May on the Banks of The Miramichi River

What more could we ask for this third weekend of May on the Banks of The Miramichi River. Well I bet if you ask just about any Atlantic Salmon angler, that first catch of the bright's, on a new season are remarkably one of the greatest hook ups one can have the honour off catching. This beautiful chrome football shaped animal that swims our mighty rivers are amongst the King of the sport fish of our wonderful planet. And people all over the world have this same religion for the Atlantic salmon as you do. And yes this is the weekend the past 3 or 4 years to start the ball rolling.

 For many anglers it's all about the take when you have that lucky chance of seeing the roll or swirl as it takes your fly and then like a bolt of lightning your reel is screaming out into the backing and just when you think you have time, you see the end of the spool on your reel and your running out of line. And if your lucky, really lucky, you will have the chance to start running the shore line and  retrieve some of the line before he (the salmon) takes control and does it all over again. What more excitement in fishing can you have than to have this happen on the first runs of Atlantic's.

Many fishermen and fisher-women are fishing for sea run trout coming into the system on the river. Anglers are catching a few trout in the 10 to 16 inch range. But no sign of any fresh trout yet from my contacts on the river. The gaspereau nets are down in the lower stretches of the river, the fiddle heads are up, so as we all know this is around the time the trout and salmon should be coming along.

And with the in between time laggering here on the Miramichi all we can do is wait for the salmon and trout to arrive. There is a very good volume of water and fish will have very little trouble coming in. And to some anglers on the lower stretches of the Main Miramichi this can be very tough as the fish can be just about anywhere. Most of the rivers like the Main SW, NW, Little SW and Renous are still high and could use a bit of a drop to help form the pools or have the fish hold up a little.

The weather has not been the best as we have been getting very high amounts of rain on the Miramichi over the past couple weeks. But the sky seems to be brightening up for the weekend and following week and should get the rivers into a great form for fishing.

Reports on the Restigouche River has over half dozen bright's landed that we know off. What more could get our hearts pumping here on the Miramichi than to hear about our northern river of the province hooking their first runs of bright's. Oh man, Oh man the season is starting.

Flies for the up coming weeks: Now that you can use singles and doubles with barbs as of the 15th of May you still should think about going barbless to help with releasing fish. I would suggest size 2 to 6 depending on the river your fishing you may want to go smaller sizes. Green Machines, Shady Ladies, Undertakers, Black Ghost, Butterflies and many many other great patterns.

Over the next week or the next few days someone will have the chance to catch the first Bright Atlantic Salmon on the Miramichi River system. And if you do please send us the picture and I will have it posted for you. All I need is a photo and or size of your catch, what fly, what river, we do not need the name of the pool or area you caught the fish. Just to know there in the system would be good. To view photos of my reports please go to my blog. You can contact me at www.miramichifishingreports.blogspot.com .


LOST BOAT AND MOTOR
Reward Offered
12 foot aluminium boat & 4 hp Mercury Motor
Boat lost from the Blissfield area.
If you have information please call 506-365-8940 or 506-432-0563.


Until next week may your reels be screaming on the Miramichi.
Rodney Colford Is a third generation salmon-fishing-guide and fly tier on the SW Miramichi River. I have guided fishermen ranging from greenhorns to some of the finest fly fishermen in the world for 27 years. Fly tying since I was ten years old and having the opportunity to fish with anglers all over the world. My favorite fishing buddies are my kids Laura (12) and Zachery(14) which both have caught there own Atlantic Salmon at age 4 & and 7. My fishing reports appear every Thursday in the Moncton Times & Transcript.

Pat Colford

Clark Hallman

Lunch break

Ray Walker

Ray Walker

Rod on a nice rainy day

My Daughter Laura

Laura practising her guiding at age 12

Laura and friends

I got this late report on a few trout and a very good story about what the trout was having for dinner!

Kyle Donovan's boys with a nice 3lb+ trout

This trout a had nice rat in his mouth when they landed it, tail was still hanging out of the mouth! 

Same trout and rat and the ones that did not get away!.

Fishing May be Better for the Miramichi by Weekend

Miramichi Fishing Reports and Conditions for the lower stretches of the SW Miramichi River.

Fishing is very slow on the lower stretches of the river with only a few being landed. Joel Kitchen junior landed a grilse and salmon on a blue smelt above the mouth of Cains River today. There is still several smelts around on the lower stretches of the Miramichi.

I was getting a few on Tuesday night and scooped a fresh trout about 10 inches long! It was a nice trout very silver in color and no black in its mouth, so the fresh trout must be on there way. I did release this trout back.


This top photo is today on the Miramichi.

