Fishing Kent County Brook Trout Fishing Fishing for Brook Trout is a great pastime! Here in N.B. we have scads of small streams that hold, what else, Brook Trout. It's wonderful to get up early in the morning when the sun has barely risen, pack a thermos of coffee and a sandwich and go on an adventure. To be sure, the brook trout are a wiley fish and present a challenge to most anglers. During the day, they stick to cover, hovering under alder branches or logs and behind boulders. Brook trout predominately make it as difficult as possible for fisher people to find them. They spook easily, and if the water is disturbed to any degree or if a shadow is cast over them, they will take to hiding. Early morning or evening are more productive fishing times. The daily bag limit for Brook trout in '97 was 5 with a minimum size limit of 18cm or 7.2" long. I set my own guidelines at 8" long as keepers and took no more than two. I also crimped the barb on my hook so there would be minimum harm done to the brookie. When practising hook and release, remember: do not squeeze the fish as they have a small air bladder in them and you can easily burst this; do not touch their gills; do not keep the fish out of water, if possible, or at least for as litttle time as possible; when releasing it, hold it upright in the water facing the current until it revives and is making an effort to swim away. Given all these considerations, the released fish will survive. I've seen a number times fisher people hook onto a small fish, wrench it of the hook and toss it back into the river. "Too small--no good". That small fish is part of our rivers' and streams' future stock. Perhaps it was one reared from an egg at one of our hatchery locations and put into our rivers on a stocking program. Point being, each and every fish. regardless of size. is of equal importance. The small fish will eventually grow up to be our large spawning fish. Help conserve our stock and educate our fellow fisher people, both young and old. For those of you who enjoy the sport and take your child out fishing, there is another very positive action you can take towards conserving this wonderful pastime. You can become a member of the Kent Trout and Salmon Anglers Association. This association and its volunteer members are doing a tremdous job working at restoring our rivers and streams to what they used to be in the past. There has been waterway reconstruction to better the habitat for our spawning trout and salmon. A great many hours and a lot of physical labour have already gone into some of our rivers and streams. I, for one, appreciate their efforts and feel the nominal membership fee of $10.00 is a very small part to pay towards our fishing future. And for those of you who join, they have fishing caps depicting their logo for $10.00 each. Don't wait to be approached, but call The Southeastern Anglers Association at 743-1114, or quite simply put a cheque in the mail right now addressed to: Southeastern Anglers Association Support our recreational fishing by supporting our local Association. |
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