Fishing the Miramichi Aug 1, 2016 to Aug 5, 2016

Itinerary was fish Crawford stretch Aug 1- Aug 3 2016 then of to Ground Hog Landing Stretch to fish Aug 3 to Aug 5.

I left Cape Breton to returned home to Moncton just in time to get ready for our fishing trip to the Miramichi on Aug 1 to Aug 5 2016. There was some prep work like co-ordinate the supplies, put the sides on the trail and repair the dry bags. My wife Sylvia made the Crawford Crew 10 year anniversary sign for the back of the trailer. This sign was to remind us that me and my three great friends Denis, Aaron, and Chad have been doing remote fishing trips for 10 years. We jokingly called ourselves the Crawford Crew because the Crawford Stretch is where we did our first remote trip 10 years ago. Somebody was looking out for us when on our 10th anniversary we were able to go back to the Crawford Stretch as this stretch has to be won in a government draw.

I stopped at Escape Anglers in Riverview, N.B. for some flies the day before but the boys wanted to keep the tradition of stopping at Trout Brook Fly Shop. I bought a fly line because I didn't like the orange one I had on. I was thinking that the orange line had something to do with my low catches I had since I bough it.  My suspicion were reaffirmed when I seen an underwater test some big outfit did and the result was the line was much more visible which could distract fish from the fly.

Reunited at the Crawford Camp Pool.
We arrived at the Crawford camp at 2pm. We reunited at the Crawford Camp Pool which is where we first started fishing together 10 years ago. We took some pictures and clinked our beer cans together to toast our 10 year anniversary. We unloaded our gear then drove our ATVs 10 km to the warden’s camp to get our camp key that was missing. The warden camps sits on the banks of the spawning ground so we looked into the water and seen many nice trout and salmon. Only the maintenance workers were there so we did not get the camp key. This was no biggy because we are so far in the woods that seldom anybody drives by.

A beautiful evening fishing.
We returned back to the camp and enjoyed a chile supper that Sylvia my wife sent with us. At 7pm we went fishing. Denis and I went to Split Rock Pool and enjoyed a great evening of fishing. We had many salmon go for the fly and ended up hooking 6 salmon(grilse) and landing 2 each. Denis also caught a nice 14 inch trout. We kept the trout but the salmon was catch and release. The weather was perfectly comfortable with not many flies. Few evenings have I spent with such great fishing and perfect comfortable conditions.  It is a terrible thing not to be thankful so Denis and I both felt blessed and thanked God for providing this incredible evening.

On the banks of Split Rock Pool there is a lean-to shelter with a big stone fire pit in front. Signatures and recorded salmon counts engraved into the walls gave testament that this shelter dates back to 1962 and many great fishing evening were had. As I read the historical engravings it seem to tell a story of 50 years ago. I wondered did the guys that stayed here have as much fun as we had. I suspect that some of the people that stayed in this lean to shelter have passed away or is no longer able to fish. Do they still think of the great evening they once had here? If their health allows do they come back to reminisce. Don’t they know that this place misses them?

In the mean time Aaron and Chad went to Black and White Pool and caught one grilse each.  Chad had a big salmon on but lost the battle. Man these big salmon sure do fight hard.

The rest of the evening was spent celebrating our 10 year anniversary drinking Glen Breton Whiskey, beer and eating more chile.

Day 2
Denis removed his waders from the wader rack and the camp key fell to the floor as if it were dropped to us from God. Perhaps a sign that somebody was looking after us.

Denis and I were fishing at 6:27a.m. at Black and White Pool and fished to 8:54 am. Denis caught a grilse.  After leaving Black & White Pool Denis and I stopped at every named pool on the stretch. We were exploring and not fishing much. The low water conditions rendered most of the pools only a foot deep. Even the bridge pool was low but the Black and White and Split Rock Pool provided all the great fishing we needed.

Day 3
We were fishing a bit after daybreak. More salmon grilses were caught. This was the last day at the Crawford Stretch before we moved to Ground Hog Landing. Instead of taking the time to pack everything tight I decided to make room on the trailer by driving my ATV 26 km to the next camp. The Crawford stretch treated us good but we knew Ground Hog Landing may not be as good because of the low warm water condition.on the Sevogle River.

We arrived at the Ground Hog Landing camp and was eating supper when I said,  "man I wish it would rain."  30 seconds later it clouded over and it started pouring. Aaron and I washed up under the down pour then the 4 of us went fishing. Aaron caught a nice grilse on his second cast at Peabody Pool.

The evening was spent eating one of the great meals that Chad cooked up. If memory serves me correctly, it was a steak night.

Day 4

We got up at day break and went fishing. We enjoy a glorious sunrise on our way to Peabody Pool.

