If the folks remain stable I will be heading to the Moncton Boat and Fishing show next weekend to do a few seminars. Drop by and say hello and maybe bring a question or two to the seminar stage. I will be helping out with Phil’s and New Brunswick Sportfishing throughout the weekend as well.
Farm 13 that is, just outside of Fellesmere, Florida. Chrissie started us off this morning with the Chug Bug again and had three fish to the boat to our nothing. Not being real slow my thoughts turned to topwater for her boyfriend. I rigged up a 6’6″ Shimano Compre with a Stadic reel and 15 pound Power Pro without a leader this time. I tied on a Zoom Horny Toad for him and showed him the way to fish it and how to get the speed right. About ten minutes later we turned parallel to a stump flat and he sailed a cast out over it. About three turns of the handle and the bait disappeared into a big surface boil and Todd leaned back into the rod. The fish surged towards the nearest stump but he managed to turn it and got her headed out towards the boat. After a couple of minutes of chaos I slipped the net under her and lifted his biggest ever bass into the boat. She tipped the scales at a cool 7.85 lbs.
I would like to say that our day went on like that but the wind came up and made it quite difficult to move the boat around in the shallow stump fields. I had anticipated that might be the case based on the weather forecast and had brought a bucket of minnows so we could try for some Crappie. We headed into the spillway area of the marsh and beach the boat on the leeward side. I got everyone rigged up with some lighter line and we got right to it. This is the third time this year we had a shot at the specks but we never saw one. We caught a ton of decent catfish and a handful of big Bluegills which certainly kept us entertained during the worst of the wind. Todd also managed a couple of decent bass while tossing a Black/Blue Flutter Worm into the deeper water and working it slowly back to the boat.
The wind dropped back down to reasonable about two p.m. so we headed back out for a last crack at the bass. Todd nailed one almost immediately on the Flutter Worm and it was pushing five pounds. I was tossing a white Terminator Spinnerbait on a Compre/Curado combo with no luck. The conditions seemed ideal for the spinnerbait with the wind blowing across the flat but I only connected with one 4 lber while Todd and Chrissie were catching them on the Flutter Worm. I finally broke down and switched over as well. The trick was to cast ahead of the boat to give the bait a chance to hit bottom without any wind drag on the line. We caught close to twenty fish in the last hour and a half and they ran between three and five pounds. It looks like they are starting to move up to spawn on the full moon. If the weather holds up it is going to be a lot of fun this week.
Rick Greene
I took my daughter and her boyfriend out on Stick Marsh just prior to a front coming through and thought the fishing would be outstanding. Turned out not to be the case and we worked hard for the bites we got. Chrissie started us off with the gar pictured above that smashed a Chug Bug about ten feet from the boat. I destroyed the hooks trying to get them out but the bait will be good to go again after I rerig some new ones. We only caught 15 bass in about six hours of fishing but with the warm weather in the forecast and a full moon on the way it is going to fish really well in a couple more days.
I never get tired of the wildlife down here and big gators are a great part of the scenery. The one we took the picture of was a big un’.
Rick Greene
My buddie John and I hit the Stick Marsh for two days last week and had a great time 80+ fish to the boat up to 7lbs with lots of 4′s and 5″s in the mix. Most of the fish were caught in the south end on the Farm 13 side of the impoundment in and around shallow wood and a couple of the old drainage ditches that lead into this area.
A couple of early morning fish fell to a Chug Bug but the bulk of the days catch came on TriggerX Flutter Worms and Senkos. Dark colours produced the best. Contrary to the heavy gear the locals use, we were fishing with 6’6″ Shimano MH spinning rods, Stradics, 15 lb Power Pro and a fluorcarbon leader. The business end was a 4/0 Gammie wide gap worm hook texas rigged. We had no problem boating the fish with this equipment. The only time I break the Curado out is if I am tossing a big spinnerbait.
A great thing about this trip is we are starting to see hydrilla again for the first time since the 2004 hurricane tore through here. This can only mean better things for fishing down the road as the new grass will provide some cover for the fry until they can get some size on them. With the growth rate of Florida bass this could provide some phenomenal fishing in just a couple of years. I can hardly wait.
Rick Greene
I would like to wish you all a very happy new year. Posting will be light for a while due to a serious illnes with my parents. Hope you are enjoying the new shows.
Rick
Just got the word that we will be on across Canada on Rogers On Demand starting in January.
The good news is that the show is a go for 2012. I had a great meeting with the folks at Rogers yesterday to review the season and plan the new one. My producer, Shawn, got me down in the editing room to show me the finished show we did with the Premier. It is a good one. We probably had enough footage to make two shows out of it.
We are going to change things up a bit for next year and the first guest is already lined up for a show on trout fishing. Looks like I am going to have to break out and dust off the fly rod for that one. I am also going to have another go at lining up someone to get us out for some Salmon fishing. We tried this year but it just didn’t work out.
If you have any ideas for something you would like to see on a show I am always open to comments and suggestions. Just drop me a note through the contact us page.
