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Reviews
Angling on New Brunswick's Legendary Atlantic Salmon River
Greatest Fishing Lodges | Angling Report #1 | Bogan Two Step
Angling Report #2 | Fish & Fly | Fishing, Fall & Baseball
Guest Testimonials
"Boston Herald article on Upper Oxbow Outdoor Adventures' Ladies Fly Fishing School Program"
"Fly-Fishing Camp Hooks Novices"
- CLICK photo on right for full story by Fran Golden, Boston Herald (Travel Section) - September 15th, 2005
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"Thirty years ago the landing of a 30 pound salmon was worthy of a story in the local paper; Today it's just another entry in a lodge's logbook and a big smile on the angler's face!"
- Fly Rod & Reel Magazine - April 2004
"Angling on New Brunswick's Legendary Atlantic Salmon River"
- CLICK photo on right for full story by Paul Marriner
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From: North America’s Greatest Fishing Lodges
By: John Ross & Katie Anders
ISBN: 157223105X
Upper Oxbow Outdoor Adventures
Sillikers, New Brunswick
For kelts or bright Atlantic salmon, the small lodge offers a big service at a fair price.
THE LITTLE SOUTHWEST MIRAMICHI rises on the flanks of Mount McNair and North Pole Mountain and flows southeast for about 40 miles before hooking sharply to the northeast to join the larger Southwest Miramichi at Derby Junction. Upper Oxbow Outdoor Adventures and their three well-appointed cabins are located at Sillikers, a mile before the river turns tidal. Good runs of kelt and bright salmon pass Upper Oxbow’s 40 acres on the river, which includes the well-known Bogan Pool.
For those who are not prejudiced against angling for kelts – some oppose interfering with spawned salmon that winter in the river and return to the sea in spring – the early part of the year can produce outstanding fishing. Traditionally, the season opens April 15 and continues through May 15, Kelts, or black salmon as they are also called, are streaming downriver and feeding voraciously. While the average hookup during spring and fall runs “bright” salmon is one per day or less, anglers in the spring consistently connect with eight or 10 black salmon each day when the water is not discolored. Kelts range upwards of 30 inches, though most run about 20. The Little Southwest Miramichi is flies-only water. Fishing is generally by boat or canoe, and a guide must accompany nonresident anglers. Sinking or sink-tip lines are used.
The first runs of bright salmon enter the Little Southwest Miramichi in mid-June and another batch, generally larger, follows in September and October. These fall salmon are the fish that have made the Miramichi famous. Anglers are permitted to keep two grilse (salmon of less than 25 inches) but many release these as well. Tackle required is the same, a No. 8 or 9 rod with a reel that has a smooth drag, except that floating lines and smaller flies are the order of the day. Wading is the name of the game in fall until the season closes October 15.
Upper Oxbow operates four modern cabins (two three-bedroom, one two-bedroom and one one-bedroom, respectively), each set on hillsides with views of the river. All have full kitchens and private baths. The larger have wood stoves. Guests may prepare their own food or eat delicious home cooking; chicken, steak, roast beef and salmon. Numerous packages are available at this lodge rated 3 ˝ stars* by Canada Select.
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This past April my wife and I fished for so called "black" Atlantic Salmon on the fabled Miramichi River system in eastern New Brunswick. I realize some purists don't like to fish for salmon in the spring, but that is fine with me. I read in the November 1994 issue of The Angling Report (see page 7) about Dale and Debbie Norton of Upper Oxbow Outdoor Adventures, and I decided to check them out. They have a fishing operation on the Little Southwest Miramichi River and in the spring the offer a chance to fish that fabled water at a price we could afford. We caught over 80 Atlantic salmon (grilse-kelts) of which 18 were over 30 inches in lenght and 14 to 18 inches in girth.
