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SMALLMOUTH BASS IN NEW BRUNSWICK? | Episode 545: New Brunswick Smallmouth Explosion
Mar 24, 2025
For this episode, Ang and Pete head to eastern Canada in search of the ever-abundant Smallmouth Bass. They’re fishing the Nackawic area on the St. John River, a destination that’s renowned for huge numbers of Smallies. With so many fish around, can our guys tie into a couple of bonus biggins’?
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One of Canada's longest-running fishing shows, Fish'n Canada travels from coast to coast in search of trophy fishing opportunities. First started by brothers Angelo and Reno Viola in 1986, The Fish’n Canada Show has been on the air for over 30 years. Today, Angelo is joined by lifelong fishing buddy, Peter Bowman, and the pair continue to travel across Canada educating anglers using the experience they’ve gained over the years
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0:00
[Music]
0:08
oh that's a nice one
0:10
buddy oh that's a big dark fish that's a
0:13
triple header
0:15
oh nice one brother oh come under the
0:20
[Music]
0:22
water whoa he's pulling drag oh nice
0:28
fish it's unreal
0:31
the fishing Canada show brought to you
0:33
in part by New Brunswick always
0:37
inviting rince craft vat the spirit of
0:41
voting and Garmin plot your Paradise
0:45
real
0:48
[Music]
0:49
[Applause]
0:50
[Music]
0:57
in hi everyone welcome to fish fishing
1:00
Canada well it's early spring and we're
1:02
headed to the maritimes on one of our
1:04
favorite Canadian fishing road trips a
1:06
drive to the beautiful province of New
1:09
Brunswick now I'm going to tell you that
1:11
right out of the gate we just love
1:12
fishing this part of Canada and when you
1:15
add a Target species that both ANS and I
1:17
live for well that's the ingredients for
1:19
a perfect
1:21
trip we're going to the town of Nack on
1:24
the legendary St John River to get up
1:27
close and personal with a relatively low
1:29
profile yet quickly emerging player in
1:31
these parts the smallmouth bass but what
1:34
makes this trip extra special is the
1:37
opportunity to immerse ourselves in the
1:39
unique culture that makes New Brunswick
1:41
such a pleasure to visit highlighting
1:44
the culture may seem like a strange way
1:46
to frame a fishing trip but to us it can
1:48
be just as important as the fish we
1:49
catch shooting the breeze with the
1:51
locals here quickly tells us that these
1:53
folks have a genuine love for life
1:55
that's seldom replicated anywhere else
1:58
but this isn't our first kitchen party
1:59
you ignore our first feet of lobster
2:01
thankfully there's going to be plenty of
2:03
that no we're here in search of another
2:06
culture one that the maritimes aren't
2:08
yet known for the tournament bass
2:10
fishing culture to find this we headed
2:13
over to the inaugural destination Nack
2:15
small mouth open it didn't take us long
2:17
to figure out that these competitive
2:19
Bass Anglers were hardcore and we could
2:21
instantly tell they knew the game the
2:24
bolts the gear the attitude even a bit
2:27
of that Bass Pro Swagger they seem to
2:29
have a all as we watched The Daily
2:32
proceedings of the tournament kick off
2:34
Pete and I couldn't help but reminisce
2:36
about our tournament days it's exactly
2:39
like the early days of our Ontario
2:41
tournament bass fishing experience such
2:43
a great time in our lives we're in Nack
2:47
milville rural community this is day one
2:50
of the 2023 destination Nack Smallmouth
2:52
open we entered into a partnership with
2:55
the ne Brunswick sport fishing
2:57
Association and the MB bass tour n quick
2:59
mville rural community sits
3:01
approximately 35 minutes north of the
3:04
capital city of frederickton we're
3:05
approximately half an hour south of the
3:08
world's longest covered
3:10
Ridge as the tournament came to an end
3:12
on the final windblown day an and I both
3:15
knew deep down that these guys were the
3:17
real deal they've embraced this great
3:19
fish species and are taking it to the
3:21
next
3:22
level New Brun bass tour in the nbsf
3:25
we've kind of you know just some guys
3:27
that's kind of separated over the years
3:29
and we just want to bring everybody back
3:31
together host a big event take it back
3:33
the way it used to be and get the most
3:35
competitive Anglers on the water we can
3:37
so even though bass fishing Seasons open
3:38
all year here in the province du Bruns
3:40
we shut our tournaments down during a
3:42
spawn to help with conservation and the
3:44
growth of our
3:46
fisheries and speaking of Next Level you
3:49
didn't think we came all the way down
3:51
here just to watch other people fish did
3:52
you uhuhuh we're definitely going to
3:55
sample some of the St John spectacular
3:57
smallmouth bass fishing and and we're
4:00
