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The Illiad, The Odyssey and the Grande Cascapedia



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 3rd, 2007, 08:03 PM posted to rec.outdoors.fishing.fly
rford
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default The Illiad, The Odyssey and the Grande Cascapedia


6:30 am on Saturday, my friend John arrived at my home to pick me up for
our trip to the Grande Cascapedia. The itinerary was simple; depart July
28th 8:30 am from Newark airport to Boston. Then catch a connection at
12:15 pm from Boston to Presque Isle, Maine. From there we would rent a
car, drive 3.5 hours to the Gaspe Peninsula in the eastern most reach of
the province of Quebec in an area known as the “Maritimes” just north of
the province of New Brunswick across the Bay of Chaleur and south of the
St. Lawrence.

'[image: http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/7341/gpmap1it1.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot at 2007-08-03

At 6:31 am we were called by Continental Airlines, informing us that
our flight to Boston was cancelled and that the next flight they could
put us on was at 5 pm. We decided that we would negotiate on the road
and try to drive to Boston to catch the only flight to Presque Isle. By
the time we had driven to Hartford Connecticut, it had become clear that
that although we might make it to Boston on time, there were to high of
a probability that things may go awry and the Presque Isle flight could
be cancelled, so we made the call to drive instead. And drive, and
drive, and drive some more.

At 8:30 pm we pulled into the driveway of the “Société Cascapédia”.

'[image: http://img483.imageshack.us/img483/9548/museumpg6.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'H-SPHERE' (http://CYBERSHOT) at 2007-08-03

John had called ahead to his father’s camp, “New Dureen “to warn them
we would be late (normally they close at 7 pm). Larry, whom works for
New Dureen said he would make arrangements to meet us there and make
sure all was in order for us. You see, the Society, is the all
encompassing organization that manages the river. We would be fishing
bright and early the next day, and we needed to get our fishing
licenses and beat and guide assignments for the next day.
The trip John had won included three days of fishing with Society
guides and three nights at the “ Salmon Lodge “. Fishing outside his
camp was something new for John and it was all new to me.

Larry as planned met us there with a Society staff member, and we
filled out all the necessary paper work for licensees and guide and
beat assignments. It was at this point I started to realize that we
were not just going fishing. There was a lingo concerning usage of the
river that was new to me. There were rules and regulations beyond my
normal realm of comprehension. It was clear that to fully understand
how things worked on the Cascapedia would take someone a lifetime to
understand an attorney or two, perhaps an accountant and most certainly
an Internist with a liberal policy of using the prescription pad with a
preference for not so mild sedatives.

My understanding of the river and its rules I am sure is misconstrued
to a degree, but having knowledge of them is clearly needed to truly
appreciate the experience. Everything I am used to when on fishing trip
can be thrown out the window. The independence of hoping in a car,
picking a spot and fishing where and when one chooses is not part of
the Cascapedia experience.

The Society is a group that was formed to regulate and manage
conservation and fishing on specifically the Grande Cascapedia. First
you have the Canadian government’s regulations, and then you have the
Province of Quebec’s regulations. Next you have the Society that is a
triumvirate of the special interest of the 6 private Camp owners, the
Micmac native Indians and local residents of the town of Cascapedia.

The private camps each have fishing rights to “Beats “on the river (for
the most part the best beats on the river). Some of the beats are on
there property some are not. These legal fishing rights were determined
well over 100 years ago. Next these camps have a finite amount of “Rods
“, the rods are the amount of people that may fish on the camps beats.
For instance the camp may have 2 rods and 10 guests. That means only 2
people are fishing and only one person per beat. So if two people go to
fish a beat, then one is sitting and one is fishing. Many of the camps
have deals amongst themselves where one camp may have guests for a week
and the guests want more than 2 rods, so they engage the other camp for
the same week at full Price (25 k and up) and now may have use of the
camps rods, beats and guides while the camp is really not used at all.
This is the norm by the way among the camps, owners and guests.

So how does the average “Joe” fish the Cascapedia? Well that brings us
back to the Society. There are approximately 100 plus beats on the
river. There is a “lottery” system in effect for those not fortunate
enough to be a guest at a camp. As mentioned earlier the best beats
belong to the Camps, but when the society was formed, part of the
agreement was that the camps would rotate there private beats into the
scheduling of beat assignments by the society , so the private water,
so to speak is available by luck of the draw in the lottery. So if one
was to enter the lottery and win, they would be contacted by the
society and told what dates they needed to come and what beats they
would be fishing, well in advance to safely plan a trip and make
accommodations at the many Inns and Lodges in the surrounding area. In
addition there are Beats available on a walk in basis daily.

Be for warned, this is all still relatively expensive. A beat comes
with a guides and range from $ 700-1000 per day. There are a few
exceptions to this rule. There are several beats way upstream past the
“Forks” known as the Wading water on the two major tributaries, “ The
Salmon Branch “ and the “Lake Branch.” These beats are available for $
60 -150 per day and one may fish without a guide. If I understood it
correctly, there are about 8 of these beats/rods available out of the
100 plus total beats on the river.

