Heavy rain hit the river

Colfords Miramichi Fishing Reports for Saturday July 24th. After heavy rains this week we finally got a change in river conditions to help out the fish. The river was 66 degrees this morning and about 2 or 3 feet higher than it was before the rain. Its still a bit dirty but clear enough to fish except they can be anywhere in this high water. Tides for the next few days are as follows.

2010-07-24 (Saturday) Time Height ADT (m) (ft) 05:22 1.5 4.9 13:32 -0.2 -0.7 19:04 0.7 2.3 23:29 0.3 1.0

2010-07-25 (Sunday) Time Height ADT (m) (ft) 06:15 1.5 4.9 14:17 -0.2 -0.7 19:48 0.7 2.3

2010-07-26 (Monday) Time Height ADT (m) (ft) 00:22 0.3 1.0 07:05 1.5 4.9 14:56 -0.1 -0.3 20:23 0.8 2.6

I fished all morning and saw plenty of fish moving but could not get a one too bite our flies. We were fishing white tail green machines and butterflies. Saw a few anglers fishing and few boat fishing but very few locals fishing so that kinda tells you something! Maybe Sunday will be better with a little more drop in water, we`ll see. Also calling for rain 15-20ml on Sunday which will not hurt the system one bit!

Well got to go get at it again and give you some fish stories for the next report! Catch-ya later and Tight Loops,

Rodney

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.

Hot weather makes fishing a bit tough.

Salmon fishing on the Miramichi River for the past week has been been done under very humid conditions, making the sport very difficult in the hot weather to hook up. Fisherman from all over the world are here in this prime time to catch this amazing fish the salmo salar. Putting this aside the old saying is, you should of been here last week. Or next week is going to be the better week. One never knows when will be the best time, that's why it's called fishing I guess.

I have a few reports for you from up and down the river, some which is good, some could be better. The good news is it can't get much hotter than last week's fishing. The forecast is looking much better this week with temperatures predicted to be in the mid to low 20's and even some clouds and showers.

On the lower section of the river at Millerton they are putting fish through the counters everyday I am told. Quarryville area anglers were seeing lots of fish all week. The water level was very good except for the hot temperatures keeping the salmon from taking there flies. Chris Edmonds rolled a few at the mouth of Renous in the early mornings this week and landed one. I also saw fish jumping this week at Ritchie's Warf in Miramichi city.

Curtis Miramichi River Outfitters said there were lots of anglers in and out of the store with reports of some hookups in the Blackville area. But for the most case the temperatures were a bit high. With the high temperatures it was still very good canoeing and Kayaking. Fly of choice was still the green machine and bombers.

Near the mouth of Cains River fish were piled up at the Black Brook pool across from the public water of Pool 66. Anglers say that these fish are Cains river fish waiting for a rise in water to get up over the gravel bar at the mouth of Cains. Fish hold here all summer since the temporary bridge was taken out at the Mouth of Cains River in the late 70's. Raymond Clowater gave it a try this week at pool 66 with his buddy Roger from Moncton and only fished about an hour before coming back to the shop and saying it was a waste of time in this heat and would wait for better conditions.

Up river in the Doaktown area Derek Munn of Mountain Channel Blackville and Ledges Inn Doaktown said with all the hot humid weather the past week the fish have took refuge in the cold water pools. Before this heat wave we were seeing and catching record numbers of fish. We were catching more grilse than salmon but there were also good numbers of salmon being caught, mostly in the 12-18lb range with a couple over 25lbs.

Wilsons Sporting Camps above Doaktown in the upper stretches said the recent rain brought the river up 6 inches and it has cooled down considerably, but as of last Monday it was still too warm for good fishing. Even though a lot of fish moved out of our cold water areas most salmon are not interested in taking a fly yet.

Fisherman saw a few fish on the Cains at Salmon Brook, Buttermilk brook and the Brophy Pool. Renous river fisherman were getting a few but once the river heated up the fish started holding in the cold water pools and had lock jaw I was told.

