[densa44]

I was standing in the Bartibog in New Brunswick on a beautiful summer day, wearing running shoes and blue jeans while I waded the river (stream) I was standing in the middle of the river on a gravel bar when the alder bushes to my left began moving a lot and I could hear crashing. I got a good grip in my new trusty $10 CTC glass fly rod and waited for the bear to appear.

Although the Bartibog would never be considered a big river by Canadian standards, it does make its own noise as it rushes to the sea. The black bear came out of the alders about 75 M down stream of where I was standing. I had my silk fly line back on the reel and was as ready as I could be to beat a hasty retreat.

In those days I had never heard of a bear attacking people, I was more concerned about a bull moose that I had seen earlier, but never the less, I was pretty close to a bear.

As he crossed the river he became aware of my presence and hit high gear as he ran through the shallow water and crashed into the alders on the bank. That was it, first and last bear sighting.

I did catch a few nice brook trout and one sea trout.