Trip to Kuujjuaq Quebec

Ontario Fishing Forums

Help Support Ontario Fishing Forums:

Paul1913

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2014
Messages
592
Location
Ottawa
Some of you know that I used to work in a remote northern community of Kuujjuaq Quebec before coming back to Ottawa.

I worked so much and never got a chance to fish too much. So we decided to take a fishing trip back up north.

Due to work we were only were able to go Thursday - Sunday. Full fare flight is about 3000+ so Aeroplan points FTW.

XiVE9ao.jpg


If you need a reference where Kuujjuaq is, its one of the 14 communities that border norther Quebec, the Hudson and Ungava Coast line. Kuujjuaq is roughly 3000 people and is the main hub for the northern towns.

We arrived Thrusday afternoon and the weather was great about 25degrees but was quickly dropping. The Chief of Police hooked us up with a vehicle for the weekend and a place to stay.

Our plan was to hit the Koksoak river (which flows into Ungava Bay) on Friday and then a charter plane to a remote lake for Trout.

Koksoak river holds Atlantic Salmon, Arctic Char, Brooke, Rainbow and Sea Run Trout.

We hit the local grocery store, the New'viq'vi for some supplies.. Good thing I didnt have a craving for pop corn. I totally forgot how absurd the cost of some food is.

aPMKNLN.jpg


After getting all the permits we needed we went to bed early... 12AM after meeting with old friends.

At 0500 we made our way to the marina where we met up with Sammy an old co-worker of mine. He offered to take us out on the river.

The key to a successful river outing is hitting the good spots on low tide as once it goes up (12-15ft) the spots dont produce anymore.
AaXsI1m.jpg

Luc captured this artistic shot of me getting my stuff ready.

ZWUWMhZ.jpg


Sammy prepped his 200HP boat. Gas would end up costing us about 300$ for the day of fishing.

We went down river about 50KM just shy of Ungava Bay. We passed a gas tanker that was delivering gas to the village. Note the No Smoking sign on the top.

JDgCA0Q.jpg



People have shacks / cabins along the river. Take note of the water line... Yes thats the water line. the tide is huge

GWZtyfw.jpg



We finally got in place and I started off with a fly rod and a sink tip and articualted flies. The currents were so strong and the wind was so bad all I ended up getting was a small "ugly fish" as the locals call it. AKA a type of sculpin.
 
1gKHkjS.jpg


w9hOiNs.jpg


I knew the conditions weren't going to be good for the fly rod so I switched to the spinning gear. A few minutes later I was blessed with this beauty.

FJUNHG9.jpg


There were so many, that you can see them swimming below us. We were anchored in a spot where all the little fish congregate so its a feeding frenzy for the salmon / char.

Luc definatly had beginners luck as he ended up getting more and more fish.

o18IEo2.jpg


cIK5iRg.jpg


We moved to a second area, back up stream as the tide started to rise. We got into more fish. A few more atlantics and Luc got a decent sized Sea Run Trout.

We shut it down at about 1200. We ended up getting 6 Atlantics between the two of us,only keeping two, two brook trouts, and one sea run trout.

More to come...
 
We got back later in the day and I decided to take the drone out for some flight time.. Those videos's will come later..

dsWsR4N.jpg


Saturday came and we were ready to go on our charter air plane but it ended up getting cancelled because of poor weather. The ceiling was too low (500ft) for them to fly. We had to improvise.

RFzmVVV.jpg
(taken the day before)

One of the guys from work had a 4 wheelers (called Honda's up north) and told us about a river he had found to fish which is loaded with brookies. The only down side was bugs.. lots of them and about 45min - 1hr away by 4 wheeler.

We got one and set off..

CAy6AQH.jpg


It didn't take long,

PBCTUle.png


0zs13wd.jpg



x9T9xuc.png


Time flew by we ended up getting 17 brookies in under two hours. And about 4x the bug bites that came with it. Well worth it.

A great trip.. All things have to come to an end....

qbWsrnF.jpg


dO3nxxe.jpg
 
Great report/trip.

Reminds us what a huge land we have. We are spoiled with riches in Canada.

Had to check the map - yup you can call that northern Quebec that's for sure!
 
TheTallOutdoorsman said:
Well done Paul! Those are some great looking fish too!

What fly patterns do you use for Brookies?
They hit everything I threw at them. Muddlers, zonkers and wooly buggers
 
Thanks guys.

It was a blast. Had to think quick after the charter got cancelled.

I regret not fishing more when I was there. We just worked way too much.
 
ChromeAddict said:
Looks like a blast Paul. I can't imagine how much fun fresh Atlantics would be.
Totally different experience than going after them in a small river..
 

Latest posts

Back
Top