Fishing in the Mauricie
By Roger Narbonne
One of the great things about living in the Maurice is that there are many places to go fishing! In this text I am going to talk about different types of fishing, fly fishing (my favourite) and what it is like to fish in Québec.
Three of the most common types of fishing are spinning, trolling and jig fishing. Spinning fishing is when you swing your line forwards into the water and you bring it back with your reel. Trolling is a bit like the spinning technique, but you do not bring back your line. Instead, the boat moves slowly and when it bites you know that that is a good place to fish. Finally comes jig fishing. You must drop your line very deep into the water and you make little movements with your rod which attract the fish.
I enjoy all these types of fishing, but my favourite is fly fishing and I wanted to talk more about it. It consists of an artificial fly attached at the end of your line. You swing your rod backwards and forwards which propels your line backwards and forwards to go in or on top of the water. Now there are two types of flies: dry and wet flies. As simple as it is, dry flies go on the water and wet flies go in the water. When a fish bites on your wet fly, you make a fast movement with your rod like any kind of fishing. But when the fish bites on your dry fly, you must pull on your loose line. Fly fishing may seem more complicated but as you practice it you will get better.
You’re probably asking yourself; What fish can you catch in Quebec? So many! In the Saint-Laurence River, around the Trois-Rivières area, you can fish pike, musky, walleye and bass. These are only the popular species! Did you know that there also are about 65 salmon rivers in Québec? There are also plenty of lakes and rivers that are habitat for trout. In Québec, we have brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, grey trout and more. I have fished for trout in rivers and fly fished for brook trout in lakes. I also got to fish pike and walleye near Lac St Pierre.
The last thing you need to know about fishing is that you need a permit. Kids from 6 to 18 years old can do a course online for free called “Pêche en Herbe”. In Québec you can fish all kinds of fish in all kinds of bodies of water. I hope you will enjoy it.
Roger is an avid fishing enthusiast. If you have any questions for Roger, please leave them in the comments section below. The website “Pêche en herbe” is available in English as “Young Sport Fishers’ Program” and can be found here.
