After a comment I made last week about the idea of lobbying government for more protection for the Sea-run brook trout on the Cains I have been swamped with support for the idea . I would like as many readers as possible to e:mail the Minisiter of Natural Resources in support of total live release angling on the entire Cains River until at least July 1st . This will save a lot of big trout during the critical migration period in May and June .
Please write to the Hon. Wally Stiles at wally.stiles@gnb.ca

After a big raise of water last weekend conditions on the Cains this week appear to be almost perfect . I fished the Upper Cains on Wed night and Thursday am with very poor results . I walked from Lower Ledge to Wildcat , unfortunately in the hot sun , but even at Birch Landing around 8 pm with the sun off the water and no wind , I did not see a single fish . I also fished a few secret pockets with nothing . Karl managed to land three decent trout at Wildcat right at dark but not many fish showing . Could be because of the hot weather that day but I suspect that the raise of water probably moved a lot of the trout out of the holding pools into better feeding areas , which gives them a much needed break for sure .

Our crew done a float trip Wed 3rd from Rt 123 bridge to Duffy Brook on near perfect water and warm temps . We picked up the usual 6- 10 inch trout but no sign of the big boy’s yet . Three of the guy’s are continuing on to Shinnickburn today so maybe they will hit the run further down river . It was the perfect night for tenting-out , windy enough to keep the bugs away all evening plus very cool overnight with frost so no bugs during breakfast either . Despite the fact that we did not touch a fish these trips are some of the best .

John and I hit the lower Cains on Wed , putting our 28 foot jet canoe in at the Route 123 highway bridge on excellent water and high hopes of getting into a few trout . We motored straight to Muzroll the first night and then fished from there to Sabies River on day two . The water was good and weather perfect but the sea-run trout were not in yet and for some reason the local ( black trout ) were not in the taking mood . We even took our chances and motored up the Sabies to the first set of rapids , to find out that the big canoe was as long as what the river is wide , but I managed to turn around and got back down without incident . We did not fish the Sabies River itself, just the mouth and again no trout taken . On day three we motored on to the Miramichi at Blackville but to our disappointment the wind was too strong to cast a fly on the big water and the two locals we did run into reported no big trout yet either . There are reports of sea-run brook trout in the tide water so if everything remains normal we should be getting into them very soon .

If you are wondering where all that water is coming from check this out. This is a photo taken at WIldcat camp on the Cains River in late February 2009 . For those who have been there you will recognize just how much snow we had this past winter , it is level with the windows . At present we still have snow in the heavy woods so when we get a warm day or two the rivers rise and become dirty by late in the day . The watershed is of course saturated with water so with any luck our rivers will remain in good shape as summer approach’s.

Photo taken on the upper Cains at Leighton Brook . The river is high and the ice is moving out . There is still plenty of snow in the woods yet so with all the rain and warm weather it is safe to assume , that the upper Cains at least , will be open this week. There is no spring salmon fishery on the upper Cains so anglers don’t get too excited yet .

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For those of you who are familiar with Wildcat Pool on the Cains River check this out . This picture was taken from the shoreline looking upriver to the Island Pool . Last week I was staying at the camp there when the heavens opened wide with heavy rain and wind for 20 hours , resulting in the biggest raise of water I have ever witnessed on the Cains . The heavy wind knocked down some huge trees into the river , some of which looked like they could not fit around the sharp turn below the camp, sorry no pics . But if you look closely you can see a huge tree lodged onto the Island where the upper pool is , as of yesterday with the water down the tree is still there , which will make fishing next summer in that pool very interesting . The bright side is that it will be good for the fish by providing shelter and a good food supply dropping off the dead limbs .

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The Wilson gang is all smiles as we wrap up what has been a fantastic 2008 season. The highlight of the year was a report of a 52 inch hen salmon that made it safely to the barrier pool at Juniper , just knowing that this size of salmon is back to our rivers makes every cast on the water worth the effort . 2008 was a banner year for Wilson’s and I am sure this is the case for most anglers that fished salmon anywhere in Atlantic Canada . I asked a neighbor of mine yesterday how many fish he hooked this year , an incredible 105 hook-ups . All rivers are reporting increased numbers of Atlantic slamon . We had more than our share of high water this year with three big rises of over 3 feet , too much water at times for the best fishing but it kept the watershed saturated . Our fall season was a little tough with big water but all visitors to Wilson’s could not believe the shear number of salmon in the pools , and it was common to see fish in the 20 – 30 pound range just about every day . Cains River had high water as well and a good run of salmon came right on time . Sea-run brook trout on the Cains done very well this year with all the high water , not so good for anglers but excellent conditions to protect and feed the trout .
All in all 2008 was one of the best seasons in the past twenty and we are optomistic that this upward trend will continue . As always , we strongly encourage all readers to keep your memberships up to date in the Miramichi Salmon Association and the Atlantic Salmon Federation. Thanks to these two hard working organizations we are enjoying better fishing on all east coast salmon rivers .
PS> I will be off line for a few weeks as I head out for the deer season , I will be reporting back in 2009 . Thanks for reading our report , looking forward to 2009.

