Our last trip out was for Smallmouth Bass on a border lake and now we are headed inland to the Miramichi River for Striped Bass. The change was more than species and location; it was also from a nice sunny day to unrelenting rain. It seemed like they changed the forecast every time I looked at it so we hoped for the best and hit the road.
I was a bit dubious about putting the big Triton in so far up the river but my guest Jeff Wilson assured me that we would have at least three feet of water. Just what I needed to hear with a new boat. Needless to say we never put the Merc up over idle speed when we moved around.
Jeff is the Atlantic Vice President of the StonCor Group of companies and I was lucky to get him out for a day. He is very knowledgeable about the Striper fishery in this end of the river and it really showed when we started. I believe he had me down 12 fish to one in the first thirty minutes. Ouch!
I had bumped my gear up a bit from the previous show and went with a G Loomis NRX 6’8” MH rigged with a 2500 Stradic and 20 lb Power Pro Super 8 Slick and a Crucial 6’8” with a 2500 Stradic with20lb Power Pro Super 8 Slick. I find the Power Pro Slick casts really well on a spinning rod and the 20lb seems like a nice balance between strength and castability for the Stripers.
We were fishing much shallower than when I ventured up here last year and the bite was much different. Last year we hammered them on jerk baits but this year I only got one on a JackAll Squad Minnow and couldn’t get another, it was just too shallow to effectively work a hard jerk bait. I tried a variety of different baits but when my fishing partner has me down 12 to 1 I know when it is time to switch. I should point out that this is a restricted fishery and the regulations call for single barbless hooks so the Jerk Baits had the trebles taken off and replaced with a single barbless hook on the back.
Today’s choice of bait ended up being a simple white Fluke rigged on a 5/0 Gamakatsu hook with the barb pinched off. The morning bite required a slower presentation overall with some long pause as the light current moved the bait. We seemed to be at a pretty much slack tide at the time. In the afternoon when the tide changed they would hit the bait while it was being moved aggressively. The bite is just a big smash and then they run. The bigger they are the longer the run and it’s a blast. I am definitely going to go up earlier next year so I can do this a bit more. I think we were at the tail end of the run and the fish were starting to drop back to the estuary.
We never got into any of the real big fish that Jeff has caught here before but he did put a really nice 15lb fish in the boat. We weren’t really keeping an accurate count but we easily exceeded fifty fish which is outstanding. Even Shawn got in on the action when we stopped for lunch. He can eat pretty fast when there are fish to be caught and he wanted his share. It has to be tough running the camera when you like to fish.
The filming was a challenge with a heavy rain most of the day and periods of high winds blowing into the lens. I am pretty sure he went through a box of drying wipes during the day.
I have to find some waterproof sneakers because I don’t like wet feet all day in the boat. As always the DryFender Rainsuit 3T kept the rest of me bone dry.
If you get the chance you owe it to yourself to head up to the Miramichi River early in the season and have a crack at these fish. They are a great fighting fish and there are plenty of them to go around. Just remember that there are gear and possession regulations in effect at the present time.
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