A Salmon In Every Pool

Never in my entire life with Salmo Salar has there been a year like this.  Most rivers are seeing record returns as well as some very large fish.   There are a few down spots in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and for those rivers the work goes forward.

Maine
My first salmon came from the Narraguagus River in Cherryfield.  166 have returned this year and it makes me very happy to see so many when there were years with but a scant few.  Penobscot is tipping in the 3000 range and fish are traveling farther up stream as the numbers needed for the hatchery were met in early July.

New Brunswick
Reports that I am reading on NewBrunswickFishing.com seem to have a lot of very happy results.  Numbers on all the major rivers are way up and it is common to hear of three fish days.  One of the reports was on the Nashwaak River.  This is my favorite New Brunswick river.  As it is a Bay of Fundy river it is now closed, but the numbers in the spring run have been very impressive.  The Marimachi system is also seeing good numbers.  The Restigouche reports are scarce but in the upper reaches on Crown water anglers are seeing and catching fish in good numbers.

Quebec
Nothing short of spectacular can be reported.  The numbers angled on the Grande Cascapedia are higher than the usual total quantity in the river.  It started early and is still going well.  From Matapedia to Matane and out to the tip of Gaspe things are going very well.  Bonaventure seems to be having an above average year but not as impressive as the Petite and Grande.

Nova Scotia

They don't seem to be having the same luck as other locations.  It seems that acid rain and fish farms are still a big problem in the south and Cape Breton rivers are not seeing the numbers of last year.  Margaree summer fish are coming in good numbers.  Most pools are fishing well.

Newfoundland
Salmon counts are running less than last year for most rivers.  Above the ten year average and looking better but not what other locations have seen.  The Harry's River is the shining star and showing a dramatic doubling from last year's good number while the Torrent has seen only half last year's total.

Labrador
Numbers are very strong for this year.  The Sand Hill is seeing over 7000 fish to date, up from 1700 this same time last year.  Reports from the Flowers River are very good and some large fish being angled.

Iceland
Off to a good start in both quantity and size of fish.  As the rivers of Iceland are July to August rivers we will need more time to tell the complete results.

Scotland
The numbers and size this year in Scotland are mind boggling for most locations although rivers like Beauley are down.   Some have seen strong early runs that slowed just as quickly while others are still in good shape. It will be very interesting to see what happens with the late runs.