TIS' THE SEASON!

New Brunswick held its annual moose hunt last week and by all accounts, it was a success

There were 2,436 moose killed this year and that represents an eight per cent increase over last year. Hunter success rate was also up,at sixty-nine per cent,overall. In my mind,these numbers represent a well-managed moose herd that is increasing in size.If you travel New Brunswicks forests any at all,you will surely have an encounter with one of these giants of the North Woods! The photo shown is of a last minute bull taken fifteen minutes from the village of Doaktown. These guys called the cow out in the last half-hour of the three day season and the bull reluctantly followed her and thats when he was downed.Talk about a happy bunch of boys! Now the bull in this photo is a trophy animal in anyones estimation,but there were dozens of moose as big or bigger taken this year.One of the biggest I heard of was a thirty-three point monster taken outside of Oromocto. Our group only managed to get one tag drawn,so Randy-Micheal,his father and Dallas were the ones to actually go on the trip,but when they needed a hand we would all pitch in as needed.And they did need a hand! The area they chose to hunt had several moose in the surrounding bogs and choppings and for the first day and a half,they listened to a cow call,especially at night.The moose actually started calling the week before the season started. I stepped outside of the house one night and I could hear one cow bawling steadily and one or two more off on the distance answering.The problem Randy and friends had was they didn't have an experienced caller with them.There was lots of moose in the area,they just coulden't get one out in the open.Enter, Kenny to the rescue! Kenny is a very good caller,having many years of moose hunting experience in Ontario,as well as here in New Brunswick with his father,Wes,and the rest of his uncles.Kenny likes to call just with his hands and his cow call is a long,high-pitched whine.His bull grunts are also rather high-pitched,short barks.Kenny doesn't like to call too loudlybecause he likes to go to the moose.Any how,Kenny took a drive out to their area and at the first place he set up to call,he brought out a nice young bull at one hundred yards and coming to them. Randy-Micheal was ready and waiting and up to the task.This photo shows the boys with the moose after getting it out of the bush and on the pole.These boys know how to handle big-game and they make short work of the task at hand.Congratulations Randy on your first moose and kudos to Kenny for bringing him to the gun. Randy is like most local moose hunters in the fact that they just want to get a moose,any moose in such a short season. That young bull will be the very best of eating!Thats for sure! The boys also had a good morning hunting geese in the fields during the early season.They found some birds and set up the next morning and Jamie Dallas and Randy Micheal got eleven honkers by lunch time.The photo shows Dallas and Randy showing old Wes their take for the morning. The geese and ducks are both down slightly this year,but if you did your home-work,there were birds to be taken.Scouting and getting access are the keys to good hunting for honkers in the fields. We are on the eve of the first day of duck season and all the Hargrove clan has gathered for the annual hunt.I'll be shooting with Dallas and Jamie and Whiskey dog,the golden retriever. We will shoot in the morning and then have a big lunch and wait for the night hunt.Then the big supper,along with all the stories and tall-tales and the laughter.Thats what it's really all about.The comraderie,the friendship,the good times.And it's there when we all get together,doing something we all love to do,travelling the woods and waters of the Grand Lake area of beautiful New Brunswick. This time of the year, the trees are ablaze with all the fall colors and some of the sunsets are spectacular,like the photo of the peculiar cloud formation taken from my shore on Salmon River. We finally got the rain all of the salmon fishermen have been waiting for.This past month has been quite dry and many of the fish were waiting for a raise of water so they could move up river.The water is up about eighteen inches and there are reports of large fish moning in the Miramichi and there has been some movement on the Cains River and the word is the annual fall runs of salmon have begun.There is some fantastic fishing to be had during this late season and its one of the prettiest times of the year to be on the water. Although the trout season is done,some large brook trout are caught while fishing for salmon and they must be released but they are still fun to catch! So if any of you sports would like to take a trip to the woods or waters of our beautiful area,just shoot me an e-mail or give me a call and we'll get out there and do it!

DOG DAY'S OF SUMMER

The Grand Lake area of New Brunswick has just gone through a couple of weeks of very hot weather. When the hot summer sun beats down relentlessly for days on end in the month of August,it's commonly called "the dog days of summer.When this weather hits,the salmon fishermen normally take a break and go golfing or try to catch up on some chores around the house or camp.The salmon will lay in at the cold water pools and are very hard to bring to the fly.Persistent anglers using small size #10 wet flies or big bombers with white tails will sometimes entice one to take,but normally there is a lot of fishing and very little catching in these conditions.Brook trout,as well as sea-trout,will also hold up in front of the spring brooks.Many times they will lie in the same pools as the salmon

