Casting a line in Gaspé's legendary salmon river, 'the holy grail in Canada'
For more than 100 years, Grand Cascapédia has been 'holy grail' for Atlantic salmon fly-fishing in Canada
For the first time this season, salmon fishermen are able to cast their lines into the Grand Cascapédia River in the Gaspé region of Quebec today.
"If you're a fly fisherman, and an Atlantic salmon fly fisherman, this is the holy grail in Canada," said avid fisherman Greg Dixon.
"The largest, the biggest: it's just a joy to be here and fish this river."
The river begins in the Chic-Choc Mountains at the centre of the Gaspé Peninsula and empties 120 kilometres away in the Baie des Chaleurs.
It has a watershed of more than 3,000 square kilometres.
The largest, the biggest: it's just a joy to be here and fish this river.- Fly fisherman Greg Dixon
The river is undammed and wild, and in the summer the water runs so crystal clear, one can see the fish swimming near the bottom on the pebbled riverbed.
Hobby defines fly fisherman
Dixon says being a fly fisherman is one of his defining characteristics.
At the Sexton and Sexton fly shop in Cascapédia-Saint-Jules, Que., he leans onto the glass display case holding flies and reels and reminisces about his first day on the water, some fifty years ago, with long-time employee Todd Cochrane.
"[When you catch] your first salmon, you're more hooked than the fish," said Cochrane.
Dixon remembers that day well. He was 16 or 17. For three straight days he caught nothing, while his brothers reeled in catch after catch.
"I was thinking, 'This is no fun,'" Dixon said. "Then on the last morning — kapowee!"
Dixon now lives on the Restigouche River in New Brunswick, but he travels to the salmon: earlier this week, he was fishing in Scotland.
Indeed, he fishes nearly every day of the season — except the month of August.
"My wife makes me take off August," he said.
Growing stocks
Salmon stocks have increased in the Grand Cascapédia River in recent years, said Dixon and Cochrane.
They say the turning point began in 2010 when the Quebec government struck an agreement with the Mi'kmaq of Gesgapegiag, a small First Nations community on the Gaspé Peninsula, by which community members are paid to stop netting fish at the mouth of the river. The current agreement is in place until 2023.
Fishing on the Grand Cascapédia is catch-and-release for any specimen longer than 63 centimetres.
It costs between $77 and $600 a day per person to fish on the river, depending on where on the river a fishermen casts and whether a guide is included.
Most of the river and the best fishing pools are owned by private camps that have been established for more than a century.
Long-time guide
Those camps provide jobs for a large proportion of the workforce in Cascapédia-Saint-Jules, population 750.
According to the Cascapédia River Museum, Lorne Cottage was built by the Marquis of Lorne for his wife, Princess Louise in 1880. Legouffe said the camp now belongs to five sisters who inherited it from their parents.
"A perfect day on the river for me is sitting back in the sun, enjoying the people I've got out fishing," Legouffe said. "There is a plus if you get a salmon on the line."
Legouffe said over his half century on the river he's guided such people as actor Paul Newman, fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, hockey great Jean Béliveau and former prime minister Jean Chrétien.
"I can't say it's a job," he said. "It's a holiday when I go out on the river."
Life's work
Todd Cochrane of the Sexton and Sexton fly shop is also defined by fly fishing.
He's worked at the store, owned by brothers Evan and Reynold Sexton, for 23 years. (This week, Cochrane is mourning the loss of Reynold, a pillar of the fishing community in Cascapédia-Saint-Jules and Cochrane's close friend, who died in hospital on Sunday.)
On top of helping clients and winding reels, each year Cochrane ties about 9,000 flies which he sells at the store.
Clients such as Dixon come by specifically to speak with Cochrane because of his expertise.
He learned to fish from his father and from listening to other fishermen — tips he's happy to pass on to others.
"Atlantic salmon fishing has never been a competition," said Cochrane.
Cochrane predicts "a very good season," based on a six-year cycle he's noticed in fish stocks.
"And I better be right because everyone passed the word around that 'Todd said it would be a good salmon season!'"
"If I'm wrong I'm going to have to hide," he says with a laugh.
The fishing season on the Grand Cascapédia River runs from June 1 to September 30.