Since 1953, the Miramichi Salmon Association (MSA) has worked toward the preservation and enhancement of Atlantic salmon on the Miramichi river. With strength in numbers, the MSA continues to build its membership to support our conservation efforts. We encourage you, if not already a member, to please join us.

Vol. 63 October 2023

Dear MSA Supporters,



I trust this message finds you well. As we wind down fishing season and move into fall, I'd like to share some MSA updates with you.

First and foremost, we look forward to welcoming everyone at our 26th Annual MSA Fredericton Dinner, slated for October 3rd at the Fredericton Inn. This event holds special importance as we come together to honour Dan Cain and the Cain Family for their extraordinary dedication to the MSA and their pivotal role in the conservation of the Miramichi River's Atlantic salmon. We are also continuing with our year of celebrations surrounding the MSA’s 70th anniversary and the 150th anniversary of the MSA hatchery in South Esk. We look forward to seeing everyone in person for this important gathering.

Furthering our mission, we are also excited about our Saint John Autumn Dinner scheduled for October 25th at the Delta Brunswick Square. At this event, we will celebrate the remarkable contributions of Jerome Molloy, whose unwavering support has significantly impacted our cause. We are looking forward to a fun filled evening, some delicious food, and a robust live and silent auction. We hope to see you there!

On the conservation front, MSA staff have finished up our electrofishing program for the year and are beginning to mobilize our beaver dam breaching crew in an effort to free up critical spawning habitat. We will also be embarking on broodstock collection for our spring fry stocking program. This endeavor is instrumental in ensuring the future of our salmon populations within the Miramichi River. In the coming weeks we will be collecting broodstock from Juniper, the Cains River, as well as the Dungarvon.

Your continued support and commitment to our cause are deeply appreciated. Together, we are the guardians of the Miramichi River's Atlantic salmon legacy. We eagerly anticipate your involvement in these upcoming events.

William "Butch" Dalton

MSA Interim President



On October 8th, 1953, a small group of conservation-minded pioneers, all who shared a common love for the Miramichi and who feared for its future, registered a fledgling new organization called the Miramichi Salmon Association, Inc. (MSA). The group, made up of anglers, guides, camp owners, commercial outfitters, and sporting good merchants, drafted a simple statement that declared as its mission; “the propagation, protection and perpetuation of the Atlantic salmon in the Miramichi River system”. That fundamental goal still directs the programs and activities of the MSA today.

Top: The original MSA Headquarters in Boiestown, NB

Bottom: (Left to right) Clayton Stewart, Rex Freeze, John Gottschalk, Edward Crosby, and Kingsbury Browne at the 1961 MSA Boston Dinner

Throughout 2023, the MSA has run several initiatives to highlight our seven decades of conservation work on the Miramichi River. To read about some of the MSA highlights from the last 70 years, click below.

As we wrap up this milestone year in the coming months, we would like to thank all MSA members and supporters for championing our organization as we continue to work together to conserve Atlantic salmon on the Miramichi River.



Our MSA Autumn Dinner in Saint John is happening on October 25th at the Delta Brunswick Square. This year, we are proud to honour Jerome Molloy for his contributions to the Miramichi Atlantic salmon community. Join us for a great meal that highlights NB's local flavours, connect with other members of the fishing and conservation community, and participate in our signature fundraising auction to help us raise money for salmon conservation on the Miramichi River.

Check out this live auction preview, featuring some of the great items we will have up for grabs at the dinner!

Three nights at Rocky Brook Camp with four days of fishing for 8 rods, to be scheduled in fall of 2024.

Two days of guided fishing for 2 rods for a mutually agreeable date during the 2024 season. Includes lodging and meals.

A box of flies by Canadian-renowned and award-winning fly-tier, Jerome Molloy.



Stop by the Route 1 Irving & Big Stop on Dolan Road once per month for a year to grab either a cake or pie.

Four tickets for a game during the 2024 season, donated by Moosehead Breweries.





One unguided day of fishing for 4 rods and one night of lodging during the 2024 season.

Later this month, the MSA’s field staff will begin notching beaver dams as part of our Spawning Obstruction Management Program. We are excited to welcome two new field staffers - Alex Swartman and Calvin Hubbard - who will be working with the MSA over the fall season to assist with this program. During the next few weeks, Alex and Calvin will be scouting and assessing beaver dam sites in preparation for breaching work to start during critical spawning times.

According to MSA Biologist Lyndsay Jay-Keating, “Due to a tremendous amount of rain received over the past few weeks, high water levels are advantageous to salmon, as they can swim or jump over any current dams in their way. Once water levels start to decrease our field crew will ensure the needed work is completed safely.”

Beavers can repair active dams within a 24-hour time frame, which means the notching of the dams must be correctly timed with the upstream migrations of the salmon so as not to waste time and resources. It is important to note that the MSA only notches beaver dams with the purpose of allowing salmon to reach critical spawning habitat, and that our field technicians do not remove beaver dams.

