'Bonaventure' translation- Good Adventure

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Charles and I left for the summer Salmon trip early a.m. 07-13 after meeting at Dan's [Danimal] where I left my old truck until return. Big thanks again Dan... even though your wife sicked the dogs on me later..LOL...

This time going out Charles decided to make the trip through Canada rather than the standard route east across 90 then following the coast north into New Brunswick. I was tentative having never traveled it before and thinking why mess with the tried & true? Charles reasoning was that since we were headed for the Gaspe' Penninsula of Quebec, by computed estimates it was 2.5 hrs shorter. Looking back I'm glad we went that route even though we lost our 2.5+ in Toronto over a 410 rush hour incident. I've NEVER experienced traffic like that and hope to avoid it in the future. Anyway, the drive was much more relaxing than the southerly route. Less traffic and none of the P.I.T.A. tolls to contend with. That part alone is huge. Went through Montreal late night with the dashboard navigator proving it's worth directing me to the multiple exits/connections to be made. For city driving I'm now a big believer in these. Concerning remote rural stuff I think I'll stick with my own program.. They can cause you some grief, like directing you across some skinny / hilly rough roads only to end up at a washed out bridge that judging by the road appearence it's obvious has been gone for quite some time. Scariest is the fact that the unit had been updated just a couple days prior our departure.

Driving into Quebec things started to noticably differ. Stopping for fuel and coffee drove home my disadvantage. Zero command of the French language. I had joked about learning some before hand but didn't, so the joke was entirely on me. It was what I consider quite a handicap. Most of the people we encountered along the way, while there [St Jules, Qc] and especially on the water were very friendly and would have gladly socialised other than that huge barrier. Stopping and having breakfast in the town of Rimouski was a great bonus. Right on the St Laurence Seaway with the river and well known fly of same name in attendance. The river was considerably smaller than I'd imagined but none the less very attractive. With a chance I'd have gladly have tromped along her banks for miles just looking ahead to the next bend. Leaving the Rimouski following the seaway to Mont-Joli then turning south, we traveled over the hills/divide and down into the Matapedia valley. What an outstanding place.. Charles has much history with this watershed and it's been the topic of many long over the road driving hours. It exceeded any expectations I had imagined.. drop dead gorgeous waters.. from the upper reaches in Causapscal dropping into the famed Glenn Emma sector, and down into the lower reaches near it's confluence with the Restigouche where Charles has done most of his fishing on her. He pointed out the Hotel Restigouche as we passed, a place where he has friends and has lodged/fished many times. Had he turned in there I'd not have argued at all.

Landing in St Jules the first stop we made was the Cascapedia Society office to complete our licensing. Very nice place! Attatched Museum & Gift shop with small caffe' included. All the staff were super friendly. Once again I was reminded of my own small town history when Tammi tried to telephone Sexton's fly shop and had no answer then simply went to door and yelled up to there recieving reply! Not often you see that these days. Next stop was the flyshop. Charles had arranged for lodging with the Sexton's, we would be staying in the Sugar Shack. Evan met us at the door and we were off at breakneck speeds up 299 I've got no problem running hard but this was our first drive up a road that tightly follows the curvy river.. hang on! Reynold Sexton had only told Charles that it was a Maple Syrup facility but had been fixed up to lodge hunters & fishermen as well. We had no idea what to expect.. Turns out there was no need to worry, the place exceeded any of my needs with room to spare. Literally. It was huge for only two guys. Very modern & comfortable.





We'd landed a day early, as hoped, and had to make some fast choices in order to get our 'Bonus' day of fishing in. The only thing available on the Grande' Cascapedia was the exact pool we were assigned to start in the a.m. of our first day, 07/16 ~ Our next option was to branch out to the east and consider the Petite' Cascapedia or Bonaventure. After some quick mental weighing we left for the Bonny's Zec office. Conflicting estimates of travel time really had us wondering but we arrived with time to spare for a picture.



We found the girls here just as friendly and capable as earlier at the Cascapedia Society office. Very patient with our multiple questions and took the time to advise us with the help of a big exploded map on the wall. We bought one day each for the open water, unlimited rods, which allowed us to fish in three complete sectours. Laymans terms- ALOT of water. We drove to the river just above the Zec office for a look at the 'Bridge Pool' which is not very far above tidewater. There were 3 guys fishing it when we arrived, it looked great, I'd of had no qualms getting out and making a pass or two. Especially since we'd heard from multiple sources that it had been fishing very well. We headed back for St Jules and stopped back in at the fly shop, this time Reynold was there. Great guy, I instantly liked him. He talked a bit about the fishing and when we told him we'd bought a day on the Bonny he seemed pleased and gave us directions 'the back way' through the hills and onto the upper river. Saves a ton of miles vs going back to the Zec office and turning upstream from there. One huge thing that sticks out on the Gaspe' is how early it gets daylight! They're on eastern std same as I've always been, just my extreme western edge to their extreme east. It was getting light by 4:20 a.m.! We took off through the hills finding our way relatively easy, crossing the Petite' Cascapedia right at it's Zec office and an old covered bridge. I should have stopped for a couple pics then as it was well after dark before we returned. A short while later we arrived in our sectour of choice with no one on the first pool. To me that was an omen.. We pulled in and began rigging up. It was by my standards a very becoming pool, including a nice cold water inlet at the head and broadening into a softer run below, ending with a set of rapids.



