Ep.120 Striped Bass On The Chocolate River

One muddy river can humble you fast, especially when you haven’t fished in nearly a decade and you decide to jump straight into Nova Scotia striped bass season. We record this one remotely on location after a long day on the Stewiacke River, trading clean studio audio for real river energy, late-night laughs, and the kind of fishing story that only happens when the weather is cold, the tide is moving, and the fish are there.

Chris Globe, a lifelong striper guy from Millbrook First Nation, breaks down why the Stewiacke and Shubenacadie River system is so special, how the fish move between Grand Lake and the Bay of Fundy, and what’s actually going on during the spring spawn. We talk through the bait closure regulations, single-hook artificial lure rules, and why this window can produce incredible action while still demanding extra care from anglers. If you’ve ever wondered how a river can look like chocolate milk and still hold picky fish, you’ll get plenty of real-world answers.

Then we get into the good stuff: casting disasters, boots full of water, getting stuck in mud, learning what “bumping fish” means, and the painful truth about the one that got away. We also share practical striped bass fishing tips you can use anywhere, from tide timing and “running and gunning” for schools to lure choices like grub tails and jerkbaits, plus how a net can change your landing and quick-release success. If you care about catch and release best practices, fish handling, and keeping a world-class fishery healthy, this conversation goes there too.

If you enjoy the ride, subscribe, share this with a fishing buddy, and leave a review so more hunters and anglers can find the show. What’s the biggest lesson you learned the hard way on the water?

Check us out on Facebook  Hunts On Outfitting, or myself Ken Marr. Reach out and  Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!

Transcript

Welcome And The River Plan

0:40

This is Hunts Unopening Podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, Ken Mara. I love everything hunting, the outdoors, and all things associated with it. Stories to how-to, you'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast. All right. Thanks for joining me for this week's podcast. We've got another fishing one, and I'm actually involved in this. Uh we have not done a fishing podcast before on program. Uh, but now we've done two this spring. And you know what? It's great. Um, I haven't been fishing in probably close to 10 years. And uh, you know, one of the uh great things about doing this podcast is probably the most fun part of doing the podcast and the best of it for me is the people that I get to meet uh and uh everyone that I've met uh because of this podcast has been absolutely great. And uh Chris uh is no exception. Uh Chris and his crew, and Chris uh I was talking to him invited me and uh my friend Scott down, a fellow Hooper crew member fishing with him, and boy, did we have a blast. And all the guys that Chris had come. People were just coming out of the woodwork. They were so much fun. And uh the ones that were able to do the podcast are here in the profile picture. So if you're looking at the picture and you want to put a face to the voice, uh in the top left corner with the beard, we've got Tyler, right down below him, we've got Dean, right smack dab in the middle is your very happy host because of the big bass that I got myself, Ken Mark, uh right next to me in the top right is Chris, and then down below him, and that's Scott. So uh when we're talking on this podcast, we first get into Chris, and then Dean give us a little bit of the history and uh uh the the river system that we're fishing on and the bass that we're going after, and then uh and then we have some good laughs because uh we uh we get into the stories that the boys told uh and myself from the day that we had the weather wasn't great, but the company was awesome, the fishing was superb, and uh we're gonna tell you guys as much as we can about it. And also uh keep in mind it's pretty exciting that that it worked. Uh so this podcast, you'll notice that the audio quality is going to sound slightly different, but I think it turned out quite well because this was the first one that we did remotely on location. This is the first uh podcast ever recorded outside of the studio. So uh after 120 episodes, um yeah, that's something new,

Sponsor Note And How To Reach Us

3:20

that's exciting. And also I think we got this uh podcast done at around 1230 in the morning. Uh just bear that in mind too. But I think you guys are gonna really enjoy it. It was a lot of fun to relive the previous day or that sorry that day. And um for my first time fishing in so long, I had an absolute blast, and I cannot thank Chris and the guys enough for having it though and all the laughs that came along with it, and the great fishing. So enjoy, stay tuned. And uh speaking about uh fish and marine and nook choke dog food. So uh some dogs have allergies to uh horn and uh soy things like that. I know my dog, one of my dogs did one out of six kids, and what did we do? We said we had the 2616 we were feeding to the dogs, and then uh nook choke, then I switched to the marine twenty-six sixteen. Didn't have a single problem after that. Not one. So if you had if you were looking to get a hold of us to maybe come on the podcast or suggest somebody for it, or just reach out to me, you can email me at hunts on outfitting at gmail.com. Or you can find us on Facebook, Hunts on Outfitting, or uh find myself on there, Ken Meyer. Feel free to reach out. Some of you guys have been, it's been great talking with you from all over.

