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Atlantic Salmon Report----New Brunswick Canada

flyI4

Fishizzle, I use worms but I'm looking to upgrade!
After a long 14 hr drive back from Canada yesterday I'm dragging ass at work today after a long week. We got in on sunday and Air temps were hot causing the Miramichi River to warm into the low 70's during the day/evening and the fish to not be so active. My boss and I went up with the intention of getting them to eat a dry fly so we stuck with it for the most part during the trip. I knew it was tough to get the full sized Salmon to eat dries, but definitely underestimated how many casts it really takes to drum these fish up. Every day was literally thousands of casts and the fish can really be anywhere so being methodical and working every little piece of water from 10 ft beyond your ft to the far bank is crucial if your going to get them to take on the surface. Overall, the results weren't too bad considering it was my first time fishing for Atlantics and conditions were super tough with very low water and skittish fish that had been worked in the major pools by most anglers over the past few weeks. In total, I landed 4 mature salmon ranging from 12-18 lbs and a couple grilse, all on dries which was a lot of fun. When these adult fish take, its literally like a killer whale is coming up to eat a baby seal and the fish is basically hooked from the take alone.
Guide wise, they really don't do much except spy on you to make sure your not cheating, and occiasionally tell you "try one in close" or if your lucky you might get a bullshit story about Ted Williams and his salmon days. With the weather being bright and warm, one guide we had who supposedly was legend up there kept passing out on a bench, complaining about the sun and wanted to go in early which we refused to do....the guy actually had the balls to complain and say we could have fished the shady side of the river for him(dead serious) and then quit guiding us for the rest of the week. It seemed the guides up there have gotten used to the streamside wine and cigar sessions as they host senior citizen story telling club rather than actually fishing and when you try to cover water, fish a little longer, ect they turn into a bunch of pussies. Taking a break during the day blows too, but there was some nice country around and I hiked a couple small streams during the day to break up the time.
Overall, the thrill of catching these fish on a dry was truly worth all the effort, but its the hardest I've ever worked for a fish in my life. THe game up there really depends on timing too, so its not always in your control whether you catch fish or not. Either way, I can finally check off atlantic salmon on my list of species I've wanted to catch and will likely be back at some point when conditions are better and the fish are a bit more active. Here's a couple pics

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Fly,
They aren't called the king of fishes for nothing, I will wait to see if the numbers increase a little more before i go north for them.Congrats on your trip. I know one thing if a guide weasels out on me i will not tip him.A guides first job is to get his "Sports" onto the fish and then to teach the person or "guide them" into how to land the quarry at large.Barring that they have done their job.If they are like you say they get no tip from this sport!
 
Sounds like a great trip. Atlantics on a dry, that's something I want to try with in the next few years. It must be a sight seeing a 10-15pd fish hit on top.
 
Congrats on your accomplishments.
Beautiful fish...and on dries.
Well done. And thanks for the photos.

Brk Trt
 
Great trip and report, JC. Funny about the lazy guides. I'm sure not one of them was alive when Ted Williams was fishing up there:)
 
So what kind of flies did you use, and did you skate them in, creating a v-wake? Also, how were the smaller streams you scouted. The story about the guides is about right on based on what I've heard from others.
 
So what kind of flies did you use, and did you skate them in, creating a v-wake? Also, how were the smaller streams you scouted. The story about the guides is about right on based on what I've heard from others.


Presentation wise, when you saw a fish boil you would try a dead drift and see how the fish responded, but if it didn't draw a strike you would switch it up and try try skating it a little, and then last resort do a full on skate. None of the fish are "eating", so there's no real right way to present the fly, your just doing what you can to get a reaction.
The small streams did not have many brookies where I hiked, they actually were LOADED with salmon parr that were like 3-5 inches long and after a while of trying for brookies with no results and a million parr hooked I felt bad and started really hiking more than fishing. All the better trout water out there is locked down by Canada regulations, it was tough finding water to stay busy on during the middle of the day.



BTW, just found this picture in the mix, the ultimate salmon hug I'm looking like a total rookie in this one

1343775357.jpg
 
Presentation wise, when you saw a fish boil you would try a dead drift and see how the fish responded, but if it didn't draw a strike you would switch it up and try try skating it a little, and then last resort do a full on skate. None of the fish are "eating", so there's no real right way to present the fly, your just doing what you can to get a reaction.
The small streams did not have many brookies where I hiked, they actually were LOADED with salmon parr that were like 3-5 inches long and after a while of trying for brookies with no results and a million parr hooked I felt bad and started really hiking more than fishing. All the better trout water out there is locked down by Canada regulations, it was tough finding water to stay busy on during the middle of the day.



BTW, just found this picture in the mix, the ultimate salmon hug I'm looking like a total rookie in this one

vBulletin

Looks like you had a great time and by the looks of you, maybe that wasn't you I saw on the boat that day. Someone else told me it was you. I couldn't really see because you were too far.

Anyway, nice report, and great looking fish!
 
Betcha that made the drive home much shorter? Eh?.... Congrats on a nice showing.

How did you do on the way up? The D and MA?
 
Nice feesh! Guides are gay, who wants to pay some one to show them how to fish an area anyways.

On another note if anyone needs a guide for NC in the near future I am available. Haha. I am cheap too!
 
Fly i,
glad your Atlantic cherry was poped on your first trip. It took me until my second to land one, but that year was eppic and I will never forget it. the last time up was slow but last three day some BIG MWS ( multi winter salmon) showed up and I got to land my first 20+ pound fish. I also got to see this load mouthed southern guy get totally schooled by a 30 + pounder then it decided to spool him, sucks to see a grown man cry!
as for Guides they are a bit of a crap shoot. I have a good college buddy who is a guide up there and he works his ass off for his sports but some especially the much older ones who have done it for a long time can be whiney and more than a bit lazy. were you at a lodge? what part of the river were you on? I dout the guy knew Ted he had a select group of close frinds ( guides) who got to fish his section of the river.
great job again!

Steve
 
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