What we thought was going to be a regular August week in camp turned out to prove us wrong. Although we did experience the heat and humidity, we were expecting for the first half of the week along with great guests, beautiful days on the river and delicious food, the latter end of our week brought a power outage on the Gaspe Coast, Tornado Warnings in our area and some pretty wicked wind. All in all, we were very lucky that the scare from the warnings and the unknown was far worse than the actual outcome.
The river is a magical place to be!
As mother nature was a little all over the board this week, she was kind enough to through in some rain. Nothing too drastic but our levels remained average for this time of year. The beautiful Bonaventure River began its week flowing at 8.77 cubic meters per second and ended at 9.50. The magnificent Grand Cascapedia began and ended her week flowing around 12 cubic meters per second. The stunning Petite Cascapedia began its week flowing at 9.35 cubic meters per second and ended around 9. The fluctuations produced by the rain received maintained our rivers well for the week and the drop in temperature Thursday on helped stabilize our water levels.
Sometimes the best memories come from a completely unexpected turn of events. It was an absolute joy welcoming back some long-lost friends this past week!
The salmon like many of us don’t do so well with the heat and humidity. On the warmer days they were very happy relaxing in the bottom of their pools and simply smiling at us as our guests mastered their casting skills. However, sometimes when the uncontrollable conditions are just perfect, the cast is to their liking and the fly chosen happens to be the right one, a beautiful Atlantic salmon decides to make our guests’ and guides’ day just a little sweeter! The most productive flies this week have been smaller in size and mostly the Stone Ghost, the Watch Out and the Green Machine. In the dry fly department, brown patterns seem to be the over achievers this time around.
There is a line here asking me to “add a description” but I cannot find the words to do so. It is nearly impossible to put into words the experience, the friendships, the laughs, the entirety of having a salmon take your fly, landing your fish, coming back to camp to tell us all about it…. I just keep thinking to myself that we are so lucky to spend our summers on the river.
Until next week, here’s to health, happiness and tight lines
Julia
