Brad Burns Fishing

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 →

Fishing Friends –                                                                                                                                               , …Read More →

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 →