Rain was a blessing for the Miramichi rivr

After a long hot week on the Miramichi and warm water temperatures, the little rain we received was a blessing for the fish. The Main SW Miramichi River raised about 6 inches Wednesday morning and there were a few fish more active in some pools along the river. The North West should be in better shape too as the upper stretches got dumped with 47.8 mm of rain on Tuesday.

Keith Wilson of Wilson Sporting Camps at McNamee said the water was up Wednesday morning app. 3 inches and has cooled down really nice. We had good fishing last night and the boy’s saw more fish on the move. The water is very clear so if you are fishing wet it will have to be on long leaders and tiny flys, one fish was taken last night on a #12 black-bear, another fish was hooked on a large split wing bomber.

Derek Munn of the Ledges Inn said the river is getting down to a very low level and the warm weather has the temperatures up into the high 70′s and as a result DFO has decided to close some of the cold water pools. We did have some cool nights on the weekend and that got the water temperature down in the low 60′s and started the fish moving around. We had very good fishing on Friday and Saturday morning landing over 20 fish. For the most part the majority of the fish caught are MSW salmon in the 16-22 lb range, we are averaging about 3 salmon to every grilse. Anglers who hooked up with us were Premier David Alward and his wife Rhonda, Wes Armour, Lawson Lush, Jacgue Pinet, Earl and Sandy Brewer, Denis Losier, Claude Mingeau, Guylaine Leduc, Marcel Comeau and Laurent St.Peirre.

Up and down the river there are still sections that are closed to fishing due to warm and low water. Hopefully the river will cool down and with some more rain get all these sections of the river fish-able again. River temperatures are still not too bad for the mornings but late afternoons have the river getting over 70 degrees (F).

Flies of choice for the past week have been for wet flies number 8 smurf with white tail, green machine with white tail, shady ladies with a belly and for dries brown and blue bombers.

I expect the fishing to start getting better over the next week so long as the heat stays reduced. Would be nice to have more rain for the river to get the fish coming in from the estuary. Be back next week with hopefully a much better report on the river and fish counts. Tight Lines.