Fly Fishing

rostucker32 · Newbie Joined: Jan 20, 2008 Posts: 1

A friend and I are planning our summer adventure for the upcoming season. After reading an a recent article in In-Fisherman, I am thinking that we should make the trek to Canada for "Salters". We prefer the camp and explore trips to the posh guided types. Anyone have some insight? We live in Vermont, so we would be driving up. What month is best? What Rivers? Is it insane to try and do this trip without a guide? Any help is appreciated! -R

jeremy · Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 4:52 pm Post subject: Sea Run Brookies

i have never been, however, my good friend greg has gone and some other of my good friends. you defintately don't need a "posh guiding outfit" and you can definately do it within a budget. i do believe august'ish is a decent month, but i could be wrong ... i do know that greg had some good success on the other side of the st. lawrence seaway ... i too am considering a trip this summer to labrador for brookies, but they are not the "salters" (i don't think) .. i am considering the Atikonak watershed area ... all i know is that the brookies are big .. anyway .... greg, pat, pete-d, sean and some others may be able to point you in the right direction in terms of the camping/DIY options for the salters .... i am sure they will respond ... in the meantime .. greg runs www.fliesandfinsnorth.com .. you may find some decent information over there about the canada salters .. just do a search on that sight for "brookies" or "brook trout" ..

greg · Newbie Joined: May 18, 2003 Posts: 38

Sea run Brookies and Brown Trout can be caught in Nova Scotia without a guide and very reasonable rates for rooms or lodges. I say Nova Scotia as the water is free and they don't require guides. Cape Breton is an area I know the most about and have caught good size Brookies and depending on the river big Raibows. I usually go there for Atlantic Salmon but often catch Trout. Rivers that empty into the ocean in Nova Sctotia generally have sea runs. Season?, mid June to Mid July is I believe the heaviest run but there caught with regularity all season.

gameyblackbass · Newbie Joined: Jan 21, 2008 Posts: 1

Gents:

You should try the Gods River up in Manitoba if you are looking for big brookie trip of a lifetime. I have been up there 4 times over the last 2 years and every trip (June, july or August) yields fantastic numbers of brookies in the 16 - 26" class. We all think the 29" mark will fall on the gods river and recently one of the fly magazines ranked it top 5.

(full disclosure: I have a part financial interest in one of the lodges up there so take this with a grain of salt)

The nice thing about that area in northern manitoba is you also get world class pike, walleye and laker fishing on the same trip....the downside is this is fly in territory so it aint cheap.

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fishgolf · Newbie Joined: Feb 04, 2006 Posts: 6

You might want to try the trinite it has Atlantic Salmon and Sea run brookies in pretty large numbers.
fishgolf!!!

Gander · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject:

The Cains River, New Brunswick (part of the Miramichi system) has phenomenal brook trout fishing. It has both Public and what we call Crown Reserve waters (name gets entered into a draw for dates and times). You would be looking at a non-resident licence ($35.00 for 7 days or $55.00 for the season). Last year saw lots fish above the 20" mark, I caught a 17" in mid June. The fly to use is a Royal Wulf without a doubt.

Hunter · Newbie Joined: Dec 06, 2006 Posts: 39

Gander,

How far is the Cains from the Stanley, NB area? I've got an uncle with a bear lodge over that way and we've been talking about the potential fishing in that area. Obviously, the best local salmon water can't be fished publicly but from what I understand there are some public waters with OK fishing to be found. Also, when is a good time of year to be there?

Gander · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:59 am Post subject:

Hunter,
Stanley is about a half hour north of Fredericton which would be about an hour and half maybe two hours to the Cains River. You are looking for the town of Doaktown, East of Fredericton. The Cains is just a little farther east and flows into the Miramichi river. I did a bit of checking last night and it appears that for non-residents a guide IS required on the Cains (not 100% sure though). You can check up on it by contacting the New Brunwsick Department of Natural Resources. True most of the best Salmon water is either Private or Crown Reserve (you have to be a resident to fish it) however there are some public stretches available (again not sure about guides). I really don't know too much about the public stretches as I always try to fish the Crown Reserve waters.
In terms of time of year the Salmon are usually in by late June, last year was an exception we really didn't see any decent runs until mid July, and continue into September and even October. You need to check when the specific rivers are open to fishing, some of the stretches close at different times, guides required, etc. For brookies our season opens the 15 of April and closes the 15 of September. For sea-runs May and early June are the prime times but you can hook up with decent fish anytime during the season.
In and around the Stanley area there are lots of good trout streams, they may not hold sea-runs but definitetly have fish. Similar to most parts of Maine you can cast a line in most any stream, creek or river and hook into fish. They may not be record breakers but sure are a lot of fun!

Hope this helps.

Hunter · Newbie Joined: Dec 06, 2006 Posts: 39

Thanks. That's pretty much what I thought. Guides aren't a problem, as he's got several that work from the camp (and spend their off season salmon fishing). I just wasn't sure about the distance over to the Cains. I've hiked several other Mirimichi tribs and am impressed by the water. The Taxis in particular as it flows about a mile behind his camp and the Clearwater as it flows across one of his leases. Where would one look for more info on public water up that way?

I'm familiar with the small stream brookies around Stanley. Plenty of them.

SilverTip · Newbie Joined: May 13, 2008 Posts: 1

I had a trip to Igloo Lake in Labrador last summer awesome brookie fishing www.igloolake.com . I think the smallest brookie caught by our group was around 4 pounds. I would definetly recomend the place to anyone who wants to experience spectacular brookie fishing. We normally fish labrador every year for atlantic salmon but tried this place for a change, was not disappointed but brookies are still not the thrill Atlantics are..

tommy7 · Newbie Joined: May 28, 2008 Posts: 1

Hey, everyone, I l ive in Nova Scotia, and yes, the water is free and you do not need a guide anywhere , but without some local knowledge finding some sea run brook trout here would be very challenging. Right now the large brown trout are coming in the Northumberland straight rivers, my friend got one 12.5lbs last weekend. Sea run brook trout are also coming in the North shore rivers, but do not start in other rivers until later in June to early July.
The Margaree in Cape Breton is an excellent sea trout river, as are some of the other Cape Breton rivers, but The fishing in Newfoundland Labrador and Quebec ( North shore of the St Lawrence ) are better than here.
Also as was mentioned some New Brunswick rivers are great.
Having said all that there are still some good trout streams in NS, you just have to know where to go. Our water suffers from being a bit too warm, and too acidic for brook trout production, so check a geological map to see where there are limestone and gypsum deposits to help buffer acidic stream water ( that's why North Shore rivers are doing OK ) The Musquodoboit is one such river and has a good population of sea run trout.
Some good flies for Nova Scotia waters at least are humpys, hoppers and small bombers or, bugs as we call them, I shouldn't be telling you this, but if you take a small white or off white ie caribou instead of deer hair, bug with orange hackle and fish it just under the surface the sea run brookies will smash it ! This works especially well in still waters that sea run trout have moved into, retrieve the bug just fast enough to make a small "v" shaped wake in the water and be ready !