going to be doing it in untouched Waters
4:03
yeah baby well my understanding of how
4:06
the smallo Bas got in the St John River
4:09
they came out of the Quebec system and
4:11
they've been here for a lot of years a
4:13
lot of people didn't know much about
4:15
them and in the very beginning they used
4:17
to catch them and throw them in the
4:18
woods I'm going to say the tournament
4:20
started probably around late 70s early
4:24
80s and it's been growing ever since I
4:27
don't think the bass are an invasive
4:29
species and I think that they're here to
4:31
they're here to
4:34
stay oh that's a nice one
4:37
buddy oh that's a big dark fish that's a
4:40
triple header
4:43
oh nice one
4:51
brother the area where fishing is a
4:53
skinny Uncharted section of the river
4:55
that luckily for us was out of bounds to
4:57
the previous day's tournament not only
4:59
only was this stretch free from angling
5:01
pressure it's also Prime territory for
5:02
smallo
5:04
bass since as Pete said this area of the
5:07
river is Uncharted on our Garmin Maps we
5:10
have to ease our way on idle while
5:12
cautiously looking for Boulders during
5:15
our crews we could immediately see why
5:17
bass have established themselves so
5:19
strongly here Rocky Banks full of wood
5:22
structure and back edes that act as
5:25
giant fishh holding areas it's
5:28
perfect
5:30
[Music]
5:32
oh that's a nice one
5:34
buddy he followed me right to the boat
5:36
and I stopped and he came up and grabbed
5:39
it nice one brother are we uh are we
5:42
netting these fish or we well let me
5:44
tell you after I attempt to do it here
5:48
hang on holy mackerel that's a nice fish
5:51
biggy that's not him come on buddy
5:53
that's a big one holy smokes that's a
5:56
good fish right there brother that is
5:58
Gorge oh look at that just came out
6:01
perfect how nice is
6:03
that that's a good start of the day boy
6:06
that's a good new brunsick fish man oh
6:08
son I like that first cast into this
6:11
little creek Mouse in no man's land here
6:14
in no man's land we weren't even really
6:16
sure what to throw at these guys but I I
6:18
got a feeling according to uh our good
6:21
BR buddy Jeff Wilson you can pretty much
6:23
throw anything at them here in this one
6:25
spot that's a an indication buddy there
6:28
you go nice fish bro wow and he followed
6:32
you so I didn't watch him so he followed
6:34
you didn't take it and then he wouldn't
6:36
take it wouldn't take it and then I
6:38
stopped it at the
6:39
boat and uh boom
6:43
nice well that didn't take long in fact
6:46
it took us way longer to meander up
6:48
current to get to this area than it did
6:49
to hook up it was that quick let's just
6:52
hope the rest of the day goes the
6:55
[Music]
6:57
same not big but nice you get 100 of
7:01
those in a day you have fun tell you
7:03
what that would wear you out yeah no
7:05
kidding Bud need a net nope see easy one
7:10
to deal with hopefully he just Falls
7:12
right off you know what I noticed though
7:14
we haven't seen clusters of them like
7:16
two or three coming at oh followers yeah
7:21
yeah another one double that's called a
7:23
double header they're beautiful fish so
7:26
nice some light color yeah and they're
7:27
clean not a mark on them yeah yeah that
7:30
won't be the case here another week or
7:32
so when they're uh setting right up to
7:35
do a to do the spawn thing let's try and
7:38
get a triple header as you're doing
7:45
that I think I just saw one swirl on my
7:48
back did you really I think so I don't
7:50
know maybe you I seeing stuff imagining
7:53
things now oh no he's were that's a
7:56
triple header that's a Triple O that's a
7:58
better one is that yeah yeah a little
8:02
better let me know if he's not worthy
8:05
hard to tell right now you know what I
8:07
find right now that they are lethargic
8:10
though like they're not pulling like a
8:12
typical summer small that was a great
8:15
jump let's see if we can make it what
8:17
are we going for fourth in a row here
8:19
quad a quad a
8:22
quad he's got lots of hooks in him but
8:24
I'm still going to net them yeah
8:28
okay
8:30
oh come on quad quad come on I saw your
8:32
quadfish no does it qualify if you see
8:36
it so we're throwing obviously our yui
8:39
hard baits here today and they're
8:41
instantly working for us they I mean
8:43
when they stick they stick good there's
8:45
one that could be a quad you haven't
8:47
released that fish yet yeah you're right
8:49
and just's throwing the twitch bait and
8:51
I'm throwing the uh the jerk bait and
8:54
just this fish is just one hook in it
8:56
but it's hooked really
8:57
well like that
9:00
nice you know what I mean beautiful so
9:03
the jerk bait bite and twitch bait bite
9:05
and they're exactly the same kind of
9:07
actions the bait just stop suspend pull
9:09
suspend this is run a little higher and
9:11
it's a bigger bait and the jerk bait is
