Wilsons Sporting Camps

All the latest Miramichi River news and updates from Keith Wilson at Wilson’s Sporting Camps. Follow our updates about the fishing conditions as well as a few pics of some of the action here at Wilson’s.

Water is still high and we are seeing very few fish on the Miramichi . There is snow forecast for today so that will make the water even colder , and of course will keep the fish down . The Cains is still high as well so we have yet to get into much for fishing there either . I noticed over the weekend that the big trout are starting to play around in a couple of the spawning areas . We hope the water drops off to a normal height before they lay their eggs . Woodcock numbers are increasing daily and conditions are improving with the leaves dropping .

Well folks it happen again , big rain with two to three feet of a raise , that is on top of the last rise of two to three feet . As you can imagine catching salmon this week is nearly impossible . The Cains River is in even worse shape , it will drop quicker but not likely before the 15th . On a positive note the upland hunting isd going great . There are better numbers of grouse compared to 2008 and as the woodcock flights pick up we expect to have a good week . Hunting conditions will improve next week as the leaves drop.

Keith:
The guys from DFO Science and I were talking about that salmon last week and we were speculating that it was probably a consecutive repeat spawner, meaning that she spawned in 2008, went back to salt water in May of 2009 and came back into the river in mid-July 2009. From the transmitters that we have been placing on spring kelts, the consecutive spawners return to the river in July and not in the fall as I would have guessed.
Mark

Hi Mark-
Amazing , I did not realize this . Like many people I thought all salmon just took off to Greenland and hope to return someday . MSA and ASF are doing a lot of very worthwhile research and I urge all my customers , and readers of my report to generously support your efforts .
Keep up the good work ,
Keith

The river came up last night nearly three feet in the McNamee area , but it has started down already . It dropped about 6 inches today and is clearing up . One angler landed a nice 16 pound salmon this evening on a large bright colored ( no name ) fly with a floating line . Most fishing will be from boats but your chances of success are good dispite the high water .

Keith:
From the picture on your website of the record hen salmon, it looks like it is adipose clipped, meaning it originated as a parr from the Miramichi Salmon Conservation Centre or one of the many satellite rearing tanks along the SW Miramichi River. Maybe from a different view, the adipose fin might still be there. Either way, congratulations and may there be many more successful anglers this fall.
Mark Hambrook, Miramichi Salmon Association.

Hi Mark-
Thanks for the feedback. The fish was unusually lean , is it possible that she was actually a 2009 kelt that did not return to the ocean or maybe a really old fish that has no eggs ? I heard that Rocky Brook had a huge fish recently too . FYI , from July 5th till August 30 we had 14 large salmon in the 20 – 35 pound range , normally we get three or four per season . Last week we got into a lot of big male hook bills , of course the water came up since then and slowed things down again .

Regards, Keith

The water is up app. 10 inches this morning and there are tons of big fish moving . Out of the 13 fish landed yesterday 8 of them were large hook-bill males in the 12- 18 pound range and one large hen weighing over 25 pounds . The big hen salmon was bright as can be . Fall patterns are working and of course the always faithful Green machine with white calf tail .

We have finally received enough rain to bring the river up app 6 inches . The weather is moderate , not too warm not too cold so with this raise we should be seeing fresh-run fall salmon soon . Despite the low water we still hooked fish every day this past week and a few big fish too . Tom Y. hooked a salmon yesterday on a bomber but most fish this week were taken on traditional fall patterns like the Ally’s Shrimp .

We are not sure if this is the turn-around we have been waiting for or not but last night at Cold Water pool Dawson and Manuel got into them good , hooking five between the two rods , one of which was app. 16 lb. The only thing different about the evening is that the fish were all up tight to the bar instead of down in the slow water , which could mean that they are beginning to move , finally .

Atlantic salmon fly-fishing conditions for the Miramichi River at McNamee as of Sept 18th . The water remains low and clear , fishing is tough but there are plenty of fish around . We have yet to see any signs of a new fall run yet but that can change soon . Many people think fish will not move on this water but we believe when thefall fish want to come in to begin the spawning process then nothing will hold them back . The low water makes for a slow swing on many pools so head for the faster moving water that is dumping into a large holding pool .
The few fish taken this week were all on very small black and blue patterns like the blue charm and black dose .

Atlantic salmon fly-fishing conditions for the Miramichi RIver at McNamee as of Sept 13th . The water is low and clear making some pools too low to get a swing . Lucky for us we have several large holding pools that are holding fish and still have enough flow for a good swing . Hook-ups are few but the ones that are coming to a fly are usually big salmon . We are still useing small black stuff and bombers are working a little too , but the only salmon hooked yesterday was taken on an Ally’s Shrimp .