Brad Burns Fishing

Fishing friends – If you haven’t yet registered for the MSA USA Winter Event Feb 5th to be held at the Portland Country Club or through virtual attendance, now is the time.  If you are buying a table but don’t have all your names or meal selections yet, no worries, there is plenty of time for that, but please get your tickets now so we can stay on top of attendance.  Here is the, …Read More →

In my last blog post I showcased a historic canoe that will be offered during the MSA US auctions and dinner season beginning on January 28 and running until Feb. 8.  The dinner itself, including raffles, silent auction, and live auction will be held at the Portland Country Club in Falmouth, Maine on Feb. 5.  You can also attend virtually – including bidding and buying raffle tickets.  I said that over the next few, …Read More →

Another salmon season has come to a close on the Miramichi.  I’ve pasted in some pictures of ice forming up including these shots that Darrell Warren sent me of the Cains River from the deck of my camp at Mahoney Brook, and some photos that Byron Coughlin took down at Doctor’s Island (click on them for full size).                 I think things would have solidified a couple, …Read More →

The final counts for the season on the Miramichi River and its tributaries are taken on October 31.  These include the fish counting traps in Millerton and Cassilis manned by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans DFO, and the barriers on the Northwest and the Dungarvon that are run by the Miramichi Salmon Assoc for the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources DNR.  The traps catch a varying percentage of the run that, …Read More →

I spent the last 5 weeks of the salmon season in camp on the Miramichi fishing both the Cains and the main river.  My overwhelming reflection on that time, is how great it felt to have been able to return to Canada, and go salmon fishing.  Of all the fishing I’ve done anywhere, there is none that I prefer to fishing for Atlantic salmon in New Brunswick. I’m going to cut this season wrap-up, …Read More →

The good news is that the hot weather of mid-August ended about a week ago.  Water temperatures dropped from their highs quite quickly, and they have stayed dependably cool over the last week.  The coolness has been accompanied by some rainy weather that has the river about a foot higher than at this time last summer.  This has been great for the fish.  As I write this the remnants of hurricane Ida are threatening, …Read More →

The South West Miramichi  The August 15 Millerton and Cassillis trap numbers for the SW and NW branches of the Miramichi were recently posted, so I’ve written up a little discussion regarding them.   Let’s go right to the information that I think most people will find the most interesting.  Inserted below is a graphic showing the Millerton trap counts, first for salmon, and then for grilse.  The bar graphs from the DFO website show, …Read More →

This year’s weather has been the most upside down of any for many years.  We started out June with two bonafide heat waves.  It didn’t rain either, and it looked like we were in for another low, hot year like 2020.  July, though, was one of the coldest in the last century – truly – and we had lots of rain, especially over the Cains River valley.  The NW Miramichi did not fare as, …Read More →

Fishing for Atlantic salmon on the Miramichi in 2021 continues to be good.  Fishing reports from up and down the river are uniformly upbeat. Eddie Colford of the Black Brook Salmon Club said that fishing there had been good all year.  They had a party in recently, and Eddie said they hooked 15 in one day and rolled fish all day long.  One they landed weighed 20 pounds. Wayne O’Donnell of Rocky Brook said, …Read More →

Accounts of fishing on the Miramichi this year, along with numerous sightings by expert observers of jumping fish and moving schools of salmon, are all very promising.   Perhaps the very most comprehensive and reliable indicators of the size of the run are the DFO trap counts from Millerton and Cassilis.   Through July 15 the Cassilis trap on the NW Miramichi has counted 220 grilse – remember these nets catch just a small percentage of, …Read More →