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I think I may be crazy. Woke up Saturday morning and it is minus 7 degrees out at 5am. Had a coffee then hooked up with my buddy Phil and his wife Nancy and headed Stateside to prefish for next weeks Maine Blade Runners tournament on the Grand Falls Flowage. A quick Q & A session with the US customs officer and off we went to the launch.

We launched the boat at Squirrel Point and headed { slowly } to our first spot. Slowly because it was still only minus 7. I had so many clothes on I could hardly move and I was still not really happy. We got set up on our first spot and I nailed a fish on my second cast. Phil tossed a bait in behind the one I got and he was hooked up as well. Not a bad way to start off with the cold air and water at 5 degrees...

The Backwater Casting photo draw winner for March is John Thomas from Moncton, NB. John will receive a certificate for an Interstate Deep Cycle Battery courtesy of our friends at Interstate Batteries of Canada. As a tournament angler my batteries are key to everything in my boat. They run the Minn Kota up front, two sets of Lowrance Sonar / GPS units and all of my pumps and accessories. I buy what works and Interstate is what is in my boat.

The prize battery is not the one shown in the photo.

I guess the go0d times had to end with a reality check. Left the 80 degree weather and headed for Canada. First day back and I have to clean snow off my truck. Not really what I was looking forward to but at least it wasn’t a big clean up when we got here.

The fishing season sort of starts off for me this week with some seminars at the Moncton Boat Show and spending some time in the booths with Phil’s Auto and Recreation and the New Brunswick Sport Fishing Association. April 2 will find me at the Burton’s Lions Club for the annual Fisherman’s Flea Market and then we will be getting the boat and tackle ready for a tournament in Maine. They open up a little bit earliar than us so we get to start fishing early. Largemouth gear is packed away and the smallie tackle is comin’ out.

I hate to say it but Thursday was my last day fishing Stick Marsh until next year. The fish had started moving shallow again with a full moon coming this weekend and Judy and I had a great day yesterday. The wind switched north overnight so I wasn’t sure what to expect this morning. Had three friends from NB meet me in Fellsmere and we headed into the ramp at 7am. I got them all set up with some Shimano rods and reels and away we went.

 We got down to the south end and we had about a one foot chop blowing right into the wood which made it a bit dicey manouvering the boat around but Chris was into a fish within a couple of  minutes of us starting, then he got another one, then another one, then the talk turned to whether or not we should abandon him on a stump for a while so someone else co...

What a day we had today. Folks that were visiting headed home for Canada today and Judy and I hit the water at daybreak. The pictures are three of the better fish we had today over a period of six hours. The big treat for me was that the topwater bite was on and they just inhaled a Chug Bug over and over. Gotta love it. Flutter Worms accounted for a big percentage of the rest. I dropped down to 15lb Power Pro today and that will be permanent. Excellant castability and no issue with the big fish in the stumps. We boated 62 fish with the best five going over thirty pounds. Gonna go again in the morning with some friends from home.

I will be doing a few seminars at the Moncton Boat Show at the end of the month. If you are at the show drop over and say hello. I will be there all weekend at Phil’s booth or at the New Brunswick Sport Fishing Association booth. Not looking forward to coming back to the snow but I am really looking forward to some fantastic New Brunswick spring Smallmouth Bass fishing.

This month’s winner is Robert Cail from Moncton, New Brunswick. Robert will receive a Shimano Rod and Reel complements of Shimano Canada and Oleary Buick GMC Ltd. Still more prizes to win so keep those entries coming in.

Wow, the Stick Marsh comes through again. This beauty topped the scales at 9lbs 11 ozs and hit a Flutter Worm in 4 feet of water. She pulled like a freight train as she headed for the stumps but I was able to get her head up and get her headed towards the boat. Gear for this one was a 6’6″ Compre Medium Heavy Spinning rod, an older 2000 series Stradic, 20 lb Power Pro and a 15lb Flourocarbon leader. Still not sure if the leader is that important in the dingy water but old habits die hard. We caught about 50 fish on this trip with lots of fours and a few fives in the mix. We are starting to see a renewal of hydrilla in the lake which we haven’t seen since the 2004 hurricane wiped the grass out. The big reed beds in the SW corner have never recovered...

Wow, I just got the word that Big Jim has been inducted into the Canadian Sport Fishing Hall of Fame.  I have had the pleasure of knowing Jim for many years and could not think of a more deserving individual for such an honour. Way to go Big guy.