I hope you all had as much fun fishing this year as I did.
Rick Greene
By: Rick Greene
Trying to get ready for a show and deal with the aftermath of the accident last weekend made this week a bit of a challenge. Phil’s and Oleary’s both stepped up and got me back on the water so I could prefish a bit. It’s always easier to do a show if I have already located a few fish to break the ice.
I spent a couple of days on the Saint John River out of Woodstock and I found that it was still a bit of a tough bite but the fish were aggressive when you found them. The constant up and down of the water level this year might have them a bit messed up.
I met my guests, Premier David Alward and Minister of Natural Resources Bruce Northrup, on the highway at seven A.M. and we headed for Woodstock. Everyone was pumped up and eager to get on the water. Imagine my surprise when I pulled into the parking area at the ramp and found a whole line of trailers in the parking lot. Turns out the Fredericton Anglers Club had a scheduled tournament out of Woodstock. Now I am faced with the choice of going out on the water in the middle of an event or shifting locations. After a brief conference with our guests we headed back down river a bit and went to plan B. Prefish is now out the window because everything I had looked at was above Woodstock.
We all got a little wet as we launched the boat in the rain but it was warm and there was no wind. It was just a short run to where I decided to start and as luck would have it I must have stopped the boat right on the fish. The Premier fired a Blue Fox from the stern of the boat and before I got the trolling motor turned on he was into a fish. As smallies are prone to do, this one came unbuttoned part way back to the boat. It looked like I was going to be in for another day of getting beat up by my guests which makes for a great day on the water.
David wasn’t one bit deterred by losing that first fish because two casts later he was into another one and this one made it to the boat. I had started him off on the Blue Fox and Bruce with a Terminator Spinnerbait but after the fourth fish I decided to rig Bruce up with a Blue Fox as well. I handed him a rod with a Senko on it and he used that while I dug out another bait. He was into a fish before I got his other rod set. I think that we had eight fish in the boat in the first half hour. The fish were starting their move to fall spots because some of the areas that I thought should have held fish either had none or very few. We were on the move all day working a variety of spots and picking up fish along the way. We used the Blue Fox to cover water and Senkos, TriggerX Flutter Worms and a melon orange tube for a slower presentation. We caught fish on all of them.
There was a real sense of competition between my guests as they tormented each other most of the day. It wasn’t hard to tell that they were having fun catching fish and enjoying the day in some of New Brunswick’s most beautiful scenery. We commented several times during the day that we live where tourists come to spend their vacation. It doesn’t get any better than that.
We had worked shallow water for most of the day and at two o’clock I thought they might like a change of tactics and headed for deeper water. We idled around a bit until I located some deep fish on the Lowrance. I dropped a marker buoy beside the boat when I spotted the fish, shut the engine off and got out some drop shot gear. We were going vertical in 25 to 27 feet of water. These fish are not sophisticated by any stretch of the imaginations so finesse tackle wasn’t necessary. I gave David a Cumulus rod – Stradic reel combo rigged with 8lb Seige green mono and a green pumpkin Senko. A drop shot set up is tied with the hook above the sinker. In this case about sixteen inches or so. The fish looked fairly tight to the bottom around scattered balls of bait fish. You can see one of these big bait balls in the accompanying photos. David was into the deep fish before I got the other rod rigged for Bruce but it wasn’t long before they were both catching fish including several doubles. These fish were feeding up for fall and they weren’t shy about hitting five inch baits. We used some Senkos and TriggerX Flutter Worms rigged “wacky” style on 3/0 Gamakatsu hooks.
The drop shot action was fast and furious and we hated to leave but Premiers and Ministers have to work on weekends as they attend various functions and meetings around the Province and I had to have them off the water and back on the road by three. We reluctantly headed back for the ramp and got loaded up for the drive home.
You might wonder what it was like to spend a day in the boat with the Premier and a government Minister. I must admit I was a bit nervous going into this one but I shouldn’t have been. They are a pair of down to earth guys who enjoy the same things we all do. Friends, family, community and the sharing of our wonderful outdoor heritage. I had a lot of fun sharing the boat with them and I am sure they did as well.
Today’s gear: 6’6” Crucial and Compre Rods , 2500 Stadic FH Reels , Suffix Seige Green mono in 8lb test.
6’10 Cumlus Medium Action rod, 2500 Stradic CI4 reel, Suffix Seige Green mono
Number three Silver Blue Fox in line spinners
White Zoom Flukes
TriggerX Flutter Worms and Senkos
Rite Bite Melon Orange tubes
Gamakatsu Hooks
First the good news, no one got hurt. The bad news is that I put the Sierra and the boat off the road this morning on the way to the lake. The truck is probably a write off and so is the garage I went through. The boat looks ok, the trailer, not so good. It speaks volumes about the truck when it is probably done and yet Judy and I never suffered so much as a scratch.