Meet Chris And The River System

4:37

Well boys, we had one heck of a day on the uh on the river. Well, but before before we get into the stories, because there's lots of them just from the after morning and afternoon fishing, uh Chris, I'll get you to say who you are, and then uh a quick history on what we are fishing in the river. And Dean, you can jump in too there. Whoever knows more about it, let you guys fight that out. Yeah, so uh my name's Chris Gload. I'm from Millbrook First Nation. Uh I've been fishing striped bass since 15, I would say. Uh so I got quite a few years. I'm 34 this year, so got some time spent on the river. Uh the Stewyag River is where we're fishing, it's a pretty unique spot. I mean, striped bass are worldwide, but uh we're fishing them in a small river, and uh grew up calling the river the Chocolate River because it's pretty silty. Um it's the only river they spawn in the inner bay of Funday, too, which makes it pretty special. So right now, uh that's what they're in the river doing is spawning. So there's a bait closure on right now. Comes in place every year, May 10th to June 10th. Uh you can't fish bait, and it has to be uh single hook lure or artificial fly, and you can't retain the fish. But this time is the best time for fishing them. I mean, we've seen it today. There was the river was loaded, lots of big fish. Um there's the Shubi, the Stewyac runs into the Shubanacne River. I'll call it the Shubi River all the time. And uh that population of fish overwinters in Grand Lake, which is in Enfield, Nova Scotia. Uh you can look it up if you if you want to want to see that. But uh so we have a population that overwinters in the freshwater lake up in Enfield, it's a huge lake, that's why it's called Grand Lake. And then we have another population that overwinters in the bay. And uh what happens is they when the Gasparos start running, the fish from the lake that winter there start coming down, and then the fish from the bay follow the gasparrow in. So they're chasing feed, and then they'll feed until the water temperature starts to change, and then they'll go into spawning mode. And I'm sure everyone's seen videos of the merit machine, it's the same thing big spawning balls, the whole river will be bubbling. Bubbling, yeah. Yeah, it's a little hot tub yeah kind of thing. Yeah, I've never seen it in person. It's pretty special. It's pretty special. Like it's one of those things when you see it, you just stop fishing and you just watch it and enjoy it because it's it's pretty amazing. Yeah, and it comes to the point, like you could go out. I've seen guys in the boats, like they'll just splash a paddle, and the fish will think it's a female, and they'll come right up to the paddle and like they'll scoop them with nets and everything. Really? Yeah, like it's crazy. So uh this year's been a little different. I mean, here in Nova Scotia, we've been dealing with a really cold chilly, yeah, yeah, cold spring. So the water temperature's been fluctuating a lot up and down. I mean, today, Scott would know his boots were full. And we're gonna we're gonna get into that, yes. So the water temperature's been pretty cold, so spawning's been pretty sporadic uh throughout this spring. We didn't see any spawning action today, but uh it's been hit or miss. Luckily, the guys chose to come down today, and I had my notes as their guide, and but yet we still managed to do pretty well. We get great. We're hard to deal with, or so now listen, who had the most fish and who had the biggest. Well, I'll jump into the story from the beginning. Talking to Chris invited us down. I'm not, I don't really fish because I don't like fishing, I like catching. And uh he said, no, this, you know, come down, give her a whirl. So I didn't talk to Scott in a little bit. Scott, you were working away. I said, You want to go fishing Friday? This I think it was on Wednesday. Scott's like, Yep, I'm home tomorrow. I'm like, all right, I'll pick you up early Friday morning. So I picked Scott up this morning, and Scott gets in the truck with rubber boots, which I did tell you to wear and bring. Uh and uh I said it's gonna rain all day, so wear something for that. Scott's like, I'm not a pussy. Um yeah, so uh Scott wasn't really dressed for uh for the weather, but yeah, he had a light sweater on. It was cold, it was raining. I was good, I was good until you took me out too deep. Yeah, Scott went over his boots all day. All day. But so we when we started though, Chris, we thought you just brought us out to show us off how good you were. Because you're casting, every day cast like, oh, I'm I swear I'm not doing this, boys. So like he caught another one. Me and Scott are like looking at each other. We're like, I don't think he's doing this now. We weren't catching a thing. After my casting lessons,

