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Maritime Mecca

2K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Salar-1 
#1 ·
Just returned late last night from the mecca of atlantic salmon fishing in the Canadian Maritimes... what an experience! I am preparing a report, but here's a pic that provides a visual for how I felt!


Every once in a while, you step into a dream world you never knew existed. The Gaspe' is such a world. Although all dreams come to an end, you come out enriched from the journey and the world becomes a bigger place for those who dream it.

It's hard to envision what our world was like before being trampled under concrete, but to visit the wild Canadian salmon mecca gives you an idea. As I drove back from my adventure over the Penobscot, Kennebec, Merrimac - I could see the dreams we have lost in the industrial era. Our American treasure of huge numbers of wild salmon are all but lost.

The big bucks economy of the salmon runs that have survived is staggering, and it's exclusivity breaks my heart - yet if it has preserved the wild places where these magnificent creatures still thrive then perhaps it's not such a bad thing afterall.

The rivers of the Gaspe' will forever flow in my blood, and I will return...



More to come...
 
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#4 ·
Gaspé Update

Juro, you old scout you. How did you make out? Looks like you lost your heart to the old Gaspé. I hope you are planning to give us the full story as even the colour of the water in your picture is a tease of just how beautiful, elegant and wild that country is.
 
#6 ·
Juro
Your pic was taken from the stairs at Grand Black on the Bonaventure.If fish are in this pool upstream from the Large Slate rock just upstream from the stairs they are takers.Another good spot is in the rapids running into the pool . Most folks "crash "upstream along the side and F---k up ANY chance of raising a fish !! (the 20lb+ class fish are right at your feet !!)If you do see any fish from the stairs at your 11:30 px the ONLY way one has any chance of catching them is by casting from downstream ,up towards them .Also the rapids ,for about 300 ft downstream can provide dynamite fishing !!! Sadly the salmon don't seem to hold in this pool as they have in the past !!
Cheers
Brian
 
#7 ·
Spot on Brian! There was a fish flashing and two porpoised as dusk settled in, but they would not come to a swung wet fly. Of all the places we fished I felt most like I'd get a grab that evening.


Topher Browne, our moderator and a disciple
of wild atlantic salmon, covers the pool

If I could dream a salmon stream, it would be the Bonaventure. If I could spend a week exploring any salmon river, it would be the Grand Cascapedia below the forks with a big spey rod. The region seemed to me every bit of the legend it's fabled to be. Although I could not find a salmon willing to take my fly, the short visit only made me lust for more. I will do it differently when I return.
 
#8 ·
HMMMM ??
This one looks like Someone Hole ?
You can have the Grande Cascapedia any time .The public waters on the Bonnie are as good as most "reserved " areas on other rivers . Did you try the tailout in Petite Black ??
BTW I fish Grand Black from two different approaches.Using dries with either an 11"or 14 ' Spey or at the tailout with a #4 7ft rod .Sometimes use a Sneaky or Leach in the middle of the pool .
BTW #2 I've got some good underwater shots of Salmon in Grand Black.I should figure out how to post them here !
BTW#3 There are sectors on this river that are "not accessible to the wading fisherman", with a Spey rod you'll be fine ! For example, Leaving Camp Melanson on the Petite @ 4:30 A.M.,40 minute walk in ,36 minutes on the river ,2 fish @ 12lbs ,on the roadto Montreal by 7;45 !!
Cheers
Brian
 
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