Missing my friend Bryant Freeman

Seeing this posted picture of BryantFreeman stirred some deep feeling in me as I’m sure it has many other fly fishing enthusiast that knew him. I lived a short walk from Bryant’s business Eskape Anglers Tackle Shop. There was something exciting, a special feeling going to his tackle shop on a warm spring day for some fly tying lessons or tell him that I won a crown reserve draw. One time in particular around 2003 I went to his shop and told him I won the Charlie’s Rock crown reserve stretch. There is no words to really explain the sharing of that moment. A moment of excitement, memories, nostalgia and a promise of three days of prime salmon fishing in the remotes of NewBrunswick. As Bryant put it in one of his writings…..”there is no words to do those thoughts justice. It is reserved for only those that know” Because there were no words, Bryant would express his excitement with a tight lipped smirk, a head shake and say ah ah ah. It was indeed a moment that only those that were in the know understood. An understanding between two liked minded people with the same passion. But this moment was even more special than most. He had an elevated excitement about my winning the crown reserve draw for the Charlie’s Rock stretch. It was one of his favourite crown reserves stretches. He talked about how the moon would come up on the left side of the camp and work its way around to the right side of the camp by morning. He continued to say he love how the moon lit up the long straight stretch of water right in front of the camp and casts a silhouette through the trees. This view, this joy, this sharing of a brief moment was indeed reserved only for those who knew it. This moment sure rings loudly my missing of Bryant Freeman. I have his book and the flies he tied for me. I have both set aside for keep sakes. Bryant died at 80 years old on November 29 2021.

A day out moving snow with my tractor

Part 2 of 2 Last fishing trip of 2018 - Crawford Stretch

We headed to a cold water tributary of the mighty Little Southwest Miramichi to fish for Wild Atlantic Salmon. Even in the record breaking heat of 2018, this cold water spring fed tributary was still 14 degrees celsius (58 f) which is near ideal for Atlantic Salmon.

We landed at the camp a little after 2pm. The camp was 40 feet from the bank and boasted a screened in deck with a beautiful view of the river.  Being screen in and under the shade of the trees gave repreave from the heat and bugs.  This served us well as the outside temperature was 36 with humitiy.

With drinks in hand we toasted to the pleasures. Within 10 minutes of basking in the glory of the camp we seen 3 salmon jump which gave promise of some good fishing. Seeing these mighty fish jump in such pristine wilderness is an experience all of its own.

This hotter than usual 2018 season caused grave concerns for the salmon's well being. The salmon counts in the Maritime was down and to add to the concern the water was so warm it was stressing the salmon. This state of affairs applied to most of the rivers in the Atlantic Provinces. These valid concerns resulted in Department of Natural Resources putting fishing restriction in place for the Miramichi. Fishing was only allowed between 6a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

For most people the restriction was enough to cancel their trip. We on the other hand enjoy are trips immensely and we only gets so much time together so come hell or high/low water, we make the best of it.

Around 4 p.m. we scouted the lower pools of the 15 km stretch. These pools being big and flat were nice but didn’t real give us that feeling that it would be an exciting place to fish. I guess after many years of fishing we became instinctive and intuitive as to what we are looking for in water.

We then took a drive to see the country side. The amount of forestry cutting was appalling. Just the same it was beautiful county and most of the cutting was replanted.

The evening came, I lit my pipe and popped open a beer. We sat in the screen in deck, played guitar and watched the salmon jump. After dark only the silhouette of the trees could be seen so the splash of the heavy fish left it's size to our imagination.

Later that night the super moon shone bright giving us our final view of the of the trees line before retiring.

July 28,2018 - Due to the fishing restriction, the morning was the first time slot that we were actually allowed to fish. We had a late night but managed to be on the river by 6:00 am. Connor and Aaron decided to fish the pool just in front of the camp and Chad and I went up river.

Chad and I fished a beautiful pool just upstream of the camp. We were expecting more from this pool but I caught only one small trout. We explored our way father upstream until we came to a rockey big deep pool.  In 5 minutes I landed a nice grilse. Wanting to know what was around the next turn, we continued to hike a very rugged path upstream to yet another pool.  It wasn’t long before Chad hooked and landed a 25 pound salmon. We seen other salmon roll.  They were all big salmon and no grilse.