Spawning Season Rules And Fish Movement

9:30

yes. Well, we'll get there. Scott bought Scott bought a new fishing pole that it's more like a pool skimmer. Bought new everything. I thought I was fishing with somebody that worked at Gabellas. Yeah, Scott, there's Zelda and everything. And then uh Scott couldn't cast any further than the length of his rod. Um at the end, I was getting away. And then Chris showed him how to cast, and we got we got going that Scott was on the ball then. Yeah. Kind of. Sometimes he'd still cast behind himself. It was pretty much guarding kids at the start. Yeah, I didn't know we didn't know what to do. We did what we did. And then uh so if you had the biggest fish, huh? Well, there's one one who who got the hook then, you? Me. I think was that a 65-incher? Yeah, probably. Yeah, the big one that got away. Well, no, I was saying that when we're fishing, I was like, you know, you hear these stories about the one that got away fishing. It happens. It really does happen. People say that it wasn't so. I thought they were just saying that it was a big 72, maybe. Yeah, right. It wasn't 70. No, it's giant. Um, but you hear the people like, oh, the one that got away. It's like that's not true. It's true. It really did happen. Speak about the one that got away. So I got one that was what, medium sized is 22, 5 inches. So yeah, it was it was about keeper size here. So keeper size here is 26 and three-quarters inches to keep one. I mean, we can't keep one right now, but when you can keep one, that's what size they have to be. And that was news to Scott. That was yeah, so Scott, we get this. Scott's this great, I'm gonna have such good eating tonight. Like going on, like, oh, we're not keeping the whole way up. Kendan. I didn't I didn't think you'd want to get one. Like, you can't keep them. Yeah, it's like I told you that, Scott. Yeah. So it's it started pretty slow for you guys. I mean, I was trying not to catch them, and I kept catching them. It's crazy. And then it started picking up. And in the meantime, I had you said though. Oh, yeah. Once you gotta break the ice. It was it was odd. Tyler, a perfect example. So uh Tyler's been fishing bass his whole life, never had any luck in the river. He'd come out every spring, watch me slay bass. Every spring. I know the feeling. And then it took a couple years. I think I fished with you up here probably four years before I actually caught one of this two, yeah. Really? Like I've been fishing there out there. Yeah, because like Chris always fish the rivers and I always fish the bay. Whenever we fish the bay, we're either in boats or fishing from the shore of bait. And that's that's usually in the in the summertime when they go to the bay. So after they spawn, they'll go over to the bay and feed all summer, and that's where Tyler would fish the bigger. But yeah, I probably came out and fought every six years, and like before me and Chris kind of met, like I came up my old man, and we'd try to go out and just never go catch them. And then we're fishing there. I don't know, once I broke the ice, it was just and it's fun. It's fun where they're I mean, it's a big river, obviously. It's a river, but just finding where they are. Yeah. Well, now that I know he's he even lets you wear his clothes. Yeah, yeah. So that's the thing. Scott came so under prepared. Chris literally gave him the clothes off his back. Oh. Scott got a brain jacket, he's wearing my pants, Chris's socks, his shirt is sticking. I don't know. I've got my uncle clothes on right now. Your boss. So I showed up midday. Yes, and you see Scott walk over in a sitka and carhairs, and I was like, he really showed up prepared. I had no idea until he showed up the lady. And it wasn't even joking. But they were wet. Oh, you soak, and then so well, I broke dice funnel, like caught one. Like, holy shit, and see, I'm used to fishing brook troops. So, like when you're snake, when you get something, like, oh, I caught a stick out here, and then like, that's a fast moving stick going. That was my first thought, though, right? And then got that, and then uh then I hooked a big one. Yeah. And I did, and this it got away. It did. Brought it in, hooked in. I'm like, holy shit, and I was like, I'm taking off a little a little vest for this picture. Yeah, ready for the photo? Yeah, it's a baby gap vest kind of thing, but it's boring and it's like getting it dirty. Um, and then I was getting ready for the photo shoot, and then Chris and I went, he had he got the hook out. He knew how to do that a little better because I hadn't really done it. And then we went to switch hands. Yeah, I went to hand the fish over to you. Yeah. And I didn't I didn't get in there in time. I didn't know. The fish did a little almost like an alligator, like a death roll. They get some energy and it was gone. And I was like, We were trying to catch it, trying to dive on it. Yeah, oh yeah, we were going for it. I was like, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. I was like, yeah. It's all matters on the ones you get in your hands, though. Well, we'll get to yours, Scott. So I was like, I was still happy with the other one. But then later on, I caught one. Would you say it's the same size? Yeah, basically, yeah, same size. So we caught that 30, 35 plus, yeah. 35 between 35 inches and 40 inches. Got my picture taken with that. I thought that was great. I was like, you know what, made my day right there. And then, but then in between that, so Scott, Chris was helping me and Scott, and we're like, all right, we gotta get one on our own because we're we've got a show that we learned. So Scott got in that gets muddy. We were in the sand that Scott was in the mud. So Scott, I'm like, oh, I mug one. And I rush over, but if we don't need Chris Fist, we'll get it. I go over. Scott's like, I'm going down, take the rod. Because the mud was so bad, so I take their odd feel, and then I was like, Scott's trying to get out and he's losing his boots, and no bad. I was like, Chris, Chris, Chris, I'm going down too. And then you came running out and you slowed your momentum a bit, slowed the roll because you were getting caught up in mud. Like, Chris, Chris, Chris, and then Scott's like, I'm soaked, I'm fucking soaked like that. And I was like, it went over my boots and everything, and we got it. And that's something about Stuyag I forgot to mention is that the Stewart River is part of the Bay of Fundy. So the tide comes up, what would you say, 10 feet probably? Yeah, in the shoe, yeah. Yeah, and it's all mud. We were lucky we found a nice sandbar, is what we were fishing off of. But you have to be super careful of where you stand, where you land your fish. I mean, every year you hear volunteer firefighters get dispatched to pull somebody out of the mud, and I thought it was gonna be Scott. Yeah, it was bad. Wow, it was bad. That that fish that Ken's talking about, it's it just reminds me of the shopping carts that I always see in the Petti Kodiak River, which is also very muddy. And they just sink. And they just sink. And they're not very happy with shopping cart, but they're gonna be able to get the city. We don't condone put shopping carts in the sink in the day. Yes. But and in the meantime, so we're we're starting to like get into the flow of things, we're starting to hook a few fish. I'm texting Tyler, Dean, Aiden, my brother-in-law, Mitch. We're into them, boys, we're into them. And you guys knew I was texting, but you didn't realize everybody was coming out. Oh, yeah. Yeah, pictures, videos, screenshots. Yeah, I was four hours away floating an escavator, and I just turned around and started getting to it. He literally called me, he said, You gotta stop sending me photos because I'm about to leave what I'm doing right now. And then they started, then the guy started rolling up. I mean, we were getting into the fish again, and then you bet how many friends do you have? Yeah, well, you you guys would come Dean. You were the first to show up, and then he people were just coming out of the woodwork there, and then like, I brought a pizza, so you know that was a good bonus too. Like, this is great. I got in yeah, yeah, yeah, we all got into the pizza.