The beats… (a poor scan of the map )

'[image: http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/4913/beats4js8.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot at 2007-08-03

Why, you may ask do I go on with the entire regulatory dribble. I do,
because for an individual like myself, this is a difficult transition
to make, to accolade ones sense of comfort on a new river system. There
is no “Doing ones own thing “You have 2 guides. One is stepping you
through the pool and the other is keenly watching your fly for any
potential takers. The guides work 8 hours. You fish 2 beats a day.
Usually one beat in the morning (8am -12pm) and one in the afternoon
(5pm – Dusk). There is no, lets fish a little longer with the society
guides. The am beat is probably assigned to someone else and at exactly
4 hours you are off the river.

This leads us to the fishing. I am a first time visitor to the area and
this is my first time Atlantic salmon fishing. From the best I can
gather, the run in the Cascapedia ranges from about 2000 – 5000 adult
Atlantic salmon. This river is renowned for having what has
historically been the “largest fish “. If one wants to join the 30 – 45
lb club, in all likelihood this is the river to do it on. Let me remind
you that that is not a lot of fish for a relatively large river (a
little bigger than the Beaver kill for you Catskill fisherman) that is
100 plus kilometers long.

There are also Grilse. Grilse are smaller (1st year ) adult Atlantic
Salmon, that have prematurely returned. There are theories that they
may actually be a different sub species.
They are regarded as a nuisance egg eater as are the resident brookies
and sea run brookies all of whom are less than often returned to the
river and never intentionally targeted as a trip saver. Often times
they are intentionally broken as a potential slot stealer on the 2 fish
limit of each day. That brings us to Catch and release. I am a bit
baffled that this is not regulated as law with all the conservation
efforts. One may purchase a catch and release license or a catch and
keep license. If one does keep they pay an additional fee when the keep
is reported. Most of the camps have a catch and release policy, but
about 10 % of the catch is still kept. Trust me , they are safe with me
in the water.

So how does the actual fishing work? It is actually very simple. The
fish are NOT eating!
No one really has the answer as to why they take, but take they do.
Once one has arrived at a beat, the guide usually sets up at the bottom
to middle of a large heavy current riffle running into a pool. The fly
selection is based on the weather, the color, the size and the rumored
fly du jour going around the river. My guide basically said that the
fly tiers tie there fly’s based on what is most likely to catch the eye
of the angler, the fish that is a taker will take, so it’s a game of
covering water.

One is going to swing wet fly’s ( no weighted fly’s, no split shot ,
sinking tips and lines are allowed but not regarded ) very
methodically. First you work your fly from a very short cast at almost
90 degrees but slightly downstream to your longest comfortable cast.
Once you reach that point you stay there, very carefully taking a step
downstream and carefully making sure you do not add or take back any
line. You work your fly as needed with an up or downstream mend if
needed. Then you take another step and repeat, till you reach the point
where the current settles in the pool and the action on the swing is
counter productive and you start again or your partner sitting on the
bank takes their turn with perhaps a different fly to feel out the
fish.

It is key that your long cast comes with a caveat. It is the long cast
that you can repeat with out having to strip in and haul to recast to
that point. If you cant lift your line out of the water and place it
down in one motion, you are considered to be wasting time, and also if
you have a partner, cutting into their fishing time. If and when I go
back I need very much so to improve my ability to cast long and repeat
with out and delay. Without the long cast you are not covering as much
water and drastically reducing your chances of catching a fish.

The other method of fishing is bombers. They are very large wulffesque
type dry fly’s.
They are typically used and also swung like the wet fly’s but often in
the less turbid part of a run. Also they are used to try and stimulate
a fish that has been sighted and has refused the wet fly.

The plan was to fish 3 days. We actually fished 4 days. We found out on
day three that the wading water was available for Wednesday, and as we
were no longer beholden to the airlines and were both given passes by
our respective wives, we each paid $ 140.00 for a day of fishing, sans
the guides.

Here is how it went. Day one we fished two beats. On the first beat,
7am – exactly 11 am I had a “Sea Trout” take a shot at my wet fly at
the very end of the swing, but missed the hook up. John, saw one salmon
moving upstream.
On the second beat, planned to be 5pm – dusk on a canoe designed
specifically for this river in the deeper un wadeable pools, we had
nothing but harsh wind and a rising, off color river that had caught
up to this section now and rendered it unfishable. The guides placated
us with a 1 hour boat ride, and we were on our way back to the Salmon
Lodge by 6:30 pm.

A disappointing first day. These guides I must say, were clearly not
interested in at least pretending as one of the first comments one made
in the morning was “we are not going to catch anything today” Faking it,
was not part of the program.

That night we had a wonderful dinner at the Salmon Lodge. There is
clearly no lack of wine and good food with over the top service. This
is clearly a big part of the experience and one will not be
disappointed with integral part of the Cascapedia experience.