I am seeing a lot of salmon jumping so there are still a few springer's around for us to hook while were waiting for a silver, chrome Rocky Brook Salmon! Just can't wait!


This is from Tuesday trolling in front of the camp.



Weather
The water temperature was 56F. There is a few may flies on the water. Last night we also had black flies and moskidoes (mosquitoes) our miramichi slang!

The weather for the next few days will be from 12C to 20C .
Tonight Clear. Increasing cloudiness this evening with a few showers. Wind south 40 km/h gusting to 60. Low 12.
Friday Cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers early in the morning then a mix of sun and cloud. Wind southwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming light in the afternoon.
Saturday Sunny. High 18.
Sunday Showers. Low 10. High 12.
Monday A mix of sun and cloud. Low plus 4. High 14.
Tuesday Cloudy. Low plus 5. High 13.
Wednesday A mix of sun and cloud. Low 6. High 16.
Tides:
Friday 10:23 am 1.39 meters High Tide.
Saturday 11:08am 1.29 meters High Tide.



Fiddle Heads
Nothing goes better with salmon and trout than Fiddle Heads. Fiddle heads are up in a few places where the sun gets at them and should be up very good by the weekend on the Miramichi area. I hear on other parts of NB they have been up for over a week.

This is a photo of a smelt.

Other River & Fishing Reports

Times & Transcript - Miramichi outfitters up and down the Miramichi River are enthusiastically boasting excellent salmon runs, pristine water conditions, and strong booking numbers so far this spring season.
But even though the fish are jumping and Canadian and: read more BY Kris Mcdavid
Times & Transcript Staff

Doug's Underhill's Fishing Report
Friday May 15 is the beginning of a two-week period where trout anglers can use their spinning equipment on some portions of some rivers, such as the Renous. On June 1 angling returns to fly fishing only. Friday is also the opening day for lakes and ponds. Doug's reports on all the rivers on the Miramichi and Tributaries: read more

Miramichi Salmon Classic
Just a reminder that registration is open for the 2009 Miramichi Salmon Classic. The Miramichi Salmon Association will hold their fourth annual Miramichi Salmon Classic from July 12 to July 15, 2009, a four day event with three days of fishing on the Miramichi River. You are invited to come to Miramichi and experience fishing the Little South West Miramichi, Renous, Dungarvon, Main South West Miramichi and many other classic tributaries with Miramichi Salmon Association volunteer guides. A three day hook and release license is also provided. Last year's event took place at the peak of the grilse run and the grilse run in 2008 was the best in the past 15 years. Also read more on the 2009 MSA Kelt Tracking Program.
For more information and to register check out there web site at www.miramichisalmon.ca or call at 506.622.4000.

Special Links
Peter Clark Penniac Books
Atlantic Salmon Museum
Giffin Art Works
Fredericton Outfitters & Anglers

All for tonight will get back to you all over the weekend with hopefully some better reports of fish being caught.

Tight Lines,
Rodney Colford
Colfords Guiding

Colfords Miramichi Fishing Report

Monday May 11th 2009,

River conditions for the SW Miramichi River lower stretches from Quarryville to Doaktown. Water levels are perfect on the lower stretches of the river. We are still seeing fish jumping so there is still time to get out and catch a few for you guys that are thinking its to late, its not. With smelts still hanging around salmon are feeding along the shores on the smelts and are taking the fly very poorly. In front of the camp tonight we saw a salmon scoot right in along the shore feeding on the smelts. I expect a few days when the smelts are gone the fish will take a bit better.

The weather for the next few days looks very good with highs of 12C to 19C with some rain in the forecast on Friday. Maybe with the warm days we will get some better fiddle head picking for the weekend.

Anglers are picking up a few black trout and some reports of them being around the 1 to 2 pound range in the tide water and also around the Blackville area.

My grandfather Malcolm McCormack in this first photo and long time guide of Wades Fishing Lodge fished last night at the Mouth of Cains River. He saw a few fish but only had a few hits and nothing hooked up.

My cousin & guide Nick Keenan who also was fishing with granddad last night and hooked a nice trout well over a pound and it managed to wiggle its way back in the water before getting his hands on it. Nick it would off been good for breakfast! Next time eh.

Also other guides on the river said there only catching a couple salmon a day and are saying the smelts are surely the cause of them not taking the fly near the Blackville area. They are hoping for the smelts to turn and head out again.

I will keep you posted on the smelt situation over the next few days. As for the fresh sea run trout I am thinking it will be more close to the end of the month before they make there way up the river. Usually that is the time they arrive and then the shad seems to get here around the beginning of the second week of June.

Back in a couple days with the Miramichi Fishing Reports by Guide Rodney Colford.