Miramichi Salmon Blog:  Fall is Right On Time!

Fishing Friends: 

A nice one from the SW Miramichi. Photo courtesy Black Brook.

Our local weatherman in Portland, Maine reported on 9/1 that it wasn’t often that the actual weather conditions in the Northeast and the first day of the meteorological season coincide.  But it did this year.  On August 31 it was hot with near record humidity and the next day it was dry and cool.  In the middle of the change we got dumped on with a good rain too.  On the Miramichi that has created a nice fishing situation, with the salmon holding in the cold-water pools coming to life, and as Eddie Colford reports from Black Brook, many of the fish being caught carrying sea lice – meaning that they are fresh in from the estuary.

Both Black Brook and Country Haven noted some lovely male salmon in the mix, and Country Haven reported catching salmon in several of their pools from the mouth of Cains all the way up to the mouth of Muzzerol Brook beyond Shinnickburn.

Dave Fenderson and his party who won the Campbell’s Pool Labor Day trip in the MSA auction last winter hooked fish in several pools on both the Cains and main river and saw “lots of fish showing.”

The Millerton and Cassilis trap numbers through August 31 were probably counted too early to contain all of this recent push of fish, but both traps gained ground on last year’s numbers.  The SW Miramichi salmon number is now ahead of last year – and the 4th best since 2011 – even though last summer’s cool, wet conditions were much more conducive to attracting fish into the river.   Grilse are still down considerably compared to 2021, but that’s a tough comparison because 2021 was the second-best grilse year since 2011. So far 2022 is the fourth best, and if we have a good fall run we may gain some more ground.  All of this is to say that the numbers are pretty good and may get better. 

Salmon counts at Millerton for 2022 through August 31 are ahead of most recent years. We’ll have to see what the fall run brings…

I recently heard from Sam Carlisle at FishPal.   FishPal is planning some promotions soon for FishPal Miramichi.   If you don’t have that address saved to your favorites, you should.  For one thing if you go to E-mail Alerts at the top of the page you can sign up to get alerts on special availability being offered by any of the lodges that interest you.  FishPal also opens the door to salmon fishing on both sides of the Atlantic.  By clicking on the down arrow next to Rivers in the menu at the top of the page you can select from salmon rivers all over the UK plus Norway and Iceland.

Graeme MacKinnon from the Atlantic Salmon Museum in Doaktown e-mailed me about the Museum’s big, annual raffle.  This is a unique fundraising concept in which everyone has three chances to win one of 28 prizes with a combined value of $60,000.  Tickets are limited to a total of 1,500 at $50 each or 5 for $200.  This is all in CA funds.  So, the total selling price of all tickets is more or less the retail value of the prizes – fair enough!   If you are a New Brunswick citizen, you can get your tickets at this link.    If you live outside New Brunswick, and want to support the salmon museum, you can get your tickets through Graeme by sending him an e-mail lgmack2010@gmail.com.

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Photo from Black Brook

I’m heading up to the Miramichi on September 7, and I’ll be there for the rest of the season.  I’ll be doing a report on the fishing most days, and you can read about it at this link Miramichi Atlantic Salmon Report | Brad Burns Fishing.  After the season ends on October 15 I’ll head home and will be doing a comprehensive end of the season fishing blog report.

I hope that you will book some time into one of the Miramichi’s great lodges – most of which have pages on FishPal Miramichi, and participate in this historic fishery.   2022 is starting out to be a great fall.  Hopefully it will just get better.  Don’t miss it!

Thanks for reading.  Brad Burns

PS My recent striper book Maine to Montauk continues to enjoy good sales.  There are now hard cover copies as well as paperback and Kindle versions available on my author’s page on Amazon.   There is no author’s page on Amazon CA, but enter Maine to Montauk, and the book is available.