April 20th, 2024
This past week marked the opening of spring salmon season here on the SW Miramichi River and what a fantastic week it was! Both anglers and guides throughout the entire system experienced a great start, reporting solid numbers of both hookups and landings of salmon, grilse and brook trout. In fact, our anglers landed almost as many grilse in the first 3 days of this season and they did in all of our lodge’s 2023 spring season!
With the early ice out this year, almost 6 weeks before opening day, and DFO fish counts from last fall low, we were honestly unsure of exactly how this spring season would unfold. It certainly came as a welcome relief however to see such a strong start to the season and lots of happy anglers! During the last couple of weeks of the 2023 fall salmon season, we experienced several high water events which resulted in DFO fish counts that were both low and concerning. Our guides and anglers, however, felt that it would be hard to predict the counts given extremely high water and that it would be spring before we might ascertain what the fall run was like. As it seems to have turned out, the fall fish clearly benefitted from the high water and it appears that many more fish came into the system than were being counted or estimated by DFO.
There were reports this week of salmon being hooked and landed from above Boiestown all the way down to Nelson. This represents approximately 100 kilometers of river producing good fishing which brings renewed hope to the many outfitters and guides who depend on this for their livelihood. Most importantly, the good start was excitedly welcomed by our guests, most of whom travelled from far and wide, to experience the thrill of landing an Atlantic Salmon! We are hopeful that the good fishing will continue this spring season and then before long we will be welcoming the first run of bright fish usually sometime in June, which then kicks off our summer salmon season.
The observations from guides, as well as visiting and local anglers is that the kelts this year seem to look very healthy with a spectacular shine to them. We are not sure if this may have to do with the easy winter, the early ice-out, or simply the overall health of the salmon that migrated in last fall in the high water. Regardless, we hope that this bodes well for the survival rate of the fish returning to the sea and for future returns of our SW Miramichi Atlantic Salmon.
Even though it was an unusually easy winter for us, with little snow and warmer than normal temperatures, it is sure great to get back on the water with new and returning clients, many of whom have become more like Country Haven family than customers. Nathan Mesher from Waterloo, Ontario was back with us again this year and while he only fished part time each day due to work commitments, he stated that “this was one of his best trips ever over the 10 years that he has been coming to the Miramichi for spring salmon season.” Jim Cray from Presque Isle, Maine who returned to Country Haven for his 19th spring salmon season, also commented that “he had one of his better opening week trips” which is fantastic to hear. We also welcomed to Country Haven a fantastic group of anglers from the prestigious Anglers Club of New York along with several of their members who stayed with Salar Haven, to experience, many for the first time, the amazing spring salmon season that our river offers. It was a pleasure to host them and all of our other wonderful guests for the opening week of our season.
Although fishing slowed a bit on Friday due to rain and wind conditions, our guests still managed to pick up a few fish and we certainly hope that fishing will pick up again in the coming week as waters slowly begin to warm. We have a full house of anglers this coming week and we certainly hope that every one of them are successful in landing a few healthy salmon, grilse or brook trout!
As we always do, we are posting a few pictures of guests, fishing friends and guides with their memorable catches from the week. We encourage anglers to get out and enjoy the wonderful spring salmon season that exists here on our beautiful river, and to experience hooking the king of game fish, the mighty Atlantic salmon. We are excited to once again be open for business and look forward to a great our silver anniversary season in 2024, pursuing salmon, wild brook trout and striped bass on the SW Miramichi River and its many tributaries! Tight Lines!
TIP: Just click on pics below to see full pictures and hover over to see captions!
