Miramichi River slowed down the past week

Jim Colbertt of Sussex NB with a Miramichi salmon.

Salmon fishing on the Miramichi River slowed down the past week as river conditions were med to high 60's and surged to 78 (F) in the late day. Many fishermen on the river are fishing early mornings and late evenings hitting the cooler temperatures. The salmon have also slowed up as many started holding in the cold water brooks and deeper water. We are seeing very few if any dead salmon in the river, which is always nice to see when we get this heat. Seems like every summer we get this heat wave and slows the fishing up one time or another for a week or so. So anglers be patient and hopefully there will be a change soon.

Eugene Poirier with 15 lb salmon

At the Ledges Inn in the Doaktown area the past week we have had some good fishing and some bad fishing. But the weather played the big part in both. Early mornings were very good while late evenings were slow and warm. The advantage was we have some cold water pools that the fish stayed very active in the mornings and we managed to hook up some clients to some nice salmon. Barry and Chris Gordon landed a few from grilse to an 18lb salmon yesterday. Dr. Boley went 13 days straight landing a fish or more with guide Derek Munn.








Wilsons Sporting Camps near MacNamee said the water came up about 1 inch on Tuesday .With this little rise and cooler air temps fishing turned on a bit Tuesday morning. Only one grilse landed but they saw fish in parts of the pools that indicate they were moving around a bit again. It looks like a decent amount of rain from now till later Wed and cooler temperatures so maybe this will kick things back in gear again.

Moon Shadow Cottage Rentals in Boistown said they landed a few fish over the past week but conditions were slow and warm. The rain was a much appreciated down pour for the river. They also said with all the dry weather the fish were moving but far and few between.

Curtis Miramichi River Outfitters said things were very slow and water was warm for most parts. There was the odd fishermen in that got a fish but all in all fishing was slow.

Country Haven Lodge also had a slow week and only picked up a few fish  over the past week. Rain or cooler nights was needed to hook up.

Last week we had the honour at the Ledges Inn of guiding some of the finest fisher-ladies from all over North America that are members of the International Women Fly Fishers Organization. This was their first time a group of 7 members came to Eastern Canada to fish for Atlantic Salmon on the Miramichi. The organizer for the group was Sylvie Malo-Clark. Moirajeanne Fitzgerald landed a nice Atlantic salmon weighing 18 pounds with me which is pictured here in this photo. 




The lady anglers visited many of the fly shops in the area and also took in the Atlantic Salmon Museum in Doaktown. The ladies also hoped to return to the Miramichi again. Members of the group were standing left to right Lyne Trudeau, Peggy Brenner, Hazel Maltais, Moirajeanne Fitzgerald, Sylvie Malo-Clark, Elizabeth Shapiro and Vicki Green. If your interested in checking the group out you can go to www.internationalflyfishers.org.

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The results of the 8th Annual Monte Farrell Memorial Shad Tournament from Ralph Goodwins Fly Shop went as follows by overall weight: 1st place Mike Boudreau 3.25 kg, 2nd Ralph Goodwin 3.10 kg,  3rd Emery Vienneau 3.05 kg, 4th Robert Daigle 2.90 kg, 5th place George Collette 2.55 kg. Goodwins Fly Shop is located in Minto and is a suppler of TFO Fly rods and reels www.goodfly.ca.

The weather for the next few days looks like cooler temperatures during the day and nights so fishing should change for the better this week.

Until next week have tight lines.