9:13
just a little smaller bait runs a little
9:14
bit deeper a very good presentation for
9:16
pre-spawn large mouth and small mouth I
9:20
could get another one get a Fiverr we
9:22
could what do you call that a we had a
9:25
quad Quin a
9:28
quintuplet
9:30
it's a really good example of what we've
9:32
been saying for years and it doesn't
9:33
matter whether you're in a river
9:34
environment in a lake if you're trying
9:37
to find prime areas in a body of water
9:40
that you're not familiar with one of the
9:42
best things to do is find oh hang on for
9:45
a minute incoming water he's going to
9:48
say weren you find incoming water
9:50
because it it is a magnet for fish and I
9:52
don't care what species you're after if
9:55
you have a choice between fishing an
9:57
area say a bay that has has uh incoming
10:00
water versus one that doesn't have
10:01
incoming water you got to go for the one
10:04
with the water nine times out of 10 it's
10:06
going to hold the majority of the fish
10:08
and this is a really classic example of
10:10
exactly that it's this small little
10:12
tributary that's dumping in that uh that
10:15
is attracting these fish to start a
10:18
pre-spawn
10:20
staging
10:22
not it's unreal it is oh he got up too
10:28
unreal
10:33
whoa he's pulling drag Oh Come of the
10:37
water oh nice
10:42
[Music]
10:45
fish now as you can see not all of these
10:48
fish are giants in fact the average size
10:51
is probably around 2 lb but that's more
10:54
a result of the sheer numbers than any
10:56
reflection of the trophy potential of
10:58
this Fishery
10:59
quite honestly this may be the largest
11:02
population of smalles we've ever
11:04
encountered in such a small area and
11:07
trust us with a decent amount of three
11:09
Pounders a four every now and then and a
11:11
legit shot at a five there's big ones
11:14
here as
11:16
well yeah right by the boat yeah Adam I
11:19
don't want to lift them by uh by my line
11:23
just to be on the safe side oh yeah he's
11:25
all right yeah he is all right so we'll
11:29
N A lot of these fish folks just because
11:31
the treble hooks we're using they're
11:32
dangerous you're going to grab the fish
11:34
to lip the fish the the L pops out right
11:37
into your hand you got to be careful so
11:38
that's sometimes the net really will
11:40
save you another thing I want to point
11:41
out too you might be
11:45
wondering why we're using sunglasses in
11:48
this situation cuz really we're in
11:50
pretty shallow water we're we're
11:52
electronically anchored up and we're
11:54
just kind of fan casting all over but we
11:56
are still looking to make cast to
11:59
certain areas and without polarized
12:02
lenses there is no way that you're going
12:04
to be able to determine that but another
12:05
reason to wear sunglasses when you're
12:07
throwing a lot of uh baits like we are
12:10
we got a lot of treble hooks sticking
12:12
out all over the place it doesn't take
12:13
much for one of those hooks to come
12:15
springing back at you and uh man you
12:18
want to have some good solid
12:22
glasses oh that's a big dark fish is it
12:25
good look dark I just saw the back end
12:27
of them it's a dark darker fish than
12:29
we've been seeing isn't it no way no not
12:31
darker he's bigger than the one I just
12:33
got though that's for sure I think I'm
12:35
hallucinating thought I saw a big black
12:38
back when he fell in that's a good one
12:40
though Bud yeah it
12:41
is it's getting better oh there's
12:44
another one oh yeah they're in they're
12:46
in tight yeah they're in real tight we
12:49
found them that's a good fish Pete he's
12:51
pulling good oh that's a good fish man
12:54
that's a
12:57
beauty nothing behind them though I'm
13:01
surprised they don't want to fight the
13:02
current yeah too La
13:05
exactly you got them under the
13:07
underneath too
13:11
nice okay we're on to them now this this
13:14
is a classic spot to look at it you can
13:16
see in the background folks this is
13:18
where you like an says any incoming
13:20
water or this is not really incoming
13:22
it's a split interesting here is we
13:24
started fishing from the outside in now
13:27
normally right here on the backs side of
13:29
this little Edy is where they should be
13:32
but we weren't getting any bites so as
13:34
we go in Tighter and Tighter what looks
13:36
to be like like the the main finger
13:38
coming off of this uh this break holy
13:41
smok they're just in
13:45
there oh yeah nice hang on buddy I'll
13:49
not that one for you if you could just
13:52
move back a little bit to way oh under
13:54
the
13:56
water no he's not that big oh he's a
13:59
good one there you go
14:04
nice that is
14:07
gorgeous good fish I have a feeling this
14:10
little Cove here is a little indent off
14:14
of this point it's got hundreds of these
14:16
in it oh for sure hundreds
14:19
fantastic up you go up you go little
