Sunday, April 6, 2014

Inaugural meeting of the Greater Saint John Kayak Anglers



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!

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.

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!

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!