Word gets around fast in tournament circles and despite the fact that I had just put the whole works off the road. Phil Barrett from Phil’s called me at the accident scene and offered to lend me his Stratos. Aubrey Ward from Oleary’s called and offered me the use of a truck. Barry Burke called me and was in the process of hooking up his new Stratos to his truck to lend me the whole thing and he was going to bring it to me to save time. There is absolutely no question that I have some outstanding friends. There was too much going on to take any of these guys up on their offers but I am extremely grateful and consider myself fortunate to be able to call them friends. It really helped to take the sting out of an otherwise lousy day.
Thanks guys.
By:Rick Greene
Show six
Today’s show finds us fishing a small lake not too far from the Town of Woodstock with my guest Mike Eagles. Mike is the athletic director for St. Thomas University and a former NHL player and he is one busy guy. Took me two years to get him on the show and that was with both of us trying to make it happen. As it turns out it was worth the wait.
Mike tied on a copper Blue Fox in-line spinner to start the day off. The point we were fishing has about 18 inches of water on the top with mixed grass and rocks. It has a very abrupt drop on the sides from those 18 inches into almost five feet of water. The fish move along that break and feed along the sides and the top but usually close to the safety of the deeper water. I held the boat out off the break with the Minn Kota and picked up a rod that was rigged with a big Skitter Pop. The low light, foggy start to the day just screamed top water at me but it was not to be. Mike nailed a bass on his first cast which is not a bad way to start the day. I tried the top water for the next fifteen minutes and only had one fish blow up on it and miss while Mike kept catching fish. I’m not real slow to realize I am getting tuned up from the back of the boat so I switched to a silver Blue Fox and tried to catch up to Mike. I don’t know how many fish we caught on the point but it was a great start to the day as I worked the boat around the edges for over an hour.
Our next stop was a shallow gravel bar that comes out off of shore for about fifty feet. Very shallow on top and a quick roll off to seven feet. I suggested to Mike that it would be a good place to throw a Flutter Worm or tube on the break but he was liking the Blue Fox and almost immediately pulled a couple of fish off of the top. Go figure, in that clear shallow water they shouldn’t have been up there this time of day. That being said, I did pick up a half a dozen fish on the deeper side and they were all decent size fish. The Flutter Worm was Black / Blue fleck fished Texas rigged on a 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG worm hook. Big wide gap and needle sharp right out of the package. The tube was one of my tournament favourites in dark melon with a bit of copper flake in it. It was fished on a 1/8 ounce tube head. Mike and I were both using 6’6” medium Crucial rods with 8lb Suffix Seige line in green for our Blue Fox spinners. I like the little bit extra flex in the tip for throwing these baits. I bumped up to a 6’6” Crucial in medium heavy when I switched to the Flutter Worm and tube. The same setup was also used for the top water. Our reels for the morning were all Stradics.
We left this spot around noon and proceeded out to deeper water to look for fish that were sitting in the open water around bait fish. I switched to a 6’8” Crucial rod rigged with the new CI4 Stradic 2500 and Mike went to a 6’8” Cumara rod rigged with a 25oo series Stradic. We stuck with the 8lb Seige. We idled around until we marked some fish on the Lowrance and dropped a marker buoy off to the side. We brought the boat back on the trolling motor to keep the noise to a minimum. The fish were sitting just off of the bottom in 25’. We tied up a couple of drop shot rigs with the hook about 18 inches above the sinker. These fish are not sophisticated by any means so we were not aiming for finesse and instead used a 3/0 Gammy and a Wacky rigged Flutter Worm. Just lower it to the bottom until the line just goes slack, then a turn of the reel handle to put some tension on the line. With this rig your weight in tied on below the hook and sits on the bottom. The idea is to keep the line tight enough that your bait is sitting just off the bottom. In our case about 18 inches. Sometimes the bite is distinct and at others you lose the feel of the weight because the fish has come up and taken the bait and lifted the sinker off of the bottom. Set the hook and reel as fast as you can because they usually rocket right to the surface. We had a double on as soon as we dropped the baits on the fish we had graphed. Not too shabby at all. Unfortunately we had some unforeseen difficulties and did not get any of this taped and our day came to an end as far as shooting more footage. Maybe I will get to go back in and do a show on drop shot before we wrap up for the year. If you are even a little bit competent with your electronics this can be a great way to catch fish that most guys never find. One of the guys told me after a tournament that I fish in some of the strangest places. That is because I am not focused on the banks all of the time and I am willing to spend some time idling around looking for isolated cover or balls of bait that may have big fish around it. Twenty five feet sounds deep but my boat is twenty feet long and it sure doesn’t seem to be a big distance from the Evinrude at the back to the Minn Kota at the front.
Today’s gear:
6’6” Crucial and Compre rods in Medium and Medium Heavy
Suffix Seige Green mono in 8lb test.
2500 series Shimano Stradic reels including the new Carbon Fiber model CI4 which is a super light weight reel and a dream to fish with.
6’8’ Cumara Medium Heavy
6.8’ Crucial Medium
TriggerX Flutter Worms in Black/Blue Fleck
Rite Bite Melon Orange Tube
#3 Silver and Copper Blue Fox in-line spinners
