Monday, September 28, 2009

River Starting To Raise on Miramichi

Colfords Miramichi Fishing Reports from the South West Miramichi River. The last few days had been good fishing.

With the very cold nights and heavy frost made it very cold for fishing and put the temperature of the water at a low 51F. Also with the heavy rains last night and today that struck the Miramichi NB area it has the water starting to color and raise before dark tonight.




Saturday I fished with David Jap of Germany and we landed a grilse on a brown bomber with orange hackle. Sunday I fished with David and Christian Stathas of NY which Christian landed 2 salmon and lost another, while David landed a salmon and lost another. These fish were hooked on green machines with white tails. Monday we lost 1 salmon with 1 jump on a tube fly called a willy gun, and had 4 more good hits on other types of tube patterns.



My father gary Colford was fishing the Cains the last few days and landed 1 salmon at Moores pool about 14 pounds on a under taker.


These is a photo of Pete Mountain fishing the Nash Bar.









This is a photo of the cast before darkness setting in tonight at the Nash Bar where the fishing had been great the last couple days.








This is a photo of the Cains River a couple days ago and David Jap doing a snake roll. David is only new to Salmon fishing and doing very well for his 2nd year at it.

The Weather the next few days is rain for Tuesday afternoon and more close to the weekend. we were looking for rain so please do not complain. Lets hope some more new fish will come in on the rise of water or the full moon. Also the highs for the Miramichi area are from 11C to 17C the next 6 days.

Tight Lines,
Rodney Colford

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Atlantic's Have A Mind Of There Own

Colfords Atlantic Salmon Fishing Reports from the banks of the South West Miramichi River. Fishing the past week has picked up some from the mouth of Cains River down and also some pools in the Doaktown & Blissfield area.

Last week was very tough fishing with a group from New Hampshire. We tried everything in the box and could not hook up. The water temperature was at a perfect temperature but very low. And as everyone knows these Atlantic's have a mind of there own and one never can tell what there next move is.



I landed a nice female salmon Saturday with sea lice so some are making there way up stream even in the low water conditions. This my daughter Laura releasing the salmon back. I hooked it on a undertaker #10 single hook.






My son Zachery 11 landed 2 of three salmon on a Apache Shrimp.
This photo of the fly is from the web site Danish Fly Designs This is a great site for the shrimp fly fisherman. Zachery also landed fish the previous couple days.







Zachery and Laura at the home pool in front of the camp.







Other fisherman that caught fish were John Colford, Troy Adams, Marilyn Mallet in the photo with the salmon with John Colford. This fish was hooked on a bomber as seen in the photo. Also the Hershey Club had a salmon the past week. They saw several fish but they were not taking.





Marilyn removing the hook from the fish while John Colford holding it.






Troy landing his salmon at pool 66 on the SW Miramichi.






This fish was about 8 to 10 pounds and hooked on a brown bomber.





This is guide Eddy Colford at Black Brook pool on the SW Miramichi River. This pool is holding a couple thousand fish waiting for high water to get over the upper bar for the main Miramichi and also some waiting for a rise in water to get up from the mouth of Cains River. The mouth of Cains is very low and has been like this for years in low water since they put a temporary bridge in and the gravel from the bridge was never removed. Perhaps someday they will dig it out and most of these fish will be fishable on there resident pools in the upper parts of the river..


Weather
The weather is looking not so bad the next few days with some rain in the forecast, maybe 10ml over the next couple days and cloudy periods. Then in a couple days maybe more rain of another 10ml's. With air temperatures from 15 to 22 C and night time lows of 5C to 12C.
In this photo is Clarence Colford, Dave Ledlie and Emery Brophy watching Ted land a salmon on the opposite bank, you can see the line stretching in the photo.

The water temperature has been down to 51F and for the most of the days staying in the low 60's. Perfect Miramichi temperatures for the salmon, but why are they taking so badly?
On Saturday some fish were hooked with sea lice so some fish are making there way up stream. My father Gary Colford guiding this week for Country Haven landed a few fish and one of them at Moores Pool on the Cains. A couple others at the Crawford Pool across from the Nash Bar.

Flies of choice are None Of Your Business!! yes that is the name of the fly! Black Marabou's, GP"s, Brown Bombers, Apache Shrimp and small black flies down too 12 & 14 in size.

I also had some very interesting fisherman fishing with me this past week from Department of Tourism and Parks NB. Marketing director for Colfords Atlantic Salmon Fishing Greg Davidson was in charge of putting them in the right places for taking some great photos of our beautiful province of NB and its famous river the Miramichi. Doug Wilson www.dougwilsonphoto.com and Steve Bly of www.blyphoto.com.
This is a selection of some of the photos that Doug is putting together.


So if your on the water the next few days and into the weekend it is looking better with rain in the forecast. So get away from the vise and stretch your line on a Miramichi salmon. We all know these Atlantic's will make us work to hook them and even though the water is low it is cold and they will one way or another start moving soon if not already!

Back in a couple days with hopefully better results.

Tight Lines,
Rodney Colford

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Anglers hooking fish this week on the Miramichi

Colfords Miramichi Fishing Report for the Lower Stretches of the Main South West Miramichi River.

