Well my way to put it is The Chrome Bumpers are in the river. Huge salmon hit the river this week and strong reports of fish being hooked and landed on most tributaries. All the branches like the Little Southwest, Sevolgle on the North West are hooking trout, grilse and salmon.
On the Main South West Miramichi River there also hooking trout, grilse and salmon. The Renous River fishermen were hooking some fish and were hooking many trout in the 1 to 4 pound range and the odd salmon being reported landed.
On the upper stretches of the Main Southwest anglers were hooking a few salmon in the Doaktown and Blissfield area of the river and also getting some big trout in the 3 to 6 pound range.
Keith Wilson of Wilson’s Sporting Camps said the water was perfect but were seeing very few salmon and trout as of yet with very few takers. Tylor Storey of Doaktown landed a nice salmon on the 29th May.
The Ledges Inn in Doaktown said head Guides Derek Munn landed a nice salmon 14 pounds on Tuesday. They said there were trout in the river and anglers were hooking a few.
Jerry Doak of W.W.Doak said there were good reports of fish in the river for so early in the season. The water was a bit higher than normal and could use a bit of a drop to improve the fishing. Gerry now has an online photo gallery where fishermen can upload there photos their self.
Chris Munn of Fredericton Outfitters got into some whoppers from 15 to 25 pounds in size. Flies were a green machine and green butt bear hair. Chris said the river was alive with trout rolling everywhere and lost count to how many they hooked.
Fishing near the Mouth of Cains River was good this week too as we landed a 15 pound salmon. It was a good friend of mine Damir Sahic of Fredericton landing his first salmon of the season. We got it from boat as the water is very high for this section of the river for wading. He got the fish on a number 4 white tail green machine. I also saw several big trout that seemed to have lock-jaw for the flies I was using, but finally got a 2 pound trout on a whisker pattern. I had to try every trout fly made I think but they would not look at one. I saw several trout in the lower section of the Cains the first of the week so the weekend should be good up there. I also saw a lot of salmon jumping and rolling and they were deep silvers and moving as sometimes you could see the V heading up stream.
There were good reports in Quarryville as George Routledge of Georges Fly Shop said many fishermen were hooking trout and seeing salmon. The trout were taking small black flies and some trout were in the 3 to 6 pound range.
Norma at Curtis Miramichi River Outfitters said there were lots of fish in the Blackville area. There were very good reports of trout being caught and the fly of choice were small black flies. Ian Fortune was catching most of his trout on small brown bugs.
So the fishing is good and the catching is fair so get out on the water to hook up.
Until next week keep your lines tight and your reels screeching on the Miramichi.
*Rodney Colford is a third-generation salmon guide on the Miramichi River. He has been guiding fishermen for the past 28 years. His column appears every Thursday.