Thank you to the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund for supporting this program.

Anqotum Resource Management is an organization established by the North Shore Mi’kmaq Tribal Council (NSMTC) to support its eight Mi’kmaq First Nation member communities through the Aboriginal Aquatic Resources and Oceans Management Program (AAROM).

Anqotum operates out of the Natoaganeg (Eel Ground) First Nation with an experienced team of biologists and skilled environmental technicians. Their organization focuses on research and activities that emphasize watershed co-management and indigenous knowledge-sharing, as well as striving to build capacity and enhance the lives of their Mi’kmaq communities by offering technical support, advocacy, and education in protecting environmental resources.

The Miramichi Salmon Association is a proud conservation partner of Anqotum Resource Management. Anqotum currently leads several key Miramichi-area and Atlantic salmon conservation projects, such as their cold-water refuge and stream enhancement project on the Northwest Miramichi River, working to eliminate the threat of invasive smallmouth bass in Miramichi Lake through ongoing electrofishing work, and developing a Gaspereau trap net escape mechanism that will prevent larger fish like Atlantic salmon from moving into commercial Gaspereau traps. Anqotum also provides critical support to the MSA’s annual Smolt Population Estimate program.  

Anqotum Biologist Joe Augustine and MSA summer student Cole Johnson fishing smolt wheels on the Northwest Miramichi River

To learn more about Anqotum Resource Management, you can visit their website via the link below.

Recently, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) released “What We Heard: Engaging on a strategy to restore and rebuild Atlantic salmon”. This publication is a response to feedback collected while developing the Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Strategy, presents findings from the Let’s Talk Atlantic Salmon survey conducted earlier this year.

Also included in the publication is a message from the new Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard - the Honourable Diane LeBouthillier:

“Recognizing the many perspectives on the conservation of Atlantic salmon, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) took time to engage with Canadians and seek their thoughts on how best to achieve our goal of maintaining and restoring healthy populations,” says Minister Lebouthillier. “Almost 500 individuals and groups have contributed to this process, submitting their comments and participating in bilateral and group discussions.”

DFO plans to release the first draft of the Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Strategy in the coming months. The Miramichi Salmon Association appreciates DFO’s transparency as they address past failings, barriers, and next steps for Atlantic salmon conservation. We look forward to continued collaboration with government, rightsholders, stakeholders, and conservation partners as we work together on these important issues. 

To read "What We Hear: Engaging on a strategy to restore and rebuild Atlantic salmon", please click the link below.

The deadline to submit your photos to the Brian Smith Memorial Photo Contest is October 15th! Click below to submit your photos. Note: Submissions are limited to two images per category per photographer.

Fishing Friends:

I arrived in Blackville on September 8th amidst the warmest weather and lowest water since early July – which isn’t saying much because it was still high. When I arrived, there were decent numbers of salmon holding in the cold-water pools on both the main river and the Cains. They were, however, very tough to catch, and it certainly appeared that there were precious few new fishing entering the river. We got the occasional pull on a wet fly and rose a few to bombers – the fish of a thousand casts – but the catching was poor. At night we lay in our beds with the fan blowing on us and sweated. The water was constantly 70F or higher. On September 11, though, we got a good rain followed by another one the 14th. 

In the cooling and raising water the salmon left their holding pools and moved up the river. We have been fishing mostly on the Cains and for the last days I was there we had a decent number of new fish running the pools. You could see them jumping first at the bottom of the pool and then as they worked their way up and out the upstream end of the pool. Our catch improved, and if you kept a fly wet every now and then you hooked a good fish. I had a great chance to shake down my new Sage 13’6 8-weight Igniter. It did a great job with a 520 grain Scandi and a 10’ poly leader, 2.8 ips sink. On the 13^th I solidly hooked three nice salmon plus had a couple of other pulls. That was my best day on the river for the week.

I had great reports from Eddie Colford at the Black Brook Salmon Club not too far down the Cains from where we were fishing, and from Byron Coughlan at Country Haven whose anglers were fishing mostly on pools above us on the Cains. It wasn’t gang busters, but we were all catching a few fish. What was funny, though, was that Eddie at one point told me that their last 4 fish were all Cains River hook-bills and every fish that we caught was a henfish. That, I’d guess, was just totally random luck of the draw.