The NW Miramichi had anglers getting a few fish but over the past week things were very tough. Trout Brook Fly Shop had a few anglers in that were seeing lots of fish and a couple that had picked up a grilse. Also they had a Spey Casting clinic that turned out very good from there Snowbee Rep. The gathering was small with about 10 attending, but those attending received a good showing of how versatile spey casting can be done and how effective it is. Jim Foster of the Times and Transcript had the crown waters and caught and released 4 salmon on the Crawford Pool and saw several more fish on the weekend. And he tells me he is a poor fisherman?

If your deciding to give it a try in these hot conditions try early hours and very late evenings. Use your smallest flies and long light leaders to help with a soft landing to your fly. And until next week tight lines.

Reels Screeching on Miramichi as the weather warms up.

The reels are still screeching on the Miramichi as fisherman from far and wide are hooking up with the silver leapers. But as the reels are heating up, so does the maritime weather as

temperatures reach the high 30's and putting the river temperature in places up to a high of 25C ( high 70's F). And with very hot weather over the next week, and very little rain in the forecast the fishing will start to slow down unless we get rain or cooler temperatures.

This week I fished again from the Blissfield area of the Main SW Miramichi river to lower Blackville at the Nash Bar pool.

I had some great story tellers and very talented fisherman from Nova Scotia fishing with me. Jim Gourlay President of Saltscapes Publishing and his dog Nickie, Bob Short who owns a B&B on the banks of the Margaree river and who was also Mr. Winchester for Canada for many years. And also long time guide, fishing, hunting and tourism ambassador Bill Bryson. We canoed and fished several pools in the area and saw many fish during our travels. As Bill Bryson lost one and rolled many he took it very easy on Jim and Bob as they both got a couple fish each this trip. They saw hundreds of fish and said they loved the canoe trip too all the pools they fished. My father had a family from North Carolina Dr. Ed Baker, Diana and son Charlie as they all hooked 1 fish each on there 3 day fishing trip.

Pools on the Main South West Miramichi from Boistown to Quarryville were fishing extremly well and many fish jumping and rolling.

Fisherman at the Mouth of Cains river were hooking fish and some double and as many as four fish on at once! Tyler Coughlan was fishing at The Foot Bridge Pool in Upper Blackville and said anglers landed over 20 fish last Friday. The Blackville Pool was fishing very well as local fisherman said they were seeing lots of grilse and a few nice salmon too. Anglers were starting to see some fish holding in the deeper water and in the brooks which has a little colder temperatures.

The Solar Haven Club was hooking lots of fish which were mostly grilse near Upper Blackville. Wilson's Sporting Camps above Doaktown had good fishing and saw lots of fish in all of there pools. Dry flies were the fly of choice later in the week which took a few nice salmon. The Hershey club had a great week hooking fish and the fly of choice was the green machine. The Black Brook Club also had a very good week of fishing and flies of choice were the green machine, undertaker and bombers. Curtis Miramichi River Outfitters said the fishing was very good and still very good canoeing and kayaking. Fly of choice was green machine, butterfly, shady lady and brown bombers.

Public Water activity was very good as Pool 66 action near the mouth of Cains River was hooking lots of grilse and salmon on mostly dry flies. The Quarryville pool was fishing very good with many anglers lined up from all over the province to fish the pool. The Stop Sign Pool was also fishing pretty good, but anglers said the fish were moving through very fast and that the pool needed a bit more water. The Grey Rapid pool which is a very fast water pool was fishing very well. You can find all of these public pools and many more very easy if you have the map book which the salmon museum sells in Doaktown. The public pools are all listed in red and it makes it very easy to locate by seeing each named pool on the SW Miramichi.

Other tributaries that were catching salmon were the Renous, North West Miramichi, Sevogle and Little South West Miramichi. No reports on the Cains River but I expect to hear that there is fish getting up over the shallow gravel bar at the Mouth of the river.

Most fishermen were hooking there fish on the top fly again the white tail green machine. Other flies like the undertaker, shady lady and a mixture of bombers are still very strong competitors.

Tip of the week: With the warm weather in the forecast for the next week and a few late showers fishermen should think when hooking a big fish. Maybe use a lighter leader so you could break him off after a few minutes of play. The hook will come out in a few days and the fish will swim to catch again someday. Also using this lighter leader will help in the clear water with smaller flies.

Until next week Tight Loops,

Rodney Colford