April 30th, 2024
We apologize to all of those who so look forward to our weekly Country Haven Miramchi river reports however we were focussed on much more important matters the past few days, the passing of our dear friend and long time colleague, guide Gary Colford. Gary’s passing was unexpected and our number one priority immediately shifted from our day to day activities to helping and supporting Gary’s family and friends in any way possible. Our Country Haven family and its extended family made up of our many return guests and friends would like to extend our deepest and most sincere condolences to Gary’s family, including his wife, children and grandchildren. We picture Gary in heaven, having found a beautiful cool and deep salmon pool, casting a long and gentle line across it, while looking down upon us all, with that kind and warm smile upon his face. Your Country Haven family and friends will forever remember affectionately your gentle voice, your wry smile and that beautiful twinkle in your eye. Godspeed Gary and may you rest in peace.
This will be an abbreviated river report and will focus more on photos than verbal content but we appreciate your understanding and will get back to a more detailed report next week. Last week we experienced wind, rain and cold which made for some tough days of angling up and down the river. Our anglers still managed to hook fish however, at least those who were brave enough to endure the conditions! The river is now dropping and the water clarity is unbelievable … almost too clear now! There’s always something we can worry about as an outfitter and guides! lol And we are now also starting to see more fish jumping & rolling on the river as they make they way back to the sea and as the temperatures start to warm the water. The success rate of hooking fish is also starting to pick up again after the cold and messy stretch of weather although now we are hoping for a bit of rain again to give the river a bump in height. This will help both with the fishing and keep our propellers from hitting those many rocks that lurk beneath us as we race up and down the river!
Anglers this week seemed to do well on yellow and white flies and guides and anglers alike were pleased to see good numbers of brook trout in the system after seeming to take a major hit a few years back.
Every week we are blessed to have new clients hoping to hook their first ever Atlantic Salmon on a fly and our guides do their very best to help make the magic happen. Sometimes we make it happen and other times we don’t but we always try! This past week we also welcomed back the Pratt Construction crew from Maine who which have been coming to Country Haven Miramichi for 11 seasons, only missing one of the Covid years! We also welcomed back lodge favourite, Wild Bill Mather (AKA Sir William of Gray Rapids) and his lovely wife Jane from Ontario who returned returning fo their 19th year to spring fish and to celebrate Bill’s 75th birthday with the Country Haven crew!
We are looking forward to another great week on the SW Miramichi River and there is still plenty of salmon around and we have the start of brook trout season starting on May 1st! There is no better time to get out on the river to try your hand at chasing the Atlantic Salmon or lucking into a Brookie of a lifetime! Until next week, Tight Lines! P.S. Simply click on the images below to see larger images and full fish pics which everyone loves!