The next day our guide du jour ( Eddie ) met us at 6 am at our lodge
for the long drive to a beat known as Alder Island way up stream on the
Lake Branch. The drive up to this beat was about 45 miles of which the
first 30 or so was paved. From that point it was all dirt roads that
were primarily used for reaching these beats and the logging camps. As
we traversed the road we were pleasantly surprised by a black bear in
the 300 lb class. We must have startled him as he crossed and ran
across our path and high tailed it into the woods, unfortunately before
we could get out the camera equipment.
Our guide Eddie was flying solo as there were some scheduling issues at
the society so outside of the normal tradition we would have to suffer
having only one guide. He let us know, because both beats were way
upstream, there would be no mid day 4 hour break, and we would fish our
first beat, drive to beat # 2 and take a canoe, but would not be fishing
late in the day. I have a feeling however if the fishing had been more
promising he would have stayed.

That morning was a perfect fishing day by all international standards.
The upper river was clearing, it was vacillating from drizzle to rain
and for me it was much smaller water allowing me and my short cast, to
cover the entire grid of the fishable area.

John was very concerned that I catch a fish, and as the gentleman he
is, really wanted to sit out and let me fish till I hooked up. He
insisted I run the pool first. In fact he wanted to let me take a
second crack at it, but I declined his generosity. After about 10 casts
as I watched from the bank, I suddenly heard John explicitly pronounce
“oh ****!”(In remorse that the Novice did not get the first crack) and
with that his rod was bent.

This run was fished while stepping down a brush lined bank and roll
casting across 20 foot wide riffley run that had an open large back
eddy on the other side. John would have to cross the fast water and
fight the fish. I have the lions share of the battle on the video
camera, unfortunately upon return home my video camera as it has before
has become schizophrenic and until further notice there will be no video
included in this report.

It was a beautiful 14 lb salmon. Small by this rivers standard, but the
first one I have had the privilege of inspecting up close.

'[image:
http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/5716/gc072807080207014qf5.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03


As please as John was to have broken the skunk, he genuinely was upset
that I did not get the fish, and insisted he would not fish till I
broke my streak. It was now about 10 pm and for the next 2 hours I
swept this run about 6 times. It was 11:50 and John suggested I put on
a Silver Rat , a fly with a reputation for attracting fish so well
that certain camps have declared it off limits for there guests because
it makes fishing to “easy.”
Clearly there were fish here. John had caught one and in the past two
hours 3 or 4 had fully breached at the tail out. On about my 5th step
down and swing the fly moved form the back eddy and swung into the
apposing seam. In what seemed like slow motion the water began to boil
as I felt an ever so subtle movement on the end of line. As I lifted my
rod the boil turned into a rumble, my rod bent and the fish was hooked.

Now I needed to cross the current to the landing pad. It was fast and
about 3-4 feet deep. John is about 6 foot three and I am 5 foot ten. I
precariously began to cross with my rod high in the air, doing my best
not to stumble on the greased bowling ball sized substrata.
I kept a tight line as I crossed; reeling into the fish that still had
not made a major run and held his general position. I made the crossing
safely turned to face the fish and as I mentally prepared for the
battle, the line went slack; I heard John let out a gregarious
expletive from the bank, my heart sank and the game was over.
The guide and John assured me that I had not done a thing wrong, an
unsolicited consolation well needed and received.

So here we are at a pool that clearly had salmon in it. Salmon that
were willing to co-operate. The size of the pool accommodated my
limited casting skills. The water was perfect and the sky was overcast.
Eddie than announced it was 12: 15 and we had overstayed our welcome. It
was time to move to the next beat. This broke my heart more than loosing
the fish.

For the next day and a half we would visit and fish three more pools
with our guides.
John had two fish apparently take a peek at his fly that the spotter
had seen, but no takes. I had one additional hard pull with no hook
up.

One pool we fished was loaded with brook trout. I quickly accommodated
my swing to a pleasing enough rhythm that afforded me 7 of these little
fish, as I needed something to satiate my otherwise fishless trip. I
believe this annoyed the guide, but I can live with myself.

'[image:
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3802/gc072807080207016nv5.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03

'[image:
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/1015/gc072807080207019dn3.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03

The next day as I mentioned before, we had secured the wading water.
Once again we would traverse the dirt logging trail and this time
Mother Nature would reward us with a few moments of driving tangent
with a moose along the road. This time I got the video out and should
have a few moments of footage, we will all have to wait to see it till
the folks at cannon can repair my camcorder. We would fish all day with
no guides. Our two respective beats were adjacent and we each had three
pools to work. We set up camp in the middle of the tow areas that
covered about 4 miles of water. We spent the first part of the day
alternating fishing on the middle pool and than decided that to get our
maximum time in we would have to split up and separate so we could fish
straight through to maximize time fishing in the water.

