July 19th, 2023
Just as water heights were getting to decent angling levels again, we experienced another high water event that bumped up the river which made it great for salmon travel but difficult for anglers to narrow in on the salmon. A few anglers however did get lucky by being in the right place at the right time while others did not fair as well depending on the day. The falling water generally contributes to good fishing while rising water tends to slow the catching and that seems to be how it has been so far this summer! Up and down … up and down! Regardless that is fishing, and our guests have been enjoying their time on the Miramichi and been seeing fish … encouraged enough by what they see to return again next season to take another shot at landing a prized Atlantic Salmon!
Most Atlantic salmon anglers will often remark that it’s so much more than just catching. And for many of our guests and our staff, it’s a Miramichi tradition just seeing old friends each year while visiting the local fly shops or just chatting with the old-time locals who just show up in the evening at one of our many pools to watch guests fish & share stories about the ones they caught & the ones that got away!
We at Country Haven are so lucky to have such a great clientele from all over the world and this past week we had guests from England, Pennsylvania, Indiana, California, Alberta, Massachusetts & Maine. Many were returning guests while others were here for the first time to experience that land of Atlantic Salmon. And several were fortunate enough to also land their first salmon which is really icing on the cake … and now will be hooked on the pursuit of wild Atlantic Salmon for the rest of their lives!
With water still higher than normal, DFO decided to close cold water brooks in accordance with the warm water protocol, however, it only lasted for the weekend after we experienced a dramatic 5-foot raise of water foot over a 12-hour period. Although the closure of the 29 cold water pools does affect fishing it still only shuts down a small percentage of the fishing overall on the Miramichi River System & only 3 of the 26 private pools that Country Haven operates. If the water is too warm most anglers respect conservation efforts anyways and opt not to fish in warm water regardless of closures which we certainly respect.
The closures are undertaken to prevent stress to salmon in the pools during warm water temperatures which makes perfect sense and anglers support it but there is an unintended consequence that can occur when there are fewer people and eyes on the water to monitor river activities and prevent poaching. Many like the idea of a dry fly only when water temperatures rise above a certain temperature as salmon will only take when they want to and this would at least keep more eyes on the river system. Unfortunately when DFO undertakes to do the right thing theoretically to help the salmon they are exposing them to a far greater risk in the form of poaching where many more salmon are likely to die in the process. Country Haven supports closures for conservation purposes when required however if the overall purpose is to protect the salmon it is probably time to hire more wardens to enable enforcement during these periods else they are simply giving poachers the green light to undertake their nefarious acts.
With this last big rain over weekend, we decided to take this week off from fishing and give the anglers & guides a break even though we have access to some of the best water on the river. It’s still been a tough six weeks during these up-and-down water conditions chasing salmon but in spite of it our guides head out every day without question and they give 100 % from dawn until dusk, running the roads from Quarryville to Doaktown to the Cains River to the Renous River and everywhere in between in search wild Atlantic salmon for our guests. Somedays it meets with success and other days it does not but they never stop trying! And our staff in the kitchen and tending to our guests’ rooms and cottages never stop either … a well-fed angler makes for a happy angler regardless of hooking results!
In spite of the conditions, which are good for the salmon, it remained a decent start to the season for everyone and hopefully with a little luck, a drop in water height & temperatures we will be back at it again soon but in the meantime lots of good canoeing to be had especially on the tributaries like the Cains River Tightlines from the team at Country Haven Miramichi!