 I caught a grilse in Middle Pool mid morning. A grilse is an Atlantic salmon which has spent only one winter at sea before returning to the river. Salmon grilse are often indistinguishable from multi sea winter (MSW) salmon except by scale reading.

Like most fishing trips we fish early morning return to the camp around noon, have dinner then sleep for a few hours in the afternoon. We are usually up until 3a.m. telling lies so if we want to enjoy the day we have to catch up on some sleep sometime so we sleep during the afternoon because the fish are less active. After catching up on some sleep, we then go fishing until dark. The evening fishing paid off for Denis because he landed a nice grilse in Middle Pool.

The night was spent eating great food and having a few cold ones and playing guitar and trying to sing.  Denis being smart went to bed around midnight, but Chad, Aaron and I went outside and watch the stars, told jokes and drank some whiskey until 3:00 a.m.. Getting up early to go fishing was a bit painful.

Day 5.
We were up again at 5a.m. and off we went fishing. We broke from the routine of fishing to light my wood rocket stove to boil some water to cook up a few meal packs. The meal packs come in all sorts of flavours and they are both tasty and filling.

Chad is no stranger to a fishing rod but the low warm water and very small time slot the fish were taking caused Chad to get skunked on the Ground Hog Landing stretch. He caught 3 or 4 grilse when we were on the Nor-west Miramichi Crawford stretch so it was not so bad. We all take turns getting skunked so there is no shame in it but we like to trash talk each other about it just the same.

The total salmon catch was 21 hooked 14 landed.

Leaving is never easy.
You would think 5 days would be long enough to spend with 3 other stinky guys but sadly we had to turn our trucks towards home. These great times we have on our remotes fishing trips are reserved for only those who know.


You can purchase the rocket stove by following the link below.

Miramichi catch and release efforts.

Fishermen on the Nor-west, Cains, Main South West all the way to Juniper is picking up some salmon. The number are down over previous years and I blame the netting, greed and poor government relations resulting in disrespect for laws. Not only that but the catch and release efforts are not working.

If you ask somebody that knows the ways of the salmon like most of the old fishermen that has been sitting on the banks for more than 50 years, they will tell you that many fish that are being release are dying. As we know, we are allowed 8 griles. The grilse are the fish that are returning to the river for the first time since they were hatched. They are no more than 25 inches long and they are about 5 pounds. The large salmon must be released. That is a problem because many released salmon die after their lengthy fight. Different times 15 pound salmon are seen floating down the river dead. Some killed by nets and some of exhaustion from being played by sportsmen for to long. Many old fishermen say rules should be whatever you catch tag. Once your 8 tags are gone than no more salmon fishing. This would stop the fishermen from catching 10 big salmon a year, releasing them and having seven of them die then tagging 8 more smaller salmon.

Many sportsmen are fed up with rules that don't work. The situation is a bit out of control because they say the percentage of fish being killed by fly fishermen is low compared to the thousands killed by netting. I believe this to be true but speaking as a fly fishing sportsmen there are things we can do to help. One thing is either use an 8 or 10 pound test and pull the salmon in fast. No big salmon should be played with my more than 15 minutes. Bryan Freement, the owner of Escape Anglers and other great sportsmen caught lots of 30 pound salmon in 10 to 13 minutes. The quick release help insure their survival.

Another method is use a 2 or 3 pound test and bend the barb of the hook. After hooking a fish, get a couple of runs and jumps out of them then break them off. The hook will be out of their mouth in less then 2 hours. For the salmon, I suppose it would be something like getting your ear pierced. Perhaps they even brag a little to other salmon about their lip ring. lol.. Not likely but I say with a great amount of certainty that the exhaustion from the lengthy fight kills the fish not the hook being lodged in their lip for 2 hours. Did I mention what in hell is netting off a river all about and why is it allow to continue.

Feel free to visit my web site

The Poor Nor-West

This past week I fished different parts of the Miramichi. There was hardly a sole fishing and little wonder. Where the fish was suppose to be in the Nor-West there was not a one. Story has it the nets downstream completely cut of the Nor-West. If this is true them I am very disappointed. You see the nor-west Miramichi is one of the great rivers that produce good numbers of salmon for its size. There is not many like it left in the world and this will come to an end if it continues to be abused. What a loss it will be especially for the welfare of the salmon, the fishermen and the guides who make their living.

Anybody I talked to is not confident that the government will do anything about it this massive taking of fish. Don't go getting careless thou. Make sure you carefully measure the salmon you take because if it is an inch to long then you just may loose your car,boat and face a large fine.

I release just about everything I catch but I believe this practice is going to fall by the wayside because how can the Department of Natural Resource preach catch and release and have anybody take them seriously when they sit watching the huge amounts of salmon being netted.

