It's a Dawg's Life But someone's gotta do it!
(A day in the life of a fly fishing Dawg)
By Chris Chin, Jonquiere, Quebec
I love this life! I don't always know what's going
on, but I love it anyway! Let me explain:
Sometimes I'll get woken up by that tall Organic Dog
Biscuit Distributing Device (aka Fcch) and we'll go
out and start loading all sorts of stuff into the truck.
Well, he does, I just make sure none of the big blue
plastic boxes get forgotten on the porch. "Woof!"
Hey!, ("Woof!")don't forget the other two Organic Head
Scratching Thingies (aka, Junior 'n Mom) Let's go wake
them up. (Oh!!, I saw on TV the other day that we're
supposed to call them Fly Fishers).
I get cooped up inside the truck for a while, but then
we come to a different place. A place not like at the
Dog House. There's no noise. There's no traffic, or funny
smells, or shrill sounding flashing blue/red lights. There's
no asphalt or cement. There's no small plastic chirping
thingies that the tall one has to talk into (in fact he
doesn't even bring the plastic chirping thingy with him).
You don't have to ask ME twice to get out and run up
and down the beach!! "Woof!!" I know this place.
I've been here before. Yup, "Woof!" The Red Fox has
been by the tent (the young Fox, I wonder where the old
Fox has gone?), Hmmmm, A bear came by again, I won't
tell the family, they'll just get worried.
Oh, into the big green plastic thingy to float on the
water we go. (It's just like the one Diane made, but
ours is all scratched up.)
I don't like being in this thingy, I'd rather be on the
beach Besides, if I spend too much time IN a floating
thingy, someone might mistake me for a Pirate!
Ah, back to the beach. I wonder why these "Fly Fishers"
keep waving that thing around in the air?
I can try to get to where they are standing, but the
water gets too deep.
I like it much more when they come onto the dry land
and relax beside me!
OK, back to Camp, I like this part. I can dry off a bit
and eat something. Then the tall one will follow me over
to the bench and we'll sit and listen to the river.
Well, he listens to the river, "Woof!" Can't he see the
Salmon out there?
I wonder why we bring so much food, when the river is
full of those tasty critters?? Oh well, it's just as
much fun to watch the Salmon lazing amongst the boulders.
After all, those times that the fish play with the end
of the line and follow it to the beach, the Fly Fishers
grab them, then push them back into the river?
"Woof!" "Woof!" Oh! Visitors! I hope it's the Head Warden,
Warden Gauthier always has food!
I wonder why they call this activity Fly Fishing. The family
only spends a few hours in the morning, then another 4-6 hours
in the late afternoon actually waving around those stick 'n
line thingies. The rest of the time we get to explore the
trails, relax on my bench, chat with visitors, listen to
the pools and mostly EAT!
Hey "Woof!" they're piling up pieces of wood. Yippee! That
means that tonight they're going to light it on fire, and
we're going to sit around the burning pieces of wood and chat,
and eat, and tell stories, and eat and meet friends, and eat.
I like that. There's no talking boxes out here, so we can hear
the sounds of the river. And later, it'll get really black and
we'll see the stars and those dancing sheets of light in the sky.
"I wonder why the stars are afraid to come out and shine at night
over a city?
Oh well, maybe it's not important to know why. I just like it
here and so does the Family.
~ Christopher Chin – Jonquiere Quebec
About Chris:
Chris Chin is originally from Kamloops,
British Columbia. He has been fly fishing
on and off ever since he was 10 years old.
Chris became serious about the sport within
the last 10 years.
"I'm a forest engineer by day and part time
guide on the Ste-Marguerite River here in
central Quebec. I've been fishing this river
for about 10 years now and started guiding
about 5 years ago when the local guide's
association sort of stopped functioning."
Chris guides mostly for sea run brook trout
and about 30% of the time for Atlantic Salmon.
"I often don't even charge service fees, as
I'm more interested in promoting the river
than making cash. I like to get new comers
to realize that salmon fishing is REALLY for
anyone who cares to try it. Tradition around
here makes some of the old clan see Salmon
fishing as a sport for the rich. Today our
shore lunches are less on the cucumber sandwich
side and more toward chicken pot pie and Jack
Daniel's."
Chris is 42 years old as of this writing. He
is of Chinese origin although his parents were
born and raised in Jamaica. He has a girlfriend,
Renée. "She and her 12 year old son Vincent
started fly fishing with me last October 2002."
To learn more about the Ste-Marguerite River,
visit Christopher's
website https://pages.videotron.com/fcch/. ~ Christopher Chin
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