Our Man In Canada
July 30th, 2007

Extras are Free
By Chris Chin, Proulxville Quebec, Canada

While looking for and booking an outing or Guide service, one of the important items to clarify is the package. What is included and what is charged as an "extra?" (shore lunch, equipment, flies etc.)

Thankfully, some of the experiences on many waters are totally free.

Case in point:

A few weeks ago while Renée and I were showing Frank and José around, we settled into the #43 to explore for salmon and trout. A nice long and wide run, José was far upstream while Renée worked the middle. Frank and I were settled into some folding chairs shooting the breeze.

A few minutes into the foot of the rapid and José hears a couple of anglers wading (a bit noisily) down through the rapid. He looks left to see who is coming down the river. To his surprise, a female moose and her calf come splashing their way across the shallow rapid, heading for the far side.

A beautiful sight. The female was calm and unhurried. The calf was tiny and still milk chocolate brown.

As we weren't making a lot of noise, she really didn't notice us until the duo were half way across the river. They stopped to look us over. I believe that a moose's eye sight may not be all that good and the clothes we wear are all in shades of grey, green and brown.

Franks snapped off a few pictures while Renée watched our ungulate pair wade across the run. José simply continued casting. The momma moose and her charge slowly worked their way into the underbrush on the far side.

Looking back on the event, the magical part of the encounter was that we didn't startle or disturb the moose. They simply continued on their way and we simply continued to work the run.

Of course, a momma moose and a calf are not to be taken lightly. We kept our distance. If she had wanted to come downstream towards us, we would have backed away. The trail leading back to the pullout would have been our #1 escape route.

Fishing was pretty slow as there were not a whole lot of salmon in the river yet.

Saturday we explored the usual haunts. A few fish were seen in Glass Pool (by Boris), but we never did see them. The fishing was slow. We mostly showed our friends the ins and outs of the river. The moose sighting did provide us with a memory of a life time.

We had a wonderful time visiting with Frank and José. Here's hoping that we'll see them again soon. Christopher Chin – Proulxville Quebec

One should always be prudent near females and their young:
Moose attack injures Prince George woman
Last Updated: Thursday, February 22, 2007 | 4:37 PM PT
CBC News

Prince George RCMP have issued a public alert after a moose attack in the city on Thursday morning.

A female moose with two calves attacked a 60-year-old woman while she was walking her dog. The woman was taken to hospital with minor injuries while her dog, a cocker spaniel, was so badly injured that it had to be euthanized.

Earlier this month, a moose with calves chased a man in a residential neighborhood that backs onto a hillside.

"We've advised people to bring in their dogs and to just be aware if they're out walking," Constable Gary Godwin told CBC Radio.

Students at Pinewood Elementary School, near the location of Thursday's attack, were kept inside during recess.

Conservation officers are now looking for the moose, but have not yet determined what they'll do with them. They say, "a moose protecting her calves can be dangerous even deadly."

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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