Time Warp
By Chris Chin, Bay Comeau, Quebec, Canada
One of the weird things about having the privilege to write
this little blurb from Canada each week is that the Saturday
afternoon cut off means that when I write it, the weekend of
fishing hasn't started yet. This means that by the time you
all start reading this; the weekend will be over and I'll be
back at the office at the "day job."
Here's how the weekend is playing out:
Text message reads: Friday 10h15: "We're leaving Montreal now
and will call when we get out of Quebec City – Frank V."
We'll be meeting Frank from Toronto (a fellow FAOL'er) and his
friend from Montreal in Chicoutimi and drive down to the river
valley together. I had been in contact with Frank for the past
few months and more frequently over the past two weeks. Lots of
details to get ironed out to make sure that everyone has a pleasant
weekend.
Wednesday, we last spoke:
"Hi Frank, guess what. Well, last week there was a grand total of
ONE salmon in the whole river (all 100 km of it). BUT! If we get
one spot of rain this week, the river will come up and we should
get a nice run into the river."
"Well Chris, I just really want to relax. If there are lots of salmon,
that will just a bonus. If I don't get in some quiet time I think my
head will explode.
This pretty well goes for both of us. We had a run of forest fires
over the past two weeks. Add in the usual projects and that about
rounds out a 100 hour week. As luck would have it, we did get the
needed rain. It helped calm down the +218 forest fires we had in
some of the sectors I manage (Thank You again to the plus 1,000 fire
fighters who came in from Maine, Ontario, Alberta and BC). Further,
the salmon DID come in. The river came up from 17 to 21 m³/second
and is slowly dropping as we speak. Conditions should be perfect.
Friday morning preparations are in over drive. Kenny (the dog) is sitting atop
one of the ice chests. He is always a wee bit concerned that he isn't
coming with us and he wants to make sure that we don't forget him.
The groceries are packed; the rods, reels, waders and assorted gear
are loaded into their assigned slots in the pickup. It's our first
day out this year (yes, our opening day is late compared to some of
you lucky people) so we're double checking the lists of things to
forget.
All we need now is the call from Frank and we're off for the weekend.
I sincerely hope that you all have (had) a relaxing weekend with family
and friends. We sure will (did). ~ Christopher – Shawinigan, 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 in October 2002."
To learn more about the Ste-Marguerite River,
visit Christopher's
website https://pages.videotron.com/fcch/.
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