Monday, September 20, 2010

Vote for Miramichi

Here are a couple of interesting stories. Miramichi is in the race for Canada’s Ultimate fishing town – please visit the site and vote. As well the MSA had a very successful fund raising dinner in Fredericton on Sept 15th. DFO Minister Gail Shea was the guest speaker – see story below.

timestranscript.com - Miramichi steps up Ultimate Fishing campaign ...

Organizations such as the Miramichi Salmon Association and the Miramichi Watershed Management Committee are the sentries of sustainability on the Miramichi, ...
timestranscript.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1224170

dailygleaner.com - Decline in salmon numbers gets federal ...
From left, Miramichi Salmon Association president Mark Hambrook, ... Mark Hambrook, president of the Miramichi Salmon Association and president of the New ...
dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1222669

Midday Fishing Report

Miramichi fishing report for Monday September 20th. Fishing the last few days has been great! just the catching has been tough! The river levels are perfect on the South West Miramichi and there are a few fish starting to come in with sea lice! I would expect the big fish should be starting very soon to come in from the estuary. The water temperatures are also very good and going from 50 F in the mornings and to 60 F by the evening. There are anglers hooking up and most seem to be in the morning fish. Flies of choice are Allies, GP's, Copper Killer's and still a few dry flies.

Back in a day or two with a full update and catches of fish!! If you have a catch that you would like posted please send it a long and I will gladly mention it for you. And your photos too! miramichifishingreports@hotmail.com

Tight Lines,
Rodney

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Salmon Now Getting in the Taking Mood

This is last weeks report sorry for the late post!

With less than a month remaining in our season mother nature is trying hard to bring us better fishing conditions for the Miramichi. Cooler temperatures and rain is getting the fish in the taking mood up and down the river. River temperatures are in the high 50's to low 60's (F) for the most part of the day.

Fishing reports from local fisherman the past week has picked up considerably since heavy rains hit us. And with the showers the past few days we are expecting fresh fish to begin coming in from the estuary very soon. There are lots of fish in the river both salmon and grilse but they are mostly old fish. There was a lady at Black Brook pool that landed a 32 pounder this week, that should be the start to many fall fish.

Another fisher-lady that is no longer fish-less is Shirley Smith of Moncton. She landed a 31 inch salmon on a white tail green machine at Pool 66 on Monday evening. Her husband Steve also hooked into a few fish.
Roland Krause of Fredericton hooked and landed his first grilse while being coached by his son Michael. Brother in-law James Wood hooked a grilse and raised a few more. I landed a salmon about 15 lb's on a blue bomber. The bridge pool in Upper Blackville was producing while many local fisherman were hooking up and seeing lots of fish in the pool. There was several fish near the Stop Sign pool as Ron Falusy, Clark Hallman and Bill Moore each landed a grilse on Tuesday using copper killer's and alley shrimps. My father Gary Colford was guiding for Country Haven Lodge this week and hooked a few fish in the Doaktown area.Damir Sehic of Fredericton landed 6 fish and 1 weighing 25 lb. Jim and Matt Martin both landed salmon at pool 66.

I fished Saturday with Jacques Heroux on the Cains and saw nothing for the couple hours we fished. Jacques then went fishing at Pool 66 and had great fishing saturday night...released 1 grisle and 1 salmon both on same thing Murray.
I fished Monday also on the Cains at Shinickburn and saw no fish all day. Other fisherman said they saw fish at Salmon Brook and Buttermilk Brook pools. Peter Beresford landed a grilse at the Sabbies Pool on a copper killer. Another angler said he fished the Dungarvan and saw fish by the Furlong bridge pool.

Solar Haven Club in Upper Blackville had good reports of fish being hooked. Al Bridges of Bangor said he hooked a few salmon. Larry Vanperson and Johny Vickery also from Bangor landed 23 salmon in 4 1/2 days on the river. Flies of choice were Rod's bombers.

Wilson's Sporting Camps on the main SW said conditions were very good and water levels are perfect height and with a good temperature. Many fish holding in there pools and no sign of any fresh fish yet. Green machine with a white calf tail is the fly of choice this week.

Fisherman on the North West Miramichi said fishing had improved. There were a few fisherman hooking fish at the Wayerton Bridge pool. Water temperatures was very good in the low 60's F and with the past rain things did improve for the better. All was needed was the fall run to start.

