Monthly Archives: April 2020

Surprise! Miramichi Salmon Fishing Begins Early

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Doug Underhill • 0 Comments

Jason Curtis’s Britanny pup Lattie watches him bring in a grilse on the SW Miramichi. Campbell’s Pool is in sight just downriver. Country Haven’s website says that this fish was caught within five minutes of beginning to fish by Larissa Bryenton. The start of the Atlantic salmon fishing season in New Brunswick, normally scheduled for…

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On the Cusp

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We are up to our neck in ripe tomatoes, eating our first garden corn, and I needed to put on a jacket to have my first cup of coffee outdoors a day or two ago. This is that wonderful time of the year when it is still summer, but the first feelings of fall are in the air, and the worst of summer’s heat is behind us.

The temperature gauge on the Miramichi at Doaktown is 7/C/45F and has been steadily declining all week, and yesterday, 8/21, was the first day since the middle of June when the water temperature failed to rise to 20C/68F all day long.

The upcoming week is also forecast to be somewhat below normal in terms of both daily highs and lows. It sure looks like water temperature will not be a problem again for the rest of the season. The DFO agrees too since last week the morning only fishing restriction was lifted, and as of yesterday all of the cold water pools that have been closed most of the summer were opened again.

The only element we are lacking now is a raise of water, and outside of a few showers here and there no rain to speak of is forecast. The level is currently at .38 meters in Blackville, and that is in record low territory. Only once before, during the fall of 2018, have I seen it that low.

Jason Curtis selfie with salmon!

To celebrate the cool temps and the showery day yesterday in Blackville, Jason Curtis fished our best low water pool for the first time in over a month. He was very amply rewarded by hooking 6 salmon/grilse on bombers, and he landed two including a nice cock salmon of about 8 pounds.

Jason observed that the fish were all colored, and had probably been holding at a brook-fed pool lower down in the river and were just now resuming their run up the river. He said that he also saw another school of salmon make it through the glassy water above Campbell’s Pool earlier in the day. The fish Jason is holding in the photo certainly appears to be in lovely condition.

An armchair salmon season – An armchair and a computer are as close as most Americans are going to get to Canadian salmon fishing this summer. The government has moved off the date of cross border traffic to September 25^th, and privately I hear there is little chance that date in turn won’t be pushed off yet another month as things get closer. New Brunswick has done a good job of keeping Covid down, and they want to keep it that way. It is hard to argue with, especially when you compare the numbers in the Maritime Provinces to those in states south of us. I’m fishing in the ocean here in Maine, still hoping against hope for a little late season action, and fishing vicariously through reports from the river. I know the pools so well that I can see them in my mind’s eye, I can look at the weather and water height on the computer and feel myself standing in the Miramichi and fishing in those conditions. I can see the salmon rolling and jumping on their way up the river, see the boil on the surface, and feel the line tighten, then rip from the reel as a good salmon takes hold of the fly. Yup, that’s where my salmon fix is going to have to come from for 2020!

A pre-Covid Miramichi fishing scene from the great year 2011.

Recent runs into the river have been typical of warm summer weather. Two weeks ago only a single large salmon and no smaller salmon and no grilse made it up to the Dungarvon Barrier. Those numbers improved a little for the week ended 8/16, but they were entirely made up of grilse without a single mature salmon venturing up these tributaries from the estuary. Dungarvon had 6 while the NW branch had 4.

Both branches are ahead of last year, though surprisingly the number grilse in the NW Miramichi is down year on year. All evidence suggests that the 2020 grilse run is very good by recent standards, but that doesn’t mean that this particular segment of the run will reflect that. Unfortunately, without the Millerton and Cassilis traps installed this year we will never have a really good counting of this season’s run. Still we will be picking up a lot of reports on the autumn fishing, and based on the apparently robust early run we are optimistic.

I follow Scottish salmon fishing quite closely with Covid causing me to miss my first March fishing there since 2006 when I started going over. Most of Scotland’s rivers have also seen a strong run in 2020 with the best grilse runs in a long time. In my book this is further proof that the main problem the Miramichi salmon run faces is in the ocean, and it wouldn’t take a huge change to return to times of much better abundance.

