26th May 2010

Strong East wind all day.  Fishing has dropped off, other than a few river trout.  No sign of "sea trout" or "bright salmon" in this area. We also hear fishing is quiet on the Cains River.

Our resident moose has made his presence known, and a few bucks wandering around waiting for the gardens to sprout, mum fox has her pups out teaching therm to hunt, more  like kittens then predators.

23'd May 2010

Speaking with some canoers at Fall Brook Falls this PM, report that this is their 14th straight run from Halfmoon and the lowest they have ever seen the river.  They overnighted at Clearwater and watched 8 sea trout landed in the 20"+ range.  We took a couple yesterday evening in the 18" range, the wind never died until dusk which made fishing difficult.

Today, temperature shot up into the 30's, a few trout taken this morning, wind came back up.

Hiked into Fall Brook Falls, lots of water and the falls are showing nicely.  The road down to the falls has washed out badly and a 4x4 would be a must to get back out, best to leave the vehcile at the top and get some exercise.  The gate keeper related the recent story of someone taking their Van to the bottom of the hill, apparently getting it back out wasn't pretty. The walking path into the falls is moderate and you should be in shape,  expect to do some climbing or get your feet wet.  It's still worth the hike in to see the falls.

20th May 2010

Had some friends report great succfess with "sea trout" at Norrads Bridge today, I picked a couple up this evening on a small #14 black dry fly in the 17-19" range and a few river trout in the 10-12" range.  The "sea trout" are bottom feeding stone flies for the most part.

19th May 2010

"East wind" sure not a fishermans friend, nearly impossible to fish dry fly, one has to anchor in the rapids just to keep the bow of the canoe pointed down river.

"Seat trout" - they are still coming, if you are lucky enough to be on the river between wind gusts when they are motoring through.  Cottage above picked some up yesterday on a "Royal Coachman" and I tied into a couple this afternoon using a small black dry fly, involuntary hook & release if you know what I mean :)

Couple of boys just dropped in from fishing Norrads Bridge with as nice a catch of sea trout as you would want to see. They are going through in runs, you will spot several then nothing for hours until the next run. There may be some gaspereau running along the shoreline although that run seems to have dwindled in the past few years.

Foxes:  - my nieghbour spotted a mother with seven pups just below our cottage.

Cottage: - anyone interested we have a special on for this coming long weekend in May, due to the cancellation I mentioned earlier this weekend became available.  May 21-22-23, (3) nights $330.00 total, including (2) rods on the water and the sea trout are running.

17th May 2010

Miramichi is low for May and dropping daily, it won't be long before those canoes will be scraping bottom going through the rapids.

"Sea trout" we have had strong winds for past couple of days, today was much lighter wind, but no sign of any sea trout, although reports of  one caught at Norrads Bridge, approx. 10  mi. up river this am.

"Bright salmon" hearing reports of some bright salmon being caught in the Quarryville area. 

"Flies" the bitey flies were as bad on the river this evening as I have seen them in awhile, with this warm dry weather we may be in for a fly dope summer, so don't  forget to bring some.

"Bookings," we have a few days left in May and early June and we are already taking bookings into 2011 (so plan ahead :).

15th May 2010

Strong East wind took a lot of the fun out of casting, boat was pointing down river most of the time so I waited for the trout to go up to see how shallow the rapids were and when they came back down to make a run for it, I picked them off using a small black dry fly.  This run went through a bit later than yesterday, around 3:30PM.

I did hook/release a number of river trout, some on dry fly in slower water and others on a small # 14 midge in fast water.  Spent a lot of time taking salmon parr off.

I don't know how long this will last but we had a cancellation due to a family medical emergency and the last two weeks of May  (evening 16th through 31st) are now open.

14th May 2010

Nice but breezy day.  I did take a short run at the river around 2:30pm and noticed a lot of trout feeding off small tan millers.  As I mentioned yesterday I expected to see some early runs and this obviously was a run of "sea trout" working through, there were a lot of large trout feeding.  They were being very choosey, wouldn't touch my green/white bomber or white dry fly, ao I decided to go to the other end of the colour spectrum and chose a small black dry fly, that seemed to work to some degree as you can see from the  picture although there was so many millers on the surface it was hit and miss. These two are 20" & 21".

