I had the most amazing sight of my life on Thursday Oct 18th on the Cains River. We watch trout spawn there every year but this time was different .
The trout were there in greater numbers than I have ever seen before and the sun was at the perfect angle to see into the 18 inches of water . The fresh redds are easy to spot too on the dark river bottom and our vantage point is directly overhead at 15 feet
off the water . A large hen ( all sea-run brookies ) was in the redd with a
huge 5-7 pound male , then on the outer edges were several males in the 3-4
pound range and down river app 3 feet were numerous smaller males in the
12-16 inch size . A total of app. 15 fish .The hen would work the redd and then we would actually see her drop the eggs while the large male would chase off the others , then come back in and do his duty , all the time with small males darting in and out bugging the crap out of the poor guy . Once in a while a 3-4 pounder would get in the action . This went on for several hours .It was spectacular to see this so clearly and most encouraging to see
so many redds in action , must have been 15 or 20 females on the redds , all
with this same action taking place . We could see two redds very clear from
where we were and due to the water movement you could count easily the
others up and down the shore as well . This is very encouraging for the
Cains sea-run brook trout population , I have never seen this much action in
that one area . Can’t wait for next year .

The water on the Miramichi at McNamee is dropping nicely today and is much cleaner . As the water level drops it clears up quickly and of course the fishing usually turns on , as was the case for Claude Prior today with this beautiful 15 pound , fresh from the ocean hen fish . The water will drop off further tonight and we hope to see more fresh fish for our last day of the 2007 season .

The weather is also shaping up very nicely for the coming week of upland hunting .

Well folks , we have all been praying for a good rain and raise of water and that is just what we got , a little late for anglers but still good for our fish and the watershed . The storm was brief but it sure did the job . At this point the water on the Miramichi at McNamee is up app. 20 inches and the Cains River is almost as high . With all the leaves coming off the trees and the high water picking up plenty more along the shores it is tough to make one cast without dragging in leaves . As soon as the river begins to drop the water will clear up nicely and we will surely get into some good fishing for the last couple of days of the season . The large fall patterns such as General Practitioner , LT Special , Chief Needabah , Chorus Girl and Allys Schrimp would be my fly’s of choice now .
The Cains is shapeing up very well for the next couple of weeks too. There are reports of tons of big fish in at Black Brook so they won’t be long getting up to at least the Shinickburn area . There is not likely to be many fish above that though till after the end of the month when they move on up to spawn . It looks like the best of the Cains fishing this fall is going to be on the lower 15 miles .

First time salmon angler Peter Bradford is probably thinking today , what is the big deal , just cast your fly on the water where the guide tells you to and watch the majic happen . On Peter’s first day he landed two fish in the 15 – 20 pound range and yesterday he pulled out our biggest fish of the year , a beautiful 46 inch hen , estimated weight 34 pound , and finished up his day with a grilse .
We have been praying for rain and it looks like we are in for a real blast of fall weather . This nor-easter going through today and Saturday is supposed to dump nearly two inches of rain . The fishing will be tough today with the strong wind but maybe our last three days will be as good as this past couple weeks .
Our upland hunters are welcoming this storm as well , the leaves will drop and more flight birds will be going through next week .

Last week I e:mailed several guests suggesting they put off their fall trip because of the tough river conditions. Tom Young and Rod Handfield had their seven trip booked for months so decided to come anyway , if for nothing else the beautiful river and to see their friends . Yesterday Tom and Rod hooked 8 fish , two of which were nice salmon and three of the other boy’s landed a total of 4 fish . I guess you just never know . The river is still very low resulting in most pools on the river fishless . We are still not seeing new fish but lucky for Wilson’s we are having relatively good fishing due mainly to our good number of larger holding pools . There are some huge 30 pound plus salmon showing too , all older fish but we won’t complain at this point .

Upland hunting yesterday was superb and conditions are improving daily .

The Miramichi is very low and we have just a few new fish trickling in . Wilson’s still have a good number of fish holding in our larger pools but they are taking slow . The fish that we are hooking are coming to the fly very slow and seem to be grabbing just at the end of the swing .There are a few newer fish moving along but no signs of a good ” Fall Run ” yet . We are supposed to get heavy rain soon but it is getting late to do us much good .

Our upland hunting is going well and with the nor-easter storm coming in it will surely bring in more flight birds . Grouse are on the upswing of their cycle so as the leaves drop and temps come down we should do very well on these guy’s too .

Tom was another lucky angler this week landing this beautiful 25 pound hen fish at Big Murphy . He and Joe teamed up on two more grilse the same day . Water conditions are not good but we still have a fair number of older fish moving along . Rain is forecast for next week but propbably too late for the Miramichi .

Tough conditions but there is still hope of getting into a fish of a lifetime . Charles landed this 26 pound female and lost another even bigger . Unfortunately the fall run has not developed due to low water but for a few lucky anglers it does not seem to matter .

The “fall run ” which is normally right on at this point in the season has obviously not made it into the system yet . Most areas are reporting very slow fishing over the “summer run fish ” that have been here for a while now . The low water is not helping things much but fortunately for Wilson’s guest’s we have enough pools to provide decent fishing dispite the current conditions . A group of eight rods landed 8 yesterday , one of which was 25 pound and they hooked and lost another 4 , today was almost as good . We are not seeing many fish moving and no fresh ones . The weather forecast is calling for a good rain on the upcoming weekend but that won’t do much good for seeing new fish till later on in the week , probably around the 10th or so .
On a more positive note , our grouse numbers appear to be very high this fall and woodcock are showing up in good numbers as well . It is still too dry for best results on woodcock but as we enter the prime weeks with rain in the forecast our upland hunters will surley do much better than salmon anglers .

“The Wilson Camp is a terrific spot for both the experienced angler and the first-timer. With the attentive support of our guide, Joe, we thoroughly enjoyed the Miramichi experience. Keith and Bonnie are wonderful hosts and the kitchen staff made sure we were very well fed! Accommodations are clean and comfortable. Overall, we had a terrific time and would highly recommend Wilson Sport Camps.”