Angling has been moderate to good along the system. The upper stretches of the Main Southwest received more rain than the lower stretches and wiped out fishing around Doaktown area this past weekend. Gradually, rivers are dropping and angling is returning to normal.

The trapnet at Cassilis is still averaging only one or two grilse a day and maybe one salmon, but the Millerton trapnet has shown an improvement during the past week. There has been a bump in numbers, but no bumper crop of a fall run yet. Monday saw Millerton produce 15 grilse and two salmon while Tuesday it had nine grilse and two salmon. Overall this past week there has been an average of 10 grilse and five salmon daily, so numbers are improving.

Today is the start of the annual three-day “Swamp-Donkey” hunt, otherwise known as “Moose Season” in New Brunswick, so if you are out and about, particularly off the beaten tracks, be a little careful and wear some “Hunter Orange”, and don’t fish too many flies tied with moose-hair or an eagle-eye shot might just pick off that special fly.

Mike Sproul of Blackville caught a 34 ½ inch male salmon on the Cains, but the unusual part was that the salmon had a tooth sticking out of each side of its mouth. Mike said it looked like something pre-historic. He took a picture, but unfortunately, in trying to clear some space on the camera card for some underwater shots, the picture was inadvertently deleted.

Angling has been moderate to good along the system. The upper stretches of the Main Southwest received more rain than the lower stretches and wiped out fishing around Doaktown area this past weekend. Gradually, rivers are dropping and angling is returning to normal.

The trapnet at Cassilis is still averaging only one or two grilse a day and maybe one salmon, but the Millerton trapnet has shown an improvement during the past week. There has been a bump in numbers, but no bumper crop of a fall run yet. Monday saw Millerton produce 15 grilse and two salmon while Tuesday it had nine grilse and two salmon. Overall this past week there has been an average of 10 grilse and five salmon daily, so numbers are improving.

Today is the start of the annual three-day “Swamp-Donkey” hunt, otherwise known as “Moose Season” in New Brunswick, so if you are out and about, particularly off the beaten tracks, be a little careful and wear some “Hunter Orange”, and don’t fish too many flies tied with moose-hair or an eagle-eye shot might just pick off that special fly.

Mike Sproul of Blackville caught a 34 ½ inch male salmon on the Cains, but the unusual part was that the salmon had a tooth sticking out of each side of its mouth. Mike said it looked like something pre-historic. He took a picture, but unfortunately, in trying to clear some space on the camera card for some underwater shots, the picture was inadvertently deleted.

Generally, there are fish through out the system, but not necessarily in great numbers, and only a few fresh ones as there has not been a big fall run as of yet. Getting the fish to take is also another problem, but those who are putting in the time, are having limited success. Water levels are dropping, but generally still on the high side.

The Cassilis trapnet was averaging only a couple of fish a day while Millerton was also getting a few each day, but no significant numbers. Hatchery manager Mark Hambrook said they had started collecting brood stock on Tuesday with their first stop being the Cains River. He said there were good numbers of fish in the Cains at present. Every year about this time they also begin to take out a number of beaverdams to allow fish to get to more of their spawning grounds. This year, most of the work will focus on the Cains. The MSA is also doing their fall electro-fishing to determine juvenile populations of fry along various parts of the system in general.

Generally, there are fish through out the system, but not necessarily in great numbers, and only a few fresh ones as there has not been a big fall run as of yet. Getting the fish to take is also another problem, but those who are putting in the time, are having limited success. Water levels are dropping, but generally still on the high side.

The Cassilis trapnet was averaging only a couple of fish a day while Millerton was also getting a few each day, but no significant numbers. Hatchery manager Mark Hambrook said they had started collecting brood stock on Tuesday with their first stop being the Cains River. He said there were good numbers of fish in the Cains at present. Every year about this time they also begin to take out a number of beaverdams to allow fish to get to more of their spawning grounds. This year, most of the work will focus on the Cains. The MSA is also doing their fall electro-fishing to determine juvenile populations of fry along various parts of the system in general.

This will be another week of very high water, in some cases higher than it was in spring. However, it should bring in the fall runs of both salmon and grilse. All else aside, it is very positive for the fish, even if catching for anglers is a bit more difficult.

The trapnet at Cassilis was recording only a couple of fish per day earlier this week, while the Millerton net was averaging 5 to 6 grilse and 2 to 3 salmon daily.