I went upstream and John down. I settled into an area known as the “
Slide “ pool, I assume because the opposite bank was about 100 feet
high area about ¼ mile long that seemed to have been eroding via a
never ending land slide. After about 2 hours I was ready to high tail
it back to meet John. After looking through my selection I decided to
pick the ugliest fly I could find. It was a giant bomber that had an
orange spun deer hair body with beige wings. On my first swing the
water erupted as a large salmon came flying across the fast water. Alas
he missed. It was enough to keep me fixed and dilated for the next two
hours breaching the agreement I had made with John to meet him at 3 pm.
At 5 pm we met back up and I shared my tale of another lost opportunity.


As we drove back to New Dureen, that luckily happened to be guestless
this week and we had moved in to the night before as we had used up our
stay at the Salmon Lodge, the price at New Dureen was even cheaper as
John’s family are owners of this camp.
We decided to eat dinner pack up and leave as we had already used up an
extra day and night than already expected and if we drove straight threw
we would please the Wife god and all would be at peace in our respective
universes.

We hit the road and after only one quick nap from 4am – 5:30 am we
continued on and made it to my driveway by about 10 am Thursday
morning.

I certainly wish I had fishier tales to tell. However it was more than
a treat to stay on the Cascapedia and learn the ways and culture of the
river. It is steeped in History and it was a privilege to fish and
experience of staying in a camp with hospitality that was typically
reserved for the likes of Lee Wulff, Hoagy Carmichael, Bing Crosby, Ted
Williams and President Jimmy Carter to name a few, all of whom’s names
are in the guest book at New Dureen.

I will fish for Atlantic salmon again, I am not sure when or where, but
I will be a little more prepared and a little wiser for the wear.

Tight Lines,

- Ralph-


A few more pics….

The Canoe..

'[image:
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/4836/gc072807080207024gy3.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03

The living room at the Salmon Lodge

'[image:
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/8821/gc072807080207045mv7.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03

New Dureen Camp ( camp haha)

'[image:
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2402/gc072807080207106ju1.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03

Ok, it’s a little fuzzy, but I did get one Atlantic Salmon!

'[image:
http://img480.imageshack.us/img480/3103/gc072807080207037vf7.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03


--
rford
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  #2  
Old August 4th, 2007, 11:06 PM posted to rec.outdoors.fishing.fly
Don Phillipson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 41
Default The Illiad, The Odyssey and the Grande Cascapedia


"rford" wrote in message
...

6:30 am on Saturday, my friend John arrived at my home to pick me up for
our trip to the Grande Cascapedia. The itinerary was simple; depart July
28th 8:30 am from Newark airport to Boston. Then catch a connection at
12:15 pm from Boston to Presque Isle, Maine. From there we would rent a
car, drive 3.5 hours to the Gaspe Peninsula in the eastern most reach of
the province of Quebec in an area known as the “Maritimes” just north of
the province of New Brunswick across the Bay of Chaleur and south of the
St. Lawrence.


Thanks for the post
The Grand Cascapedia (not Grande) has been famous
for fishing for 150 years and is probably the no. 2 Atlantic
salmon river in all Canada. That is why Hoagy Carmichael
wrote a book about it:
http://www.cascapediabook.com/
and it has its own museum
http://www.cascapediariver.com/museum.shtml

The beat and guide system (and the high price for access)
are a century old. What is new is political attitudes, because
most provincial governments (which control sport fishing) now
seek to make salmon fishing more accessible than formerly.
In Quebec the price of partial continuation of the private
water system (19th century) is the ZEC = Zone d'Exploitation
Controlee now created for most salmon rivers (and some
other sports waters) designed to allow a voice to all
interested parties, i.e. local residents and Indian bands
with tribal fishing rights, as well as the millionaire lessees
who up to the 1970s controlled access to salmon water.

(Other provinces have the same intentions, executed
differently. It is ironic that governments agreed to
"democratize" salmon fishing just when the wild
salmon populations started to collapse.)

The photo links to R.Ford's pictures did not work.
They seem to be accessible only to people preregistered
on www.imageshack.com, perhaps only to the poster.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)


  #3  
Old August 5th, 2007, 05:07 PM posted to rec.outdoors.fishing.fly
jim hill
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default The Illiad, The Odyssey and the Grande Cascapedia

I thought I might offer a slight correction to your story. In the paragraph
below you describe an area of Quebec as "The Maritimes" In fact the
Maritimes is made up of the provinces of New Brunswick, where I grew up,
Prince Edward Island an Nova Scotia. Quebec is not now nor has it ever been
part of the Maritimes.
My home River is the Restigouche which forms the border between Quebec and
New Brunswick.

I never fished it when I was younger due to the fact that much of the water
was leased mostly to Rich Americans who had private camps all along both
sides of the river.