David Donahue used to own the hardware store in Blackville. He grew up on the river in sight of Doctor’s Island, and his father Earl guided there for many years, working hand-in-hand with the original owner and founder of Doctor’s Island Paul O’Haire. One day a few years ago I was in the canoe with Jason Curtis and David Donahue drifting through the channel looking over the pool. Slow it down Jason, said David, it has to be right here, and then finally there it is… pointing to a big grey rock. My dad and Paul O’Haire put that rock there; it holds a lot of salmon. You can’t beat that kind of local, historical knowledge!

In the last few years David has been operating a bed and breakfast on the island. Davids got a great facebook page with some terrific pictures of the island, the cottages, and the area. He has been painstakingly restoring the cottages, and they do look terrific. The big lodge, which is in many ways exactly what you would think an authentic Miramichi sporting lodge should be, with a huge fireplace, open beam interior, and incredible views, has been in serious need of some restoration too, and this summer Dave has been tackling that – and making some very good progress.

An early spring picture of the Doctor’s Island lodge.

An evening upriver view taken walking around the lodge for dinner as club members and guests did for nearly 80 years.

Sport walking over to the old lodge circa 1949.

Recently Gary Tanner – well-known sporting event auctioneer, past executive director of the American Museum of Fly Fishing, as well as the owner of many other important accomplishments in the world of outdoor sport including a PhD in wildlife biology, sent a review to Amazon after reading my latest book On the Cains: Atlantic Salmon and Sea-Run Brook Trout on the Miramichi’s Greatest Tributary. I was really honored with his comment and thought I’d share it with you: “I have only seen one other book that even comes close to it in its historical class, and that is John Merwin’s The Battenkill. On the Cains eclipses even that great book in importance to the sport of fly fishing.” I knew Merwin who had editorial positions at Fly Rod and Reel, Fly Fisherman, and Field and Stream. It is truly a great compliment to have someone put my name next to his.

All eyes will now be on the fall run. I’ll report back with as much information and many photographs as I can uncover on how the fall unfolds. Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

PS If you are reading this blog because someone told you about it, you can subscribe yourself at no cost. The link on my website is currently down, but just send me an e-mail at bigbass@maine.rr.com and I’ll enter you manually.

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Brad Burns

Brad Burns has avidly pursued striped bass, brook trout, Atlantic salmon and a host of other game fish for over 50 years. He is the author of the L.L. Bean Fly Fishing for Striped Bass Handbook, and with John Cole co-authored Fly Fishing for Saltwater’s Finest in addition to this latest book Closing the Season. Brad has also written for many of the best known fly-fishing publications.

www.bradburnsfishing.com

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[post_excerpt] =>

We are up to our neck in ripe tomatoes, eating our first garden corn, and I needed to put on a jacket to have my first cup of coffee outdoors a day or two ago. This is that wonderful time of the year when it is still summer, but the first feelings of fall are…

The post On the Cusp appeared first on Giver on the River.

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Jason Curtis selfie with salmon!

A pre-Covid Miramichi fishing scene from the great year 2011.

An early spring picture of the Doctor’s Island lodge.

An evening upriver view taken walking around the lodge for dinner as club members and guests did for nearly 80 years.

Sport walking over to the old lodge circa 1949.

All eyes will now be on the fall run. I’ll report back with as much information and many photographs as I can uncover on how the fall unfolds. Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

The post On the Cusp appeared first on Brad Burns Fishing.

Source: Brad Burns Fishing

Brad Burns

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Jason Curtis selfie with salmon!

A pre-Covid Miramichi fishing scene from the great year 2011.

An early spring picture of the Doctor’s Island lodge.

An evening upriver view taken walking around the lodge for dinner as club members and guests did for nearly 80 years.

Sport walking over to the old lodge circa 1949.

All eyes will now be on the fall run. I’ll report back with as much information and many photographs as I can uncover on how the fall unfolds. Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

The post On the Cusp appeared first on Brad Burns Fishing.

Source: Brad Burns Fishing

Brad Burns

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The post On the Cusp appeared first on Giver on the River.