My wife's guide Bob Blackmore, has 30 years of experience on the river. He helped my wife catch the biggest fish, catch more fish, and view more wildlife than I did! My guide was not the reason my wife beat me; she always does. I did, however lose three fish larger than hers - no fish tale! My guide, Norman Ward, is a local Red Bank First Nations Native American. Ward's father has guided for over 30 years on this river and has taught his son well. We caught fish every day, even the last two days when things slowed down. In one hole, which I call the 65-minute hole, I caught a 33 1/4-inch female salmon that came out of the water over 11 times and took me 65 minutes to land. Honest, I had my 9-weight rod doubled over the whole time. We then caught two more fish in the same sopt after that, so my guide called it "the three salmon hole." All the fish were over 30 inches long.
Our lodgings at the Nortons' was in one of their beautifully restored log cabins that are rustic on the outside, yet modern and comfortabe on the indisde. Our cabin had a full kitchenette - including a refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave - plus a shower and two bedrooms. The Canada Select Recommend Accommodations rates the Nortons' lodge as three-star. My wife rated them five-star compared to where I took her in ALaske and the Northwest Territories in the past. The food was too much, too often and too good to stop eating. We gained weight!
We took the seven-night/six-day fishing package with all meals, guide services on a 1x1 basis, use of a boat, liscenses, flies and pick-up and return from the Miramichi airport for $1,030 US dollars per angler double occupancy with both people fishing. That was really the full price - no hidden last-minute costs. The Nortons also fish for salmon from June 8 - October 15. During this later season they charge $760 US per angler double occupancy for the seven-night/six-day package, taking three fisherman per guide. Fishing is done from the bank.
Since out plane did not leave until 4 p.m., as an extra bonus on our last day, the Nortons gave us half a day of fishing for the cost of the guides' fees for half a day, or $50 (US) each. Can you beat that? 6 1/2 days, over 80 fish, and we would have had over 100 fish if the river had not started to rise the last two days and become a bit cloudy. The dream of a lifetime came true for us here. We are from Washington State and have caught the five species of Pacific salmon, but for three years we tried to find a place we could afford to fish for "black" Atlantic salmon. My wife and I are going back in 1996 with the same guides but for eight days of fishing. I made sure, we reserved our spots before they're all gone!
- Thomas Parkinson -
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From: Gordon’s Quill, Fall 1995
Face your bogan, pivot to the right, take two steps, don’t crowd your partner, swing one arm forward…A New country dance step? Perhaps somewhere. But on the Little Southwest Miramichi River, it’s how one fishes for Atlantic salmon at the Upper Oxbow Lodge, courtesy of its proprietors Debbie and Dale Norton.
The Nortons own a lovely stretch of water called the “Bogan Pool” less than one mile from the tidal waters on the “Little Sou’west” in the heart of New Brunswick Atlantic salmon country. Once owned by her father, the Bogan Pool was where Debbie once played and explored the mysteries of the Atlantic salmon. The camp was sold off but Debbie held fast to her life-long dream of reclaiming the camp for her family. A few years ago, she succeeded and with her husband’s help has begun to rebuild. The Nortons presently maintain a dining house and three fully equipped cabins that can sleep between two and six anglers each.
In addition to the “Bogan Pool”, the Nortons and their experienced guides can take anglers, or “sports,” to over 20 miles of quality public water on the Miramichi system. Don’t be afraid of crowding on the Miramichi’s public water. It is not like the Catskills, where you start lining up in the parking lot. New Brunswick has a population of about 800,000. With many of the local people working on the roads or in the lumber mills, it is unlikely that you will encounter more than an occasional angler on the River. We didn’t. One should not be fooled by the ads from the other camps. Some lodges are charging anglers to fish the same public water at upwards of USD 300.00 per day. For those anglers desiring guaranteed exclusivity, the Nortons can arrange for them to fish private pools nearby for a small fee.
The most interesting feature of the Upper Oxbow (second to the salmon of course) is the price. Once the domain of the elite, the Upper Oxbow Lodge has made Atlantic salmon fishing affordable to many anglers. Bright salmon packages (April 15 to may 15 and June * to Oct 15) for five nights /four days are USD 579.00 /USD 435.00 per person, respectively. The packages include all meals, professional guide, local transportation to the river and from the Chatham airport and a salmon license.