A lot of these camps were started during the depression. In New Brunswick
and Quebec the people who owned the land bordering the river also had the
Riparian rights on this water. In other words they owned the fish that
occupied the water. Before the turn of the 20th Century, rich Americans who
enjoyed Salmon fishing saw an "opportunity" to establish private and
exclusive clubs along the river where only they and their guests had the
right to fish. They approached people who owned land along the river and
exchanged in some cases a winters worth of groceries for the Riparian rights
of the sections of river flowing through the owners lands. Eventually
these transactions had to be registered with the Provincial Government. The
rights were purchased or leased in perpetuity or 99 year leases. All the
leaseholder has to do was pay a paltry sum to the Government before the
lease expired and the water remained in the camp's control.I went to school
with people whose grand parents or great grand parents had given up the
riparian rights to the water flowing through their land and they were not
allowed to fish in the river in his back yard. Some of these people had been
born in the family homes bordering the river but the water was guarded to
prevent them from fishing in it so a few rich people could show up at the
camp for a few days and have the water to themselves.
I decided not to partake in Salmon fishing as the rare bits of "public"water
was so crowded that you took a chance of getting a hook in the ear from an
errant cast. The public water was formerly leased water that clubs did not
feel was productive enough so they would let the lease lapse. I chose the
quieter waters of streams and lakes for trout instead.
It was in Nova Scotia that I got hooked on Salmon fishing as the waters here
are public and no one, not even the owners of the property you are fishing
from can prevent you access to the river providing you do no damage to their
land.

Eventually New Brunswick began to shorten the length of the leases and camps
are now required to bid on the waters in order to maintain control. I
finally got an opportunity to fish for salmon on the Restigouche after
learning that one of my best friends in school was a guide on the river. He
also had written permission to fish the camp waters after they closed in
early August. His only duty was to record any fish he saw caught and get an
estimate of weight if he could. He would record this information along with
dates and times and give it to the camp owmers when they returned in the
spring. This information was then entered into the fish log, the most
valuable item in the camp. Should the camp ever be sold the fish log was the
determining factor in the asking price.
I got a chuckle when my friend told me not to expect much because the water
was too low and there would not likely be any fish. I looked over the side
into the clear water and could see the large stones on the bottom but even
my 6'4" frame would have at least three feet of water over my head if I went
over the side. I told him that low water in Nova Scotia meant I could walk
across the river in my Sock feet and not get the socks wet. We had to quit
fishing when the river dropped as the mere presence near a salmon pool could
cause some already heat stressed fish to die.
In any event as I tied on a green cosseboom with a fluorecent yellow hackle
to a 2 lb tippet, he laughed and said Fish here won't take those Nova Scotia
flies. He was shocked when a fish flashed on the first cast. Two or three
casts later the fish was on and running. He tried to get me to pressure the
fish more to get it in range of the net and when I told him the tippet was
only 2 lb He did not believe it. I had him put me ashore where I went up
and down the shoreline with the fish until I was able to get him coming my
way. Mike waded out and got hold of the tail and lifted it just out of the
water so I could get a picture. He told me the fish was about 15 lbs and I
had him release it. He broke the tippet getting the fly out.

The area you were in is known for big fish as is the Matepedia River,
however next time you want to go salmon fishing I would suggest one of the
rivers on the coast of Labrador. Eagle River would be an excellent choice.
Mike Crosby purchased the Salmon Camp from Goose Bay Outfitters a few years
ago. He used to own a tackle shop here in Halifax. He is known for
catching and releasing a 72 lb Salmon at the Irving Camp on the Restigouche
in August a number of years ago. It made just about every salmon fishing
magazine around the world at the time. He was also chosen ASF's tyer of the
year in the first year he submitted an entry.



wrote in message
...

6:30 am on Saturday, my friend John arrived at my home to pick me up for
our trip to the Grande Cascapedia. The itinerary was simple; depart July
28th 8:30 am from Newark airport to Boston. Then catch a connection at
12:15 pm from Boston to Presque Isle, Maine. From there we would rent a
car, drive 3.5 hours to the Gaspe Peninsula in the eastern most reach of
the province of Quebec in an area known as the "Maritimes" just north of
the province of New Brunswick across the Bay of Chaleur and south of the
St. Lawrence.

'[image: http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/7341/gpmap1it1.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot at 2007-08-03

At 6:31 am we were called by Continental Airlines, informing us that
our flight to Boston was cancelled and that the next flight they could
put us on was at 5 pm. We decided that we would negotiate on the road
and try to drive to Boston to catch the only flight to Presque Isle. By
the time we had driven to Hartford Connecticut, it had become clear that
that although we might make it to Boston on time, there were to high of
a probability that things may go awry and the Presque Isle flight could
be cancelled, so we made the call to drive instead. And drive, and
drive, and drive some more.

At 8:30 pm we pulled into the driveway of the "Société Cascapédia".

'[image: http://img483.imageshack.us/img483/9548/museumpg6.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'H-SPHERE' (http://CYBERSHOT) at 2007-08-03

John had called ahead to his father's camp, "New Dureen "to warn them
we would be late (normally they close at 7 pm). Larry, whom works for
New Dureen said he would make arrangements to meet us there and make
sure all was in order for us. You see, the Society, is the all
encompassing organization that manages the river. We would be fishing
bright and early the next day, and we needed to get our fishing
licenses and beat and guide assignments for the next day.
The trip John had won included three days of fishing with Society
guides and three nights at the " Salmon Lodge ". Fishing outside his
camp was something new for John and it was all new to me.

