Striped Bass fishing in the Miramichi almost came to an end in the late 90′s due to overfishing until the Department of Fisheries and Oceans stepped in and closed the fishery down. Jump forward to a couple of years ago when a trial season was opened and you have an unparalled fisheries success story with hundreds of thousands of Stripers moving into the river to spawn.
Two years ago I was asked by a friend to take the crew from Canada in the Rough up to the Miramichi for some Striped Bass fishing. I have caught Stripers before but only incidently and had never targeted them. A couple of phone calls later, Owen Newcomb from ON Sports agreed to take me up and show me around. I also took the opportunity to call our show producer, Shawn, and we took the camera gear with us. We put fifty fish in the boat that first day and another fifty the following day with Canada in the Rough. I thought that was pretty darn good fishing but little did I know how good it was until I started exploring a bit and figuring the fish out a bit better. This is without doubt the best Striped Bass fishery you will ever experience and I say that without reservation.
Moving forward to 2015 my friend Jeff Wilson and the City of Miramichi worked together over a very short time frame to put together the first ever Miramichi Striper Cup right in the heart of the city. I was torn between fishing the tournament or trying to get some film for the show and this time the show won out. The grand prize that was available to everyone who registered was a brand new Princecraft boat powered by Mercury and sitting on a Remeq trailer. This great package was put together with the generous support of Cabano Marine in Tracadie.
The fishing prizes for the boat division were $5000 for first place, $3000 for second and $2000 for third. The shore anglers were fishing for a $500 first prize. There were also lots of additional prizes complements of Bass Pro Shops, Moosehead and a great holiday package from Wilson’s on the Miramichi River. This is without doubt the biggest prize package ever offered in Atlantic Canada.
The event drew 114 boater teams who were allowed up to four anglers per team and 840 shore anglers who measured and released their fish on the spot. The boat teams brought their fish in to the weigh in site at Ritchie Wharf. Each boat was allowed to weigh in two fish per day with some serious weight penalties for a dead fish.
When it was all over the winning team , Basque Fly Fishing, had a total weight of 47.70 lbs for their four fish. The team members were Luc Allain, Regean Basque, Marcel Goguen and Renee Allain.
The top shore angler was Mario Mazzerole with a fish measuring 81 cent. and the top youth angler was Ben Sobey with a 66 cent. fish.
The grand prize winner was 16 year old Shawn Doucette and although he was not there at the time of the draw he wasn’t long getting there with his parents when it registered that Jeff wasn;t pulling his leg when he phone. He was one very excited young man when he got to the arena. Is he fishing the event next year? You bet, only it will be from a shiny new Princecraft / Mercury combo courtesy of the event sponsors.
From my perspective this tournament was a blast and I am planning to fish it next year and so should you if you like to fish. Check out this years webpage at www.miramichistripercup.ca
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