So what is the “bogan?” It is a small spring-fed lake that flows into a river. The Upper Oxbow’s bogan is loaded with large sea-run brook trout. Anglers take them up to five pounds at the mouth of the bogan in the Autumn. The inner bogan is also the home of mosquitoes as large as a trout reel. Some say they have seen them mate with sparrows. We’ll stay on the river with the salmon.
Debbie and Dale can be reached by telephone at 506-622-8834. Their camp is located just outside of Newcastle, New Brunswick.
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New Brunswick: Subscriber Dick Soderberg fly fished for Atlantic salmon on the Little Southwest Miramichi with Upper Oxbow Outdoor Adventures (506-622-8834) Thomas D. Parkinson also fished for Atlantic Salmon with Upper Oxbow.
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From: Fish & Fly (Volume 4 Number 2, Winter 2003)
Gary "The Leader Man' Selig of Mertztown, Pennsylvania, took the lovely hen Atlantic Salmon on September 26 while fishing the Little Southwest Miramichi at Silliker's New Brunswick. He took the fish --36 inches long with an estimated weight of 18 pounds-- with guide Sandy Mazerall's advice of a size 6 Shady Lady tied by Jerome Molloy. Word is Selig celebrated that night at Upper Oxbow Outdoor Adventures by consuming a fail quantity of Debbie Norton's exceptional homemade wine.
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No better mix than fishing, fall and baseball
By: Morgan McGinley
From: The Day – Oct 12, 2003, Perspective Section C www.theday.com
Fishing at a salmon camp in the fall is always magical. The colors on the hills contrast sharply with the deep blues and blacks as the river changes colors amid shifting patterns of sun, clouds and light. So it is on this late September day on the Miramichi River that a chill runs down my sp0ine as I watch strong Atlantic salmon, fresh from the sea, leap out of water.
This is not just any place, any pool, on Canada’s most prolific salmon stream. I am standing thigh-deep on the left side of the Warren Pool, about 350 feet from the cabin owned by the late Ted Williams. Baseball’s great slugger and arguably one of the best fly casters and salmon fishermen in the country lived here all summer and fall in retirement, each day casting to big fish moving up the river from the sea.
I edge my way more than halfway across the Southwest Miramichi and get a warning from my guide, Hayward Sturgeon, a friend of Williams for more than 20 years.
“Stay away from Ted’s side of the river,” Sturgeon says respectfully, explaining that the left side of the pool is crown water open to the public, but the right-hand side of the river is the private property of Williams heirs and other nearby landowners. Canada has a strange mix of public and private water on most of its Atlantic salmon rivers, and a visiting angler has to pay close attention to where he’s treading. When it comes to salmon pools, fishermen and landowners can get quite ornery.
Legend has it that Williams was so protective of the high-quality fishing on the Warren pool that he regularly yelled at trespassers who tried to fish the deep runs and holding water on his side of the river “Get off my water,” William would warn.
Gary Selig, a companion fishing from the same Upper Oxbow Adventures Camp, tells of an earlier visit in which he saw Williams across the river and started a conversation with him. Invited to come over to chat, Selig spent the next three hours with Williams at his cabin talking about the world’s greatest gamefish, the Atlantic salmon.
“All he wanted to talk about was fishing,” Selig said “He never once brought up baseball.”
Selig, no dummy, didn’t change the subject, and thus benefited from Williams’ deep knowledge of fly fishing. Williams was full of passion about fishing and baseball. As a result, conversations on those subjects were never short.
Williams fished for all the great gamefish – Atlantics, tarpon, bonefish and permit – but always contended that the Atlantic salmon, a temperamental, ornery creature that can sometimes be impossible to catch, was the premier sport.
Just two days earlier on this trip, Selig, an Allentown, Pa., resident, had caught and released a beautiful fresh fish of more than 16 pounds. The hefty salmon decided this day to dog it, burrowing down deep in the Blackmore Pool named for the family that started the fishing camp. This fish was determined not to live up to its reputation as a leaper.
Selig was finishing a swing through great salmon rivers. He had been on the Flowers River in Labrador. He Fishes the York, the Matapedia and other rivers in Quebec. He only fishes for salmon and steelhead trout. Nothing else interests him. He is addicted to Atlantic salmon.
These salmon anglers are indeed a strange lot.
Deborah Blackmore Norton, who owns the Upper Oxbow camp with her husband, Dale, has a lilt of Ireland in her voice even though she has spent her life in New Brunswick.
“Going to get some salmon today, boys?” she asks in a loud voice followed by a cuff on the shoulder of the nearest fisherman. Years of dealing with feisty salmon fishermen have made her the ideal hostess. Always helpful and polite, she nevertheless brooks no nonsense.
When a guide with a group of fishermen from another camp shows up to fish the uppermost of her three private pool, she heads upstream to have a friendly word with him. “They never used to do that,” says Sandy Mazerall, a guide who coaches salmon anglers with the precision of a mathematician.
“Don’t go any deeper than your knees,” he days to alert anglers that the salmon may be lying some 15 feet away on the deep, inside edge of a deep run. “I’m going to let you take two steps downstream and then make a cast. Throw a straight line quartering downstream. Fish a short line. A short line is always more lively than a long one, eh?”
Sandy’s coaching pays off as I hook a grilse, a young salmon of about 5 pounds in the first half-hour of the first day. The fish, which took a fly called the Green Machine, made three high leaps before falling back to the water, minus the fly. Disappointed, I stripped in the fly line and looked at the hook. It was bent downward so that a large gap existed near the point. Sandy said he rarely sees a small fish bend a hook.
“He mush have leveraged it,” He says. “Gotten it in the hard front part of the jaw and bent it when he jumped.”
But Sandy’s happy that his “sport” hooked a fish right away.
When mornings fail to yield fish, there are always the prospects of hearty dinners served at noon. Full course dinners of chicken, pork roast and the like, followed by butter and cream filled desserts, greet hungry fishermen coming back to camp. Dinners at night are lighter fare.
Afternoons are designed for resting, for short naps or for repairing fishing leaders for the early evening fishing.
No one in camp has caught a salmon that day as I head out to the Warren Pool with Sturgeon. Just 15 minutes into the fishing, I realize I have pulled the fly away from a fish that followed it as it swung in the current and then held still at the completion of the cast.
Minutes later, I hook a 7 ˝ pound Atlantic that takes the fly hard and makes a series of high leaps, then tears around the pool in an acrobatic frenzy Ruminating that I have caught my first Atlantic salmon here in Ted Williams’ pool, I am full of youthful memories of my baseball hero when I was a Little League player.
It is a special time in a special place, a wonderful moment that sends nostalgic thoughts of baseball and fishing and fall afternoons flooding through my brain.
I land the fish and guide Sturgeon quickly releases it on its upstream spawning journey.
How about that. A nice salmon on Ted Williams’ pool. For a lifelong angler and baseball fan, it doesn’t get any better.
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We had a great time. Best camp we have ever been in. The price is such that even retired folks such as us can enjoy the handiwork of God in landscape, water and wildlife. Saw many different animals plus over 80 fish, 18 salmon included in total. As usual, my wife got the biggest fish but I lost one even bigger. Our guides Bob and Norman were the best. Dale and Debbie were the finest of hosts. They over fed us, pampered our every need and we will be back which is the best testimony to how pleased we both were. Our trip was too short. We hope to stay a few days longer next time. We were told the ice out was late this year but was gone when we arrived. The weather clear, sunny and cold first two days then clear, sunny and warm the other days. Hope that Dale and Debbie can have the same weather next year and we will try to keep tight lines on the fish.
Thomas and Nancy Parkinson
Lakewood, WA
Oxbow is a great retreat to come to unwind. The hospitality and friendship Debbie, Dale and Bob put forth is very difficult to find and match. They also have extensive knowledge for the Miramichi River and the elusive Atlantic salmon. Hope to return someday in the future. God bless you.
Rupert, Sue, Christopher, Christina Chun
Honolulu, Hawaii
Had a wonderful time. Great camp, fantastic food and beautiful people as hosts. Thanks Debbie and Dale. You have a lovely family. I accomplished my triple goal; caught my first Atlantic salmon, shot my first woodcock, and partridge. Can’t do any better then that.
Sam Radan
Yellowstone, MT
July 5th – 5:05 pm a strike! Thought I had a grilse, the fish turned and tail walked across the Upper Oxbow pool – heading back to Greenland. The fish went into the backing 5 times – finally 25 minutes later – 31” – 11.6lbs after a quick introduction with Bobby and me and pictures by Warren, she was free to go. A thrill of a lifetime. Now it’s time to go home and wait for next year.
Dan Wanczyk
Saratoga Springs, NY
To Debbie and Dale and all at Oxbow Adventures, this has been a privilege to meet you and I am most grateful to you all for the memorable visit. I look forward to meeting you all in the not too distant future and also look forward to a long working relationship. Once again, many thanks.
Bill Norman
United Kingdom
The camp, the people the river and the fishing – wonderful. First time for me, but I will be back. This place and the people will always have a place in my heart.
Tom Christensen
Norway
What better reward for finishing my PHD. Then a visit to this very special place! I hear is calling me back already. Hope I don’t make myself do another degree before following its call!
Maryann Brent
Waterloo, ON
Had a terrific time on “94” with Brett and Chip. Six hook-ups on salmon and three caught and then another the next day. A special time! Best day on salmon I’ve ever had. Thanks, guys.
Sylvia Bashline
After 21-1/2 hours traveling from Norfolk, England we reached the Upper Oxbow, having had a very warm welcome at Moncton airport from Debbie and Dale. After a good nights sleep we were introduced to Brett and Stokely. For the next 6 days we had splendid fishing in the most beautiful countryside. Both Brett and Stokely are excellent guides who do not spare themselves to provide the best of fishing. Without a doubt their sense of humour matches their fishing expertise.
Brenda and Shelley provided first class meals both in quality and quantity.
We felt we had become members of a very amiable family from the moment we arrived. A great experience we were privileged to enjoy.
Paul Raywood & Ted Hottlark
Norfolk, England
I can’t begin to tell you what a wonderful time we both had; you have a way of making your guest feel like family and that is a sign of a truly great host. We both thank you very much and hope to return in the near future.
Dave Chappel
Michigan
I cannot begin to tell you both the enjoyment I had at your place. You bill your place as Upper Oxbow Outdoor Adventures. You are so right. Right from the beginning, with Bob picking me up at the airport at that ungodly hour. We drove along saw two moose and a deer before we got to the lodge. When we got to the lodge, there was Dale with a flashlight to get me settled in the cabin that I was later to learn was the birthplace of Bob. The next morning started off with a huge breakfast, and then off to the river with Brett. We saw two Bull Moose in the same bog. We got to the river, and on my third cast the rod broke. Again, your hospitality came through, you loaned me a rod for the rest of the trip. Brett got my casting straightened out a bit. Tuesday, I was fishing with Bib and casting into heavy crow winds with little effort. I saw much wildlife, moose, bear, coyote, grouse and deer. The whole thing was the very best outdoor experience as advertised.
I can never thank everyone enough for all the kindness extended to me. I was treated as family. That is very meaningful to me.
Robert Andrews
Springfield, MO
Things really changed between last spring and this year. Your new lodge is amazing. I was beyond impressed. There was certainly no shortage of space! Very roomy, very well done; classy and tasteful. Thanks for having me again for my second bear hunt this year. This is the kind of hospitality that far exceeds any hunter’s expectations. Your team is the most accommodating I've ever encountered, and I've hunted 2 Canadian Provinces, and several of the states from Maine to Wyoming. Everything was organized and everyone in my crew was more than comfortable with the entire outfit, from guides to cooks and meals, to lodging. Like you said, there was no shortage of bears. We have proof of that on film!
There is truly nothing substandard about your operation. It is first class. Your guides exceed the norm, very willing to accommodate. That is important. Plus we made friends along the way. Thanks again for such a wonderful operation, and a great hunt.
Derek McMurry
Monroe, Ohio
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Upper Oxbow Outdoor Adventures
page revised April 4, 2008