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Jason Curtis selfie with salmon!

A pre-Covid Miramichi fishing scene from the great year 2011.

An early spring picture of the Doctor’s Island lodge.

An evening upriver view taken walking around the lodge for dinner as club members and guests did for nearly 80 years.

Sport walking over to the old lodge circa 1949.

All eyes will now be on the fall run. I’ll report back with as much information and many photographs as I can uncover on how the fall unfolds. Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

The post On the Cusp appeared first on Brad Burns Fishing.

Source: Brad Burns Fishing

Brad Burns

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Jason Curtis selfie with salmon!

A pre-Covid Miramichi fishing scene from the great year 2011.

An early spring picture of the Doctor’s Island lodge.

An evening upriver view taken walking around the lodge for dinner as club members and guests did for nearly 80 years.

Sport walking over to the old lodge circa 1949.

All eyes will now be on the fall run. I’ll report back with as much information and many photographs as I can uncover on how the fall unfolds. Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

The post On the Cusp appeared first on Brad Burns Fishing.

Source: Brad Burns Fishing

Brad Burns

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Jason Curtis selfie with salmon!

A pre-Covid Miramichi fishing scene from the great year 2011.

An early spring picture of the Doctor’s Island lodge.

An evening upriver view taken walking around the lodge for dinner as club members and guests did for nearly 80 years.

Sport walking over to the old lodge circa 1949.

All eyes will now be on the fall run. I’ll report back with as much information and many photographs as I can uncover on how the fall unfolds. Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

The post On the Cusp appeared first on Brad Burns Fishing.

Source: Brad Burns Fishing

Brad Burns

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Jason Curtis selfie with salmon!

A pre-Covid Miramichi fishing scene from the great year 2011.

An early spring picture of the Doctor’s Island lodge.

An evening upriver view taken walking around the lodge for dinner as club members and guests did for nearly 80 years.

Sport walking over to the old lodge circa 1949.

All eyes will now be on the fall run. I’ll report back with as much information and many photographs as I can uncover on how the fall unfolds. Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

The post On the Cusp appeared first on Brad Burns Fishing.

Source: Brad Burns Fishing

Brad Burns

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Jason Curtis selfie with salmon!

A pre-Covid Miramichi fishing scene from the great year 2011.

An early spring picture of the Doctor’s Island lodge.

An evening upriver view taken walking around the lodge for dinner as club members and guests did for nearly 80 years.

Sport walking over to the old lodge circa 1949.

All eyes will now be on the fall run. I’ll report back with as much information and many photographs as I can uncover on how the fall unfolds. Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

The post On the Cusp appeared first on Brad Burns Fishing.

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Brad Burns

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Jason Curtis selfie with salmon!

A pre-Covid Miramichi fishing scene from the great year 2011.

An early spring picture of the Doctor’s Island lodge.

An evening upriver view taken walking around the lodge for dinner as club members and guests did for nearly 80 years.

Sport walking over to the old lodge circa 1949.

All eyes will now be on the fall run. I’ll report back with as much information and many photographs as I can uncover on how the fall unfolds. Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

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Brad Burns

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Decide filter: Returning post, everything seems orderly :On the Cusp

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Jason Curtis selfie with salmon!

A pre-Covid Miramichi fishing scene from the great year 2011.

An early spring picture of the Doctor’s Island lodge.

An evening upriver view taken walking around the lodge for dinner as club members and guests did for nearly 80 years.

Sport walking over to the old lodge circa 1949.

All eyes will now be on the fall run. I’ll report back with as much information and many photographs as I can uncover on how the fall unfolds. Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

The post On the Cusp appeared first on Brad Burns Fishing.

Source: Brad Burns Fishing

Brad Burns

www.bradburnsfishing.com

The post On the Cusp appeared first on Giver on the River.

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The post On the Cusp appeared first on Giver on the River.

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July Miramichi Salmon Report

Array ( [post_title] => July Miramichi Salmon Report [post_content] =>

Country Haven anglers with Miramichi double header on salmon.

