The Wait Is Almost Over, Lets Fish!

One day remaining and it’s just like Christmas and watching the kids wait for Santa Claus, except this time were waiting for a strong Atlantic Salmon to hit our fly. Not as strong as when they’re running in from the sea but after such a long winter and just to have the opportunity to hook a salmon makes it well worth it for us kids and parents. And if your kids are like mine for the past week it’s all there talking about is getting out and hooking a fish.

Now for river conditions on the NW Miramichi up past the Wayerton Bridge. Outfitter Roger Sorel of Miramichi North West Lodge said ice was gone on down to Sunny Corner on Tuesday and without any flooding. River was starting to come up a bit from the rain and warm weather.

River conditions on the SW Miramichi improved very well. Warm weather and heavy rains on Monday got the water up and made boating a little easier for us to get around for opening day. And with high water comes lots of debris from the spring clean up of the river. Meaning be careful out on the water as ice and trees and debris from the shore lines will be making its way down stream.

Local outfitters on the river like Keith Wilson of Wilson Sporting Camps in the Doaktown area said the river was up on Tuesday. He also addressed being careful on the water. Keith will be fishing the Cains on the first couple days so let’s hope we get a good report back from him for next week for the river.

Local shops in the area are very well prepared for all anglers coming in to get there gear.

George Rutledge of George’s Fly Shop said he expects to see lots of fisherman in during the first week.

Curtis River Outfitters also are very well prepared to meet there customers needs and with well known fly tyer Cathy Colford on hand to help you out.

Doaks Fly Shop in Doaktown is always ready to help out and has many good products available from Sage to Simms gear.

In Miramichi Area, Miramichi City Surplus has lots of fly fishing supplies available. Also like I said last week drop into any of these places for updates of the river and they will help you out.

Anglers Awareness Night was held on the 7^th and 12^th in Boistown and Renous with very good topics from Mark Hambrook of the Miramichi salmon association and Debbie Norton president of the Miramichi Water Shed Committee. Bass was the biggest concern and if there was going to be a season to fish for them. The answer was NO there was not a season as of now and the numbers were too low, even though the NW Miramichi is being over whelmed with bass. Many anglers, guides and outfitters were very worried about the numbers of bass in the system and the effect they are having on our salmon. There were also talks about where they spawn and we were told that there spawning all took place on the North West and only the NW Miramichi.

Well a few anglers said the different and saw the strippers spawning in more or all of our rivers on the Miramichi system the past couple years. Mark agreed and said he also saw them spawning in the SW Miramichi and a few other rivers in the system. The awareness of what the bass were eating was also brought up and salmon smolt and lobster was a main food source in the system. DFO was not at this meeting so most that Mark could help with was good but it would have been nice to hear from Department and Fisheries and Oceans on the bass topic. A few prizes were given out last night and too name a few that won were some of our young anglers and or future guides of the river were Logan Brophy, Alex Hallihan and Zachery Colford. Other guides and Anglers that won were Gerald Hallihan, Aubrey Buggy, Duncan Manderville, Larry Munn, Eugene Donovan, Emery Brophy, Tracey Harris and Keith Gallon.

With many more topics to talk about I will let you get back to your fishing count down and opening day tomorrow. For more information on the bass check out the Miramichi Salmon Association web site.

And until next week let’s get those lines tight and the reels screeching on the Miramichi.

Tight Lines Rodney Colford

Fishing waters opening up but they're very low

With just a little over a week away on the Miramichi River ice out conditions are rapidly improving with the mild weather we are having. The lower stretches of the river the ice has cleared up from the mouth of Cains River on down through the village of Blackville. Renous River is open in places but also has very low levels.

In the upper Miramichi River area Keith Wilson of Wilson Sporting Camps said the water is low as summer and if it was June it would be perfect conditions. With a few warm days and all the snow in the woods we should see normal conditions later.

Derrick Munn of the Ledges Inn in Doaktown sad the ice is slowly rotting away with a few open spots here and there. He said we also need some rain and some warmer weather to get things moving on the river.

The river levels are very low and without some rain and milder temperatures boating does not look very good for the river on opening day. Temperatures do look promising on the weekend with highs of 12 C on Saturday which will raise the river some. And without some rain or snow melting in the woods the smaller rivers like the Cains, Renous, Little SW Miramichi and the Upper Stretches of the Main SW and NW Miramichi will be very hard going for boaters.

Also fisherman that are wading safety is always an issue in the spring as ice jams does change the bottom of the river from year to year. So please be careful out there when you have that 40 plus inch salmon on. It would be a good idea to check with your local fly shops in the areas for good places for wading to fish spring salmon, as most places

do not mind you fishing in the spring. Fly Shops to call is W.W.Doak & Sons Doaktown, Curtis Fly Shop Blackville, Herbs Fly Shop Blackville, Georges Fly Shop Renous, Trout Brook Fly Shop on the NW. They all have a very good supply of spring fishing gear and can tell you (or sell you) what is the best to use in the low or high water conditions.