but when they do,they will usually lie up closer to the mouth of the brook,ahead of the salmon. These trout will take many times early in the morning or the last thing in the evening.We usually use small white Wulffs or a Muddler Minnow pattern and we usually manage to hook a few.Sometimes when conditions are slow for one species,conditions can be very good for other species.During the "dog days",the water is usually low and this concentrates the pickerel in their habitat and makes them much easier to catch.This is the time to haul out the top water lures and treat yourself to some really exciting fishing for pickerel.They will absolutely smash a surface lure at these times and I must admit,we really enjoy fishing for these great fish.The first photo in this post is one of Mcleods Pond at day-break looking from the park out towards the small island.I was driving by and I thought it looked so nice with the sun coming up and the rising mist,I had to get a photo.That's the nice thing about this area of Salmon River/Grand Lake,there are dozens of photo ops.around every corner! Not only are you GUARANTEED to catch fish,you will be doing it in some of the nicest scenery around.If anyone takes a day trip with us ,you will get great photo ops.for eagles,osprey,many species of ducks and shore birds as well as beaver,mink and sometimes the larger mammals such as moose deer and bear. You will get a historical overview and explanation of the fishing and logging that used to take place on the river in days gone by,as well as how some of these professions are worked today.Guests will also be treated to a delicious shore lunch and Ken and I will make sure everyone leaves with a full belly! Half-day trips in the morning or evening for two people is $130. All inclusive. Any one interested in one of these trips or a hunting or fishing trip for any of our native species,just give me a call or send me an e-mail and we will make the arrangements in no time.I will be making reports on fall salmon fishing and the moose hunt in my future posts.I will also try to post trail cam photos of some of the deer and black bear we will be hunting this fall in my future posts in the coming weeks and months.Until we meet again.....Tight Lines and Straight Shootin'!

PICKEREL---TROPHY FISH OR TRASH FISH?

Summer is slowly rolling along,with the weather being very similar to last year-WET! This is good news for the salmon and trout,as the high water conditions and cloudy days helps to keep the water temperature down to a very comfortable level for these two species of fish.But that doesn't necessarily mean such conditions are good for the fishermen! The salmon have a tendency to run right on through to their spawning areas,without stopping to rest in the pools and perhaps,with a little luck and skill,be tempted to take a fly.The trout also will be free to move about in their habitat and not be forced to hold in front of the spring brooks,where the temperature is a bit cooler and more to their liking.This makes both of these species of fish a little harder to take. The rule of thumb in these conditions is to fish longer and try to cover more ground. Being in the right place at the right time was never truer than in these circumstances.There are lots of salmon and grilse in the system and more coming on the tides each day and there are some nice fish being caught,its just been a little harder fishing. The high water conditions has been making the pickerel fishing a lot tougher, too

Again,the fish are more dispersed throughout their habitat and you have to spend a little more time to find them,but when you do,some nice fish can be taken.The photo in this post is of my son,Curtis, with a trophy sized pickerel he caught while introducing his girlfriend to the pickerel fishing in our area.
He caught a few good sized ones and then he hooked the one in the photo.He missed it on the first take,which is quite common with pickerel.He knew it was a good fish and he told his girlfriend to watch as he cast to it again.This time the water parted from a distance of about six feet and the water exploded under the lure as the fish struck with such ferocity and violence that it shocked Curtises' girlfriend.After landing the fish and measuring it,Curtis carefully released this great fish to catch another day.Curt explained to his girlfriend that this pickerel was six or eight years old and it's a shame to keep them,especially if you aren't going to eat them.Take a photo and release the fish.At least then you can have bragging rights and provide some other angler the thrill of catching a trophy sized pickerel. Around our fishing area,a nice pickerel is one over twenty inches.One like Curtis caught,twenty-five and a half inches,is considered to be trophy size.We regularly catch ones over twenty inches and we will catch several over twenty-four inches throughout the summer.Now there are people who think you should kill every pickerel you catch and the only reason they would ever fish for them would be for that very reason. Usually these fishermen are hard-core trout and salmon fishermen who are convinced that pickerel will ultimately destroy all their trout and salmon fishing because they will prey on these species.Pickerel will feed on these species,but they usually occupy different habitats and don't impact much on each other.I had a chap tell me the other day that smallmouth bass fought better than a salmon and he called them the "king of gamefish".I had to fetch him up at that point and I told him I would rather fish pickerel than sm.bass any day.He asked me why I felt that way and I told him I liked the way pickerel took the bait and the fact that they were usually easy to catch.Also,pickerel are right in my back yard,so I don't have to travel to fish them. So,if you ask me my opinion,I will tell you every time that pickerel are trophy fish and I'll argue the point until I'm blue in the face! I have included a good picture of a Luna moth in this post also. They really are quite beautiful! The deer and moose are busy caring for their young and trying to stay clear of the flies,which are very bad this year because of all the moisture.There are lots of moose in our area and the deer are making a slow recovery from the devastating winter of two years ago.It is encouraging to start to see more deer in some of the areas that were hard hit with winter kill.Our government should be doing more to help both the deer and salmon in the Grand Lake area,but that is for another post.We do full and half day fishing and sight seeing tours on Salmon River during the summer and early fall for pickerel and perch and we can guarantee you will catch fish,period.So if anyone would like to spend some time on the water with us, just send me an e-mail or give me a call and we will make the arrangements.Tight Lines!