Larry as planned met us there with a Society staff member, and we
filled out all the necessary paper work for licensees and guide and
beat assignments. It was at this point I started to realize that we
were not just going fishing. There was a lingo concerning usage of the
river that was new to me. There were rules and regulations beyond my
normal realm of comprehension. It was clear that to fully understand
how things worked on the Cascapedia would take someone a lifetime to
understand an attorney or two, perhaps an accountant and most certainly
an Internist with a liberal policy of using the prescription pad with a
preference for not so mild sedatives.

My understanding of the river and its rules I am sure is misconstrued
to a degree, but having knowledge of them is clearly needed to truly
appreciate the experience. Everything I am used to when on fishing trip
can be thrown out the window. The independence of hoping in a car,
picking a spot and fishing where and when one chooses is not part of
the Cascapedia experience.

The Society is a group that was formed to regulate and manage
conservation and fishing on specifically the Grande Cascapedia. First
you have the Canadian government's regulations, and then you have the
Province of Quebec's regulations. Next you have the Society that is a
triumvirate of the special interest of the 6 private Camp owners, the
Micmac native Indians and local residents of the town of Cascapedia.

The private camps each have fishing rights to "Beats "on the river (for
the most part the best beats on the river). Some of the beats are on
there property some are not. These legal fishing rights were determined
well over 100 years ago. Next these camps have a finite amount of "Rods
", the rods are the amount of people that may fish on the camps beats.
For instance the camp may have 2 rods and 10 guests. That means only 2
people are fishing and only one person per beat. So if two people go to
fish a beat, then one is sitting and one is fishing. Many of the camps
have deals amongst themselves where one camp may have guests for a week
and the guests want more than 2 rods, so they engage the other camp for
the same week at full Price (25 k and up) and now may have use of the
camps rods, beats and guides while the camp is really not used at all.
This is the norm by the way among the camps, owners and guests.

So how does the average "Joe" fish the Cascapedia? Well that brings us
back to the Society. There are approximately 100 plus beats on the
river. There is a "lottery" system in effect for those not fortunate
enough to be a guest at a camp. As mentioned earlier the best beats
belong to the Camps, but when the society was formed, part of the
agreement was that the camps would rotate there private beats into the
scheduling of beat assignments by the society , so the private water,
so to speak is available by luck of the draw in the lottery. So if one
was to enter the lottery and win, they would be contacted by the
society and told what dates they needed to come and what beats they
would be fishing, well in advance to safely plan a trip and make
accommodations at the many Inns and Lodges in the surrounding area. In
addition there are Beats available on a walk in basis daily.

Be for warned, this is all still relatively expensive. A beat comes
with a guides and range from $ 700-1000 per day. There are a few
exceptions to this rule. There are several beats way upstream past the
"Forks" known as the Wading water on the two major tributaries, " The
Salmon Branch " and the "Lake Branch." These beats are available for $
60 -150 per day and one may fish without a guide. If I understood it
correctly, there are about 8 of these beats/rods available out of the
100 plus total beats on the river.

The beats. (a poor scan of the map )

'[image: http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/4913/beats4js8.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot at 2007-08-03

Why, you may ask do I go on with the entire regulatory dribble. I do,
because for an individual like myself, this is a difficult transition
to make, to accolade ones sense of comfort on a new river system. There
is no "Doing ones own thing "You have 2 guides. One is stepping you
through the pool and the other is keenly watching your fly for any
potential takers. The guides work 8 hours. You fish 2 beats a day.
Usually one beat in the morning (8am -12pm) and one in the afternoon
(5pm - Dusk). There is no, lets fish a little longer with the society
guides. The am beat is probably assigned to someone else and at exactly
4 hours you are off the river.

This leads us to the fishing. I am a first time visitor to the area and
this is my first time Atlantic salmon fishing. From the best I can
gather, the run in the Cascapedia ranges from about 2000 - 5000 adult
Atlantic salmon. This river is renowned for having what has
historically been the "largest fish ". If one wants to join the 30 - 45
lb club, in all likelihood this is the river to do it on. Let me remind
you that that is not a lot of fish for a relatively large river (a
little bigger than the Beaver kill for you Catskill fisherman) that is
100 plus kilometers long.

There are also Grilse. Grilse are smaller (1st year ) adult Atlantic
Salmon, that have prematurely returned. There are theories that they
may actually be a different sub species.
They are regarded as a nuisance egg eater as are the resident brookies
and sea run brookies all of whom are less than often returned to the
river and never intentionally targeted as a trip saver. Often times
they are intentionally broken as a potential slot stealer on the 2 fish
limit of each day. That brings us to Catch and release. I am a bit
baffled that this is not regulated as law with all the conservation
efforts. One may purchase a catch and release license or a catch and
keep license. If one does keep they pay an additional fee when the keep
is reported. Most of the camps have a catch and release policy, but
about 10 % of the catch is still kept. Trust me , they are safe with me
in the water.

