The HeadHunter: Matapedia Revisited: 2017

Since I began fly fishing for salmon and steelhead, nearly 30 years ago. I have been aware of the Matapedia River. One of the first fishing books that I bought at a used book store in high school around 1993. It was essentially a photo journal and was aptly named "Trout and Salmon of the World" this was a very large coffee table book that showcased the beauty and majesty of our sport. It showed Tiamen from Siberia and Mongolia, Lenok, Sheefish, Golden Trout, all the salmon, Char, you name it...and it showed off both the aesthetic and the size of the different species.

This book had a few pictures of Atlantic salmon, including a real gem of a fish of over 60lbs caught on a dry fly on the Restigouche River. The fish is laying along the bottom of a canoe (prior to being released), and the floor of the canoe all wood with beautiful ribbing. A caption mentions that it is in part the length of the fish compared to the Canoe ribs that helps verify the truly great size of it.

This was an amazing fish, and to catch it on a dry fly... I dreamed of this type of fishing. Big northern rivers in the Summer holding the fish of a lifetime. Soon my appetite for fly fishing media would lead me to the books and articles of Art Lee. His images of the Matapedia (a major Tributary to the Restigouche) drew me even further in.

As I developed in the sport the idea of fishing for Atlantic Salmon, beyond a trip up to the Sault seemed a bit far fetched. I didn't have a ton of money to invest in that kind of fishing. I assumed that it would cost me thousands of dollars, and I was right, but not in the way I thought. I have spent a ton of money on tackle and materials to fish Atlantic Salmon, but the trips have generally been pretty affordable. On the Matapedia and Restigouche.

I learned this on my first trip to the area in 2008, when BR and I came out to try for the first fresh fish of spring. Other than a big brook trout on a big Green Highlander and seeing a couple giant silver salmon from the Matapedia Bridge, the trip was some what lack luster. However, it was clear we had kinda come at the wrong time, and the general atmosphere are really pleasant.