To sum it  up, we have a run of "sea trout" that has reached the Boiestown area, I half expect to tie into a fresh run salmon shortly.

13th May 2010

As they say "it's that in between time."   Too windy today to give it a try, did go out for a few minutes yesterday evening, picked up a number of trout in the 9-10 inch range, one managed to make 14 inches.  It's just nice to sit on the water eating peanuts and watching the response to a green/white bomber.

With this early warm weather I would not be surprised to see something try to sneak through, so don't be surprised if you are casting about for that 10 inch trout and a bit larger something strikes.

Unless we have some cancellations the latter part of June, all of July & August are booked and September is starting to fill up. 

The water is great for canoeing/kayaking, a bit cold yet for tubing.

We have had to  turn down a lot of bookings, of course we get stung on occassion, example, we relented for someone who just wanted a single night, the same day a party from out of province called for a three night booking the same weekend and we to had turn them away only to have the booking for one nighter cancel out at the last moment.  We lost revenue and the out of province visitors lost a place to stay.

8th May 2010

Day started out nice turned cool with a bit of wind in the late afternoon.

Fiddleheads, a few days sunshine and there will be lots.

Fish, still the odd grilse around, Lika tied into one yesterday.  Some nice river trout taking hatch off the water, darn hard to hold on to with barbless hook, but managed to limit out this afternoon, couple 13-14", lost one I figure was a mite bit larger :(                                                  Fly of choice green/white bomber.

Anyone interested in a 1985 Goldwing Limited Edition, I finally broke down and decided to sell the bike, just not getting the use anymore!  Listed on Kijiji $6,000 and if you compare with others same vintage it's a steal with only half the Km.  I'll put a picure up.

5th May 2010

Well a new species to hit the Miramichi in droves.  The nice weather plus early fiddleheads finds the shores & islands crawling with pickers, must have something to do with all the recent publicity surround the benifits of eating fiddleheads :)

BEN and I made a drift over some slow water this evening and picked up 6 or 7 trout on a green/white bomber, we kept three for breakfast.  BEN can be a bit of a fishing nuisance, he sits on the anchor rope,  barks everytime he hears the reel sing when playing a fish and has a tendency to eat my trout if I don't watch him. He has been known to go overboard when I'm playing a large fish - the dog  "just plain loves to go fishing."  He passes on cooked trout and perfers Irving Store bananas for breakfast.

PS:  Don't tell his mother but we are babysitting a mutt called RUSTY, his first outing in a canoe and as soon as we hit midstream, over he goes, the water was cold, he will think twice before doing that again.

4th May 2010

OK all you fishermen, the fiddleheads will be ready in about 2 nice days, since there is not much else around :)

3'd May 2010

Hot muggy day in MAY which ended with a thunderstorm - from winter coats to airconditioning - can U beleve that?

Fish - saw several grilse jumping yesterday and hooked a couple of small trout - barbless hooks until 15th.  Talking with guide from Doaktown area, they are still taking 1 or 2 per day, fish are nice and strong and NO they are not as "bright as a summer  fish." and NO the "seatrout are not in yet."  I expect thingts will taper off for awhile but there is the strong possibility of early runs, if we have any water.

Fiddleheads, up in Fredericton area, I see pickers washing them by the brook on Killarney Road, but not up yet in this area.  Don'r  forget the stores are not buying unless the fiddleheads are treated, about time.  I'm familiar with one local area where the fiddle heads glow in the dark and are picked every year, at one time they were sold to the stores.

Thanks to Dale, Don & Pat from Fredericton for leaving the cottage so clean and all those fish in the river.

1st May 2010

A gorgeous day -

We have a new category of fishing client, they prepare their equipment then sit on the deck all day cheering on the jumping salmon as they race down river, something akin to watching snowborders during the olympics.

Fish showing all day along the shoreline, so down river folks they are still coming at U.

Redwing black birds, last year only saw one, this year there are lots around.

Carr's have offically closed their cottages and we have been picking up some of their clientele.  We have also had a number of calls looking for lodging from people attending the Upper Miramichi Regional High School closing and opening of the new school Central New Brunswick Academy in New Bandon August 27th weekend. 

If considering a stay on the Miramichi don't leave it too long to book, you may be disappointed.