16th September 2009

Frost last night but missed our garden. The river water is cooling off nicely. Again not many fish showing but they are there, warm evening with lots of hatch, every once in awhile a salmon would take a hatch off the top of the water, problem is that there is so much hatch that they would only take a dry fly by accident.

Raised two and hooked into one tonight by dragging a black bug & modified shady lady across slow water. Of course once they lured me into the slow water at 7:35 pm a decent run of big fish went through which would have been better fished in the faster run, happens every time. They are not showing in the fast water as in past years, lots of playing in deeper pools. I can move the fish around the pool simply by walking on the shoreline.

We have a couple of fishermen coming in early tomorrow morning and more on the 18th so will see how they make out?

I see some trailers moving into the area for the moose hunt. The cottage got grabbed by fishermen for those dates so we will have to wait for deer season before we start getting together once again with our hunters. Check out our calendar to see if there are any dates available you would like. Our rates go into "off season" November 1st.

15th September 2009

Great day for a bike ride, looped down through Renous and back via south side of the Miramichi, just the right temperature.

Hadn't seen much in the way of salmon showing, it appears the fish may be holding up during the day and moving through the night. I did go out for about 30 minutes, hooked into a salmon on a "green machine/white tag" and saw a half dozen more, couple of large fish. They appear to be staying in the flat water and not working up into the runs.

We have Canada geese headed in every direction, I notice a very large flock below the Doaktown Bridge and we had a flock in front of the cottage this morning. (1) humming bird, probably waiting to hitch a ride on the back of a Canada goose.

Last day of trout season :(

13th September 2009

The Miramichi water level continues to drop, we could use a bit of rain, however, the salmon's instinct continues to move them upstream no matter the water level. A number of salmon in the pool last night, ignoring the fly so switched to fishing trout that were taking hatch off the surface and hooked into a number. There are some very nice trout in the river as they drop out of the brooks.

This morning saw about 20 salmon showing and this time some are moving upstream, hooked/released a grilse on a black bug. Trout were not showing or taking.

11th September 2009

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Why can't the Fall season lastt longer ?

Water is very low but those fall fish are determined, a few showing this morning, Lika picked up one shown here being released and hooked into another, all on a black bug.

For those who were wondering "sea trout" are "sea run brook trout," of course coming directly in from the sea they are in great shape, good fighters.

These days, “sea trout” in eastern waters can include introduced brown trout (Salmo trutta) or transplanted rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Sea-run rainbows are called “steelhead” in Western Canada. Browns and rainbows were introduced in the late 1800s. Both species have established breeding populations in parts of the east. (Eastern Woods & Waters)

9th September 2009

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Cool night, warm day, a typical Fall day and the fish are moving. Saw a fair amount of activity in the pool around 7am which tapered off as the sun got higher in the sky.

Steve picked up this salmon on a modified "shady lady". They also pulled out a few trout. We are still waiting to hear some noise about the expect Fall salmon run coming in, those will be brighter fish. Most fish we are seeing at the moment are small salmon with very few grilse.

7th September 2009

My favourite time of year - look at how clear the water is, just a mite warm but 3 degrees colder than yesterday 15C. We are still playing with the summer fish working up from cold water pools and dark. Saw a few this morning but an early wind came up and stayed most of the day, died down toward evening and around 7pm looked like it was worth a try.

Sorry Enrico, I have to rub a bit of salt in the wound, you left this one in the pool all day and it was getting a bit annoying, jumping around bothering the other fish, so I helped it get past the rock and it's now moved up river. At one time this evening there were at least 8 salmon lounging around. By the way if your son is missing a dinosaur I found one in the driveway and Wendy found a giraff.

2nd September 2009

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Beautiful Fall day, cool night warm days and a few fish moving.

Yes Jason, Steve picked up this 26" salmon on a # 14 sparse tied hair fly, lost another and caught a 14 inch trout. Lika lost a salmon. The fly doesn't really have a name and it's hard to convince other fishermen that you can hold a large salmon on a small fly and lite tippet. I tied it for low slow water using 5-6# test tippet and over the last few years have taken a number of fish in late summer and throughout the Fall including a 34 inch salmon. When using this fly you should have a pair of needle nose pliers or forceps handy as the fish seem to take the fly deeper in their mouth. A #10 or #12 modified "shady lady" is still working, the modified version has a tendency to sink below the surface where the bug style rides on top with a larger wake.

Steve introduced his new Toyota truck to our deer population last year, the truck lost, so as we drive by the same area and he is reminding me of the incident today, three deer jump out in front of his truck, mind you when you are so paranoid that you now only drive on our roads at 5 km/hr there is not much likelyhood of too severe an incident :)

27th August 2009

"The report this week is generally "slow". We are in the August doldrums with warm water. Fortunately, the water levels are reasonable, although down. There are few fresh entering the system. Most anglers are waiting for the fall runs to begin." (Doug Underhill's weekly River Report)

As for fishing the above quote pretty well says it although we are actually seeing salmon on the surface working through and the water is cooling off by the day and not a bad temperature at this time. I see a number of fishermen in a home pool just down river, but hooking and hooking/playing/releasing a fish in this water would stress them badly and as most are salmon this year it would be better to wait for the water to cool more. That "fall run" should start in the next few weeks we are nearly into September.

Fall is one of the best seasons, cool nights, warm days, just too short a season.

25th August 2009

Due to a cancellation the last weekend in August has just come available.

August 28,29, 30th and 31st are now open. Check our calender for dates.

23'd August 2009

Well Hurricane "Bill" seems to have missed us, but we did have a torrential downpour yesterday evening and a weak thunderstorm. That will cool the water down.

Had an encounter with a very large bobcat yesterday afternoon, it's not often that you get to see one even though there are a number in the area - you are more likely to just see their tracks in the snow. This one sauntered across in front of the truck then stood on side of the road watching us before wandering off into the bush. Also saw a large moose and a fawn still wearing it's spots this morning. It was a very muggy day and at one point an eagle landed on the river, took a bath before swimming ashore. So we do have wildlife on the move, plus the hummingbirds feeders were alive tonight and I imagine they are getting ready to move on.