Casting Chaos Mud Traps And Lost Giants

16:40

No, that's great. And then um, so you were there, and then Aiden, when Aiden landed his, because it was it was a little while before you got one, Aiden. Yeah, I've got to get it. You it was all day, I guess. That's a little while. Yeah, it's still a baby, but then so when you caught yours, so you had me hyped up because I was like, I've got Chris came back with the net. And that was a game changer right there, the net, because that's what that's Ken was really in his game. Well, I knew that I get the net we're keeping them, right? Yeah. Well, what a great guy. I mean, I get you on the fish and then I leave. I have to go to work for a two-hour meeting. And I said, How's things going? Eat a coffee. No, but I hope you bring the fish with us because the tide had come up as uh as I was leaving, and typically, so there's guys like to fish different tides. Some guys really like the incoming tide. I like the low tides because it forces them in channels and pools. Yeah. Um, yeah, because we had the boats come in. Yeah, so uh it gets it gets pretty it gets pretty busy. Like the tides started coming in, the boats were rolling in, which were guides. There's a lot of guides on the river that take clients out and stuff. Starting to get pretty busy right when I left. And then uh as soon as I left, Dean caught one first off. Yeah, yeah, Dean got one, yeah. And then it kind of dropped off from there. I mean, you guys were seeing the fish, yeah. But what happens is the the tide's up, so the fish can just go where they want. Yeah. Where when it's low tide, it's forced to be in the channels. Waiting for us. So it changed up quite a bit. It got kind of slow, and uh, but yeah, then it picked up when we got back. The water started dropping out again, and uh we started catching it again, and then is was that when Scott let you when did you get your big one? Why don't you walk us through that story? It was first thing this morning. Was it? Yeah, oh yeah, it was, yeah, yeah, yeah. We didn't even land it, didn't even land it, bent my hookover back. Yes, that's right. That was the one that yeah, bent the hookover, yes. Yeah. And uh, yeah, well, everybody showed up and I still had the trophy. But Aiden got the excitement. We've gone fishing for a full day down the memory. He claims he got the trophy, but keep in mind we had no measuring tape with us, so I measured. I measured with my wiener. Boy, that's about ten of them. I win. Yeah, but yeah, Aiden had me worked up when uh when you caught that. You're like, get the net, get the net, get the net. Like, I've got the net, I'm right coming in. I'm ready to go. Get him! Then Aiden Aiden figured is like he's like, I was worried he's gonna break off, like you hadn't caught anything all day. Like, if he breaks off and I don't have the net, he's gonna be not happy. Yeah, they would have drowned you in the river. I you know he's coming right at you, and I'm like, it's like jaws because I'm like all that. Yeah, so then yeah, then I caught him, and then uh you had a bit of a squirrely time getting the hook out. You know, you you well in your eyes. He wasn't huge, but you broke my rock. If you if you were measuring your with a $10 kid's Walmart rod. If you were measuring him under Scott's measurement with your wiener, he was big, sure. At least 40. Yeah. At least 40 wieners. That's not real accurate uh measurement. Mine was 50 wieners, so then we got it, and then I had to re- you let it go. I'm like, all right, I'm lowering the net down. Like I did my job, you're gonna do yours, you're gonna hold up for your picture, and then I lowered the net down, started going off again. Anyway, so I re-scooped it. Yeah. Oh, it was it could have been a movie. Oh, yeah, it it was wild. I mean, we're downplaying it for the podcast because we don't think anyone too. Napoleon dynamite movie. You had to go sit down afterwards. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You're gonna eat those tannedots? But it it was good, and then um, well, he was you caught some there. Yeah, everybody's gonna be a few. Yeah, everyone started catching a few after that. Yeah, yeah. But it did slow down. But then it was your brother-in-law who said, Well, I've got to catch a fish, you know, and then one he bent the rod, and then one broke, and he's like, I could just see the soul drain from him, but then he did, he redeemed himself and he got one. So that was good. Yeah, everyone got one. So, yeah, to today was pretty special. I mean, typically on a night, I don't mean Dean can comment on this. Dean me and Dean fish quite a bit. Um your average night, you're probably catching between two guys, 10 to 20 fish. Yeah. But they're usually not this big school, yeah, but we call them. Yeah, you might get like in a night, if there's four of us out fishing, you might catch two big fish, and all our fish today were big fish. Yeah. Yeah. Two, two were schoolies, but but they were even big size schoolies compared to what we catch on the other side. How what brings those in? Like, why why the difference? Why are some areas of catching just a bunch of small fish, and then like today, we're in the big ones. Well, they're all the fish, the gas bro, like, is super plentiful in those rivers. So the small ones are in there, they're eating, they're putting on the fat. Be and then gaining quickly. Yeah, okay. Then they'll follow them back out to the bay because they're just there to put on. The pounds, yeah, and then uh like the males are typically smaller, so today I would say majority of the fish we caught were probably female. We caught some big fish, yeah. And then the smaller ones, like I find now I don't know if there's this is my personal experience. I don't know the size if there's science behind it, but I find the range between like 22 inch and your 26 inch, you get more males. On average, what today? What would you say we were catching for size? Yeah, I would say mid-30s. Yeah. 32 between 32 and 35 on average. I mean, we had some that were pushing 40 that I would have liked to have a tape to put on. Yeah. And you could have yours. Mine. Yours, yeah. Yours were 20 inches, but definitely not eight inches. But they were good. Big healthy fish. And I mean they looked healthy. We had a great spot too. I mean, part of the deal on the river is it's tough to land fish because it's so muddy. We're trying to handle the fish. Some of us are trying to handle the fish as the least harm as possible. And uh try to not get them muddy, keep them wet. It lives. We don't want them out of the water, breathing the air too much. Quick hook releases. I mean, the net helped with that big tongue. We've seen that this afternoon. Massive, yeah. If we had to hard on them the morning, but it just made it a lot of things. We lost more this morning. Yeah. It uh it it definitely helps. Um, I'm a big preacher of that. I see it all the time. It's a great fishery because it's easy to do. I mean, you guys seen it today. You don't really know. If you got the right color, and if you can cast further than two feet, yeah, you uh yeah. Green seemed to be the color today. I switched many times. I've caught I caught on one color other than green. I caught on white one fish. Yeah, yeah. And they and it's weird because you've seen how murky the water is. I don't like to live in there. It's crazy. For one, yeah, survive, and yet they can be so picky with colors. Yeah. Earlier in the season, um, it was pink and white. Yeah. That's what Dean had most of the night, because that's our go-to, is pink and white. Pink and white's always what I start with. And it's hard to switch off sometimes because usually, like at least half the time, it's what you just feel like you're gonna cash. It ain't what we're catching them on is that we're trying to bucket all up. Yeah, and what we're catching them on is we're catching them on soft lures. So grubtails. Uh today it was jerk baits, that little chartreuse green jerk bait. That's what we were using today. Uh swim shad, uh Scott Trodneel. Yeah, $14. It was damn near $20. All right. Well, yeah, he offered it to your brother. Like, you can use it. You're like, he's like, it looks expensive. Scott's like, yeah, and then he's like, you lose it though, you owe me $20. He's like, oh, you can have it back on the top. He's like, nah, I'm like, no, man, I'm just fucking with you. But I'm fucking getting 20 bucks. I feel like that would be better off in a in a fit river like Mermachet. Mermachete was a little faster when we were there. Well, they can see I don't, I just it's amazing they're not agreeing. It's the same color as the water. The only issue was it was so heavy when I start reeling it, it's just I can feel it dragging on bottom. It's tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk non-stop. And there's no way I was bumping that many fish. I think the one reason that we do so well in the in the stewyak and the shooby is we move around a lot. Yeah. Like especially like now. You didn't today, but this is like it's like why I leave fish to find fish and that's yeah. Because like when guys are bait fishing when the bait fishery's on, like they usually stay in one spot the whole time that they're fishing. Yeah. But like the last time I was up, we had three separate crews and we all picked different spots, and then whoever got into the fish, then we just all went there to the fish. Yeah. So like if you're walking and you're not catching any, you're not into a school. So like if you're bait fishing, yeah, there's always fish running up and down the river, but if you're fishing with lures or flies, you're kind of looking for the school, and then today obviously got into a big one. Yeah. Yeah. One thing that's nice too with the groups, like just going back to the colors, is like when you show up, like if everyone tries a different color, and then if one person has one color on and they keep hitting fish, then everyone knows and you can start switching it over. Right. Yeah, yeah. Last weekend, for example, we chucked well, you see in my bag, it's like a drill bag full of soft bays. We went through every color, and then we found one, and we were the only ones catching them on the river because it was that picky, and it was neon green on the top, and a like a white chartreuse on the bottom, and that's all they would take. But it's crazy because you know they can't see. I mean, people listening to this that haven't seen it, that river is you you can't you can put your hand down the minute your hand just goes up. But there's water when it goes to the front of the face. So you're so muddy. Lucky carriers also the same time as what they can see. It's comparable chocolate milk. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. We actually the funny part, we actually call it you guys call it the chocolate river. We call the Petty River in Moncton the Chocolate River as well. Yeah. Because it's so brown. Yeah. Oh, it yeah, it's it's wonder colors. It's one of the anything living in there, really. And the amount the amount of fish is crazy. I mean, we felt it today.