So how does the actual fishing work? It is actually very simple. The
fish are NOT eating!
No one really has the answer as to why they take, but take they do.
Once one has arrived at a beat, the guide usually sets up at the bottom
to middle of a large heavy current riffle running into a pool. The fly
selection is based on the weather, the color, the size and the rumored
fly du jour going around the river. My guide basically said that the
fly tiers tie there fly's based on what is most likely to catch the eye
of the angler, the fish that is a taker will take, so it's a game of
covering water.

One is going to swing wet fly's ( no weighted fly's, no split shot ,
sinking tips and lines are allowed but not regarded ) very
methodically. First you work your fly from a very short cast at almost
90 degrees but slightly downstream to your longest comfortable cast.
Once you reach that point you stay there, very carefully taking a step
downstream and carefully making sure you do not add or take back any
line. You work your fly as needed with an up or downstream mend if
needed. Then you take another step and repeat, till you reach the point
where the current settles in the pool and the action on the swing is
counter productive and you start again or your partner sitting on the
bank takes their turn with perhaps a different fly to feel out the
fish.

It is key that your long cast comes with a caveat. It is the long cast
that you can repeat with out having to strip in and haul to recast to
that point. If you cant lift your line out of the water and place it
down in one motion, you are considered to be wasting time, and also if
you have a partner, cutting into their fishing time. If and when I go
back I need very much so to improve my ability to cast long and repeat
with out and delay. Without the long cast you are not covering as much
water and drastically reducing your chances of catching a fish.

The other method of fishing is bombers. They are very large wulffesque
type dry fly's.
They are typically used and also swung like the wet fly's but often in
the less turbid part of a run. Also they are used to try and stimulate
a fish that has been sighted and has refused the wet fly.

The plan was to fish 3 days. We actually fished 4 days. We found out on
day three that the wading water was available for Wednesday, and as we
were no longer beholden to the airlines and were both given passes by
our respective wives, we each paid $ 140.00 for a day of fishing, sans
the guides.

Here is how it went. Day one we fished two beats. On the first beat,
7am - exactly 11 am I had a "Sea Trout" take a shot at my wet fly at
the very end of the swing, but missed the hook up. John, saw one salmon
moving upstream.
On the second beat, planned to be 5pm - dusk on a canoe designed
specifically for this river in the deeper un wadeable pools, we had
nothing but harsh wind and a rising, off color river that had caught
up to this section now and rendered it unfishable. The guides placated
us with a 1 hour boat ride, and we were on our way back to the Salmon
Lodge by 6:30 pm.

A disappointing first day. These guides I must say, were clearly not
interested in at least pretending as one of the first comments one made
in the morning was "we are not going to catch anything today" Faking it,
was not part of the program.

That night we had a wonderful dinner at the Salmon Lodge. There is
clearly no lack of wine and good food with over the top service. This
is clearly a big part of the experience and one will not be
disappointed with integral part of the Cascapedia experience.

The next day our guide du jour ( Eddie ) met us at 6 am at our lodge
for the long drive to a beat known as Alder Island way up stream on the
Lake Branch. The drive up to this beat was about 45 miles of which the
first 30 or so was paved. From that point it was all dirt roads that
were primarily used for reaching these beats and the logging camps. As
we traversed the road we were pleasantly surprised by a black bear in
the 300 lb class. We must have startled him as he crossed and ran
across our path and high tailed it into the woods, unfortunately before
we could get out the camera equipment.
Our guide Eddie was flying solo as there were some scheduling issues at
the society so outside of the normal tradition we would have to suffer
having only one guide. He let us know, because both beats were way
upstream, there would be no mid day 4 hour break, and we would fish our
first beat, drive to beat # 2 and take a canoe, but would not be fishing
late in the day. I have a feeling however if the fishing had been more
promising he would have stayed.

That morning was a perfect fishing day by all international standards.
The upper river was clearing, it was vacillating from drizzle to rain
and for me it was much smaller water allowing me and my short cast, to
cover the entire grid of the fishable area.

John was very concerned that I catch a fish, and as the gentleman he
is, really wanted to sit out and let me fish till I hooked up. He
insisted I run the pool first. In fact he wanted to let me take a
second crack at it, but I declined his generosity. After about 10 casts
as I watched from the bank, I suddenly heard John explicitly pronounce
"oh ****!"(In remorse that the Novice did not get the first crack) and
with that his rod was bent.

This run was fished while stepping down a brush lined bank and roll
casting across 20 foot wide riffley run that had an open large back
eddy on the other side. John would have to cross the fast water and
fight the fish. I have the lions share of the battle on the video
camera, unfortunately upon return home my video camera as it has before
has become schizophrenic and until further notice there will be no video
included in this report.

It was a beautiful 14 lb salmon. Small by this rivers standard, but the
first one I have had the privilege of inspecting up close.