11:00 a.m. came in a flash which was when we had to stop fishing. Chad and I headed back to the camp and met up with Aaron and Conor. Conor caught and released a grilse within 5 minutes of fishing but Aaron was empty handed. After a big feed of eggs and bacon we took a much needed 3 hour nap.

Here is conor with his grilse.

Awaking refreshed we were ready to take on the heat to reward ourselves with a scenic hike up the Palisades Falls. The Palisades Falls is on the North Pole Stream, which is a tributary of the Little South West of the Miramichi.   The falls are not one big drop but a series of 10' to 30' foot drops with pools on the bottom of each step. They are as beautiful as they are unique. Being located in this very remote area just adds to it's pleasure. We started to hike the falls but it started to thunder and lightning so we turned around and went back to the camp.

Palisades Fall repeats it's 20 foot drops for more than 1 Km. 

At the bottom of the Palisades Falls sits the camp for the Crown Water stretch called Palisades stretch. There was a crew fishing this stretch. After talking with these light hearted fishermen we learned that they never caught a fish.  They had the next morning to try their luck again but for now they were content with having a few beer and enoying some comodery.

Buy the time we got back to the camp our second evening was upon us. It was time for some guitar, beer, and bear sausages which put us in fine form. We retired around midnight which is an early night for us. This made it easier to get up at 5:00 a.m.

Aaron fished the pool in front of the camp. I went to the second pool upstream from the camp and Chad and Conor went to the third pool up from the camp which is where Chad caught the 25 pounder.   My morning of fishing was incredible. I caught 2 more grilse and one 25 pound salmon. The final minutes of fishing was nearing when over the din of the river, I heard Aaron yelled “any luck”?  We shared our stories of the morning fishing. Aaron landed one nice grilse. Moments later Chad and Connor joined us. With Chad usual excitement he told his story of hooking and loosing two big salmon and Connor had a taker who rolled at his fly but never really hooked up.  A great morning of fishing indeed.

Once back at the camp, Chad fired up the propane stove and put the steak in the sizzling frying pan. Over a fine steak and stein dinner we rehashed the trip’s highlights. The highlights were great fishing, incredible scenery, a sighting of two deer, one bear and many laughs. The sharing of these great times made the thoughts of leaving hard to swallow.

Dinner was over, we cleaned the camp, pack our gear and reluctantly headed for home. We committed to another trip to this stretch but we don’t know when we will be back. It was one of those trips that your heart never leave.

Constructing the road from the Cabin to the Beach & construction hacks

The Log Cabin Journal. Journal Entry 1.

The Log Cabin Dream

Somewhere on a secluded mountain in Eastern Canada, my father in law and his brothers built a log cabin which overlooked a splendid harbour. Replete with fine workmanship, the cabin seemed to beg for human visitors to light its wood stove and echo its’ wall with laughter. And on many weekends the brother’s laughter did echo the cabin walls, and the wood stove was lit, and the snow fell, and the whiskey was poured and the deer, moose and bears ate the apples from the orchard which was in plain view from the overhanging deck and loft window. And when the celebrations were over and brothers departed, the cabin seem to whisper, “Donnie, Raymond, Jackie, where did you go. Don’t you know I miss you”.

Few have ever seen this secluded cabin but there was a lasting impression on the ones who did. My wife and I were no exception. Inspired, we set out to build a cabin of our own. In 1990 the cabin planning began but starting a family became our priority so the building of the log cabin was put on the back burner. Like the cabin on the mountain, time silently passes. Now, twenty-eight years later, with our children grown and the pain of being an empty nester behind us, we once again turned our attention to our log cabin dream.

Choosing a site for my log cabin.

May 15, 2018 - Today, the warm springs air brought a flood of thoughts about building our cabin. Excited about finding a site I set out with GPS in hand. As I explore the local secluded forest, I summons my metal checklist for site features I think are important. Maybe it will sit high on a hill with a commanding view or perhaps the site will have a more intimate essence like perched on a bank of a babbling brook. Whatever I choose it must to be fitting for a secluded log cabin theme.

Also on this checklist is the site’s resources. Resources include southern exposure, water, and an abundance of spruce, cedar or pines. Although the later is important I have a tractor with a logging winch and trailer so harvesting and moving the logs to the site is not a show stopper.

A site perched high on the hill looking down on the harbour.