Tides Schools And Lure Choices

27:20

So when I first started casting, I was like, oh, there's lots of fish laying out there. I'm bumping fish. Ken and Scott were like, what do you mean you're bumping fish? And it didn't take you guys too long. Yeah. And you actually have to be really careful this time of year because it's easy to foul hook them because you get a bite. You foul hook up. Yeah, yeah. It happens. We had one that I pulled out that was the hook was in the side of the fish. Yeah. And it happens by accident. We try our best not to. Like once you guys realize what bumping is, you're like, okay, you just let your lure roll over top of them, and then you just hope that they smack it. And I mean, we did foul hook a couple, it happens all the time. But um I beat your size, but it's just uh like you almost have to reprogram yourself like on days like today to just not set you off. Yeah, like they're gonna hit it, they're gonna take it. And shuttle fisherman, when I feel hit that uh Scott's jerk and pulling it. It's just just real until something takes it. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Once they take it, like it was in them good. Yeah, and that's a that's the thing too. Every time I take somebody new, how do I know one bit? It was like, well, you're gonna know. Yeah, I was asking. It's almost trout fishing. When you hook up on a lock, yeah, that's got it doesn't want to move. And then I'm like, Well, I'm fucking hooked up. And then I'm sitting there, I'm like, nope, that hookup's moving. Yeah. So then you start reeling, like there's not really bite, like trow fishing, you have bites. Yeah. I had a few bites there. If you get a bite with a striped bass, it's got you got it. Yeah, you got it. Or you get the tail, like those grub tails, they have big long, like three-inch tails. If you get a bite, they grab the tail, and you can see in some of my lures, you can see the sandpaper marks where the teeth. And that's all you can look at our thumbs now. Yeah, they all have bass thumbs now from handling the bass because their teeth are like sandpaper. Yeah. You know what oaks? That was a question. Do they bite? Yeah, yeah, and I was like, I held back to it. It bit me a little, yeah. I was trying to let it go. I'm like, you you don't want to go free? You just wouldn't let go of my thumb, sucking it like a little baby. It came at me. One of the ones you let go, it was coming right at me after you let it go. Well, that's a becker, but and then I caught something else today. I was like, really? I'm like, oh, I got one. I'm like, boy, this thing's pulling really somewhat gentle and steadily towards the right. And then Scott thought he had something too, and we come up, and it's like lady in the tramp with the spaghetti thing. There we were caught each other. There it is. And then it wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't happened four more times after that. Yeah. No, who did I do that with you? No. You did it with the brother-in-law. You caught a few people today. Somebody else. You almost caught me by the head when you were learning how to cast. Oh, thank you. He almost caught everything but a fish when he was. I went from casting ten feet in front of me to ten feet from the other bank. You're close. Yeah, you're pretty good going across. Pretty good at the end of it. Yeah. Well, then sometimes then sometimes it's beside me, and I wanted to fuck him up. He was halfway in the fucking river. Okay, Mr. 10-inch. Well, some people got balls, some people get no fish. My boss are dry. I have to. Yeah, Scott, I was like, Scott, you're gonna go over your boot. Scott's like, oh, I've been over my boot for a while. Yeah, you didn't complain, I'll give you that, Scott. No. It wasn't complaining. Who's gonna listen? And the the whole we we gotta see the tide come in too. So I was trying to explain to these guys. They're used to the pedacodiak, like big waves that people surf. So I'm saying the tidal bore is coming in, so we're all kind of the time's coming, and everybody's kind of like looking up the river, waiting for the wave to come, and then I seen it coming, and they're like, Oh, that's the wave. Well, you it did come in. It was coming. I was like, I was ready to make a cale. I was ready to run. We expected the Petty River tidal bore, which is like four feet high, and it's going. Yeah. Like, you'd be running off that beach get away from the Petti Kodiak River tidal bore. So I was ready to run. I was I was good to go. And then this little thing just went a little over my ankles when I was standing, and I was like, well, that wasn't too bad. Yeah, that's my boy. But it's it's a pretty special river. I mean, uh like I said, I I grew up now. Yeah, and it's unique, and I think that's what makes it it's so special, is because Mary Machie, I've never fished it, would love to fish it someday. We know there's a ton of stripers there, it's a big, wide river. Here we have fairly narrow, like we were pretty wide where we were when the tide was in, but for the most part, I would call it a narrow river. Yeah, yeah. It comes up quick, it's chocolate brown, and the amount of fish is just phenomenal. Yeah. And I grew up fishing that. I started fishing bait, and I will not smash bait fishers because they do well. Bait fishing, I decide it's not for me. Maybe I'm just a pussy, but I don't want to be catching eels and my hands stinking like gas, bro. And yeah, I'm not in it. Fair enough. So I tried that for years and I never caught one. And then I actually ran into a guy, Owen Mara, he's uh runs the Strike Bass Association, and uh I was telling him how I've been fishing for years and never caught a keeper, and that's he gave me a handful of those grub tails. He said, try these. Went out one night, similar to what we had today, just smashing big ones, never look back, sis. No, it wouldn't. And using small rods, I mean, some of us had big rods. Big rods bring big fish, guys. That's all I gotta say. I feel like big rod people are compensating. Yeah, it's like like a lifting truck. Well, yeah. Who had the most fish and who had the fish? Yeah. Well, you're like, you can try it. I'm gonna start casting with like this thing sucks. Like suck. It's probably it's like throwing a barbell. We go to the go back to him and his fish in his river and having the