Another Year in the Life of a FAOL'er
By Chris Chin, Jonquiere, Quebec, Canada
Time goes by fast. The past 12 months was a kaleidoscopic
blur of office projects, camp fires 'n forest fires;
OpenSource code, open rods zones, water bombers and
grizzly hackle Bombers; friendly faces and pools of
willing salmon.
I figure that if I didn't keep a journal as well as a
Blog, I probably wouldn't be able to remember who I had
fished with over the past season. Looking back over the
journal I see that I've learned a lot and that I also
have quite a bit to be thankful for (as sort of a primer
for the Thanksgiving that many of you will be celebrating
in the near future.)
What I have learned (or re-learned) this past year:
Despite my stubbornness, it is pretty apparent that
my rotator cuff problems do stem from casting a 10ft 8 wt
rod. It is harder to stop a longer rod (Thank you Deanna, sorry
you had to suffer through this one.);
A really "suicidal" salmon WILL (or may) come back
to a dry fly even after he has been "stung" once (much to
Boris' dismay and surprise);
When casting to a +18 lb salmon, Dear Me, please
check the knots on your leader (isn't that right JP);
Beginners are lucky, but who cares, they are thereafter
"hooked for life;"
When the salmon jumps a dry, the camera man will be more
surprised than the angler (at least this one didn't drop
the camera into the pool).
What I'm thankful for:
Well, JC still hasn't banned me so I guess I didn't said
too many dumb things this year;
Yvon-Marie Gauthier, Head Warden for decades handed
off the torch to Martin this year, but he stayed on as the
sector Warden in the #2 – so we still get to share a fire
and exchange lies;
This same fellow, Yvon-Marie still accepts me to his
camp fire, so I guess I haven't done anything stupid this year;
I got to meet many new friends this year. Thank you for sharing
your time with us: Frank, José, Diane, Stéphane, Eric, Dave, Carl,
Kevin, Debbie, Vincent, Louis, André, Gibbs, Isabelle, Marcel,
Sylvie and many others;
The world may be pretty crazy in some places, but our friend Salmo salar
will still rise to a dry fly in the sunshine and big trout will still chase
a panic stripped muddler.
We're dried out the waders and packed away the gear (except for the
tying bench) and we're getting ready for next season. (Editor's note:
at a picnic table twenty feet from this tent we and Chris dined on a
five-pound brook trout.)
If the stars line up right, next year we might get the chance to
share a stretch of water with Bryce, Manon, Chris From Canada,
Jacques, Gaétan, Bradley and Tex.
To all our friends, have a relaxing off season (if you have one).
P.S.
The 2007 stats are in. We had a fair year. Better than
recent years, but not like the "Good 'ole days." 131
salmon captured 587 adult trout and 1,044 juvenile trout. ~ Chris Chin, St-Séverin de Proulxville – Québec
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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