The Ledges

Miramichi River Report for the Doaktown area as of May 7th

caroline — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:24:55 +0000

We are starting to enter that in between time as the Spring salmon move out and we are waiting for the sea run trout and bright salmon to move in. There are still good numbers of fish around we had one guest on Thursday hook 15 fish, landing 8 salom and 2 grilse. I was out on Friday and fished for a couple of hours and and I landed 4 nice salmon in the 30-35 inch range. The fish are very shiney and full of energy, and once they are hooked they are jumping and fighting like summer fish. The water is still very cool but the water is getting low making it hard to navigate with a flat bottom boat. We are mostly hooking our fish on either light sinking tip or full floating lines, flies of choice are rabbitt strips and various colours of marabou patterns.

Clarence Blanchard with a nice spring salmon. You can see the splash of another fish that just jumped on the right hand side of the picture.

Miramichi River Report for the Doaktown area as of May 2nd

caroline — Wed, 02 May 2012 08:32:27 +0000

The water is back to a normal level and is crystal clear, but it is dropping fairly fast. The fishing is still very good and our guests are catching a lot of big salmon the they are grilse. All the fish are very are in excellent shape and fisghting and jumping like summer fish with a little les weight. We are using mostly light sinking tip lines and smaller dark flies. Just in the last day or so we started seeing more and more fish jump, so they are just now starting to head back to the ocean. The fish are starting to get a little fussy and more selective but I think there will be some fish around for another week or so yet.

Pierre Boutin with a nice hen salmon.

River Report for the Miramichi River in the Doaktown area

caroline — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:55:32 +0000

With over 80 mm’s of rain since Sunday morning and still pouring as of noon on Tuesday the river has came up over 4 feet so far and still raising very fast. The water is very dirty and there is everything from boats to picnic tables floating by the lodge, it is pretty much unfishable for the next few days. It is suppose to let up some this afternoon but the forecast is calling for showers the next couple of days and more rain on Friday. We were in need of a good raise in water but I guess you got to watch what you ask for.

The fishing was still very good up until yesterday, I had a guest out on Sunday and we hooked 8 fish and landed 6 but we didn’t fish all day as it was windy and cold so we came in early to warm up. I think once the water clears up and gets back down to a normal level that the fishing will still be fair as the water temperature last night was only 42 degrees celcius so that should hold them in for awhile yet.

Tight Lines!!!

Derek Munn

Looking up river from Ledges little more water then last week.

Dr. Luddington with a nice spring salmon.

Miramichi River Report for the Doaktown area

caroline — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:26:39 +0000

With the temperatures in the mid 20′s the past couple of days, the ice and snow that is still around was melting pretty fast and as a result since yesterday we got about a 12 inch raise which we really needed. The water was a little dirty yesterday so we went to bigger streamers and heavier sinking lines, the fishing was still very good as all of our guests limited out. The fish are all in very good shape and they are fighting and jumping like summer fish, we are catching more grilse then salmon but we had a nice 38 inch fish yesterday and a couple in the 36 inch range. The fish are starting to jump a lot and the water is warming up so my prediction is they are going to be heading out early making for a short spring season.

My 5 year old daughter Lia with 1 of the 2 fish she landed on Monday evening. Needless to say I was a pretty proud and happy Dad!!!

Lia fighting her salmon.

Nate Holyoke with an inpressive spring salmon.

Miramichi River Report for the Doaktown Area

caroline — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:48:58 +0000

Well the first day was like we all predicted, lots of fish and they are all very fiesty and in very good shape. Most of our guests all had there limit by early afternoon, the majority of the fish were grilse but we did have some nice salmon in the 30-36 inch range. The water is still a little low and clear for this time of year but the fishing was spectacular. We are seeing a few fish jump but not a lot yet only a couple this morning. I took the water temperature just before I came in for lunch it was 40 degrees so the fish should be staying in the system for a few more days yet.

Tight lines!!!

Derek Munn

Nate Holyoke with a fiesty spring grilse.

Al Putnam with a nice spring salmon.