Photo credit: Eddie Colford, Black Brook Salmon Club

With all the high water this wasn’t the best year for salmon dry fly fishing, but some were caught for sure. The debate rages on comparing dry to wet fly fishing for salmon. I love both approaches more or less equally. No one can doubt, though, the magic of capturing big salmon on a dry fly. Recently I was in the middle of a little e-mail exchange between a retired doctor from Nova Scotia with ties to New York and David Ledlie in Maine. The doctor was talking about the Boland Brook Camp on the Upsalquitch and how Edward Ringwood Hewitt fishing on the Upsalquitch was thought to be one of the first to ever catch a salmon on a dry fly. Ledlie wrote back the following, which I found fascinating:

“This refers to Hewitt being the first to fish dry flies for salmon. There is an oil painting by Maine artist Walter Brackett (1823-1919) entitled “The Rise” which clearly shows a large salmon rising to a dry fly. I believe it was painted sometime in the 1870s. Brackett was responsible for a plethora of salmon paintings. He was a member of the St Margarette Club on the river of that name, for years. A steel engraving was made of the painting for a chapter of Alfred Mayer’s Sport with Rod and Gun in American Waters 1883. A copy of the steel engraving appears at the top of my personal stationary.” 

"The Rise" by Walter Brackett

Actually, there is more dry fly history on the Miramichi than probably any other river in the world. As I’m sure many of the readers know the world-famous bomber was an invention of the Miramichi widely credited to Elmer “Father” Smith.

As of yesterday, September 30th, water heights were getting good on the main river, but slipping to a little less than ideal on the Cains. The ongoing sunshine is tempered by morning fog and wildfire smoke from out west. Now is the time for big red and orange fall streamer patterns like the October Killer or the Mickey Finn. 



Cains River Marabou Streamers

Most other large salmon flies of all descriptions will also work. Big marabou or slime flies are particularly effective in slow water. Sink tips can make a difference too. I got a nice hen salmon yesterday on the Cains on a #4 John Olin. The fish was in a quick run of water and the long streamer just didn’t seem right. 

Thanks for reading,

Brad Burns, MSA US President



The Miramichi Salmon Association works with Fisheries and Oceans Canada Science Branch on their juvenile Atlantic salmon surveys. These surveys are conducted using historic baseline sites (monitored annually) to assess Atlantic salmon juvenile abundance on the Miramichi River system.

Similar to the Miramichi Salmon Association’s juvenile assessment program, DFO’s juvenile salmon assessments are carried out using electrofishing surveys. Some of the sites included in DFO’s long-term monitoring program have been sampled for over 50 years. Unlike the MSA’s electrofishing work which assesses the presence/absence of juvenile salmon in open sites, DFO’s assessment program involves methods that use both open sites (catch per unit effort) and closed sites (successive removal). For closed sites, DFO barriers off a measured section of a stream and repeatedly sample within the site; these sites are used to assist in accounting for fish missed during open-site sampling. 

MSA Field Technician David Cassidy, MSA Conservation Technician Mitch O'Donnell, and MSA Biologist Lyndsay Jay-Keating assisting DFO's Science Branch with a closed-site survey on the Northwest Miramichi River

Photo Credit: Kari Underhill, DFO Aquatic Science Biologist

To view DFO's most recently-published electrofishing data, please click the link below.

Over the last three months, river scientist and MSA director Dr. Allen Curry has been journeying across North American waterways as part of the Weaving Waters Expedition. Supported by the Canadian Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick, this expedition is the final, formal adventure for Dr. Curry. The purpose of this project is to create a collective water reconciliation message that resonates for all rivers.  

Since setting sail on July 16th, Dr. Curry has docked at Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Chicago. “There are people there who want to tell you what the fishery used to be like and what the water quality used to be like," Curry said. "There's no shortage of stories at every dock."



Thank you to Dr. Allen Curry for sending us these great photos!

Left: The Water Weaver; Right: Dr. Allen Curry en route

To learn more about this project or to follow Dr. Curry on his journey, please click the link below. 

In September, the Miramichi Salmon Association had the pleasure of being involved in Country Haven Miramichi’s Women's Fly Fishing Retreat. MSA hatchery manager Holly Labadie was featured as a guest speaker to talk to retreat attendees about the life cycle of Atlantic salmon, the Miramichi Fish Hatchery, and the MSA’s conservation work.

MSA Hatchery Manager Holly Labadie speaking about Atlantic salmon at Country Haven Miramichi’s Women's Fly Fishing Retreat

This retreat was coordinated by MSA director Ian Cavanagh with the support of the Atlantic Salmon Federation’s Deidre Green and a fantastic team of fly-fishing instructors, including Julia Carpenter, Cathy Colford, and MSA director Jacqueline Girouard. We love seeing events like this one that help promote the sport of fly fishing on the Miramichi River!

To read more about the event, visit the link below.

As part of his project under the Brian Moore Legacy Fund, MSA summer student Cole Johnson has been working on video communications about the work being carried out by the MSA. This month, Cole has prepared a video explaining the work carried out at the salmon protection barriers operated by the MSA on the Northwest Miramichi River and Dungarvon River.

MSA Fredericton Dinner

October 3rd at the Fredericton Inn

MSA Brian Smith Memorial Photo Contest

Entry Deadline is October 15th

MWMC Board of Directors Meeting

October 24th at the MSA Office

MSA Autumn Dinner in Saint John

October 25th at the Delta Brunswick Square

MSA Board of Directors Meeting

November 18th in Freeport, Maine

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