The Trans-Canada Highway (Rt. 17) crosses the Goulais River northwest of Sault Ste. Marie. The river is surrounded by The Goulais River Provincial Park, which has no facilities. Reports are that the river supports a sjstainable Brook Trout population and it is wadable.
First step was to get a non-resident fishing license. Those of you who read the “Fish Across Canada” blog 12 years ago might recall our rants on Canadian Fishing Regulations. You have to be a Canadian lawyer to keep up with them. If you are lucky enough to fish across Canada for four months, you will find that every province is different. Every river is different. Then there are different regulations for sections of the stream.
My online license registration for Ontario asked for the usual information. Then you must buy and carry a hard card, which will be mailed to your home!?*# So I put the hard card in my basket. Next, do you want a Sport Fishing license or a Conservation license; 1-day, 8-days, 1-year. Well, I am here for 7 weeks, so I guess I need the 1-yr license. The sport fishing license allows you to keep more fish, while the conservation license allows you to keep fewer fish. Well, the taste of a wild Brook Trout made me look further.
On the Goulais River, with a Sport license you can keep 6 Brook Trout in a day, but with a Conservation license, you can only keep two, but none over 18 inches. That’s good with me – two for dinner, and I will return the other 18 to the stream. So I paid the $8 hard card fee and a $53 fishing license. The 6 fish/day license was $83. I printed the license on my amazing, little Canon printer that only gets used once a year, and it was purchased for this specific purpose 12 years ago, when we had to have a license in every province and often a special regulations permit. So this little Canon printer is stored in a hot or cold trailer, never being removed, and it printed perfectly.
I invited Martha to join me, sure that we were going to see some beautiful country and catch a bunch of my favorite fish of them all, the mighty Brook Trout, which is also the best tasting fish. As we drove west, I decided I would stop after catching 20 fish, only keeping two.
Four miles from the KOA traffic was stopped on the two-lane Trans-Canada highway. Road Construction. It looked like a section got totally washed out. Imagine the vast expanse of Canadian roads that are subject to snow, snow-plowing, ice and flooding. Lately, add fires to the list. Anyway, here we sat for 15 minutes while the traffic in the other lane passed us. I was reminded of someone telling us there are only two seasons in Canada, winter and road construction.
Finally, we were through and turned on Rt. 552 that follows the river a long way. The road wove through big hills or small mountains. The river was indeed beautiful. I passed up two very pretty access points due to cabins and houses nearby. Too much pressure on the fishery, I quickly surmised. We climbed up a mountain, leaving the river way below us, and the road turned to gravel. Finally it came back down to river level with a pull out and a gorgeous waterfall, or what they call the chutes. Although we didn’t see any, the river is a popular canoeing destination.
We found a place to park and I anxiously geared up. Martha was quick to comment that, “Kelly would be fishing by now!” True, but how would she know that? I mean i had to put waders on, put my rod and reel together, get my fishing vest and see what fly boxes were in there. Ahhh, Royal Coachmen, the perfect fly for Brook Trout. Probably wouldn’t need anything else.
I took out a chair for Martha to sit on a gravel bar and relax while I showed her how it’s done. Three trailers had what appeared to be a permanent position next to the river. I thought it was a provincial park! There was a fire pit and kids’ toys scattered around. I worked the Coachman with my 5-wt. Orvis rod. It seemed to be one of those rare days I was throwing it well. Of course I was totally unobstructed by trees or bushes as the river was 40 yards across. With no action, I worked my way across the 2-foot deep stream to the other side, working a run on the far side. Martha seemed content reading a book. It is a beautiful stream with an impressive waterfall ahead.
Nothing. I climbed over some huge boulders to the plunging hole beneath the waterfall. For the third time, I changed flies to something that would get down. Nothing. I noticed car tracks on a gravel bar leading to a road encroached by bushes. On the gravel bar, a healthy green plant grew with beautiful blue berries. Using Picture This app, it was identified as sand cherry, mildly toxic to humans.
So this beautiful spot is a popular destination in summer and likely in winter. I thought of 12 people coming for a weekend, catching 6 fish apiece per day! They need a new regulation for this section, and restock it. We got back in the truck and drove down to another pretty access point. I fished several flies, even a dropper nymph, but no luck. The water didn’t feel cold enough for Brook Trout – maybe years ago before all these cabins and trailers and warming temperatures.
It’s a lovely river and no doubt, a good one to float and take a swim in. Maybe another 20 miles up that gravel road we would have done better. Who knows? Back on the Trans-Canada Highway, we waited in line at the construction site – two cycles. Martha could have gotten a bike out of the back and ridden back to camp faster than I got there. Oh well, may as well get used to Canada’s two seasons.