I will look forward to hearing from you with all your catches on the river. Pictures would be good too of the big ones. Please practice proper releasing methods so not to hurt the fish when taking them out of the water for your photo. Also remember to pinch your barbs and singles hooks only. And until next week and from the Banks of the Miramichi River this is Rodney Colford.

Fishing season begins to take shape

With salmon season fast approaching anglers have tied there favourite fly patterns and getting there gear set out to be well prepared for the opening day of the season. But the one thing that stands in there way at the start of every season is mother nature and the force of the Mighty Miramichi’s river ice.

The beautiful Miramichi River and tributaries are frozen and anglers have been starting the worry or the guessing game when will the ice start breaking up, or will it be gone out of the river in time for opening day?

Well things are starting to look very good for the fisherman for opening day here on the river. The warmer weather the past couple days has awakened the Power of the Old Miramichi! and it’s starting to move the ice a bit.

The river ice is gone behind the Atlantic Salmon Museum

in Doaktown.

Bev Gaston said the ice had pulled out on Monday night from Nelson Hollow down past the Museum where you could see a jam piling up.

There were also some Canadian Geese enjoying the river for the very first time this season at the Museum.

In Boistown there were also some signs of ice breaking up with jams in a few different places along the river.

Down river near Upper Blackville the shores were starting to rot away and in some places as wide as 40 feet from shore. In the Blackville area the Bartholomew river cleared out on Tuesday.

Cain’s River was starting to loosen up near Cashens and Shinick Burn but the river itself was very low and needs some water to really get things moving.

The Renous River was looking very bad as the shores were very weak near the pump house pool.

The Quarryville Pool at the Mouth of Renous looked like it did in February and seemed to be holding on very strong. And from Quarryville to Miramichi City the ice was still in and looked very good, except a few different places you could see some big cracks in the ice.

With warmer days and some light rain in the forecast it should help raise the river and get the ice breaking up even more. The river ice does not appear to be very thick so it should start the crunching and breaking up sounds this weekend or the first of next week.

Down stream from The Upper Blackville Bridge.

Upper Blackville Bridge.

Since writing this report there is a few changes on the river like the Cains has cleaned out and the ice is jammed up just about a mile below the mouth. I will keep you updated daily on the conditions.

I will be back in a few days with another report from the Miramichi River.

Tight Lines,

Rodney Colford

www.miramichifishingreports.blogspot.com

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 28 years. His fishing reports appear every Thursday in the Times & Transcript.

Christmas Flooding on Miramichi

Miramichi flooding (not fishing) in December 14th 2010. I will have better photos in the morning of the river and camps in the area. Rodney

We're fortunate to fish for salmon

Who would think Eastern Canada would be the hottest spot for Atlantic salmon fishing in all of North America.

Fishermen from all over the world travel to our eastern rivers for our Atlantic salmon. And yes, New Brunswick is the place to be from April 15 to Oct. 15.

Only 176 days until we get out our fly rods. And who would be counting the days for a fresh new season of fresh silver salmon and hearing that old Hardy reel screeching? Readers like you I hope? How lucky we are to live near the Miramichi River.

Salmon fishing officially ended today in all of New Brunswick for 2010 season.

The Nepisiguit River was the only river that had an extra week of fishing this fall.

I had a chance to give it a try this week, but had to say no to a wonderful offer from Ron Godin. Sorry to hear he did not have very good luck as the water was too high and the weather was cold and windy.

The last few days of the season on the Miramichi were very tough as heavy winds made it hard to cast. Cristian Stathis and I only had four fish for the last week and did not see many fish. Most fish we saw seem to be very dark in colour.

I also fished with Country Haven Lodge last week with guest Willy Wood and Richard of Maine. We landed three salmon and lost another fish at the Sabbies pool using Ally Shrimps.

Country Haven said they had a pretty good season under the extreme hot weather conditions this summer.

Trout Brook Fly Shop owner Syd Matchett said the last couple weeks on the North West Miramichi was not too bad. One lad hooked five fish at Blacks and Allison Pool on an Ally Shrimp and a Copper Killer. Syd said there were not many fishermen about as the weather stayed cold the last week.

Curtis Fly Shop said they had a good year and sold a lot of flies and gear. There were not many reports of big hook bills being caught, or none with proof with a picture.

They will open up the shop for anyone at Christmas time. It would be best to call ahead if travelling a great distance.

Have you ever wondered how many fish are hooked and landed each season in our rivers?

I have and I hope someday we will be able to go to a website and check out the numbers of fish hooked, landed and tagged each day.

Many rivers in Scotland (if not all) can tell you their salmon counts per season. What pools produce and which ones will have the best chance at hooking up. Just something for our new government of New Brunswick to think about for future seasons.

They do it for deer, moose and bear why not for our famous Atlantic salmon? Let me know what you think of this idea.

I almost forgot to tell you the story of the grilse that was in the net and found a hole to squeeze through to get back into the Cains River again.

Louis Cormier is from Memramcook and a fly fisherman that is a victim of the netter of Sabbies. We saw many fish at the Sabbies pool whilst there had to be 15 rods fishing on both sides of the river each of the last two days.

* 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 Thursday in the Times &Transcript.