good luck and stuff. We went to all day last year. Oh, yeah, we're gonna be. We haven't had a podcast on it. Never caught a thing, never had a bite. Yeah. And that's in the middle of a sheep, which is a world famous river. It's world famous for salmon, but yeah. And stripers get away. But it it all depends on the day, the channel. The channel's a it's a lot bigger river with a small channel. So it's harder to get to the fish. But here, you you got to get your fish, like but still, and then at the end of the day, we knew there's a bunch of fish in that channel, uh, and none of us could really hook any for the last bit. They just they weren't interested at all in anything that we were putting out. Again, two guys hooked fish at the end of the day. Yeah. And the other guys watched. There it is. And that's the thing, too. I mean, that maybe the fish weren't there. Uh striped bass, they typically travel in schools. So if you're you're in them, you're into them. If you're not, you may as well go somewhere else. And that's what Tyler talked about. Running and gunning. We do that a lot. Guys use boats, we've seen them today. We did, they got in the way, kinda. Yeah. I tried to catch a few. I know I was trying to get Scott and a hat. I was gonna try to, you know, cast, grab a hat for him or something, but they use the boats because they can get up and down easier. They got fish finders, they find the fish finders, yes. Quick. I mean, that's how we got to the spot we were today. I messaged my friend James Bassett, he's a guy on the on the river. Me and him chat daily where the fish are at. I said, Where the fish at? He said, Go to this spot, sent me drop pin. We were hammering them there yesterday, and sure enough, yeah, that's where they were. It was good fishing. It was glad. No, we had a lot of fun. Really well. I mean, it was a pretty last minute, like, even for I mean, we talked about it, but it's like, yeah, next Friday, and then next thing I know, it's Friday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Damn. I like my shit together. The weather's supposed to be shit today, which it kind of was, and you were gonna you're like, well, it's up to you guys. Like, yeah, what we're coming out, we're gonna give her a go. And yeah, I mean, the weather wasn't ideal, but anyways, we caught fish, so whatever. We caught fish most of the day. Yeah. We had it, we had our hot down times and our cold times, but you had I think you had a cold time all day, Scott. Did you hear me complain? No, I didn't, no. I was more focused on catching fish because we were catching fish. So I think we're just really lucky. We got a world-class fishery here, and we're starting to find out about it. Yeah, yeah. It's kind of it's been a hit and gem for a long time. Social media now, like you know, people are jumping on it, but you know, once the bay closure comes in, a lot of the people stay home. Yeah, yeah. And that's why that's when we come out. I'm not even from I'm not from Nova Scotia. We know. I've driven by this river many times and seen it lined with people. Yeah, yeah. And you know it's good when people are lined up. Yeah. And I mean, we've had uh Carrie Price was down one year fishing them. I mean, there's it's starting to catch. Yeah, we won't hold that against them, but it it's still it's still pretty cool. And uh it all really kicked off really COVID. So before that, the rivers were empty. You had the guides, and even then they weren't I mean, they were making a go out of it, but it wasn't real popular. It got that busy. Yeah, because the salmon fisheries that always went to Mermachi couldn't go to Merrimachi. Right. Yes. So everybody was hitting the river. And that year it was nuts. Yeah, it was like you couldn't the way we were, like shoulder, well not really shoulder, but pretty close shoulder shoulder. So would you say a little close? What? Fishing. You're catching lines. Well, you were moving in on me. Yeah. I did a couple times, I guess, yeah. Everyone did, because I was catching monsters, but but yeah, COVID really kicked it off. Um and then so during COVID, would that have been like were your guys' regulations different than ours? Like, were we technically told to stay inside? Were you guys told to stay inside? We were to announce called that. We were to an extent, and then it was like stay in your local community or whatever. Okay. So the guys that typically always went to wherever she fly fishing, they can't they can't. Well, they wouldn't let you in province to province there. You can't, so they gotta scratch that itch. I mean, I'm the same with waterfowl. If they said I couldn't waterfowl hunt in Nova Scotia, well, make room, Ken, and I'm coming with you. Yeah, yeah, because I gotta scratch the itch. So they all hit the river, and that's when they realize holy geez, like there's a lot of fish, they do well on the flies with them, usually better than we do with lures, and uh dogs got it. Like my shaker, man. Yay! So uh that really kicked it off, and ever since then it's been it's been busy. Yeah, it has been. But like when I came up probably three weeks ago, like when the bay fisher was on, every spot that you could pull a vehicle off had people fishing. Yeah. And like tonight, you know, it was mainly boats and us. Yeah. It's uh yeah, it can get busy at times. And it's really difficult to put a boat into, so a lot of people are hesitant to do that. Yeah, it would be. There with the mud, there'd be very spots. Yeah, there's all there's only really one spot that you can put your boat in. Oh yeah. And yeah, it's either you go way. But if I'm the same thing in many machines, you'll start sitting there, you'll catch a you'll catch a cube, but then that guide will come sit in front of you, anchor down, and catch a tank. Yeah, we had some close. We had some boats close. From the shore, flipping them off. But you got your technology, and you got your talented fishers like me. Wait, why'd you point at me, but then you said yourself? Oh because I was wearing your clothes. That's all you're still like Yeah, Scott just met Chris this morning, and then he's wearing his clothes, coming in the house, offering people his beer. Well, I was trying to show the good thing, but uh we're all friendly maritimes, yeah. But no, it it's it's a wicked fishery, and I mean it is

