Saumons Atlantiques Sur Le Fleuve De Matane

Atlantic Salmon On The Matane River.  Flowing north out of the Chic Choc Mountains the Matane empties into the Saint Lawrence Seaway at the Village of Matane, Quebec.  It is called The Salmon School by many because of it's ease of access to the many pools as well as the river's gentle and steady decent.

August 4, 2008

The river opens in June when the larger fish come in,  but the main runs enter the last week of July and through the first ten days of August.  There is a dam at the very bottom of the river with a counting observatory.  This is a must see during the height of the run and also gives the anglers on the river knowledge of the quantity and size of the fresh fish in the system.  It is very exciting to hear that a very large fish has just passed through.

One of my favorite pools is called Grande Tamagodi.  The pool is broken into two distinctive parts.  The top is a rapid with Grande Tomogodi Stream entering the main river.  The bottom is a wide flat glide that is the finest looking dry fly water I have ever fished.  A number of years ago, Leo and I were on the pool.  I have been in a dry fly state of mind for some time now, and to see the glide was just too much to pass up.  A far greater number of fish will take up residence in the upper pool but when the river is right there will be the perfect opportunity to fish the glide.  My favorite Matane dry is the Canuel. Created by Raynald Canuel of Rene' de Matane and made to fish in a smaller size than the usual big Gaspe Bombers.  They say on Matane that the big bomber is to attract a salmon and the small one is to catch them.

I started casting in short drifts, from my river right position, starting at the very tail of the slick and flicked each cast a foot higher.  When I made the final cast as high up river as possible I let the fly dead drift all the way back to the tail and was sucked in a millisecond before I was going to pick it up.  What I am going to tell you is true, will never happen again to me or possibly anyone else, but true none the less.

Grand Tamagodi, Fish On

This was a big fish.  Twenty five pounds or more and acting as crazy as a salmon gets.  The first charge was a violent surge directly up stream that put a birds nest in my reel.  I hate when I am so stupid and don't make sure all is right.  I profess always making everything right and am guilty of not listening to my own good advise.   Such a simple thing to check.  While I was fumbling with my line, the fish made a sharp left and directly at me, another sharp left and like a rocket down stream, then making a 180 degree spin up stream with one big jump right into the circle of line that had been created while I fumbled.  This all happened so quickly that it took me some time to figure it out.   Now what do you do when a crazy twenty five pound salmon has tied your fly line in an overhand knot.   There was no way to hold the fish as I was on eight pound test and when she ran over the rapid directly below the pool it was over.  It pains me to even tell the story.

I have a few lessons that I learned that day.  First I will never use eight pound test for salmon unless it is Maxama.  My drag was set light because I was afraid that the leader material needed to be treated with caution.  Second, I will never let a fish get directly below me without immediately moving down stream as quickly as I can.  I will run if needed, and I will not hesitate.  A straight down river position is the least forgiving angle that you can have.  The third is that I love the Matane.  Watching a dry fly disappear to a big fish is fly fishing on steroids.

With August approaching rapidly I have made plans to be in Quebec.   The idea is that I will start with a dry fly and end with a dry fly.  Or maybe throw a big Muddler for a while.

William