Fishing Friends A fascinating exercise in the off-season is to ponder the data from the trap nets at Millerton and Cassilis that the Canadian DFO uses to calculate the salmon and grilse runs into the Miramichi.  Let’s take a little look and see if there are any revelations and/or trends in the data that are helpful either to our understanding of our favorite fish or in trying to get one on the end of, …Read More →

Fishing Friends – I think I can safely say that for anyone who does very much salmon fishing, 2024 will be remembered as the toughest season in a very long time.  That isn’t to say that no fish were caught, and that there weren’t some bright moments, but in general it was a continuation of the trend that began in 2012 and has accelerated in the last few seasons.  Striped bass, massing in the, …Read More →

Fishing Friends – Here is the “Fall Begins 2024 Miramichi salmon blog.” Miramichi Fishing Report – In the last few days I have heard from lodge owners, guides and fishermen from all over the Miramichi system.  In a nutshell, very few new salmon have arrived in the Miramichi since July until perhaps very recently.  This isn’t unusual in that August through the end of the first week in September is historically a very quiet, …Read More →

Fishing Friends – It seemed like this summer’s heat would just never end, but suddenly we’ve had a little bump in water levels, temperatures have cooled and the cold-water pools are reopened.  The next 10 day’s forecast looks pretty good too.  I’ll be headed up on September 6th for the rest of the season, and as always, I’m really looking forward to it. Let’s start out by reviewing the trap numbers through August 15. , …Read More →

Fishing Friends – I’m constantly reminded of the incredible importance that Miramichi salmon fishing has had to fly fishermen from all over the Northeast.  Here’s a little story about all that I hope you’ll enjoy. About this time of year, we are often looking for the cracks in summer’s armor. Sometimes things just change by inches, but more often the heat hangs on what seems like interminably, then all of a sudden there is, …Read More →

Fishing Friends – Thanks to catching a nasty virus that was working through the camp in Newfoundland I’m home in Maine.  First, a review of what I know about the salmon season in general so far…  I think it is fair to say waters in the middle and southern parts of North America’s salmon range have been finding this a tough season.  A friend who fished on the Flowers River, Labrador’s furthest north scheduled, …Read More →

Fishing Friends – I drove home from the Miramichi on July 5th after one of the most topsy-turvy early season fishing trips I have taken.  The short of it is that the catching was poor, and the run of fish was, well, it was confusing…  We started out with a little burst of fish towards the end of May.  That was good, some years we don’t have any.  This continued with a little trickle, …Read More →

Fishing Friends – I made a quick trip home to Maine on Tuesday the 16th when I knew that the heat wave was inevitable.  On both Wed and Thur the water temperature reached 28C/82F in Blackville.  On Friday it backed off to 26C/76F and this morning, Saturday 6/22 it is down to 23C/73F at first light.  DFO first closed their list of cold water refuge pools and now has restricted angling to 6-11 AM. , …Read More →

Fishing Friends – In an attempt to provide a little extra enthusiasm for the start of the bright salmon season Brad Burns Fly Fishing offered a $100 gift certificate to either Doak’s or Curtis fly shops for a dated, digital photo of the first bright salmon of the season. Early in the last week of May we started getting reports from David Donahue that schools of bright salmon were coming up the SW Miramichi. , …Read More →

Fishing Friends – This post features a report recently released by John A. Ritter PhD, retired Manager of the Diadromous Fish Division of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans.  Dr. Ritter’s paper clearly explains the reasons for the decline in Miramichi Atlantic salmon. The report is unique in several ways: Though written by a fishery PhD it is not full of terminology that is incomprehensible to the general public. The average recreational fisherman, …Read More →