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Well folks as you can see it sure is beautiful here this last few days of the 2008 season , but the fish are still not cooperating . The weather is gorgeous , the water is down to almost normal and we are seeing plenty of salmon , but they obviously have something on their mind besides chewing on a big green machine . It appears the same storey holds true for the Cains , most of the fall run is up there now and we are seeing a few fish in the upper headwaters actually working the redds a little . My only luck over the weekend was on a big purple mariboo ??

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Atlantic salmon fly-fishing conditions for the Miramichi River at McNamee as of Oct 9th . The water is coming down very slow and we guess that it will remain higher than normal till the last day ( Oct 15th ) . We are seeing and hooking fewer fish than before the big raise but the fish we are hooking are some real beauties . In the last three days we landed four fish in the twenty pound range so that makes up for the lazy grilse for the moment . The weather is forecast to stay clear so we predict that as the water continues to drop we will have better fishing . There are reports of decent fishing on some parts of the lower Cains River but the upper watershed is still slow , they will show up as always , but sometimes not till after the close. The Cains actually needs another little raise to get the fish into the headwaters before the 15th . Big red/orange flys are working best .

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Atlantic salmon fly-fishing conditions for the McNamee area of the Miramichi River as of September 29th . Thank goodness we missed hurricane Kyle but we still got a 3 foot raise of water . Good news is that even though the water is high , it is still clean . We are lucky in the McNamee area with all the islands and long sloping bars from these areas that hold fish in these conditions . We were seeing a lot of fresh fish the last few days so the fall-run is on the move , so this raise can only help us . Anglers this morning are fishing mostly from the big canoes using slow sink of sinking tip lines with larger streamer patterns . The jumping fish that have been entertaining us for two weeks or more are still at it , and even in the same places , so the high water did not seem to change their habits yet . The high water will be perfect for the Cains , which we plan to take full advantage of in the coming days . Don’t despair anglers , this high water will only help us in the McNamee and Cains River areas .

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Atlantic salmon fly fishing conditions for the Miramichi at McNamee August 7th . As you can see from this photo our river at McNamee is still nearly 18inches above normal . The pools are starting to shape up a little and we have hopes of normal water levels by early next week . Both fish taken this week were bright and silver and full of fight . The high water pools are obviously the only ones being fished . Garrett , Anthony and I canoed the Cains River yesterday , beautiful canoeing water but is useless for fishing , still 15 inches above normal .

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The big water on the Cains this last week messed up the fishing for some folks but for Bob and Dale the big raise only forced them to change tactics and the results were fantastic . The boy’s got into 10 nice trout ( 16 – 21 inches ) as pictured here in a pool that is never looked at under normal water conditions . As suspected the trout were out of their summer pools obviously in search of food , and it must have been big bugs or mice because all the trout taken were on extra large bombers and rat faced mcdougals . They fished Wildcat as well but nothing seen nor taken down on the turn . The high water might not be too good for anglers but it sure gives the trout a much needed break , unless you are as smart as Bob and Dale who seem to know where to go for high water fishing .

Cains River sea-run brook trout enthusiasts , check these maps out , posted under Cains River on the side bar on my home page . Go to the link , bring up what map section you wish to see then go to the bottom of the photo and hit the green arrow to zoom in to full size .They were produced by DNR back in the 1960′s so some of the names may have changed by now and the new roads may not be marked , but it shows very clearly the river and pools . It would be well worth your effort to explore some of these harder to reach pools . With all the new roads in that area now most pools will not be more than 20 minutes walk . Todays most popular ( easy access ) pools like Wildcat , Acadia Bridge , Otter Brook and Blue Rock are being heavily fished and as a result the good fishing will drop off very soon , and unfortunately we will begin to see fish dieing as a result of this heavy pressure . Please do your part to conserve this fantastic resource by relieving some of the pressure on the pools .

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Hi Keith,

My name is Chris Leger (with the Dieppe Fly Tying Club) and I had the the opportunity to meet you last year, actually, we rented your camp for the night last July at Wildcat, “awesome time”. Just wanted to say hello. I’m always on your site reading the river reports and looking at photos, you have a fantastic site. I have included some photos of a few Sea-Run Brookies that swim trough your pools and in front of your camp, these fish were hooked a little further up-river. Feel free to post these on your site. All the Sea-Run Brook Trout that I hooked last year ( 57 in total, both on the MSW and the Cains) were released properly and unharmed. These fish are a treasure and must be protected. I will be talking to you soon, till then, tight lines.

Chris L
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