'[image:
http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/5716/gc072807080207014qf5.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03


As please as John was to have broken the skunk, he genuinely was upset
that I did not get the fish, and insisted he would not fish till I
broke my streak. It was now about 10 pm and for the next 2 hours I
swept this run about 6 times. It was 11:50 and John suggested I put on
a Silver Rat , a fly with a reputation for attracting fish so well
that certain camps have declared it off limits for there guests because
it makes fishing to "easy."
Clearly there were fish here. John had caught one and in the past two
hours 3 or 4 had fully breached at the tail out. On about my 5th step
down and swing the fly moved form the back eddy and swung into the
apposing seam. In what seemed like slow motion the water began to boil
as I felt an ever so subtle movement on the end of line. As I lifted my
rod the boil turned into a rumble, my rod bent and the fish was hooked.

Now I needed to cross the current to the landing pad. It was fast and
about 3-4 feet deep. John is about 6 foot three and I am 5 foot ten. I
precariously began to cross with my rod high in the air, doing my best
not to stumble on the greased bowling ball sized substrata.
I kept a tight line as I crossed; reeling into the fish that still had
not made a major run and held his general position. I made the crossing
safely turned to face the fish and as I mentally prepared for the
battle, the line went slack; I heard John let out a gregarious
expletive from the bank, my heart sank and the game was over.
The guide and John assured me that I had not done a thing wrong, an
unsolicited consolation well needed and received.

So here we are at a pool that clearly had salmon in it. Salmon that
were willing to co-operate. The size of the pool accommodated my
limited casting skills. The water was perfect and the sky was overcast.
Eddie than announced it was 12: 15 and we had overstayed our welcome. It
was time to move to the next beat. This broke my heart more than loosing
the fish.

For the next day and a half we would visit and fish three more pools
with our guides.
John had two fish apparently take a peek at his fly that the spotter
had seen, but no takes. I had one additional hard pull with no hook
up.

One pool we fished was loaded with brook trout. I quickly accommodated
my swing to a pleasing enough rhythm that afforded me 7 of these little
fish, as I needed something to satiate my otherwise fishless trip. I
believe this annoyed the guide, but I can live with myself.

'[image:
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3802/gc072807080207016nv5.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03

'[image:
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/1015/gc072807080207019dn3.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03

The next day as I mentioned before, we had secured the wading water.
Once again we would traverse the dirt logging trail and this time
Mother Nature would reward us with a few moments of driving tangent
with a moose along the road. This time I got the video out and should
have a few moments of footage, we will all have to wait to see it till
the folks at cannon can repair my camcorder. We would fish all day with
no guides. Our two respective beats were adjacent and we each had three
pools to work. We set up camp in the middle of the tow areas that
covered about 4 miles of water. We spent the first part of the day
alternating fishing on the middle pool and than decided that to get our
maximum time in we would have to split up and separate so we could fish
straight through to maximize time fishing in the water.

I went upstream and John down. I settled into an area known as the "
Slide " pool, I assume because the opposite bank was about 100 feet
high area about ¼ mile long that seemed to have been eroding via a
never ending land slide. After about 2 hours I was ready to high tail
it back to meet John. After looking through my selection I decided to
pick the ugliest fly I could find. It was a giant bomber that had an
orange spun deer hair body with beige wings. On my first swing the
water erupted as a large salmon came flying across the fast water. Alas
he missed. It was enough to keep me fixed and dilated for the next two
hours breaching the agreement I had made with John to meet him at 3 pm.
At 5 pm we met back up and I shared my tale of another lost opportunity.


As we drove back to New Dureen, that luckily happened to be guestless
this week and we had moved in to the night before as we had used up our
stay at the Salmon Lodge, the price at New Dureen was even cheaper as
John's family are owners of this camp.
We decided to eat dinner pack up and leave as we had already used up an
extra day and night than already expected and if we drove straight threw
we would please the Wife god and all would be at peace in our respective
universes.

We hit the road and after only one quick nap from 4am - 5:30 am we
continued on and made it to my driveway by about 10 am Thursday
morning.

I certainly wish I had fishier tales to tell. However it was more than
a treat to stay on the Cascapedia and learn the ways and culture of the
river. It is steeped in History and it was a privilege to fish and
experience of staying in a camp with hospitality that was typically
reserved for the likes of Lee Wulff, Hoagy Carmichael, Bing Crosby, Ted
Williams and President Jimmy Carter to name a few, all of whom's names
are in the guest book at New Dureen.

I will fish for Atlantic salmon again, I am not sure when or where, but
I will be a little more prepared and a little wiser for the wear.

Tight Lines,

- Ralph-


A few more pics..

The Canoe..

'[image:
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/4836/gc072807080207024gy3.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03

The living room at the Salmon Lodge

'[image:
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/8821/gc072807080207045mv7.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03

New Dureen Camp ( camp haha)

'[image:
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2402/gc072807080207106ju1.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03

Ok, it's a little fuzzy, but I did get one Atlantic Salmon!

'[image:
http://img480.imageshack.us/img480/3103/gc072807080207037vf7.jpg]'
(http://tinyurl.com/4f99b)
Shot with 'u30D,S410D,u410D' (http://tinyurl.com/39bgo7) at 2007-08-03


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