I stumbled upon a very unique location. Diagram above... It is bizarre in this extremely rugged terrain and so high on a mountain to have a flat area 100 feet by 400 feet. There is spring outflow yet the ground is not a boggy, but firm and rocky. From high on the mountain it sports a nice long range view of a harbour. On the down side there is no logs worthy of a cabin unless I use hardwood. I prefer to use spruce, cedar or pine as they are lighter and more durable. I marked this location on my GPS but will continue my search. There is to much work to build a log cabin not to get the right site.

Deer & coyote/wolf in same field

How we got through the Blizzard of Jan 2018

ATV trail repair

The log cabin road

Dinner with a logger

67 year old arborist climbs tree

The Hermit of Gully Lake

Willard Kitchener MacDonald jumped a troop train heading for war.  He ran deep into the woods and live as a recluse for years before anybody knew he was there.  He lived by eating fish, squirrels, buries.  He use to walk I believe 10 miles to EarlTown Nova Scotia  to get supplies.  With the onset of ATV they discovered him years later as a humble old man. Many people wanted to help him but he was proud and refused help.  He was a christian, humble,  witty, secretive, and when he didn't want to be found you would not find him.  In the later years some of his friends use to go visit him.  He had built his own guitar out of a tree but later his friends bought him one.  He came from a musical family and when he lived in civilization he use to play at dances.  His music was pretty unique because he never had much influence of the top 10 songs on the radio.  A couple of well know musicians visited  him years ago and played guitar with him.   Their visit inspired them to write a song about him called Let HIm Be.  It can be found on youtube.. The musicians that  made the song was John Mier and Dave Gunning.   The song was about  Willard Kitchener Macdonald (the hermit of gully lake) and how he live his life and was a great tribute to him. They  finished making this song  when Willard Kitchener Macdonald disappeared from his humble abode into the woods.   Some say he disappeared deeper into the woods because he was scared that people would take him to the hospital because he had a bad flue.  Some say he went to die.  There was a rescue team that  looked for him but didn't find him until the next spring. They found him dead near the place he had his original hut near Gully Lake in Northern Nova Scotia Canada.  He died in 2003 at age 87. 

Willard was a very humble unique man.  People that new him loved him.  There is a brook written about him called the Hermit of Gully Lake. This is an incredible compelling story which is a must read. .

You can purchase the book by clicking the picture banner above.

deep snow, violent storms, & seclusion but still there is beauty.

deep snow, violent storms, & seclusion but still there is beauty.

change of season

Fishing the Miramichi Aug 1, 2016 to Aug 5, 2016

Itinerary was fish Crawford stretch Aug 1- Aug 3 2016 then of to Ground Hog Landing Stretch to fish Aug 3 to Aug 5.

I left Cape Breton to returned home to Moncton just in time to get ready for our fishing trip to the Miramichi on Aug 1 to Aug 5 2016. There was some prep work like co-ordinate the supplies, put the sides on the trail and repair the dry bags. My wife Sylvia made the Crawford Crew 10 year anniversary sign for the back of the trailer. This sign was to remind us that me and my three great friends Denis, Aaron, and Chad have been doing remote fishing trips for 10 years. We jokingly called ourselves the Crawford Crew because the Crawford Stretch is where we did our first remote trip 10 years ago. Somebody was looking out for us when on our 10th anniversary we were able to go back to the Crawford Stretch as this stretch has to be won in a government draw.

I stopped at Escape Anglers in Riverview, N.B. for some flies the day before but the boys wanted to keep the tradition of stopping at Trout Brook Fly Shop. I bought a fly line because I didn't like the orange one I had on. I was thinking that the orange line had something to do with my low catches I had since I bough it.  My suspicion were reaffirmed when I seen an underwater test some big outfit did and the result was the line was much more visible which could distract fish from the fly.

Reunited at the Crawford Camp Pool.
We arrived at the Crawford camp at 2pm. We reunited at the Crawford Camp Pool which is where we first started fishing together 10 years ago. We took some pictures and clinked our beer cans together to toast our 10 year anniversary. We unloaded our gear then drove our ATVs 10 km to the warden’s camp to get our camp key that was missing. The warden camps sits on the banks of the spawning ground so we looked into the water and seen many nice trout and salmon. Only the maintenance workers were there so we did not get the camp key. This was no biggy because we are so far in the woods that seldom anybody drives by.