14:23
darling yeah
14:26
baby I set the hook harder on that
14:29
inch I just lost one and now with this
14:32
current I'll probably pull it out of his
14:34
face now a boy oh I think okay you did a
14:38
nice little porpus on us all right I got
14:40
I got the boat decent hang on
14:44
buddy the reason we not allow these fish
14:46
too is cuz treble hooks come out real
14:48
easy too
14:49
so not bad not huge but not bad fat the
14:53
fish seem like they're in bunches right
14:55
now I don't know what the deal is
14:56
they're just I guess in the spawning
14:58
boat or the the pre-spawning mode you
14:59
call it they're grouping up together
15:02
yeah this one was not getting off
15:05
Angelo there we go
15:10
nice fun fish man they're they're so
15:13
they're so much fun especially on these
15:16
hard baits we were hoping we wouldn't
15:17
have to go to tubes and Ned Rigs and
15:21
drop shotting and all that kind of stuff
15:22
we're hoping that the hard bait's
15:23
working you know a bait like that 110 mm
15:26
suspending jerk bait and's got a big
15:28
twitch bait on they're perfect for this
15:30
time of year me they fish pause it and
15:33
fish just wrap it so lots of fun
15:36
[Music]
15:39
[Applause]
15:41
fishing that is shallow as it gets man I
15:45
can anchor this very soon Ang I'll hit
15:46
anchor real soon you know what go ahead
15:48
and anchor buddy well just a little bit
15:49
longer just for this depth I guess we're
15:51
okay now here we
15:53
go nice oh pey oh yeah that's a buddy
15:58
you're getting there again fat so there
16:01
there you go nice good work that was
16:04
shallow did you see how shallow I got
16:05
him I didn't foot of water really a foot
16:08
of
16:09
water and a good size fish yeah shallow
16:12
shallow shallow wow that's too I just
16:15
had another bite in there too yeah a
16:17
couple I think that's a good sign man
16:18
they may have just told us
16:21
something you're always thinking the
16:23
deeper water off the riffles and off the
16:25
cuts and off the Eddies and all that but
16:27
a lot of times when an just did there
16:28
you go shallow just because you know a
16:31
whim and and you wonder you wonder what
16:34
they're doing up in there they got to be
16:35
feeding obviously there there's some
16:38
crayfish uh feeding on these points
16:41
apparently so that's got to be it they
16:44
got to be in there just looking for
16:45
crayfish Sy there you go there you go
16:47
again tin guy in the same
16:49
thing wow yeah that's really a neat
16:53
pattern there a little bit of a dip
16:55
there though there's like a foot
16:56
difference so what a Cy man pretty much
16:59
insane isn't
17:04
[Music]
17:08
it this episode's hot spot is on the St
17:10
John River directly out and downstream
17:12
from an incoming Creek the way point on
17:14
your screen put you right there the
17:16
beauty of this hot spot is it's
17:18
accessible from both water and land we
17:20
were literally watching people fishing
17:22
from Shore catching smalles to get there
17:24
you can run your rig up from Nack or
17:26
trailer to Woodstock your boat and go up
17:29
River from there we used yui suspending
17:32
jerk baits small crankbaits and twitch
17:34
baits for most of our fishing but pretty
17:36
much any SMY bait will work the current
17:38
is quite Swift here so remember to have
17:40
a full charge on your trolling motor
17:41
batteries or bring a proper anchor for
17:44
more hotpots like this one check out
17:45
fishing
17:49
[Music]
17:53
canada.com I thought it said hook in the
17:55
bottom oh nice fish wo wao he's pulling
18:05
[Music]
18:10
drag buddy oh yeah I thought it I
18:14
thought it set the hook in the bottom I
18:16
love it when they take you around the
18:17
back of the boat then you know you got
18:19
them go you know you got a good fish yep
18:22
come on baby shallow again hey oh nice
18:25
fish
18:27
yeah hang on Net's got little bit caught
18:30
there we go he's pulling
18:32
drag that's good we want drag pullers
18:35
that's what we need
18:38
today got him there you go that that was
18:42
a blast wow he must have swung around
18:46
guys look how nice and golden he is hey
18:49
he said what the hey let me take a shot
18:51
at it anyways they're great man
18:55
unbelievable fishery this is crazy
18:58
this is I mean you're going to we're
19:00
going to catch 100 fish today I wonder
19:02
half a day you know I wonder I I guess
19:05
these fish must obviously they stay here
19:07
they winter in this thing I'm assuming
19:09
there are deep parts to this
19:12
River this is the St John River you just
19:15
don't talk about the St John River and
19:18
Smallmouth in the same sentence yeah
19:20
that's what makes it
19:22
remarkable is that it's it's a body of
19:24
water that you know traditionally is
19:26
just not known for small M Das yeah and
19:29
yet so far from what we've sampled in