We fished for close to two hours seeing one fish rise and another roll before some other people arrived, a man and his wife. He came up and started down the run behind me while she sat for the time being. I fished down through most of it then got out and started up towards the head where Charles was waiting, feeling fortunate that we'd had such a nice pool to ourselves for so long. The next couple pools had what I consider enough people on them already, so we went on. Arriving at the first one unattended I was bound and determined to fish it even though Charles advised against. It looked pretty simple from our elevated position, the river was basically split by a center gravel bar with a fantastic looking pool 100 yds above. Certain I could cross the tail and walk up to fish it I convinced Charles to go on without me and see what else he could find and fish it. I wasn't long finding a couple of flaws in my plan. A: I should have remembered the Bonny's ultra clear waters, and B: Worse yet, I had forgotten my Korker studded soles and had no staff. I tried it anyway getting oh so close.. It came to either a leap of faith from one boulder to the last with certain access.. or turn back. It was located right in the head of some fairly serious looking rapids so I opted to return. All should have been well other than I got in a hurry and didn't retrace my exact steps. It only made a few feet difference but it involved enough additional depth to spill over the tops of my waders a bit. Just a friendly remeinder to keep my act together. When he returned, Charles couldn't suppress smiling at me sitting in the sun with everything spreadout to dry, but was pretty lenient with comments. About then two guys and a gal arrived and said to Charles "Oh-oh, someone got wet" to which he replied "yeah, he's fine but his canoe just went down around the bend" They got a surprised funny look but said nothing as we left. I had all I could do to keep a straight face!

We then moved into the pool scouting mode which was great fun but not getting much fly swimming time in. After walking in and looking at several and fishing one for a bit we headed back down to one Charles had scouted and was adament I get a look at. It was drop dead.. by far the best looking one as of yet. The same four people were still fishing it. These pools by law are rotation, we were invited in but declined for the time being, instead dropping down to the pool below which looked very nice but was extremely tight quarters with no wading, it dropped to depth immediatly. I could see possibilitys for a Skagit floater. Charles fished it for a bit while I went back up on the ridge and scouted for access to the bend below. When I returned he was pretty much ready to go. On the way out we noticed one of the vehicles was gone so we decided to go back above and fish the luscious water. Just as we arrived the other people a man and woman were on their way out as well. We would have some elbow room!

Head of the pool:

Being attractive water it wasn't long after our first pass that other folks arrived. Some did the same as we had earlier and simply moved on even though they were invited in. Another couple arrived and once again I was at a loss to communicate. We managed well enough that they were elated when I indicated they should get in ahead of me and fish. I'd never realised just how fascinating it is to observe others and how they go about fishing a piece of water. They both rigged up with good sized Bombers. Hers was smurf blue, a color I'd not seen used yet in dry format. She started down the run first doing a fine job, after an appropriate gap developed he stepped in and started. It was soon evident that she was his master in the casting arena. Charles arrived back up at the head after finishing on the tailout. While we were talking two young guys arrived and asked about getting in. Charles gave the green light to get in ahead of us which they made clear was much appreciated. Now the interesting part.. One of the guys produced a periscope and began scouting from the head of the run while the other waited. After three looks with the negative signal he saw something he liked and motioned his partner out. Now things got really interesting, as the caster stripped out line we noticed he had a sinktip line and streamer fly. As he cast it was obvious that the tip was 10' - 12' long and not of the light variety. The spotter stayed with the periscope as the cast was made. On the end of the swing the caster would strip the fly rapidly until the spotter got his eye on it, then line length adjustments were made. We were skeptical at first but Charles was first to notice that to their credit they did not overcast any holding fish. Two casts, scout the next lie, two casts, they kept moving. Interesting.. I've heard of, and done, spotting from elevated position but never through a periscope.

After this show two guys arrived with one of them toting a Double Hand rod fit with a nice Perfect.. First Two hander I'd seen so far. Turns out they were from Pittsburgh. They had been on the first pool we fished and stated "It's loaded with fish"

There were occasional fish showing throughout the entire pool keeping the vigil for each cast high. The little french gal was determined! They had switched over to small wet flies. I was impressed with her drive for a fish. My guess is that passion for Salmon fishing within this couple weighed heavier on her end of the scales. I found myself wondering if it was something her father had introduced and shared with her that never waned. By now it's starting to darken with the no-seeums driving me near the brink of extreme tolerence and giving up.. The repellant was a long ways out in the vehicle. I only had a short distance to complete the pass and so bit my lip and stuck to it. A nice cast went across and just started to swim when it was grabbed. Dropping the tip to it for a second then sweep setting produced a slack line. Swing and a miss.. I made the final few casts finishing the tailout area and reeled up, said good byes to the french couple and started up the ridge.

"Picture perfect" a scouted pool on the Bonaventure. There was a fish holding just our side of the submerged rock: