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Fishing Friends – My old Miramichi mentor Willy Bacso used to say that he always felt better after New Year’s since things were now starting in the direction of spring and salmon fishing. Willy passed away in 2009, and frankly I’m glad that he never had to face the situation that exists now. Everyone I know does want to look forward to salmon fishing. But at least since the days of heavy estuary netting, …Read More →
A few days ago I had intended to start this blog by reporting that winter was closing in on the Miramichi. We had a cool November and then a week of quite cold weather and the Miramichi estuary was frozen clear across with thin but stationary ice, and the surface was barely moving as of Friday afternoon 12/8 in Ice covered and nearly stopped running on last Friday. Boiestown. Well take another look now! The, …Read More →
This is the first of two blogs that I intend to get out in the fairly near future. This first one is largely to bring you up to date on what the experts that I’m talking to believe is going on with the salmon population of the Miramichi, and what needs to be done about it. I’m also going to kick off the Miramichi Salmon Association US fundraising season by letting you know about, …Read More →
Fishing Friends: On September 20th, after Hurricane Lee passed, I drove from Maine back to the Miramichi to attend an MSA meeting. The Blackville water gauge was broken for both water height and temperature. The water height, though, was something like 2.5M – essentially unfishable – and it was still over 1.3M on October 1. Every fish that we caught from September 20th on was caught up on the Cains. We did try the, …Read More →
Fishing Friends: I drove back to Maine on Friday to wait out the raise in water coming from Hurricane Lee. I plan to head back up in the middle of the week. Fishing in moderately high water has been the hall mark of this season, but with an additional 50 to 100MM forecast to drop on top of the 1.6M in water height already showing on the Blackville gauge is a bit over the, …Read More →
Fishing Friends: Summer is getting a little long in the tooth. This past Wednesday morning we were forecast to see scattered frosts around New Brunswick. That was common 20 years ago, and frankly it feels right to me now. Not that August has been all that warm a month this year anyway. Thanks to MSA life-member Albert Putnam, I’ve now learned that water temperatures are now again available on the Blackville gauge. Scroll down, …Read More →
Fishing Friends: The jury is still very much out on what has been so far a very strange season on the Miramichi. Water levels have been persistently high all season with only the last week or so getting under 1 meter on the Blackville gauge, and then just barely. You can refer to my early season Miramichi Salmon Blog on my Brad Burns Fishing website for more info on the June and early July, …Read More →
Fishing Friends: I’m recently back from a month on the SW Miramichi in Blackville. I never missed either a morning or evening session for 30 straight days, and even my hands are sore from repetitive casting. The lowest water that we experienced during the entire time was 1.1 M on the Blackville gauge which is still relatively high water. Far more often the level was 1.5M or more. I’ve seen much higher levels after, …Read More →
In retrospect there was mixed news on the Miramichi spring fishing this year. On the good side were reports of solid numbers of large salmon – something that I can vouch for myself – and that speaks well for last fall’s spawning. There were also better numbers of 1 to 3 pound sea run brook trout than in most recent springs. Byron Coughlan of Country Haven reported the increased catches and said that, …Read More →