Prime fishing season is now upon us and the cooler temperatures are starting with them. Now all we need is our fall runs of salmon too get us hooked on the fall fishing! But even though the fishing is slow on most parts of the river some fisherman are hooking or rolling fish. Most fish are very dark and little sign of the fall hook bills are being seen.

I fished the Pool 66 mostly all week, and while most of the other pools seem to be empty too fish or fish running through Pool 66 had hundreds of fish holding. And after many many flies being thrown the angler gets lucky and hooks into one!

Fish Catches
Anglers hooking fish this week were Ross Brophy with a couple grilse, Damir Sahic with a grilse, Zachery Colford with a grilse, Bobby Stulze lost a grilse, John Colford also lost a grilse, Danny Colford landed a 15 pound salmon, Gary Colford landed a salmon, Tom & Mark from the Edmunston area lost a salmon and rolled a few more, Louis Cormier and his buddy landed a couple salmon at Hogan's Bar, Emil Sahic lost a grilse, also fisherman from the Black Brook Club had a few grilse and a couple huge salmon one being a 2nd in the last two weeks hitting the 38 pound mark! and another being 25 pound. Both fish this week 25 and 38 were caught by two sisters at the club. So on this little stretch of the river this week the woman were the top anglers. This is a photo of Emil Sahic with a grilse on.

I was also up to Salmon Brook this week and saw several fish there but again no takers. The Brophy Pool on the Cains River was also holding fish and some anglers had rolled a few on dry flies. Moores Pool on the Cains had a few fish holding and we managed too roll one on a bomber.

This is a photo of the famous Pool 66 and anglers waiting there turn at many hundred of fish lying in the section of cool water that comes in from the Cains River and Black Brook. As you can see anglers laughing and telling fish stories to each other and some that just met for the first time. This is a great pool to try when the fishing is slow and many lies that are priceless!






This is a photo of a Osprey that flew into this dead tree and collapsed and hung upside down for at least 3 minutes before coming too and flying away.





Other River Reports


Doug Underhills Miramichi Fishing Report for Thursday
We've turned another page in the calendar and are headed for the home-stretch of the angling season. However, the fall runs have yet to appear. The heavy rains last weekend did not affect the Miramichi system as it did others. Read More.
Country Haven Report
Byron (Byzie) Coughlan's clients hooked a couple fish this week on the Miramichi river. Read More.

Flies of Choice
Bombers of every color pretty much but the blue with white ends and brown hackle seem to be the best. Green machines number 4's were working good with a green or red but and some flash. Some fish were rolling too Ally Shrimp patterns. You should soon see the green slime start to work too. One fish was hooked on a yellow subermarine with white tail, very simular too the white tail green machine.

Weather & River Conditions
As you can see in this photo of anglers fishing in the morning fog the fall weather has approached us. The weather for the next week will be from 16 C to 22 C and lows of down to 7 C. There is some rain expected (10 ml) for the Friday the 11th. The river level from my experience is getting very low and even though the lower stretches requires low water it really needs a raise in the level to help the fish and the pools up stream. Tides for the next week please check the link to the right and you can find the predictions. The water temperatures are in the low 60's which is very good.


That's all for the weekend and hope too have better reports in the next few days on the river.

Tight Lines,
Rodney Colford
Colfords Guiding Service

Friday, September 4, 2009

Colfords Miramichi Fishing Reports for the lower stretches of the Main SW Miramichi. The fishing over the past week had been very good except for the last couple days. With the raise in water last week, it had the fishing taking but once the water dropped off they really seem to be in a case of lock jaw! We've tried everything in the fly box and have not hooked a fish for two days. We raised a few on blue bombers and
orange ones. The fish we caught in the last week were a mix of salmon and grilse but all except 1 or 2 seemed very fresh. Lets hope a fresh run will start for September soon. I have a few photos of the weeks fishing from pool 66 near the mouth of Cains River.









I have canoed as far as the Upper Blackville Bridge this week and saw very few fish holding in the pools I fish. Most times I see several as I pass through the pools from the boat and they are not to be seen or very few at least.
This is Christian Staffis of Manhatten, NY on the Renous River.




Most fish seem to be holding at the junctions like the Cains River and Bartholomew area's to name a couple places.









This is a great shot of Rick Colford near the Mouth of Cains River landing a salmon with Zachery Colford netting.

The fishing season ends on October 15th this year, some anglers were wondering.







This is a photo of a young angler Alex Colford and he had about 5 or 6 fish for the week.




The water temperature the past week had been in the low 60's and the water height had been normal for the lower section of the river. Today it got to be 70 F after a very warm day. We saw two fish landed all day near the mouth of Cains River.

This is Zach Colford with his 7th fish of the week.



Last minute cancellation! I have a prime week available at the last notice for four rods on the week off September 25th to October 1st. Please call if your interested for a prime time fishing on the Miramichi & Cains River Pools. This is a full catering package that includes lodging, 3 meals, guides, boats and private pools. Email for more information.

Sorry for the late reports I will try my best to have them out to you faster for the fall fishing.
Tight Lines,
Rodney Colford