An extremely eventful week has passed.
Late evening scanning on the Miramichi River for striped bass.
Since my last entry, the river temperatures have dropped an average of 15 degrees. You can really feel the air cool off as soon as that sun leaves every evening. For many folks who have been slinging lines for bass on the Miramichi for some time, this temperature break represents one of the final big phases to bass behavior for the year. This weekend will also see a big rise in angling with the Fall Miramichi Striper Cup - expect a lot of traffic as we head into this weekend.
Bass are still filing into the system in the lower reaches and as always cut bait will be the most fail safe option for getting striped bass. Scent trails consisting of amino acids and fatty oils from things like squid, mackerel, herring and shad trigger even the most lock jawed of bass. With that said, with the crashing temperatures we are now onto a phase where bass push up shallower, in concentrated numbers and with a more aggressive drive to feed - these fish know there is an impending period of dormancy upon them and therefore want as much energy as they can to conserve for their months spent idling under the ice. This means there is a great opportunity to get fish hitting artificial baits.
Extremely thick school of Stripers in Miramichi - so thick they block an SI signal.
Last week featured a lot of wind which is never pleasant. A wave break kicking back into your face is never nice especially on these cooler autumn days. The cooling winds and near or below freezing evenings have created a perfect storm of conditions rolling into the last week of the 2026 season. Bass are fixated and feeding on forage off the river bottom. Feeding blitzes have been a common sighting both from intense splashing as well as patches of disturbed mud. Some evenings the screens cold be off and just seeing current breaking across the bass’ backs would be enough indication of the staggering amount of fish to be had.
That said the bite can often be finnicky, brief and tougher. During these phases I prefer to focus on using smaller baits, very slow presentations and each day begins by taking a versatile bait like a small sand eel and manipulating it as many ways as I possibly can to make a strike occur. Once that first fish is hooked, replication is normally the ticket to continued success.
Clouds of mud being disturbed by bass tearing up the bottom
Made some good friends hailing from Ontario this weekend who described their guided experience has both “Unbelievable” and the “Best guided trip they’ve ever had”. One of the biggest motivators to me as a guide is to see people experience the same light bulb moments I had when I first dipped my toes into doing this. The feeling that snowballed into me doing whatever I could to spend as much time as I could floating around this water every spring and fall. Sometimes we get numb to how truly incredible this resource is and how taken for granted it all is sometimes. I am happy to see more and more national and international attention to this world class fishery.
Enjoying the wonder of what Miramichi offers in the realm of striped bass.
With one week remaining I encourage everyone to get out for that one last fish and close out the 2026 striper fishery with a bang.
PS - if anyone wants to come say hi I’ll be hanging out at the Striper Cup opening ceremonies where I am collecting cash and non perishables for the Miramichi Community Food Bank - an all inculsive guided package including a one night stay and dinner will be drawn on October 24th.
