A few locals hooking up

August is taking its toll on fisherman through out New Brunswick who fish for Atlantic salmon. Over the past week the Miramichi river has slowed down considerably due to no rain leaving rivers low and anglers wondering when the conditions are going to change for the good. With not much rain in the forecast until the weekend, anglers will have to keep there fingers crossed and hope the expected rain to hit the headwaters will and increase the height and keep the temperatures low. Ideal temperatures are 55 to 65 F for fall fishing. The last week temperatures were 68 to 76 F depending on the area of the river fished.

A few lucky fly fisherman over the past week managed to hook up. Ian Fortune fishing near the mouth of Bartholomew landed 2 grilse and 2 salmon using brown bombers with split wings. Damir Sahic of Fredericton landed a grilse at Pool 66 on his third cast using an Undertaker number 10 single hook. Rob Strange of Fredericton also fishing Pool 66 the next day landed two 15 lb plus salmon using a Green Butt Bear Hair on a number 10 double hook. He lost another one on the same fly. Allie Keenan and his two brothers each hooked a fish at the mouth of Keenan brook.

Guides at Black Brook Salmon Club said conditions were good in the mornings with a couple fish each day this week but warmed up in the afternoons and evenings. Flies of choice were bear hairs, undertakers and bombers.

Curtis Miramichi River Outfitters said things were slow with reports of a few fish hooked down river at Mountain Channel which is a low water pool.

Wilson's Sporting Camps on the Upper Miramichi said water height is down making some pools impossible to fish. The deeper holding pools still had some good numbers of fish that were looking at the dry flies. They were still getting a few fish on small wet flies and stripping to speed the fly up as it swung across the current.

With conditions not as we would like to see them for August fishing. It should start to improve in the next couple weeks as the nights are getting colder and more and more rumors of Jack Frost in the air. September always has lots of rain for us and along with cold frosty nights you should see some good fishing in the weeks to come. And if your new to the sport or wanting to know a peak time to catch your first Atlantic salmon, check with fly shops, guides, outfitters or even a fish reporter like me to find one for you.

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.

Salmon take on struggle

Warm weather again seems to be the hot topic for salmon fishing all over the Miramichi River system.

There are very few reports of salmon being landed on a fly rod but many dead ones have been netted out of the rivers, which have reported water temperatures in the 70 to 80 degree Fahrenheit (21 to 28C) range over the past three weeks.

Places like Big Hole Brook and Black Brook have seen many salmon fatalities as there are so many fish holding at these pools. Some fish are trying to swim up the brook in search of colder water in Black Brook. And as you canoe past this brook there has to be thousands of fish swimming together trying to survive.

Shop owner Sydney Matchett of Trout Brook Fly Shop on the Northwest Miramichi said there were a few locals fishing when the water got below 70F on early mornings but other than that you don't see many locals fishing in these conditions.

Curtis Miramichi River Outfitters said there were not many people fishing. Some sports were returning home as they thought it would harm the fish more if they fished. Still some good canoeing and kayaking.

Keith Wilson of Wilson Sporting Camps said the river was at a normal height for July and the temperature was down to 68F on Tuesday morning. He had one salmon hooked on Monday on a tiny No. 10 black bear hair.

Some anglers canoed the Cains this week and saw fish at Salmon Brook and the Brophy Pool. Water temperatures were in the high 70s as well.

Fishing weather for the weekend had been calling for heavy rains which seemed to change to only a few millimetres. The humidity also stayed at a high level.

If you can hold off on your fishing trip please do so until there is a change in weather and river conditions. And if there is no change soon, I would think things may be shut down on the river until there is.

Some anglers are wondering why it's not shut down to half days like it was a few years ago when water was low and hot. Until next week and hopefully better conditions, 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 fishermen in the world for 27 years. His fishing reports appear every Thursday in the Times & Transcript.