Lot's of Big Bear!

Things are starting to green-up here in central New Brunswick and that means the bears are out in the fields eating grass and sniffing around. There is certainly no shortage of big bears here in our area.The photo in this post is of one of three large boars visiting our baits in three different locations. I saw a nice bear of about 300 lbs. on a moose kill beside the 123 highway between Chipman and Doaktown the other day while travelling back from the Miramichi River. Good friend George P. told me he watched a large boar chase a smaller one off of the flat on the Gaspereau River across from his camp. One of the young lads I had working for me cleaning up after the flood said he walked out the logging road behind his house with his B.B. gun to try and get some squirrels,when out walks Mr. Bear about 50 yards from him! The kid said he turned and ran back to the house and never looked back! Speaking of the flood,this years freshet was the highest since 1973.The damage to property along the Saint John River /Grand Lake watershed will be in the tens of millions of dollars. I had extensive damage in my basement and it had to be completely gutted. We relocated to Carroll's Crossing on the Miramichi River for the last three weeks. We were over there anyway for the spring salmon fishing,but that didn't diminish the fact that it was a very difficult transition. I'm really glad to be back home and not living out of a duffel bag. I did a lot of travelling back and forth through the bush while staying at Carroll's,and I was seeing game every time I was out. Moose were running around everywhere and deer were out grazing on the sides of the roads. Lots of small game, too. The spring salmon season is done and the sea trout are just getting started. By all accounts,this spring salmon season was a poor one in comparison to recent ones. A prolonged run of ice and then high dirty water that stubbornly stayed that way for a couple of weeks made for hard fishing this year.But there should be a good run of sea trout this year as this fishery continues to improve. Although Ken and I have been very busy tending bear baits,we have also been placing salt and mineral blocks at our stand locations for deer. We were really happy to see that most of the big bucks we had scouted last year survived the winter in good shape. We have been seeing some really nice buck sign in all the areas we hunt,so there should be some nice racks running around next fall. I would encourage any readers to contact me if you would like to spend a day or a week in the woods or on the water here in beautiful New Brunswick. You can be guaranteed to take home memories to last a lifetime!

A Cast to the Past

Spring has finally arrived here in New Brunswick and by all accounts,none to soon! Salmon River is open except for Salmon Harbour and the Miramichi River has some open spots and the locals are catching a few salmon from shore,but all the ice hasn't run ,so it isn't safe for boating yet. There are a couple of new regulations for fishing spring salmon,one being barbless only fishing.This is probably a good thing as it will save some of the larger fish from being exhausted and dying after release.The other rule change is a maximum of ten fish hooked and released per day. This is also a change welcomed by the guides and outfitters alike because many sports were coming back to camp after a great day of fishing,catching maybe a dozen fish and talking to their buddy or another guest who has caught and released say tweny fish and feeling disappointed. It was turning into a numbers game instead of a great fishing experience and Atlantic Salmon fishing is definitely not a numbers game. These fish are hard to catch and it was putting unnecessary pressure on the outfitters and the guides were getting very frustrated with the situation.This should help to put things back in their proper perspective and make for a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved.Ken and I have been very busy putting out salt and mineral blocks for the deer that Mike T.and his group from N.Y.State and our other guests will be hunting next fall.We are also getting ready to put out our baits for the spring bear hunt. The photo in this post is a bit unusual,but true to form.It shows my younger brother having a little New Brunswick sushie on the famous Caines River while on one of his many trips fishing for sea-run brook trout.Tim love three things in decending order of importance.Beer,women and fishing. He certainly was an accomplished fisherman.I'm not really too nostalgic,but each year at this time I think of him fishing the lower Newcastle Stream for big trout coming up from Grand Lake and picking many pounds of fiddleheads to sell locally. Tim wasn't really much of a hunter.He didn't have that agressive streak that it takes to be a good hunter.In many ways he reminded me of an old woman in the woods.I guess that woman would be our grand-mother Boyd.She was a kind,gentle soul who could tell you anything about the local plants and animals,as well as local woodcraft.Tim was a lot like that. I miss him. On a lighter note,the numbers of fish and game in our area have never been better in recent memory and Ken and I are looking forward to having many memorable days afield in the coming months. We hope to see you all soon!

Ice Fishing Coming to a Close

Winter is slowly winding down for another year here in New Brunswick,and none too soon! This year it seemed as if we were getting a storm every second day. The northern half of the province bore the brunt of the snow storms we had,with some areas piling up snow banks ten or twelve feet high. This does not bode well for the deer herd up north,with the deer biologist's predicting heavy losses in the northern reaches of the province. We are very lucky to have escaped the worst of this severe winter weather and the damage it does to the deer herd. The weather we had this winter affected the amount of ice fishing on the Grand Lake system.It kept even many of the die-hard fishermen home,but not all of them.In the photo for this post is one of those dedicated ice fishermen who refuses to be forced to stay at home. Louis L. from Rogersville has been retired for several years now and has routinely travelled back and forth from his home in Rogersville to Chipman and to the province of Quebec for the ice fishing.Now the trip from Rogersville to Chipman is around one hundred kilometers each way and Louis was making the trip two or three times a week. Why? Because we have some of the best fishing in the whole country,let alone the province. I said to Kenney the other day that we really don't appreciate the fantastic hunting and fishing we have in our back-yard. Louise has been fishing about five hundred meters from where Ken and I live,so I guess that would qualify as fishing in our back-yard. How good is the fishing? Well,as you can see from the photo,Louis has forty or fifty yellow perch that he caught in a few hours,and Louis does this each time he goes out. He is also catching chain pickerel,although he isn't targeting this species. Thats pretty good fishing in my book. The limit for yellow perch is one hundred per day and I can personally guarantee any sport can catch a limit any day of the week,during the summer season. As a matter of fact,I'm so sure of this fishery that I can say that any sport who books a fishing trip with us during the summer and doesn't catch a limit of perch will get to go again,for FREE! How's that for a deal? Although I'm talking specifically about yellow perch,the fishing is also excellent for chain pickerel,white perch and shad,when they are running,regular brook trout and sea-trout and of course Atlantic Salmon. The spring salmon fishing on the Miramichi is nothing short of world class! It's the only time of the year when you can routinely hook and release dozens of these mighty fish. Of course there are some days better than others,but overall it is still a fantastic fishery that can only be found in this part of the world.You can catch other species of salmon in other places ,but not the elusive Atlantic salmon with such consistency.If any of you sports would like to experience any of this fishing,single species or multiple,just contact Ken or myself and we'll have you hooking up in no time!