River Report

Salmon Lodge Fishing & River Report August 3rd to 9th, 2015

Fishing continues to be excellent and we couldn’t ask for better river conditions.  Perhaps we were getting a little spoiled with higher than normal water levels since the beginning of the season. The weather’s been perfect for fishing, not too warm with regular weekly precipitation. Last week’s fishing was great with plenty of fine fish landed including loads of grilse. We’re seeing plenty of grilse this season, it’s been our best way to predict the following season. When our rivers receive a good grilse run the following year has always been a great salmon year. 

Colin Mahoney's first Atlantic salmon and his first trip to Salmon Lodge, Congratulations Colin! see you next year.

Colin Mahoney’s first Atlantic salmon and his first trip to Salmon Lodge, Congratulations Colin! see you next year.

 Last week rainfall and frequent thunder storms gave the Bonaventure and Grand Cascapedia a considerable rise in water, just what we needed to keep conditions perfect. The Bony and Grand are flowing at mid-June levels. The Petite Cascapedia didn’t receive the same amount of rainfall but just enough to keep the water where we want it for this time of the season. The Petite is still at mid-June flow. Higher water means we’re still using our canoes which is making our guides very happy. The ability to travel with our boats allows us to locate fish outside the pools such as smaller runs and in-between pools. 

Zach Porcello releases his first Bonaventure salmon, nice fishing Zach and congratulations!

Zach Porcello releases his first Bonaventure salmon, nice fishing Zach and congratulations!

 The Bonaventure is flowing at 42 Cubic meter per second up from 30 last week. Fishing on the Bony has been excellent with good numbers of salmon and plenty of grilse landed each day. The Petite Cascapedia is flowing at 24 cubic meters per second, for this time of the season is 12 is the norm.  The Petite is fishing very well, with nice number of salmon in the river and cool water temperatures, we’re doing very well on the Peitte.  The Grand Cascapedia is flowing at 30 down from 90 at the beginning of the week, the normal flow for this time of year is in the 12 to 15 range. The Grand has been giving us some nice fish everyday including some to write home about!

Jake Porcello with his first Atlantic Salmon salmon, great fish Jake!

Jake Porcello with his first Atlantic Salmon salmon, great fish Jake!

Kelly Williams with her first salmon, Congratulations Kelly!

Kelly Williams with her first salmon, Congratulations Kelly!

 The hot fly’s for the week have been a mixture of dry’s and  wets.  With higher water levels we are back to using no 4’s and 6’s and some bigger spey fly’s as well. In the wet fly department the Black Bear, John Olin, Green Highlander, Nagli and McPhail Piglets were the big producers. The Green Spey and Grey Heron were responsible for a few nice salmon as well. Dry fly’s continue to be the flies of choice with our regular line up of Green, Dark Brown and Blue. The sizes that are working best are number 2’s, 4’s and 6’s.

Each year Jeff Bright comes all the way from California to fish with us, this is his first, but not the last one for 2015. Nice fish, see you next year Jeff!

Each year Jeff Bright comes all the way from California to fish with us, this is his first, but not the last one for 2015. Nice fish, see you next year Jeff!

 Don’t forget to check out our photo album each week. Along with my weekly river report I post a number of the week’s salmon shots on our Photo gallery page. If a trip to Camp Bonaventure or Salmon Lodge is in your plans for next season please feel free to contact me anytime. We are sold out this season but still have a couple of great slots open for 2016.

The Labatt Blue, always a winner!

The Labatt Blue, always a winner!

 Until next week,

 Tight Line ,

 Glenn