Thursday, August 12, 2010

August salmon fishing conditions improving

Fly fishing conditions on the Main South West Miramichi over the past week was awesome depending on the stretches you fished. With a few showers and cool nights air temperatures dropped to 8C over the weekend. Which made the fishing very good as the river temperatures got down into the low 60's and up to mid 70's on warmer afternoons.

Certain pools on the river are holding fish and when the temperatures drop, the fish move around through out the pools. This making the fishing very active and great for the dry fly fisherman as you can get a fish too roll several times for the fly. Anglers near the mouth of Cains River had great
fishing too as many limit out from Friday to Tuesday morning until the heat wave hit us.



Laura Colford, 10-year-old daughter of Times & Transcript
columnist Rodney Colford, caught her first fish of the 2010 season, weighing in at 15 pounds.




I had a good friend Mike Levine from New Jersey fishing with me as he landed 4 grilse and 2 salmon all on bombers I tied. My daughter Laura age 10 hooked and landed her first of the season
weighing 15lbs. I managed to land 4 grilse and release them all on dry flies over the week. Maurice Mallet hooked 4 and landed a grilse. Troy Adams lost a salmon on a dry fly and rolled a few more as Troy and his wife Marilyne got away for the weekend to the Miramichi. Donnie Keenan landed a grilse on one of my Whiskers Monday afternoon.

Black Brook Salmon Club was also having a good weekend on through to Tuesday as many members and guest had 1, 2 and even 4 fish per day. Head guide Gayden Curtis said most fish were taken on brown bombers, green machines and small black flies and some fish had sea lice.

Wilson's Sporting Camps on the Upper Stretches said they are putting the bomber fishermen on notice . The conditions are ideal for good bomber fishing , the water is at a normal August level and still a good flow in most pools. We are seeing a lot of fish down low in the pools as well as a few still moving through. Flies of the day were the bombers.

Curtis Miramichi River Outfitters were getting reports of a few fish being hooked. Fisherman were hooking a few at Corn Bar in Blackville as Ian Fortune was one to limit out on Monday. Curin Baker of England lost a salmon as well. Bombers were the fly of choice for the day.

Chris Edmond's reported fishing Sunday on the NW at the Chimney Pool. They got into a few fish on Alley Shrimps, GP and Silver rat. He also said the river was low but very good temperatures which helped in hooking up. He also saw a deer crossing the river and a small bear following very close behind the deer. I also had a couple guys in from Woodstock that were fishing the crown water on the NW and they said water was low and warm but did see a few fish, but had no takers.

I had reports from some fisherman fishing on the Cain's River. Pools like Salmon Brook, and the Brophy Pool have fish holding. James Trenholm said they were on the Cains and the water was very warm. They saw some fish but none were taking on there trip.

The middle of August is now closely approaching the river and so far it has been a very good season minus a couple hot weeks we had in July. Lets hope with a little luck we can have a great start to a Fall season and catch some massive salmon up and down the river and tributaries. And with some rain in the forecast next week and below seasonal temperatures the rest of August we may just get some good fishing.

Tip of the week when tying an Improved Clinch Knot please make sure to tighten the knot before clipping the remaining leader. If you hook a salmon with a loose knot that is cut short it may tighten with the fish and untie before you can say fish on. So tighten it good and leave it a bit longer when using a dry fly, wet flies too if you use a clinch knot. Let me know of that fish of your dreams caught on the Beautiful Miramichi. So keep your rods high and your reels screeching until next week have tight lines.

* Rodney Colford is a third generation salmon-fishing guide on the Miramichi River and has been guiding fishermen ranging from greenhorns to some of the finest flyfishermen in the world for 27 years. His fishing reports appear every Thursday in the Times & Transcript.