Restigouche Salmon

here are events in a sportsman's wishful thinking, occurrences to be dreamed about and anticipated, but never fulfilled.

Catching an Atlantic salmon weighing over 30 pounds fell into that category for me. I've spent hundreds of hours casting flies into and onto waters where noble Salmo salar swims, but, as the decades have rolled by, contacting a salmon of true trophy proportions remained as elusive as catching sight of a unicorn.

That's all changed now and I have two fine gentlemen to thank.

The first is Val Marquez who most of you will recognize as our veteran bowhunting columnist. It was Val who invited me to accompany him to the Restigouche River Region of Quebec on a bear hunting foray, where - just incidentally - we would get a chance to fish for Atlantic salmon.

The second is Peter Dubé, owner of the Hotel/Motel Restigouche, who served as our host on the trip and most fishing.

My thanks to this stalwart duo is most heartfelt because not only did I manage to break the 30-pound salmon barrier, I crushed it. Fishing mornings only, over a three-day period I brought to hand 12 Atlantic salmon, five of them exceeding 30 pounds in weight, and two of those exceeding 40 pounds.

It was some of the most productive large Atlantic salmon fishing I've ever heard of because it involved only 12 hours actual fishing time and averaged one fish landed per hour. What makes this truly spectacular is that I hooked and lost four other salmon in that same 12-hours. All of the larger fish had to be played for over a half-hour before they were landed.

The story gets better. Because I was fishing on the Restigouche River before the regular Atlantic salmon fishing season opened on June 1, there weren't any expensive daily rod fees and all I needed was a regular trout fishing license which cost the equivalent of $18.

Club Water

This remarkable fishing has just become available to the public thanks to a slight change in the law regulating the Restigouche River. The Restigouche is "club" water, closely controlled by a small group which owns the fishing rights for the entire river, and you can't fish there unless you're a member or a guest. However these rights only apply to the regular fishing season which stretches from the first of June to the end of August.

Under new regulations it is possible for the general public, including non-residents to fish the river for salmon during the spring pre-season and in the fall post-season during September and October.

Ice out on the Restigouche occurs in mid to late April and unless the river is in full flood, it's possible to catch kelts (or black salmon) as soon as the ice clears. The fishing really picks up in the month of May when the departing black salmon are met by bright fish just coming in from the sea.

During my trip to the Restigouche, which took place in late May I caught both kelts and bright salmon, fish that had arrived in the river so recently that they were shiny as a new silver dollar and still had sea lice clinging to their flanks.

You know how reluctant Atlantic salmon normally are to strike. Forget that with these Restigouche spring fish. The black salmon were actively feeding on the smelt run as they recovered from the rigors of spawning and staying in the river all winter. As a result they eagerly attacked big streamer patterns. And while they were sleek fish, ranging from eight to 20-pounds, they were neither skinny nor black. In fact, they fought like devils and proved to be acrobatic jumpers even though the water temperatures were only in the mid-40 degree range.

The same was true of the bright fish, which were simply immense, with broad backs and deep bellies. I caught these fish on six-inch-long smelt imitations, although they also eagerly took more traditional salmon patterns.

Tough Fighters

Long ago the late great salmon fisherman Ai Ballou told me it should take only a minute a pound to land a salmon. I've always followed his dictate to play salmon hard and land them as soon as possible, usually managing it in much less than a minute a pound, I couldn't do that with the Restigouche fish.

The biggest salmon I landed (We can only estimate its weight at 40-pounds, because you aren't allowed to keep them, and they must be released quickly to keep them alive,) took 55 minutes to bring to hand for tailing. That fish was fought using a heavy l5-foot, two-handed salmon rod and a 30-pound test tippet, and even applying all the pressure I could, it made six runs dash on the sixth effort. Matapedia guide Richard Adams himself told me to use a heavy leader shy, Peter Dubé seconded the motion, noting the heavy spring water requires up to size 5/() flies which require heavy leaders. The primary reason for such a heavy leader, however, is that when the larger salmon get a fly crossways in their jaws, their teeth are so large and sharp they can saw through light leaders. I had three different fish escape in this fashion, even using 30-pound mono.

A few words need to be said about this area. The lower Restigouche forms the Quebec/New Brunswick border and it is a brawling torrent in early season, The country features heavily forested rolling hills providing entrancing scenery.

The area I fished was just above the confluence of Matapedia River, another famous Atlantic salmon water which does have public water which you can fish. Matapedia is a small, but bustling town and that's where the Hotel is located, a stone's throw from Restigouche.

The Hotel/Motel Restigouche is a Mecca for salmon anglers in the region and its walls, and those of its attached restaurant are richly adorned with all sorts of salmon fishing memorabilia and art works,

Bargain Fishing

My advice is that if you want to catch a huge Atlantic salmon at a bargain price (Some of the better salmon fishing rivers cost hundreds of dollars a day to fish.) you should head for the Restigouche either this fall or next spring, because salmon fishing this good can't retmain available free for very long,

Of course, you may not experience fishing as productive as I did. My trip happened to coincide with a strong movement of black salmon headed back to sea while at the same time fresh runs of bright fish were just into the river. I also had the benefit of fishing with Peter Dubé, who has worked this river all his life and learned its secrets from his father and grandfather.

Your odds are always best when you fish a river that is filled with fish, and that certainly seems to be the case with the Restigouche Peter said he believes somewhere between 5O,QO5 and 75,000 salmon enter the river each year.

I can heartily recommend the Hotel/Motel Restigouche as your fishing headquarters. The rooms are clean and modern, and the dining room is handsome with excellent food. Peter can offer you a fishing package which includes room, meals and guiding services which you'll definitely want since the guides are all experienced and can put you over the fish for certain. The guides all work out of large motor-powered canoes capable of carrying two anglers.

For more information call or write:

Peter Dubé,
Hotel/Motel Restigouche,
Matapedia, Quebec,
Canada GOJ IVO
Tel.418-865-2155,