These are a couple of the fish Norris landed yesterday . It is interesting to point out that these fish are much fuller than the fish ten days ago , even the grilse looks great . They have obviously been feeding but as most people know we do not get the smelt run up this far in the river , so they must be grabbing worms , various nymphs and probably small daze . The hen salmon jumped 12 times , not bad action for a seven weight rod . All seven fish were taken on a cast .

Hi Keith.This has been a funny black salmon season indeed.
While my luck was not as good as my fishing buddy Jason Lyons…we had a fantasic weekend.Many salmon(mostly grilse) and trout were caught during the “Mayfly hatch” on size 14 dry Mayfly pattern and also on other dry flies(brown bombers and Royal Wulff).I had heard about it(ie mayflies and spring salmon) but never experienced it.The weekend before we were fishin sinking lines and big flies.
Hopefully we get some water soon.
Good Luck to you and your guests!

Dear Barry-
That explains why the fish are fattened up . I have caught a few salmon late in the season before on bombers but have never tried to “match the hatch” . The weather today , and most of this week is cold rainy so it will be interesting to see how the fish react to that . Probably no hatch for sure .

Regards, Keith

The last few days have been very interesting . We have one angler in camp that did not touch a fish ( except for tons of trout ) on the 24th , one salmon on the 25th and then this morning he landed seven , four of which were big shiny jumping hen salmon . All luck today was on small black whooly buggers with a a slow sink line . Now the weird part , yesterday JR and I headed to Blackville , and for obvious reasons with high hopes of hitting it big . We fished Balckville to the mouth of Renous and never touched a fish , and we talked to at least ten boats that had the same luck . And what the hell , we even tried trolling like everyone else there but still nothing .The thought down there is that the fish had all left , which we agreed to , until I returned to McNamee today to hear about the luck here . Who knows eh!

I found a really nice boat anchor at the boat landing at the Cache Pool in Boiestown this morning . Contact me with a description to get your anchor back .

Hi Carl & Lois-
You probably have this picture but in case you don’t Bonnie wanted to make sure you got it . Fishing weather today is near perfect but the water is a little lower than normal so we ahev to be careful motoring . There seems to be fewer grilse around but the number of big salmon make up for it . Total numbers are not great this week but some real beauties make up for numbers . EJ told me today that out of his 19 fish landed ( 2.5 days ) 14 of them were MSW salmon . Best technique is on the cast on the edge of the heavy water . Big Murphy Pool with the long steep bar leading into it with a heavy flow is the best producer . We have not been fishing Walter’s nor Duff Pools much on the lower water .

Regards, Keith & Bonnie

Atlantic salmon fly-fishing conditions for the Miramichi River near McNamee for Apil 22nd. The water is holding and still very cold . Fish are just now begining to jump , indicating that they are on the move . Hook -ups per day are getting fewer but we are getting into some nice salmon on the edges of the heavier water . This is my favorite time of the spring season , fishing for the big boys almost the same as in summer , casting in the pools and dropping down along the edges . The fish now are much more agressive when they take on the swing and it is common to get 10 – 15 jumps . I am using a sink tip line and smaller streamers . One fish last evening was on an Allys Shrimp .( fall pattern )

Atlantic salmon fly-fishing conditions for the Miramichi River at McNamee for April 17th . The water is now down to a level normally seen in late April and it is very clear .The first two days have been very good fishing , most boats with 5- 10 fish landed per rod day . As expected we are getting into some beautiful big salmon in the 36-40 inch range . Best fly so far is the grey ghost on a slow sink line .

If you are going to pay the money , take time off work and travel from afar you need to know that at Wilson’s , your host , guide, cook , waitress and even the yard man is taking their job seriously . We want you to know that we are here to make this a great trip for you and to help give you every advantage when pursuing the mighty Atlantic Salmon . Spring fishing may be more productful than summer or fall and fish seem easier to catch but you still need to know the best technique , best fly and best pool under varying river conditions . Our guides are here to TEACH you how to do it properly and with the most success . Wilson’s guides do not fish for you like on some parts of this river , this is your time . We do not condone trolling for Atlantic salmon on the upper Miramichi River , we feel these fish deserve the respect and dedication of a true fly-fisherman in order to maintain our fly-fishing sport . Trolling is not fly-fishing . It will be interesting to see how many 40 inch plus salmon will be landed here during the next three weeks .

Atlantic salmon fly-fishing conditions for the Miramichi River at McNamee for April 12th . The river is in superb shape today . We had a big rain late last week that brought the water up app. 2 feet again but it is dropping slowly and of course no ice or debris to worry about . As for fish we are convinced that there will be plenty of salmon around for a while yet . According to retired fisheries biologist Bill Hooper atlantic salmon returning to the ocean in spring always leave when the photo period is right . We notice that as the water warms up they move too , which of course is when the daytime sun is longer on the water thus warming it up . Same for the smelt run coming in that the salmon feed on . The water is still at a normal height and it is still very cold so we are in good shape for fishing this coming weekend .

The river is now clear of all ice . The weather was warm ( +20c. ) and sunny here all weekend and as a result the four to five feet of snow in the headwaters generated plenty of water . The river is up again this morning , app 4 feet above summer level . This much water sure is an impressive sight and the sound of the water through the tree covered islands can be heard for miles . Water temps are still in the low 30,sF. so no worry about not having fish around come the 15th of April .
But it sure is shame that we can’t fish as soon as the ice leaves the river , this is how it was back in the earlier years . And it does nothing to harm the fish , they have just one thing in mind , get to the ocean to feed .