Also don't forget the Dieppe Fly Fishing Forum March 26th and 27th, 2011. This trade show is beginning to be the number one show for Atlantic salmon fishing in Eastern Canada. Contact the Fly Fishing Forum for more information on this event or Jacques Héroux.

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 fly-fishermen in the world for 27 years. His fishing reports appear every Thursday in the Times & Transcript.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Fishing Improving on the Miramichi

Well fisherman and fisher-ladies get your waders and rods ready for some good fishing conditions on the famous Miramichi, as the heavy rains will get the fish moving. The water temperature is in the low 60's F and DFO said there are lots of fish in the estuary that should start running soon.

Fishing conditions have improved on the Miramichi and tributaries and holding pools are catching fish. No sign of fresh fish yet running but conditions are well on the way for a good fall. With heavy rains expected for the week there should be good levels for the upper parts of the river. The forecast is predicting 60 to 80 ml of rain from Tuesday to Friday this week, and with the rain from hurricane Earl we just received it should bring the levels up considerably and get the fresh fish moving up stream.

Monday and Tuesday I fished with Ken MacLeod and his buddy Jeff from NS on the lower section of the river. We started about noon on Monday and the pool was thrashing with fish like you wouldn't believe! The three of us landed 12 fish and lost another 6 fish using any fly you put on pretty much. Ken said its like putting the two hottest pools on the Humber river in NFL all in one pool. Tuesday we landed 8 more fish and Jeff landed a 25 lb plus salmon. Flies we were using was brown, black, white and green bombers, green muddler, black cosseboom, blue charms and green machines.

Other anglers the past week that landed fish were Mike Bonner and his brother landed a grilse each in the Grey Rapids using a green machine on Tuesday. James Vickers landed a grilse on a green machine on Sunday and I landed 3 using bombers also on Sunday. Steve Crandlemere of Sussex landed a 40 incher and his son Zane landed a grilse each. Merle Colford landed a grilse and lost another. John and Alex Colford landed a grilse each this week.

Black Brook Salmon Club had a wonderful week with many anglers limiting out each day. Doc 92 and his wife Sue Sheerer were having a great week after spending 3 long weeks on the river. Kim Smith and his wife Benny were also having a tremendous week with Benny limiting out on Tuesday and Kim landing three.

Trout Brook Fly Shop on the North West Miramichi said fishing has improved with the rain from Earl and anglers were picking up a fish here and there. There was good reports on the crown reserve stretches at the Elbow, Crawford and the Depot as fisherman landed seven fish in 1 1/2 days.

Wilson's Sporting Camps said they had a six inch rise in water and conditions were good. They had fish in there holding pools and with rain in the forecast things should improve for the fall run.

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


Sunday, September 5, 2010

After affects from Earl on the Miramichi River

Colford's Atlantic salmon river report from the Main South West Miramichi. With heavy rains hitting us from Earl we have yet to see that much of a raise in the river. The lower stretch of the SW Miramichi only got about a 6 to 8 inch raise so far. I talked to Syd at Trout Brook Fly Shop and he said the NW Miramichi only raised about 4 inches. Syd said there is not many anglers fishing but the few that are have saw fish around. The same goes for here on the Main SW river there are fish moving around the pools now from where they were before holding in cold water spots through out the pools.

This is a photo looking up towards the mouth of Cains river.

Today is very windy for casting and a lot of slim floating and making it hard to fish wet flies both casting and your drift/swing of the fly. The temperatures were very good this morning in the mid 60's F. I landed a grilse on a brown bomber, while James Vickers from Moncton landed a grilse on a green machine. Merle Colford lost a grilse and landed one on brown bomber also. There were a few other fisherman that hooked a few fish too around 10:00 am on dries.

I hope this fills you in a bit for the river conditions, I will post more later today or tomorrow if there are any changes.

Update from tonight: The river raised another 6 inches from this morning and looks like it is still raising this evening. The fishing was great as I landed 2 grilse from 7:00 pm until 8:00 pm. I witnessed a 40 incher being landed after telling the guy what he should use for a fly. I told him my flies work for this pool so put that one on! then he hooked his fish. Lucky call by me lol! All in all the river is up at-least a foot or better. I will update you again tomorrow.

Tight lines,
Rodney Colford