I believe it is time we all start being fare to everyone involved including the salmon. If somebody has to give up a bit so be it but we have to make it fare to all. If we don't go through the pain of making it better now then will go through the pain of the loss later. Salmon this time then what is next. Perhaps drinking water rights? I just wish the government would get of their lazy avoiding fat ass and do something constructive.

Last week on the Miramichi

Last week on the Miramichi was eventfull. Fresh salmon are in parts of the system and the trout fishing picking up as well. I will be writing more on this. Stay tuned. Good luck with the coming season.

Canoe Flipping

In early summer of 2001 a three day canoing/fishing trip was the cure for the long ache of a cold wet spring. The canoes we used for most of our upper Miramichi fishing trips were 21 foot freighters. They were stable and we grew to trust them. Marvin, Damien and Scott were in one canoe floating over a deep hole. Damien spotted some big trout and when the other two inexperience canoe men decided to lean over the same side to see the fish, the canoe flipped. Denis and I were upstream about 200 yards. We had a good view of their pitiful faces as we glided passed. A site for sore eyes alright. They sat in the canoe filled with water, their fishing rods and gear floating around. They were wet, cold and Damien’s pride was hurt. He repeatedly commented on how he never flipped a canoe in 20 years. I suppose some would say it was crewel of Denny and I to start laughing at them. After we recovered our breath from laughter, we helped dump the water out of the canoe and gather the gear and beer. Damien’s two week old cell phone which he bought at a cost of $500.00 was sitting on the river's bottom. I am not sure where all the fishing tackle came from but there seemed to be a fair amount of it floating down the river.

Salmon

When the leaves fall from the trees in fall, the salmon settle into their winter home on the upper reaches of the salmon rivers. They spawn and house themselves under the shield of the winter’s ice. In spring the adults head down river to the ocean and feed for the summer. Some make their way to the coast of Green Land then back to the very spot where they were hatched. On the way down the river these fish are easier to catch because they are hungry and feeding at every opportunity. They are referred to as black salmon or slinks, etc... because they are dark in color due to water staining and skinny because of the lack of winter food supply and their spawning ritual. These black salmon heading down river do not fight as good as a salmon that just returned from the sea because the black salmon are worn out. If you decide to fish these worn out salmon I highly recommend you try to capture the salmon quickly, take a picture and release it back in its realm as quickly as possible. A speedy capture and speedy release helps ensure the fish’s survival; they are already in a week state so a lengthy fight on the end of a line will surely be it's death. A quick capture and release gives it a chance to survive and maybe next year you will catch it again after it gains 15 pounds.

Fishing Memories

Through the years:

Through the later years of the 1990s and into 2001, Damien, Denis, Marvin, Craig and I traveled by canoe on various occasions on the upper reaches of the Main South West Miramichi. These three and four day trips are among our favorite memories. The trips came to a screeching halt when Marvin passed away, Damien moved to St. Stephens and Denis is now working out west. It is funny how thing can change so fast. To many memories do I have to list them all so I will post but a few on an ongoing, occasional manner.



The wait.

We sat in welcoming heat of spring not so patiently awaiting the expected phone call. Until Denny calls informing us that the trout are in the upper reaches North Branch of the Main South West Miramichi, Damien, Marvin and I hold tight and wait with great excitement. Reviewing gear requirements and envisioning our coming three day fishing trip only seem to intensify the agony of the wait. Denny usually waits until one of our comrades hooks a big one then in the midst of the excitement calls us on his cell. He knows the excitement is more then we can take so he can expect our arrival within a day or two.




The cell phone ring, a voice screaming “get the net” can be overheard from my lawn chair situated five feet from where Damien holds his cell phone to his ear. “Get the net” are those familiar words that are yelled with excitement to signify we hooked a big trout or maybe even a salmon. These words we grew to love for it is a symbol of our excitement and gives testament that the greatest game has begun.




As we load the supplies in the back of Damien’s green Ford truck I wonder how we are going to fit all this gear in two canoes. Damien is not worried about it. It is not that Damien has the space thing or anything else planned out; it is the fact that he does not really care and that is his way. He does not care if he even takes a sleeping bag, all he knows is we are going fishing and that’s all that matters. Nobody really expected him to live this long and I can see why. Damien hales from the Juniper area. He is a crazy one alright. It is guaranteed that going fishing with Damien, Marvin and Denny will make for a great time with a lot of laughs.




Final supplies are picked up at Lyon’s store and we continue our way up the 126 heading for the waters of the upper reaches of the Main South West Miramichi. The closer we get to the Miramichi the louder the music, the quicker we drink beer and the more we laugh. The release of our daily pressures is welcoming. My guilt for leaving my family for three days now subsides. My dreams now transform to reality; a joy that only a three day fishing trip with great friends can conjure.