The expense of maintaining the club-house, buying fishing rights, employing fish guardians, etc., is borne by the members of the club; and all things considered the sport of salmon-fishing is a royal amusement costing a considerable amount of money.
The best rights are all bought up; but there are still some places, as on the Upsalquitch River, where fair salmon-fishing may be had at ten dollars a day and the cost of the fishing permit added. In some streams, where fish do not abound, the cost is much less. Sportsmen should bear these facts in mind before planning a fishing trip. If really good sport with fine fish is desired, the best plan is to communicate with the I. C. R. Agent at the nearest point to the centre selected, and he will procure all the information required. If planning a trip in June and July, do not wait until the fishing-rights are let out and all the guides and boats are engaged—write in good time, not later than the month of April or May, and have definite arrangements made well in advance, including the important detail of where to stay. Some of the best places for fish have neither cabin nor camp anywhere near. In selecting a spot like this, arrangements for tents and supplies, teams and guides, etc., should be made at least some months ahead.
Bungalow at Charlo, Bay of Chaleur
The Bay of Chaleur
Jacques Cartier entered and named La Baie des Chaleurs in the year 1535, but before that time the unnamed waters had been frequented by European fishermen, drawn there by the splendid fishing for which this bay has long been known. The name ‘Bay of Heats’ was probably given to mark the genial temperature of these waters as compared with that of the more frigid waters of the Newfoundland shore. In very early maps it is termed La Baie des Espagnols, or ‘Spanish Bay’, from the fact that many of the early fishers were from Spain. The Indian name, Ecketuam Nemaache, the English of which is ‘Sea of Fish,’ is quite appropriate, too; but the use of the name Bay of Chaleur is now universal.
The Bay is more than ninety miles long, and receives the waters of fully sixty rivers and streams. Sea and brook trout are found in nearly all of these tributaries, and in many of them the finest salmon are caught. It is rarely stormy, on account of the protection afforded by the projecting peninsulas, and the outlying islands, Shippegan and Miscou. The air is clear and pleasant, and fog is comparatively unknown. The tides, also, are quite moderate.
American fishing fleets visit these waters every year. They may be seen in the spacious harbor of Miscou Island when they come there from the outer waters for shelter in stormy weather. The Bay of Chaleur has always been a favorite fishing-ground for New Englanders; for it was a Yankee captain of whom Whittier wrote in his “Skipper Ireson’s Ride,” describing the punishment meted out to that hard-hearted man for his cruelty in abandoning to its fate a sinking craft manned by his fellow-townsmen.