Fishing Friends – July 11/2020 – there are a number of new and ongoing Atlantic salmon news items available regarding the Miramichi, but none more noteworthy than the surprisingly robust run of Atlantic salmon – grilse especially – that is taking place on the Southwest Miramichi this season.

Jason Curtis with freshly minted grilse.

Jennifer Curtis salmon fishing in Blackville.

The good numbers of fish that I reported in my last blog on June 22^nd were stifled a little by the early heat wave, but that passed, and along with a little rain the run increased. Jason Curtis told me that he had never seen as many salmon schools passing his house in June as he did during the last week of that month. It continued into July. On July 4^th Jason and his wife Jennifer had good action at Doctor’s Island, and the next day he fished in the evening and hooked 5 landing 3, had numerous other fish come at the fly. In his words the place was simply “lousy with grilse.”

A couple of days later David Donahue, who lives just upriver from Doctor’s island and has a terrific vantage point to observe moving fish schools said that in the last week he had seen 80 to 90 schools of salmon waking by with numerous fish jumping and rolling – the moving schools make a big v-shaped disturbance on the surface of the water. David’s father guided on Doctor’s Island, and he has lived in site of the river his whole life, so he knows what he is looking at. David has been more than concerned about the state of the river’s salmon, and like many of us he finds that this big push of fish after the last few years of serious decline is very uplifting.

David Avery and guide Jeremy Vickers with a nice Miramichi salmon from Upper Blackville.

Unfortunately, due to the virus, only New Brunswick residents and fishermen from neighboring provinces can get in on the action. This is tough on the outfitters and camp owners from outside the Province, but for those who are there to experience it the fishing is excellent. Byron Coughlin of Country Haven continues to post his results on Facebook, and there are lots of smiling faces. Not all of them are grilse either. In fact Eddie Colford, head guide at Black Brook who is in one of the best positions on the river to observe salmon said that he is seeing a good number of salmon, and a lot more grilse than in years past. The weather forecast for the next two weeks says that we will have several days with precipitation, and air temperatures that are consistently below the seasonal average. This is shaping up to be the best July for fishing conditions since 2011.

Check out the video below from Country Haven of a very competent young angler doing a great job of releasing this salmon. Country Haven has had a number of father and son groups at the lodge for this great fishing.

The Dungarvon and Northwest Miramichi barrier reports chronicle the run up these early tributaries so far this season. For the week ending June 29th the Dungarvon was behind the 2019 early year-to-date totals, but pulled nearly even during the week of July 5th with a large showing of grilse. The Northwest is far ahead of 2019 totals, but the run for July 5^th was very weak. The word is that these trends are continuing on both rivers, and we will have an updated report next week which I will pass the info on in a separate e-mail.

29 grilse and salmon for the week ending July 5th.

12 grilse and salmon for week ending July 5th after some very impressive June numbers. 2020 is exactly triple 2019!

Anti-poaching night spot light at Black Brook could save the lives of a lot of salmon. Photo Eddie Colford.

The cold water pools were closed on Jun 22^nd and remain closed. That was a very early closing, but in some cases water temps during the heat wave got up to 27C/80F, and off and on since then they have been in the high 70s. The SWM River has occasionally gotten down to 19C/66F during the last three weeks, but has not stayed there long enough to warrant long-term opening fishing in the sanctuary pools. They were briefly opened for a couple of days earlier this week. With numbers of salmon building in these pools some private property owners have installed obstructions to make it difficult for poachers to net or snag in the pools. At Black Brook – the main holding pool in a long section of the river – they have installed a big light that is run all night, and there are full-time watchman over the pool day and night. We hope that more of that is done at other pools. I’m also told that the wardens have been out and pinched some anglers fishing illegally in the Black Brook sanctuary. This year the areas across from the brooks are closed on all the rivers. This DFO website link will take you to complete information on all the pool closures.

Restless salmon display their energy in the cool outflow of Black Brook. Photo Eddie Colford.

