] Little store up in Golden Grove has them.

[00:04:51] There'll be certain corner stores where they sell licenses.

[00:04:54] They usually sell worms too.

[00:04:55] So speaking about fishing licenses,

[00:04:59] I assume that a person has to have one here in New Brunswick.

[00:05:03] Yes, resident and non-resident have to have a license.

[00:05:08] I think it might be a little different if you were a native from New Brunswick

[00:05:11] or something, they might have a different set of rules.

[00:05:14] But any resident or non-resident needs a license unless you're fishing

[00:05:17] in tidal waters.

[00:05:19] And tidal waters, you don't need a license.

[00:05:22] Is that what you're saying?

[00:05:23] Yeah, you pretty much can fish them all year around without a license

[00:05:26] and you're allowed to have different numbers of lines too compared to lakes.

[00:05:29] Like you're allowed to have, I think in tidal water up to six lines or something like that.

[00:05:34] But the book, the rules are all on the book about that too.

[00:05:38] So it's pretty important then that when I get a license,

[00:05:42] I get the book with the regulations and know for sure what I'm doing.

[00:05:46] Absolutely, man.

[00:05:48] And, you know, I hear some people if they buy their license too early

[00:05:52] in the season, they're not getting their books.

[00:05:54] And I don't think that's very good sometimes.

[00:05:56] And I think you should have, you need your buck right away.

[00:05:58] If you don't expect somebody to do something, you're not supposed to, right?

[00:06:03] That's true.

[00:06:04] So what's the best time of year to fish?

[00:06:06] Well, just for brook trout and stuff, usually early in the season for brook trout.

[00:06:11] But I've caught them all summer long in the ponds at Fort Dart.

[00:06:14] I'd have to say when I fish in the boat there, when I'm doing down rigging and stuff,

[00:06:18] we like about August always seem to be pretty hot for some reason

[00:06:22] that that's fishing with down riggers and deep lakes.

[00:06:24] But the brook trout fishing in the brooks always seem to slow down there,

[00:06:28] come in the June, first of July.

[00:06:30] So what lakes are considered deep lakes where you would be fishing?

[00:06:34] Like, for instance, this year, me and my friend,

[00:06:38] we were taking our fathers up to Long Lake for the three day spand.

[00:06:43] And we're going to be fishing lake trout up there in Landlock salmon.

[00:06:46] And their lakes pretty deep.

[00:06:47] They got 130 feet of water in spots.

[00:06:50] And we fish at the hundred feet of water a lot and down to about 70 or 80 feet.

[00:06:55] But when we go this year, we're going early in the year.

[00:06:58] So we're going to be mainly probably targeting even shallower waters,

[00:07:02] 30 to 40 feet because they're the big fish.

[00:07:05] They come in early and they come up into the shallow water when it's cool.

[00:07:09] So Landlock salmon, I guess, are Pacific salmon that have grown up here

[00:07:17] in lakes in New Brunswick?

[00:07:19] Is that what they are?

[00:07:20] They're at Landlock salmon.

[00:07:21] OK, yeah. Yeah, they used to they still do,

[00:07:24] but I just don't think it's as popular as it used to be.

[00:07:27] They used to have a lot of Landlock salmon hatcheries in New Brunswick.

[00:07:30] And I don't think there's as many anymore.

[00:07:32] They are stocking lakes.

[00:07:34] They are still doing it, but they raised them in hatcheries

[00:07:38] and introduced them into the lakes.

[00:07:41] Now, do you use a fish finder along with your down rigors?

[00:07:46] Yes, we use fish finders for sure in sonars.

[00:07:50] And our sonars pretty well show the depth that our down rigors are running

[00:07:54] and it's pretty self sufficient once you get everything rigged up.

[00:07:58] Well, that's a lot more sophisticated than what I have in my 10 foot kayak.

[00:08:04] And don't get me wrong, I was the guy in the 12 foot boat

[00:08:08] forward, I had to lug it and drag it around.

[00:08:09] I started there in a 12 foot aluminum boat

[00:08:12] and got a little 2.5 foot eventually.

[00:08:16] And that's how I started out in boats.

[00:08:18] But, you know, as you get going in your passion grows

[00:08:22] and your interest grows, you adapt, I guess.

[00:08:26] Well, I think that's exciting.

[00:08:29] And I hope to get my license this year and get back out along the water.

[00:08:34] Maybe even get in the kayak and get on the water.

[00:08:37] One of the things I like to do in my interviews, Joe,

[00:08:41] is ask a question.

[00:08:43] What's at least one thing that you like about living in New Brunswick?

[00:08:47] So I ask you that question as we finish.

[00:08:50] The one thing I like, at least one thing.

[00:08:53] Oh, well, there's a lot of things I like about New Brunswick.

[00:08:56] But the main thing is it's just it's just having all these lakes

[00:08:59] and rivers and all these species of fish at your hands.

[00:09:04] It's you don't have to go very far to to be a fisherman or get into fishing.

[00:09:09] You know, I like that about New Brunswick.

[00:09:11] And everybody thinks, oh, they got their secret spots and this and that.

[00:09:15] But you can find them too, because people don't walk that far.

[00:09:17] You just got to go and do it.

[00:09:18] And that's the way I look at it.

[00:09:20] You just basically got to get out and you got to do it.

[00:09:23] And you'll be surprised what you're firing, too.

[00:09:25] So things that you may not want to share.

[00:09:29] Well, Joe, thank you so much for taking a little bit of time

[00:09:33] to talk about fishing here in southern New Brunswick.

[00:09:35] I hope that my listeners will be encouraged to get out and get it done themselves.

[00:09:41] Oh, geez, yes.

[00:09:43] And all the lures and what you need.

[00:09:45] Everything's online.

[00:09:46] It's so easy nowadays and you don't need expensive stuff.

[00:09:50] Just the simple basics, hook and worm and the way you go.

[00:09:55] Even though it's online, you just need one line with a little bit at the end of it.

[00:09:59] Is that what you're saying?

[00:10:00] Yeah, you don't need all the fancy stuff at all.

[00:10:03] We grew up with not very expensive things.

[00:10:06] So and we always caught fish.

[00:10:09] Well, thank you for your time.

[00:10:10] You have a great day.

[00:10:11] No problem. Thanks for having me.

[00:10:18] It's been a real joy being with you today.

[00:10:21] I appreciate you taking the time to listen to the podcast.

[00:10:25] If you go to my website, mbtraveler.com, you can leave a comment.

[00:10:29] You're going to do a rating and I look forward to seeing you back here again next week.

[00:10:35] And oh, by the way, you can also buy me a copy there on that website.

[00:10:40] If you care to have a great day and a wonderful week.