Safe Handling Gear And Quick Releases

39:50

very good fishery. There's some people that are pretty secretive about it, but not now. There's well, yeah. Yeah, it's out there, yeah. I'm all about getting people involved. I mean, the Stewyac River was like a world-renowned salmon river at one point. Really? Inner Bay Fundy salmon, yeah. Uh they're struggling next to non-existent, I would say. Well, all the salmon is struggling. Yeah, and it always had striped bass, but of course, with climate change, I know some people don't believe in climate change, but with the warmer waters, the bass, just like the Merrimachy, the bass are thriving. Yeah. And you know what? Make hay when the sun shines. Like take advantage of it. Get out there and fish them. Yeah. Where else can you go and catch 20, what do you 20, 30 fish? I'd say we caught, and the smallest one, two being 18 and 20 inches, probably. I've never been a catch or an lease fan. But I went out today, I caught fish all day, and I was smiling while I was putting them back in the water. So that's the one thing that I must say is like people just, you know, no matter where you fish, you see it. But especially when you're in the mud, you see it all the time, guys dragging fish up on the shore. Oh, yeah, yeah. We knew not to do that. I did it that today too. Take care of them, yeah. You know, matter no matter how hard you try, you pick a fish out and you accidentally drop it, or you know, it flops and do your best. But do your best. Yeah. You know, use your thumb, grab them, hold them up two hands, or get a good net. We have discussions every year with people, sometimes well received, because some people don't know. You know what I mean? Yeah. They're coming out, they say, Oh, I know they're hitting green. This is what I use. They go to Bass Pro, they get upsold on a rod that's way too big. Caught the most fish, but you guys keep saying it was way too big. So the other side of the river, guys. So we try to educate people as much as possible. Some people don't like the education. Uh, we also have a Nova Scotia striped bass Facebook group. Uh, try to make a post every year about like good handling things and like try not to single anybody out. And I mean, the fish are there for a reason. That's to spawn. Yeah. And that's our future fishery, so let's take care of them the best we can. So down at home, we have the same, like, we have rules on minimum size of fish for trout and stuff. And that's what I fish mostly is trout. Anything under six inches, I'm catching, I'm releasing. Same idea. Yeah. I already knew how to release a striped bass today just because of the way I release them. A trout. Just kind of get them going in the water and get the bearings about them and stuff. Yeah. You don't want to just roll them around like some people, but that that won't be named. We won't name. But it's we've seen it happen. Yeah. And we were against it. Scott and I knew already this morning we told him you can't be doing that. Yeah, you can't. Because we we learned what we were taught this morning. And another thing, too, with people getting into it, is you gotta have the proper gear. I mean, you were well geared. Like you were ready for short. Well, not with your clothing. Shut up. My sweater was your fishing. Your sweater was fine until we get stuck in the damn mud. And it was pouring rain. So you wanna get uh like you don't wanna we use smaller rods, medium-heavy rods, because we find them easier for casting. You don't really want to go much lighter than that because you gotta play fish out. So do you find with a smaller rod? Because so when I fly fish for trout down home, yeah, I use a six-foot fly rod. Yeah. When I fly fish for salmon, I use a nine-foot fly rod. Yeah. And I use a six-foot fly rod mostly for trout. So I have a little more of a fight. So is that why you guys is another reason? Part of it's why? Part of it, but like we were in a pretty wide section today. Yeah. When we go further up where we typically fish, it's pretty narrow, so you don't need to get way out there. And then, yeah, action wise, you're the rods bent. Over a lot more, you have a better fight, but it's fine in the happy medium because if you go too late, just like if you caught a salmon on your six-foot fly rod, you could probably land one. It's gonna take a long time when that fish comes in, it's gonna be exhausted. So we don't want to exhaust the fish. We use 30-pound braid, is typically what we run. Yeah, um, we don't usually have it snapped. We had it happen a couple times. A couple times today, yes. Much snap braided. You said it was pretty heavy duty. Yeah, but yeah, that that's all we're running is is 30 pound. It's a good happy medium. I used to run 15, play the fish more, it exhausted more fish, and I lost a really big one, and then I was like, nope, I found the I found them way easier to handle when we didn't have a net because we were playing them out a little more. Yeah, but that's the bonus with a net is that you get them in sooner, they're a little more lively, but but have you no did you notice that I never lost one? They're losing them wives, and then when we were reviving them, they took no time. Yeah, yeah, it's way quicker. Yeah, yeah. You get them in the water and you just pfft gone while A came back and came after Ken and came back right at me. It was seeing red. Every church I let go today wanted to eat Ken's feet. Yeah. I don't know how they can see them. You'd see them come at you like a little shark, too. Yeah, Ken's like, ah, running down the river, but must have spelled like fish. Yeah. I I kicked one. Fish seaman, probably is what he's supposed to. And that's one that's the learning curve, too, is like how to land them. Yeah. That was the first question. Okay, what do I do? Yeah. They do have the spies, and I told you that. Oh, you had to grab it like a football. The fish was like, whoa, what? I was gonna tackle the son of a bitch. It's going for a full on, you're not getting a fucking touchdown tackle. Yeah. It can be overwhelming, even like if you start like as soon as you get a hit and it just starts peeling drag. Even that alone can be. Yeah, we had to tighten my hand from there. The biggest fish I've ever caught being 30-some inches today to damn near 40 inches, if not bigger. So one I shouldn't say that. That one got away. Yes. It is like the Harris Arts pan. You guys know I noticed it too with the watching you guys reel. Oh. You get the first one? I was freaking out. You're cranking the reel as fast as you can. Boys, relax, you got some time, you gotta blow. Just keep their eye tipped. Aiden perfectly. Some people get a little more hyper than others. Aiden just grabs it and throws it like a football lateral back. And even hold the fish. You look at Scott. He held that first one like it was a guitar. Yeah, Scott's like holding it. I just heard the music and I wanted to play along. And the other thing, too, I mean, I stressed it today. Everybody wants a photo with these fish because I mean they're big. Yeah. A lot of times everywhere. A lot of the times it's gonna be the biggest fish of somebody's life. So you thought me the biggest fish of my life today. Oh, yeah, me too. You want a picture? So keep the fish wet. Guy gets ready with the camera, up quick picture, and then we release them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I really approve of that is the safeness. Like we were being as careful with those fish as we could. Yeah. Yeah. Trying to let them go. We have an issue down here in New Brunswick as well, as you guys probably, is your numbers going down in your fish. Stripe bass. Yeah, yeah. Stripers are going to be doing doing all right. Like salmon, salmon and mamma sheets, we're going down over the bottom of the bottom. Salmon or salmon or down things. Nonexists. We've gone from being able to keep two from when I first started fishing salmon to now you can only catch and release two. Well, that's lower waters, warmer waters, that's uh erosion of the banks, it's the bat that's a