A beautiful evening fishing.
We returned back to the camp and enjoyed a chile supper that Sylvia my wife sent with us. At 7pm we went fishing. Denis and I went to Split Rock Pool and enjoyed a great evening of fishing. We had many salmon go for the fly and ended up hooking 6 salmon(grilse) and landing 2 each. Denis also caught a nice 14 inch trout. We kept the trout but the salmon was catch and release. The weather was perfectly comfortable with not many flies. Few evenings have I spent with such great fishing and perfect comfortable conditions.  It is a terrible thing not to be thankful so Denis and I both felt blessed and thanked God for providing this incredible evening.

On the banks of Split Rock Pool there is a lean-to shelter with a big stone fire pit in front. Signatures and recorded salmon counts engraved into the walls gave testament that this shelter dates back to 1962 and many great fishing evening were had. As I read the historical engravings it seem to tell a story of 50 years ago. I wondered did the guys that stayed here have as much fun as we had. I suspect that some of the people that stayed in this lean to shelter have passed away or is no longer able to fish. Do they still think of the great evening they once had here? If their health allows do they come back to reminisce. Don’t they know that this place misses them?

In the mean time Aaron and Chad went to Black and White Pool and caught one grilse each.  Chad had a big salmon on but lost the battle. Man these big salmon sure do fight hard.

The rest of the evening was spent celebrating our 10 year anniversary drinking Glen Breton Whiskey, beer and eating more chile.

Day 2
Denis removed his waders from the wader rack and the camp key fell to the floor as if it were dropped to us from God. Perhaps a sign that somebody was looking after us.

Denis and I were fishing at 6:27a.m. at Black and White Pool and fished to 8:54 am. Denis caught a grilse.  After leaving Black & White Pool Denis and I stopped at every named pool on the stretch. We were exploring and not fishing much. The low water conditions rendered most of the pools only a foot deep. Even the bridge pool was low but the Black and White and Split Rock Pool provided all the great fishing we needed.

Day 3
We were fishing a bit after daybreak. More salmon grilses were caught. This was the last day at the Crawford Stretch before we moved to Ground Hog Landing. Instead of taking the time to pack everything tight I decided to make room on the trailer by driving my ATV 26 km to the next camp. The Crawford stretch treated us good but we knew Ground Hog Landing may not be as good because of the low warm water condition.on the Sevogle River.

We arrived at the Ground Hog Landing camp and was eating supper when I said,  "man I wish it would rain."  30 seconds later it clouded over and it started pouring. Aaron and I washed up under the down pour then the 4 of us went fishing. Aaron caught a nice grilse on his second cast at Peabody Pool.

The evening was spent eating one of the great meals that Chad cooked up. If memory serves me correctly, it was a steak night.

Day 4

We got up at day break and went fishing. We enjoy a glorious sunrise on our way to Peabody Pool.

 I caught a grilse in Middle Pool mid morning. A grilse is an Atlantic salmon which has spent only one winter at sea before returning to the river. Salmon grilse are often indistinguishable from multi sea winter (MSW) salmon except by scale reading.

Like most fishing trips we fish early morning return to the camp around noon, have dinner then sleep for a few hours in the afternoon. We are usually up until 3a.m. telling lies so if we want to enjoy the day we have to catch up on some sleep sometime so we sleep during the afternoon because the fish are less active. After catching up on some sleep, we then go fishing until dark. The evening fishing paid off for Denis because he landed a nice grilse in Middle Pool.

The night was spent eating great food and having a few cold ones and playing guitar and trying to sing.  Denis being smart went to bed around midnight, but Chad, Aaron and I went outside and watch the stars, told jokes and drank some whiskey until 3:00 a.m.. Getting up early to go fishing was a bit painful.

Day 5.
We were up again at 5a.m. and off we went fishing. We broke from the routine of fishing to light my wood rocket stove to boil some water to cook up a few meal packs. The meal packs come in all sorts of flavours and they are both tasty and filling.

Chad is no stranger to a fishing rod but the low warm water and very small time slot the fish were taking caused Chad to get skunked on the Ground Hog Landing stretch. He caught 3 or 4 grilse when we were on the Nor-west Miramichi Crawford stretch so it was not so bad. We all take turns getting skunked so there is no shame in it but we like to trash talk each other about it just the same.

The total salmon catch was 21 hooked 14 landed.

