36 replies to this topic

[Paul1913]

So I was supposed to fly up to kuujjuaq Quebec this week to go fishing in northern Quebec for Arctic char, land locked salmon and brook trout. Sadly it had to be cancelled since my buddy up north got hired down here.

So instead I'm leaving for Gaspe Qc peninsula to fish for atlantics.

12hr drive,1100km. No I'm not insane

Wish me luck.


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[staffman]

Best of luck ! Drive safely !

[PUMP KNOWS]

Good luck!

 

[MuskieBait]

It's only 12h. Totally doable. Have fun and drive safe.

[Bow Man]

Nice, have a good time. Looking forward to the pics.

[Paul1913]

So 1200km later. One pit stop to catch some Z's I am here.

I did a bit of exploring and took pictures. Mainly with my DSLR but a few on my phone.

This is the York River.

Can't wait for tomorrow. In the mean time I'm going to go try to get some stripped bass in the surf.


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[salmotrutta]

I am liking this report already.

 

Pro tip:

Other than tunes and scenery, another nice thing on long drives can be books on tape. I have polished off a lot of books this year, many free from the library, others purchased online and burned onto CDs. I am on a hiatus now and back to mostly tunes, as you can definitely burn out on driving while listening intently. 

 

As for genre, I highly recommend romance for fiction and subliminal motivation tapes for non-fiction

 

Seriously though, anything by Stephen Hawking can be fascinating, Feynman has some gems but be wary of the annoying voice of some of the readers, and you can even choose to learn a new language if that's your thing!

[Berg]

Enjoy!

[tombo]

Cant wait to hear how it went paul1913!

[FrequentFlyer]

good luck Paul, totally jealous! also remember, those pools are a lot deeper than they look

[Paul1913]

https://youtu.be/iE8qHj0yqTI

 

A bit of footage. 

 

So started at 0530 fished till 10. Only 4 fish in the zone that we had access to. You get assigned a pool from the draw. Fred the guide was good. He told me up front, we should go look elsewhere rather than "fishing over rocks". 

 

Took a big hike about 4km to another section in the river. Weather was hot, water was low, dropped close to 9 inches over past 2 weeks. We did some bushwacking through the woods. Fred, the guide who is retired and does this part time, 55-60 y/o, leading me through the forest, under fallen logs, we finally go there. 

 

Of course it started to rain even though it wasn't forecasted, and neither one of us brought a rain coat since it was 25+ and sunny with no chance of rain.. Thanks weathernetwork!!. I put the go pro away since I didn't have the other case with it. 

 

I hook into a fish on a dry, lost him after 5 mins... From Fred, his estimation 20+lbs range..

 

Rain let up, the bugs came out, and had one more take. Well sort of, the fish rose to a dry but missed the fly.... There was some editing afterwards to take out me cursing!!

 

So the trip was great even though I didn't land one.. Already planning for next year. Learnt alot from Fred. I think next year might be a multi day fishing trip. 

 

I did well the day before on Stipped Bass, got 6 in total, outfishing the locals on the fly. Not quite what I was looking for but hey. the tug.. 

[Paul1913]

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[Berg]

Great report! Awesome photos, looks like a gorgeous area!

[Paul1913]

Yea berg gorgeous. Great place for vacation. Fishing just a plus.

[FrequentFlyer]

i still thnk we should adopt their regulations for here, would make fishing so much nicer with out having to deal with self entitled.......

[tombo]

I dont think paying a guide every time out is something that help fish stocks!

[Paul1913]

Most guiding services are catch and release there.

You can buy your own license to kill fish but you can only keep on big salmon and 2 grisle (small ones).

We actually talked at length about the fisheries and how it is being affected.

In his mind ( he's been there for over 20+) fishing and 12 years guiding, it's the commercial fishing off the coast of Greenland and the influx in stripped bass which are eating all the bait fish and small salmon leaving the river. They are at the mouths of the rivers so they mop up everything. Interesting perspective. Not sure how true it is but makes sense. Especially coming from a seasoned guide.

[FrequentFlyer]

I dont think paying a guide every time out is something that help fish stocks!

 

a guide is optional.  they have sections of rivers that you can fish, you have to pay to enter a draw for said sections, and you can only fish that section, and like a maximum of like 3 or 4 people with only 2 or 3 lines allowed in the water at any time.  with c&r there, 2 fish per day, thats it, so you start at 6, if you catch 2 by 630 your day is done

[Paul1913]

Yea so the river is split up by zones, 

 

There are ZEC zone which you need to enter a draw (pre-season, November of year before) or 48 hours prior to fishing, which gives you access to the zone that you get if you win the draw. Each Zone has several pools in each, some better than others.

 

For example the York River,  is split up into 12 zones, and about 70 pools split. Zone, 1, 5, 7 and 10 are "open " areas, which means that anyone can buy an access to fish that water. There are no limits to how many people can be in those pools. The other zones, there is a limit of how many people can be in each Zone that is why you need to go into a draw to get access to those zone. 

 

So for example Zone 6 where I was, had 4 pools and only 2 people could fish across the entire zone. 

 

They strictly enforce the river access. They work with river "guardians" and the MNR equivalent in QC. From talking with the guide there are no warnings either. 

 

Guides aren't required but definitely helpful, they know the pools, the exact flies to use. Next year, I will go for 2-3 days, take a guide for one and fish solo the rest. Its about building confidence. 

 

http://www.quebecspo.../York River.pdf

[tombo]

So you need to pay for your licence, then pay to enter a draw to fish the productive pools? If there is a separate draw for every day, thats a ridiculous amount of money to be able to fish! It def does put less pressure on the fish population, however it sounds like a major cash grab!