The smallmouth bass, rotenone, eradication program has hit another snag. We’re told that additional First Nation tribes from around the Province wanted to be consulted on the plan, and to accomplish that is going to run beyond the time limit by which rotenone had to be ordered and the plan put in place to get the people and equipment into the area where the work is to be done. Considering that the request to approve this plan was applied for just about a year ago this delay is inexcusable, but when government is involved things can move at a snail’s pace, and that is exactly what has happened. I’m told that the new plan is to keep trying to move everything forward and get the permits this fall so that everything is cleanly in place for 2021. There are some who will think that this 12 month delay will let the smallmouths explode throughout the SWM system, but that may not be the case. The first smallmouth bass was found in Miramichi Lake in 2008, and they have been caught there every year since. As I recall some of the fish caught were 5 years old at that time. That means that smallmouths have been in the Miramichi system for nearly 18 years and their presence within the Southwest Miramichi River itself has been shown to be in only a small section. Certainly we urge anyone who fishes the Miramichi to kill any smallmouth bass that they catch in the hopes of continuing to contain the area of infestation.

Kill any of these that you catch in the Miramichi watershed.

Jason and Darrell have each sent me some photographs of the areas burned over in the June forest fires on Cains River. This fire did destroy a couple of cabins and burn a fair amount of acreage, but persistent winds from the west blew it over towards Rogersville where it eventually burned out. We understand the Camp Stanton near the mouth of Sabbies River was in the thick of the burning, but was spared any damage.

Fire from near Sabbies River

Salmon Brook

Buttermilk Brook

I don’t have any fresh news on CAST’s experimental river, nor do we know exactly how the First Nations did with their striped bass commercial fishery. We will have some news from CAST later in the summer when more of their DNA work is finished to show how the various combinations of salmon spawned by both wild and SAS adults fared on their way to adulthood. We may never know on striped bass since FN hasn’t made public how many striped bass they harvested. It seems clear after a couple of years of fishing that whatever the amount FN are catching, it is well below the number of these over-protected predators that could safely be harvested. Why not open this fishery up to the gaspereaux netters in Miramichi, and expand the quota by some considerable margin? Why are these Canadian citizens less deserving of a chance to catch and sell these fish than FN fishermen, especially in view of the seemingly obvious fact that more need striped bass need to be harvested? Striped bass are a very valuable commodity at market. We’re sure that the money would be important to the commercial fishermen lucky enough to get the permits. They would make certain that the entire quota was harvested.

After the refusal to allow the CAST supplementation program, and the failure to get a rotenone permit in a year of trying, I can’t help but wonder how much more seriously the needs of the recreational fishery for Atlantic salmon would be taken by DFO if the Atlantic Salmon Federation had stood by the MSA right along on the CAST SAS program. I’m not the first one who has called for unity of message in NB. Hopefully the announcements that continue to come from CAST will give the ASF sufficient reason to support the CAST SAS program, and for the ASF to fight together with the MSA to defeat the various threats facing Atlantic salmon in the Miramichi River system. Yes the organizations have cooperated on some aspects of field work, but the ASF’s opposition to the CAST SAS program seriously weakened the credibility of both organizations.

On the Cains: Atlantic Salmon and Sea-Run Brook Trout on the Miramichi’s Greatest Tributary authored by me is available now. I have received many letters telling me how much they are enjoying the book. On the Cains is printed by Stackpole, but my earlier book Closing the Season, also very well received, was self-published. There was a big discount to print extra copies, and I still have plenty available. There is a special 50% reduction of the price on Closing the Season if you buy it along with On the Cains. All buying options are available from the top of page menu bar at this link. The page for On the Cains has a fairly extensive preview that will give you an idea what is in the book. If you don’t want to pay by Pay Pal or credit card, you can just check instead. Just send me an e-mail at bigbass@maine.rr.com.

Thanks for reading. Brad Burns

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[post_excerpt] =>

Country Haven anglers with Miramichi double header on salmon. Fishing Friends – July 11/2020 – there are a number of new and ongoing Atlantic salmon news items available regarding the Miramichi, but none more noteworthy than the surprisingly robust run of Atlantic salmon – grilse especially – that is taking place on the Southwest Miramichi…

The post July Miramichi Salmon Report appeared first on Giver on the River.