THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



SALMON AND TROUT ETVERS AND 

 LAKES OP QUEBEC. 



It may be said that in former times salmon 

 visited the greater portion of the Northern 

 rivers entering the St. Lawrence above and 

 below the city of Quebec. Some of these 

 rivers are not now frequented by salmon. 

 It is only of late years, however, that the 

 Jacques Cartier became worthy of being leased 

 for surface fishing. We are informed . that 

 under proper management and good guardian- 

 ship, the pools on this river are prolific with 

 fish that give excellent sport. Years ago, the 

 small river known as the St. Charles, at Que- 

 bec, was considered a salmon stream, but none 

 have been in it for seasons gone by. The Editor 

 killed a grilse in the St. Charles, near Lorette, 

 about fifteen years ago. Very large trout 

 (S. foniinalis) has been taken by the fly from 

 beneath the falls of Montmorenci. Doubtless, 

 these were forced down the river when small, 

 and having lain in the cool surging pool, the 

 fish became fattened and large. 



Salmon enter the St. Anns, but on account 

 of lofty falls, they cannot follow the river to a 

 great distance. This river has been greatly 

 poached in the neighborhood of Bonquet's 

 Bridge. 



There are other salmon rivers of minor im- 

 portance, entering the St. Lawrence below St. 

 Anns, and some of them are pronounced good, 

 but we believe that there has been too much 

 netting of late years [on the coast, and hence 

 the old reliable good score rivers have suffered. 

 This may be considered a mere opinion ; how- 

 ever, it will be our object to fully investigate 

 the cause of last season's scarcity of the noble 

 fish. We are anxious to have the opinion of 

 men of old experience. 



There are two ways of reaching the salmon 

 rivers between Bersimits and Natashquan. 

 This is done by means of sailing mail packets 

 — one leaving the long wharf at Rimouski 

 on the 1st and 15th of each month, from 

 May to September. The other packet leaves 

 Gaspe Basin on similar- dates. The Rimouski 



packet calls at Bersimits, Godbout, Trinity 

 Bay, Seven Islands and the Moisie River. 

 The captain charges one dollar per passenger 

 crossing the St. Lawrence, the latter to supply 

 his own provisions during the passage. The 

 Gaspe packet is supposed to call at the wesl 

 and east ends of the Island of Antieosti alter- 

 nately — that is to say, one trip to English 

 Harbour on the west end, and the following 

 trip to Fox Bay on the north-east end • 

 thence across to Natashquan, Point Esqui- 

 mault, Mingan and other rivers on the same 

 coast. The charge for the passage hum 

 Gaspe to Anticosti is four dollars, with board. 

 Now that we have introduced these matters 

 in regard to fising localities, the continuation 

 of our remarks on the salmon rivers will ap- 

 pear in the February number. In the mean- 

 time, we will occupy a portion of our space 

 with a description of the beautiful trout lakes 

 situate north of Montreal. 



We will first mention the region of the 

 Upper Assumption River, where numerous 

 lakes abound, containing beautiful rich- 

 flavoured trout. It is difficult to reach the 

 lakes of the Northern Laurentian districts, on 

 account of rugged woodland and rocky sur- 

 roundings, there being no roads leading from 

 civilization but what are generally used on both 

 sides of the river as Indian paths to the upper 

 waters. With a good guide a series of moun- 

 tain lakes can be reached in a day's walk from 

 Manning's farm, taking along a canoe or two. 

 Any lake will offer abundant sport. The upper 

 portion of the Assumption river abounds in 

 trout averaging from a quarter to two pounds 

 weight. There is another grand scenic locality 

 which we have visited, where the lakes are 

 alive with large luscious trout ; these are 

 situated on each side of the colonization road 

 leading to the Mattawan. The Black River 

 runs for several miles along the side of the 

 road and its pools and rapids are teeming with 

 game fish ; therefore, as a summer resort for 

 fishing, this region cannot be surpassed. To 

 reach the moxmtain lakes, it will be necessary 



