May 20th, 2023
It was a wild end to our spring season this year with winds, heavy rain and bitter cold…we even had and some flurries which made for an interesting week on the river! The start of the week had some nice weather sunny days with anglers still picking up salmon, trout and more and more striped bass although by mid week a cold front with rain and wind slowed the catching significantly across the system!
This week we were welcomed by guests from all over the globe including Tony Spratt from England who will be back again in just 6 weeks for his summer salmon trip! Carlos Gonzalez from Yellowknife Outdoor Adventures and his friend Matt Mossman were guests and they prepared us a wonderful shore lunch from freshly caught striped bass and shrimp fried over an open fire (using his secret recipes) and let me tell you it sure was quite a treat! We also had guests from Scotland, Quebec, Ontario and the USA! To have folks from all of these places staying with us within one week shows how truly amazing the fishing community is and the passion for fly fishing the many Miramichi fish species.
As the 15th of May came and went, which we classify as the end of our spring salmon season, we were pleased to reflect on the season as a successful one with many return clients hooking into memorable salmon and new clients having experiences of a lifetime with many big salmon and good numbers of fish even with some tough weather conditions during the opening month!
The majority of the fish this spring were big salmon with lower numbers of grilse than was expected over what we saw during last summer’s run. In the coming weeks, we will now turn our attention to striped bass as we wait for the first signs of a chrome summer run salmon which every fisherman dreams of hooking in June although will be sure to hear of some late May early run summer fish working there way through the system! So exciting to see these new fish enter the river!
Lastly, we are very excited to announce our inaugural Country Haven Miramichi Women’s Fly Fishing Retreat for September 7-10, 2023! This has been designed and priced to encourage women to try fly fishing although it is open to all levels. We have an all-star lineup of instructors and guest speakers and ask that you please share this info with any women in your fishing circles or those who have talked about trying it! Here’s there’s the opportunity!
