For live and premium content, sign up for our email newsletter and we'll send reports directly to your inbox
Subscriber John M. Lachin has checked in with a detailed report on a salmon fishing trip he took to the York and St. Jean rivers in Quebec, arranged for him last August by Quebec Sporting
(www.quebecsporting.com). He writes:
I traveled to Gaspe, Canada, this past August 17 for three-and-a-half days of fishing for Atlantic salmon in the nearby York and St. Jean rivers. Fishing access is controlled by the York, Dartmouth, and St. Jean Societe de Gestion des Rivieres de Gaspe, Inc., the local ZEC (www.zec gaspe.com). Ann Smith of Quebec Sporting arranged my entire stay. She met me at the airport on arrival, and the following morning, my guide, Jason Sams, met me at 6 a.m. Our schedule saw us fishing from about 6 a.m. to noon then returning to town. We would head back out again from 3 or 4 p.m. until about 8:30. We would grab breakfast to go at the nearby Tim
Hortons. I would then get lunch at one of the restaurants near the motel, followed by dinner at night around 9 p.m.
The Gaspe had a good season of rain over the summer last year, so the rivers were at excellent fishing height, higher than normal for August. Unfortunately, the four days I was there the temperature was above 78 degrees and it was cloudless, which is unusual for Gaspe and terrible
for salmon fishing. Thunderstorms were forecast for each afternoon and evening but none materialized where we were fishing. Fortunately, the rivers were full of fish.
I fished the York, zone 9, the first day, focusing on the Montagnard pool in the morning, then the Terry and Keg pools in the evening. The sector was about a 30-minute drive from town with
ready access to the pools with parking right next to the river. All the pools were in direct sun. We fished wet flies mostly, with dries later in the morning and the afternoon. I missed one good strike on a dry fly that morning, nothing in the afternoon. The next three days I fished sectors on the St. Jean River. This river is closer to town, but none of the pools that we fished were readily accessible from the road. To access the Lime Rock pool the first morning, for example, we had about a 20-minute hike along dirt paths, the last 100 yards through thick woods. The river could also be accessed from a road on the other side of the river, but that required a difficult wade from the parking area. One brave fisherman did just that and we shared the pool for a while. That morning I had a good strike on a wet fly. The other angler had a strike that broke off. That afternoon we fished the Mosquito Castle pool. This required about a 15-minute walk that included a wade across the stream. No activity that afternoon.
The third day we fished the Lady Gray and Lady Mary pools in the morning and again in the afternoon. This required a steep descent from the parking area down to the water. After hiking upstream we then had a somewhat strenuous wade across the stream and then along a ledge to get to a trail. A dirt road provided access to the Lady Mary pool from the Lady Gray, a 15-minute hike. No activity that morning or evening. The fourth day I fi shed only the morning before my
departure. We went back to the Mosquito Castle pool, which was in deep shadow in the early morning. This is a long run of about 100 yards. On my second pass through the pool, I caught a nice male of about eight pounds. Later, when I made a pass with a dry fl y, I had a monster strike
but no hook set.
Gaspe is a town of about 17,000, so there are not many lodging and food options. There is a four-star hotel (Hotel des Commandants) with a restaurant, but it is not located in the central area of the town. In that area, there is the Adams Hotel and the Motel Plante (www.motelplante.com).
I selected the latter. The town is built on a steep hillside and the Motel Plante requires a tougher climb than the Adams.
The facilities were fine but it was not an easy walk to restaurants and the grocery. I took dinner two nights at Bris Brie, the only place o