ugust like weather in late June and spring like conditions in August created an unpredictable season. Camp Brûlé enjoyed early success in 2003, with the first salmon being hooked on opening day and the first week producing consistent fishing. Unusually hot weather through the last week of June caused a slow down that led right into July. The middle weeks of July were also hot and water levels were very low. This accounted for a slower than usual July.<

Although there was an increase in the numbers of fish coming in, landed numbers were down. Low water, lighter than usual leader and aggressive salmon could help explain some of the problems as many salmon simply busted leaders like paper.

Early and late August were decent although the middle weeks were marred by high water and cold June like weather. Due to this a warmer September saw some great action, especially the last week. September 27 & 28th saw 5 landed fish on two rods and more than one picked.

All in all the season could be described as decent, important to note were two things. An increase in the average weight of salmon caught, from 12 lbs to 16 lbs, with the largest salmon taken in the low 30lb range and an increase in over all numbers in the river. Looks like our catch and release policies are paying off!

All three rivers in our area enjoyed increased numbers of large MSW (multi-sea wintering) salmon returning to spawn. On the Little Cascapedia, the 2003 season produced an estimated ratio of 4 MSW salmon to 1 grilse. On top of this, there was a general consensus from all personnel that the runs on all three rivers had increased over 2002 numbers. The 2002 season had produced unusually large numbers of grilse. Because of this projections for the 2003 season included an increase in MSW salmon. The biologists got it right this time. Always a tricky species to predict, the projection was based upon the large number of grilse from 2002, returning as salmon to contribute to the 2003 spawning runs.