Welcome to Brad Burns Fly Fishing
This website offers the books On the Cains and Closing the Season, and shares with my fellow Atlantic salmon devotees information about the Miramichi River’s Atlantic salmon fishery. Other books by me such as Maine to Montauk and Black Spruce Stream can be purchased through my “author’s page” on Amazon at this link.
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Do you have any questions for me about the Miramichi or Atlantic salmon fishing in general? Just e-mail me at bigbass@maine.rr.com. To read Miramichi salmon blogs and fishing reports select Miramichi Salmon Blog from right side of the menu bar near the top of the screen.
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Fishing Friends – Note, see important late breaking news at end of post. The Miramichi is known for its salmon, and rightfully so – after all, it has always had one of the largest populations of Atlantic salmon in North America, and one of the richest sport fishing histories. A lesser-known fact is that while the lower portions of the main stem of the SW and NW branches are modestly populated with humans,, …Read More →
Fishing Friends – I remembered something I had written in the end-of-summer blog last year – you can easily scroll back and read it all, but here is the operative sentence: “The 34 that entered the Millerton trap during the first two weeks of August this year amounted to 56% of the 60 salmon that had been captured during all of June and July. In 2021 that same percentage was 21.5% and in 2022, …Read More →
Fishing Friends – Beyond simply enjoying a few days in camp, my goal for the opening days of the Miramichi 2024 salmon season was to try and catch a salmon kelt in the upriver area of the Cains that Harry Allen fished in the early years of the 20th century. As Allen’s parties canoed down the Cains from Bantalor, their first day out was really just a wilderness canoe trip. According to the old, …Read More →
Fishing Friends – on Monday, April 15, 2024 yet another Atlantic salmon and brooktrout fishing season will open on the Miramichi River. I’m headed up on Sunday and am very much looking forward to being back on the river. By normal standards for mid-April the river is not high, and there is very little snow in the woods to add to the flow. We are expecting over an inch of rain from now until, …Read More →
Fishing Friends – It has been a while since I’ve had some optimistic news to report on the ongoing attempts to turn around the decline of the Miramichi River Atlantic salmon population. I’m happy to report, though, that the landscape may be changing. Let’s do a little background review. From what I can gather there are three basic problems facing the Miramichi salmon: First, is a general backdrop of poor sea winter survival that, …Read More →
Fishing Friends – Every winter in salmon country, and its eventual transformation to springtime and ice-out is a little unique. Most recent years have been marked by a tug of war between milder, rainy conditions, and the fierce cold and snow we normally associate with Canadian winters. This year definitely trended to milder, and periods of the -20C and below temps that build the kind of river ice you can drive trucks on were, …Read More →
Fishing Friends – With the MSA US winter fund raising season behind us – and thanks to many of you it was a great success – we turn our thoughts to salmon fishing. Some of the world’s earliest fresh run Atlantic salmon fishing is in the UK, and the northern and eastern coasts of Scotland in particular. I got an e-mail recently from Michael Wigan of the Helmsdale – he spoke at our MSA, …Read More →
Fishing Friends: For a number of years in the early 2000s I fished the River Dee in Scotland. The Dee is one of Scotland’s three big rivers and has the distinction of King Charle’s Balmoral Estate being the headwaters beat. Fishing was quite good at that time there was almost a euphoria about the fishing. It was very hard to book a rod on any of the better beats. In recent years the Dee, …Read More →
Fishing Friends – we weren’t far from capacity at the Portland Country Club, as supporters of Miramichi salmon conservation met to raise funds for the MSA. In addition to fund-raising activities, attendees both in person and virtual listened to Sir Michael Wigan, owner of the Borrobol Estate on the Helmsdale River in Scotland, talk about the successful management of salmon on their river. Those in attendance were interested to learn how the Helmsdale River, …Read More →
Fishing Friends – here’s a report on the MSA US online auction. We’ve never had a better auction selection than this year, but there are 18 excellent items that have yet to achieve even the minimum bid. Let’s take a look at each of them. 2 nights for 2 on Doctor’s Island – Only a couple of hundred feet from the mainland shore, Doctor’s Island is the stuff of legends. Marilyn Monroe and Joe, …Read More →