19:32
terms of numbers I can't even think of
19:35
anything that would compare to it it
19:37
it's incredible a person could grab a
19:39
pair of chest waiters and they could
19:41
fish so many miles of this River you
19:43
know find some access and Public Access
19:45
off the bank oh look at that look at
19:47
that got him he buddy thing was sitting
19:49
still that thing was sitting still it's
19:51
a good I think it's a good one
19:53
too that was funny we're talking about
19:55
getting a pair of chest waiters on
19:59
what are these guys pulling us around
20:00
the boat now an what the heck is that a
20:03
big fish I have no idea he's pulling
20:05
like a big
20:07
[Music]
20:11
fish he's still trying to climb out
20:13
that's the toughest fish
20:16
going yeah what a blast so like all
20:19
these areas were fishing we were just
20:20
talking about with the chest waiters
20:22
like every one of these areas 4T deep
20:24
yeah 4T might be a little tough to to
20:26
fish and chest waiters but the for cats
20:28
are two and 3 ft deep right so as long
20:30
as you can access public Bank public
20:32
areas to get on with chest weers or
20:34
shore fishing you know you'd be doing
20:36
this all day long this is insane just
20:38
find a little area that's got fish and
20:40
when there's one there's probably 20 or
20:42
21 or whatever and uh you don't need a
20:45
big boat like this it's nice to have a
20:47
boat to access more water but it looks
20:49
like you don't even need
20:52
it this St John river trip was
20:55
absolutely outstanding for us we can
20:57
only let me show you a fraction of the
20:59
actual numbers of fish that we got 100
21:02
fish days are the norm here so if you're
21:05
a herring choker who just loves to get
21:07
your line stretched over and over and
21:10
over again well you need to add this
21:12
area to your trip planner if you're a
21:15
traveling angler that loves
21:16
multi-species fishing it gets no better
21:19
than this one of Canada's friendliest
21:21
provinces and a ridiculous number of the
21:24
toughest fish in the entire nation and
21:27
finally it's if you aspire to be or
21:29
already are a tournament bass angler
21:32
then you need to get your butt to the
21:34
Nack and the St John River area and
21:37
sample some of the most incredible
21:39
smallmouth bass fishing you will ever
21:42
experience and who knows you might just
21:45
win yourself a nice Derby
21:47
[Music]
21:57
paycheck getting there brought to you by
21:59
The Outdoor Journal Radio podcast
22:03
Network to get to today's outstanding
22:06
Smallmouth after Smallmouth action we
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first took Highway 401 East to the
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Quebec border next we took Highway 20 to
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Highway 30 and eventually got back to
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Highway 20 next we turned Southeast on
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Highway 85 once in New Brunswick we took
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Highway 2 Southeast we turned left on
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Highway 102 cross the bridge and then
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turn right on otus drive we finally
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reached our destination at the big axe
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bed and breakfast on the leand side this
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may just be the perfect location for a
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BNB it overlooks the St John River and
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sits directly beside the big axe Brewery
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you can simply walk over and partake in
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a great after fishing meal or sample one
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of the many local Brews they have to
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offer what a way to end the
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day
23:00
the fishing Canada show brought to you
23:02
in part by Yuri fishing lures fish the
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best Mercury out fors go
23:11
boldly and Outdoor Canada Canada's only
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National fishing and hunting
23:17
magazine closed captioning for this
23:19
episode is brought to you by fishing
23:21
canada.com the gateway to your next
23:23
fishing
23:24
Adventure come along to a cabin in the
23:28
wild cuz we're in for some good fish in
23:32
Canada yes we're in for some good fish
23:35
in
23:36
[Music]
23:43
Canada
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#Fishing