Tagging Science Travel Distance And Big Fish Lore

48:00

whole lot of talking. Yeah. And it's cool. I didn't explain this today because I didn't think we were gonna catch one, and we didn't, but they tagged them too. So, you know, like the excitement when you get a banded duck. No. No, but I I know a friend that there is some excitement there, I can tell you that. There is some excitement there. Shot lots and forgot one. Yes. They tag bats, and in that river, and throughout the river, and even out in the bay, uh DFO puts out these sensors, so when the fish go by, they're pinging them. Oh, that's cool. And there's been fish caught in the bay, so when I say the bay, the Bay of Funde, and uh that been from Massachusetts. So they come all the way up. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, that was uh that was it almost like very thin. I guess it wouldn't be much thicker. Like a wire. Yeah, it wouldn't be much thicker than like a piece of spaghetti. Yeah, wow. When you like it has like the uh a number onto it, and then the same as the duck band you call. And so there there was actually a gentleman that did his uh thesis on it in uh at Acadia University. Okay, they're big. They're big and doing basketball. Yeah, so they do uh they'll go to a place that we call the guzzle, it's just down the road from Evangeline Beach, and um outside of Wolfville, and they ban them there. So like there there'd be days that we'd be up fishing. Tag them, not ban them. Yeah, they'd be tagging them on the beach, and as soon as anyone caught a fish, they'd run over, take a measurement, try to sex it, and then let them go. So, but yeah, we caught one one day, that was from Massachusetts. That's crazy. I'm I'm on the waiting list to be a tagger. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I I spend so much time catch so many fish, not bragging, but I do catch a fair fair bit of fish. Not the biggest one, Scott. You still have the biggest one. Speaking of bragging, working on it, working on it, working on it. So yeah, I'm hoping at some point that uh I'll be able to be tagging my own fish. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I get the biggest one today, alright? No need to brag about the fish. But I mean, yeah, big fish. They can, I've heard people catch them in the 50s. My biggest probably it was a guesstimate, but a fair guesstimate. Uh not a 72-incher. Like well, I'm pretty sure that's what brought today. Definitely a fake number. Hens off. But yeah, my guess was 46, 47 inches. That was on the Shubayaki River, and that was a pretty pretty neat store. We actually named the pool, it's like a big bend in the river. We call Big Fish Bend now. So yeah. Um it's earned that name, obviously. Yeah, yeah. It was uh I'm gonna call the bridge that we are by big fish bridge. Fishing on the petty, like we get little nicknames for all of our little spots, yeah. Uh we got one that we call the the Robinson corner because the people that live in front of us are called Robinson. Yeah, all right. We catch the biggest fish trail on that corner, and we've always called it Robinson since we were 12 years old. If we didn't go where we went today, the spot we were gonna go, we call it Kent's. Because the farm, the farmer that used to own it, his last name was Kent. Yeah, right. It's a big stretch of river, big run. The fish lay there, they spawn there, and yeah, where you head tonight, head down to Kent's. Yeah. The worst thing is depends what fishing group you're with. Because everyone has their own name. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think uh no, no, it's pretty bad when you're hunting. So yeah, it's it's pretty good fishing right from the typically I have it now down almost on the calendar. I can say the 23rd of April. Yep. We're going on the showy, we start fishing on the shoob. Do you ever target anything else on the shooby? No, there's not really much that runs. You got shad, and uh, I used to fish shad on the stewyak further up, which is a lot of fun to catch. They call the poor man salmon. Yeah, a lot of the guys down home do it with sh with fly. Yeah, they they run really good, they fight good. Yeah, um, the gasparrow run up it, the stewyac, you do get a small run of sea trout, uh some browns that go up, but I mean nothing that I'm interested. I'm spoiled now. Yeah. You see today, can you go with a fish in Brook Trout now? No, I cannot. Well, I well I can, but it just won't be as much as all we got. But I I still go trout fishing. I'll go to the trout. We have trout camp. We go down for the weekend. I'm there more for the I'm not there for the fish. I'm there for the cold beer and for the laughs. Yeah. If I want to catch fish, I don't fish I fish two fish. Like religiously. Stripers, because they're tasty and you catch big fish, and flounder, because I love eating flounder. I've not tried that. You have sent them on the fundie? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Down towards five islands, we you launch out and uh use piss clams for bait. Yeah. Soft shelf clams. And uh isn't that your nickname, Scott? Piss clams. They've always helped me out in high school. Yeah, no, but uh, yeah, it was a lot of fun. We appreciate you guys having us down and yeah, this fun make this uh thing. Yes, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, I'll be down every year. Ken, we meet we already talked about this today. He's not even gonna bite anybody else, he said. Just me and my thin sweater. Wait, wait till you guys get the bill. Hey, that's a tank much. You can't keep the fish and you gotta pay. Oh shit. Well, I guess already wearing your clothes

Closing Laughs And Next Time

53:55

and drinking your beer. You might not be leaving the pink. I mean, you got a new roommate. Well, that's all that's what I like about striver fishing. I mean, it's pretty social. That's like it's like goose hunting. Yeah. Yeah. You're sitting around, it's like ball game hunting in general. I like I like the social aspect of it. Yeah. Bass fishers kind of get a bad name. I mean, there's not a bass fishing. That's striker fishing. Yeah. But like you like salmon fishers. I mean, you get to a pool, it's pretty quiet, and yeah, like a gentleman's sport. I mean, we were forever from gentlemen tonight. The screaming and the shrieks and the baby schoolgirls. Yeah, yeah. I screamed a few times. We actually screamed more. Oh, uh yeah, so the camera died that we were recording this on. Um next time.