Miramichi River Report for the Doaktown area as of April 13th

caroline — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:27:50 +0000

Well its only two more sleeps and we can start chasing the elusive Atlantic salmon again. The water came up a little the past couple of days but is still very low for this time of year, looks like warm weather and showers for Sunday and Monday so that should melt what snow is left and give us a half decent raise. I was out cruising around in the boat yesterday and it is very difficult navigating over the bars and believe or not with the high we had when the ice went out it made a lot of changes to the river. The water is crystal clear and I seen a few fish laying on the bottom and the odd one jumping.

With the numbers of fish in the system last year it should make very a good spring, but I think the season is going to be short.

Tight Lines!!!

Al Putnam with a nice spring salmon from last season, he is

hoping for bigger and better on Sunday.

Miramichi River Report for the Doaktown area as of April 10th

caroline — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:04:00 +0000

The water came up about 8 inches last night and this morning but its not near enough to maneuver the flat bottom and jon boats yet. If we don’t get a raise in water before Sunday it is going to be difficult to get below the bridge at Swim’s bar or get up past the gravel bar at the museum, so the boats that put in around the bridge may be confined to a small area. We are going to be fishing some from shore and using our 26 foot canoe’s as they will help us to get around a little easier. I see a few fishing jumping in front of the lodge but not to many yet as the water is still very cold.

As for tackle you will probably want to bring some lighter sinking tip lines then you are use to using as the water is a lot clearer and lower then other springs. Flies you can probably go a little bit smaller as well, but any pattern should work.

If anyone has any comments or questions please send me a message.

Tight lines!

Derek Munn

Looking down river in front of Ledges this morning.

Looking down river in front of Ledges yesterday morning.

Ledges Miramichi River Report for April 2nd

caroline — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:27:33 +0000

It’s less then two weeks until opening day and the water is summer low and crystal clear. If we could start fishing today it would be mostly from shore as it would very hard to navigate a boat over some sections of the river. I was just out taking some pictures for the river report and you could see salmon laying under train bridge in Doaktown and I also seen one jump. There is still lots of snow in heavily shaded areas and there is a ton of shore us so when we do get some warm weather or rain I think we will get a good raise of water, lets just hope it is before the 15th.

People ask me everyday will there still be some fishing around by the time the season opens. My answer is the ice has gone out early before and the fish want leave until the water warms up to a certain temperature 57-58 degrees. This year I don’t think they will be around as long as other years because there is not the amount snow like past years to keep the river cooled down, but there will be lots of fish opening day.

Tight Lines!!!

Derek Munn

Looking down river from the train bridge in Doaktown,

you can see the water is summer low.

Looking up river in front of Ledges

Miramichi River Report for the Doaktown Area

caroline — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:41:15 +0000

With the record high temperatures the last couple of days the river came away up yesterday afternoon/evening, as a result the ice went out sometime in the night. There must of been a lot of back water because the ice is piled up 20 feet high on the shore in some places. It is a bit early for the ice to go out and our snow is disappearing quick, so unless we receive some rain in fishing season we may be looking at low water and short spring season.

Tight Lines!

Derek Munn

Ice piled up on the interval just below Ledges.

Ice piled up along the shores over 20 feet high in places.

Looking down river from Ledges.

Miramichi River Report for the Doaktown area as of March 20th 2012

caroline — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:37:01 +0000

Well it is only 26 more days until spring fishing season and with the warm weather we have been experiencing the last few days and record highs expected in the next couple of days, it sure looks like the ice will be gone early. There is a lot of snow at the headwaters but with all this warm weather it want last long. With the record numbers of fish that the Miramichi system experienced last year it should be an awesome spring. By the looks of things so far the ice is just going to slowly rot away instead of having a good ice run. Lets hope we have good water levels so all the fish don’t get hooked in the first week of the season.

We still have some prime time for spring/summer at both Ledges and Mountain Channel. If your interested give me a call or an email.

Tight lines!!!

Derek Munn

View looking up river from the train bridge in Doaktown.

Looking up river from Ledges, ice is slowly rotting away.