Yesterday,
after attending a morning tackle swap hosted by the Hammond River
Angling Assocation, 11 members of our newly minted fishing group, the
Greater Saint John Kayak Anglers
got together for a meet & greet, to share some smoked pickerel and
sturgeon from our local waters, and to talk all things fishing.
It was a pretty good turnout on a dreary Saturday afternoon for this
group which has over 30 people either signed up on the website, or
liking our
Facebook Page.
We all met some new faces, shared a few stories, talked about our
fishing history and our kayaks, and then established some core
principals the group will try to abide by.
Our first, and probably most imporant principal, will be to respect
other members of the group, and to understand that having access to some
of the information shared, such as 'secret spots', or 'honey holes' is a
privledge, not a right. We are asking all members to keep locations
of these spots that other members choose to share to themselves. We
all know what can happen to a great spot when it's location becomes
common knowledge!
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| Fish in the egg smoking |
On a related note, we feel it is important for group members not to feel
pressured to share their secret spots if they are uncomfortable doing
so. Again, this comes down to respect and trust, and making the group
as attactive as possible to perspective new members.
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| Smoked sturgeon |
For communication, we have chosen to make use of an established web forum,
NewBrunswickFishing.com,
where many of our members already have profiles and are active. We
will post a new thread each week about the coming week's outing and nail
down the specifics there. Once we know for sure what we are doing that
weekend, I'll update the facebook page and the website schedule as
such. This is also a great forum for members to pose questions as to
what gear to bring, coordinate car pools, and so forth. Being a
public forum, we are hoping that others will see the conversations, want
to get involved and join the group.
Finally the schedule itself. It took remarkably little time to come up
with 1 or 2 outings every weekend from the beginning of May through to
mid-October. Paying attention to what fish would be likely to be hot
at a given time, local tournament schedules and so forth, we expect this
list of outings will have something for everyone!
No member of the group is expected to make every outing, but with 30 or
so members in the group, and growing fast, we expect every outing will
have a healthy number of anglers!
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| Smoked Pickerel |
We are fortunate to live in one of the most diverse areas in the country
for fishing, and being in kayak we are essentially unlimited as to what
we can fish for! Take a look at
this schedule and see what you think!
Personally, I expect to make 80% of these outings, and that these
outings will make about 1/3 of my overall fishing excursions this
season. It's going to be a great year!
