Happy New Year!

At some point today or tomorrow this blog will have reached 20,000 page views!!!   Wow!   To celebrate, I'll do a contest sometime in the next week or so, so stay tuned!

2014 has been utterly amazing, I couldn't have asked for a much better year!    As I continue with the goal of promoting the sport of kayak fishing, and the fantastic opportunities that are here in NB for people to take advantage of, so many fantastic memories and accomplishments has been made.   That being said I have been adding some things to my bucket list just as quickly as I've been able to knock others off.    So here is a few goals I'll be setting for myself here in 2015!

• New Species!     I landed 19 species in kayak in 2014, so I want to break that personal record and land at least 20 different species in 2015!   To do that, I'll need to not only explore new waters, but learn to be a better angler in many ways from others.     The species I didn't catch in 2014 which I want to land in 2015 include:
• Land Locked Salmon
• Brown Trout
• Rainbow Trout
• Muskie
• Flounder

• More Salt Water fishing!     The times we spent in the Bay of Fundy in 2014 were great, but we only got out a few times.    After catching Sculpin, Mackerel, and even a few pollock and smelt out in the salt water, I want to hook into something a lot more impressive.    Not necessarily a Great White Shark, but something I've never see or heard of, or something a good 3 or 4 feet long anyway!

• Explore new waters.    NB has so many fantastic fishing opportunities which I haven't had a chance to enjoy yet.   From the rivers of the Miramichi, to Long Lake Adventures up north, to dozens and dozens of lakes and ponds throughout the province.    I'm hoping to visit waters all over our province this year!    If you have some great waters in your backyard and would like me to come visit, by all means let me know! 

• Catch fish standing in my kayak!    I know many others fish regularly standing in their Predator 13 kayak, though I've not really given it a try.    This year, I need to suck it up, practice standing and casting and then hopefully get the feel of bringing in a few small fish like perch.   Assuming I can get my sea legs under mean in the kayak, I'll then move on to more exciting fish like pickerel while standing.

• Catch my first fish on a fly rod.   Despite my Dads best efforts to get me into fly fishing in my youth, I always stuck with a spinning rod/reel.    Now, with a new fly rod from Streamside thanks to their Christmas Facebook contest, I'm hoping to get the hang of this type of fishing and bring in a few trout or even pickerel with it!

• Roadtrip!!!   Finally, my last goal for 2015 is to take a road trip to go fishing with one of the many friends I've made through this sport who live in other parts.   Whether it's my dream trip  (Fraser River in BC for White Sturgeon), back home to Newfoundland to catch cod in kayak, down to Florida for Tarpons, or even just a day's drive to New Hampshire to visit Tim Moore and go fishing for Pike, I'm hoping to hit the road sometime this year and fish a species or two we don't get here in NB! 

Those are about it for my goals, that I can think of.... well my realistic ones anyway.   If we look at my not so realistic wish list, well, you may think me a little nuts (if you don't already!).      What are your goals for 2015?   Let me know and if I hear some good ones, perhaps I'll make a little blog article out of it!

Please sir, may I have another?

After having a fantastic year in 2014 in so many ways, I ended just a little short of one of my goals, that was to crack the 100 mark for sturgeon in a kayak in one year.   As of the last day in November when I last took the kayak to the water, I ended with 97; an accomplishment for sure, especially for just my second year fishing for sturgeon (I landed 77 in 2013).   I thought that was it for the year but with the record setting mild temperatures we have been getting, I was able to get out for just a few hours here on December 28th!

Knowing I had only about 3 hours of on the water time due to rain that lasted till about 1:30, I was hopeful to get the 3 sturgeon needed to break into triple digits, but really unsure what I might find.   Well, as it turns out, Sturgeon Alley is teeming with fish right now, even with the crazy high water levels from all the rain we've had, and the very muddy conditions.    In just about 3 1/2 hours I landed an impressive 17 sturgeon, with the largest being 47 inches, bringing my yearly total up to a whopping 114!!!

Overall the average size today was probably around 32 inches.   Not bad but not quite as big as I would have expected this time of year.    I suspect somewhere in the river is a school of sturgeon that are cracking the 50 inch mark.    Finding them though wouldn't be easy!

My buddy Chris managed to get out for a couple of hours of fishing with me and was able to tie his personal best with 4 sturgeon caught, plus he broke his personal best size with a nice 46" fish.   Way to go Chris!

For anyone who hasn't fished sturgeon before, I hope you the pictures and movies here will entice you to give it a try!   While these fish can be quite big, they should not be intimidating.    To catch them, you simply need a little patience, the right rig, and good technique.   Once the ice breaks up in April I will be back with lots of other kayakers, again fishing for these prehistoric animals!    If your in the area and want to come give it a try, just let me know and I'll see what I can do to help get you out!

Oh, if you think the title of this post refers to a line from Oliver Twist, your wrong....   shame on you for not recognizing Bacon - Kevin Bacon that is from the classic '78 Animal House!