After an awesome fishing trip to New Brunswick last Fall targeting striped bass. It was time to go back. This time our main targets were striped bass on the Miramichi River and short-nosed sturgeon on the Saint John's River, plus a bit of time trying for Atlantic salmon and speckled trout.
So my fishing buddy Bob and I loaded up and hit the road after work Thursday last week and made the overnight drive to Miramichi, NB.... thankfully the 14 hour drive was relatively uneventful and I avoided hitting the moose standing on the side of highway 108.
In the Miramichi area we visited a few tackle shops, Big Rigs Tackle, Miramichi Pronature and Trout Brook Fly Shop. I am not really a fly fisherman but it was definitely worth the drive to visit Syd at the fly shop for a chat and to pick up a couple things.
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In Miramichi we stayed at the Travelodge which was the perfect location.... a ground floor room, a dock behind the hotel and Hennessy's Pub for food and drinks.
Saturday our guide Rob from Tangled Angling picked us up at noon at the hotel dock and we were off on the Mighty Miramichi River. The plan was to fish for striped bass and then when the tides were favourable spend a bit of time trying to catch an Atlantic salmon.
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After checking a few spots for striped bass with sidescan sonar, it did not take us long to get into some striped bass action we spent the next few hours casting for stripers using various soft plastic swim baits and my fishing buddy Bob decided to try fly fishing for them as well landing some nice fish on the flyrod as well.
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When the tides shifted we headed up river to try for a salmon or two, unfortunately no luck on the salmon (need something new to catch next time) but we did catch a bunch of incidental speckled trout.
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Rob dropped us back off at the hotel dock and he headed home to clean our fish, we cleaned up and headed for Hennessy's Pub down the hall from our room for a late dinner and a few drinks. Our guide Rob joined us for a drink just before close and brought us our fish.
Our second trip on the Miramichi River with Rob and he did not disappoint.... over 70 striped bass and 6 incidental speckled trout caught.... great equipment.... knowledgeable guide...... equals a great day on the water.
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If you have not fishing the Miramichi River for striped bass I highly recommend you seriously consider it.
Part 2 coming....