Leaving is never easy.
You would think 5 days would be long enough to spend with 3 other stinky guys but sadly we had to turn our trucks towards home. These great times we have on our remotes fishing trips are reserved for only those who know.


You can purchase the rocket stove by following the link below.

Beak Deformity in a crow

We have a crow that has a deformed beak.  Science say it can be caused by environmental pollution,  infection or virus but they are not sure.  It can cause survival problems and seem to negatively effect reproduction.  This guy looks a bit awkward when eating  but is getting the job done. 

Bear Attack

Black Bear Attack.

If you have an encounter with a black bear, your best course of action depends on how the bear is acting.  It is a misconception that black bears attack only because you are in their territory, you are a threat and/or the sow is protecting their cub.  The most serious and fatal attacks is brought on by food stress and the male black bear sees you as prey.  A hungry male bear is more likely to kill you than a sow protecting her cub.  

Situation 1.  If the bear growls, paws at the ground, chop his teeth, makes short runs toward you then stops and appear to be aggressive,  you are in luck. He sees you as a threat and wants you to go away.  If you slowly back away he knows you got the hint and most likely you will never see him again.  Have your bear spray ready but do not make threatening motions to a bear that is acting aggressively.  Just back away and chances are you will be ok.  

Situation 2.  If the bear is being quite, calm and is approaching you, this is worse then if he is acting aggressively.  He is not scared of you and is stocking you because he is considering you pray. Over 90 percent of this type of bear attack is done by a big male and ends up being deadly if you do not deter him from attacking.  With this type of bear encounter, it is time to make noise, scream at him, show acts of aggression and deter him from thinking you are an easy pray.  Use sticks, rocks, noise makers and better yet, if the bear is close enough, it is time to use bear spray. With this type of attack, bear spray or a gun is your best defence. 

 It was said before, “If a bear attacks, lay down. He will leave as soon as you are no longer a threat”.  Well if you are food it doesn’t work like that.  As for me I think I would at least try to fight. A big strong surveyor in my home town got attacked and tried to fight and remembers being hit so hard he went flying and doesn’t remember anything after that until he was at the hospital.  He crawled out of the woods approximately a mile and was picked up on the side of the road all scratched and beat up.  It was assumed that once the bear deemed him no longer a threat, it left him alone. The bear did not see him as pray so did not eat the surveyor but  I hear that he has some very big claw marks scares on his back.  

Because of the extensive time I spend in the woods, I have seen over 5 bears including the one I hit on a 3 wheeler. My most dangerous bear encounter comes to mind.  I was salmon fishing in the Nor-West Miramcihi when a bear crossed the river less than 300 meters upriver.  I just waited for about 5 minutes and thought he would be long gone so I started working my way up river to fish the pool.  After fishing my way up river 100 meters, I looked up and seen the big black bear had silently works it’s way down river towards me and was now less then 100 meters away standing on the bank. He was on his back legs peaking over the thicket looking down at me in a curious way.  Maybe he was just curious, maybe not.  He disappeared behind the thicket as he went back on 4 legs.  I heard him work his way farther downstream on the path and I screamed to my buddy Denis that a bear was coming down the path.  Maybe it was this scream that deterred him but I never seen him again. Trust me…. I didn’t miss not seeing him again.  

The best two ways to avoid coming in contact with black bears is make lots of noise as you travel through bear county and don’t camp beside your food.  A noise maker, like wearing a bell is a good choice.  Also If you are camping hang your food in trees away from your camp area. These methods usually keep you from coming in close contact with bears. I carry bear spray just in case. 

Here are some other facts about bears:

• Bears that kill before are much more prone to kill again. 
• There is around 800,000 black bear in North America.  A bear is not a violent creature or there would be more attacks.  Many, many unreported encounters resulted in the bear running away.  I am just glad that Donald Trump is not a bear. 
• Around 70 percent of fatal attacks the victims were alone with no bear spray.  Less than 10 percent of the fatal attacks occurred if there were three or more people present.  I suppose you could be selfish and think I cannot outrun a bear but I can outrun my buddies. Well if you stay together, you are way less prone to attack.  

I hope this helps you play safe.  

Here is a link to a guy that had a narrow escape with a bear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PWHNIbS8cE

P.S. Kinda wish I didn’t write this today.  I have to go timber cursing tomorrow and all this bear talk is giving me the willies.

How to making maple syrup cheep with a hillbilly set up.