Roughing it in velvet

It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I am going to be short on words today and long on pictures.  I have just returned from another fantastic trip to paradise, or as they prefer to call it in Quebec, La Réserve Beauchêne and the pictures speak for themselves.

Beauchêne is the stunning 50,000-acre paradise lying immediately east of the town of Témiscaming, Quebec on the upper Ottawa River about 50 kilometres east of North Bay, Ontario.  This makes it one of the most accessible trophy fishing locations on earth.  I mean you can literally drive to the front door of the resort, yet it offers remote, fly-in, wilderness quality fishing.

But lest you think you’re going to be roughing it, let me assure you that is not the case.  The accommodations are nothing short of plush, the five star meals are as good as anything you’ll get at a fancy restaurant in Toronto, Montreal, New York or Los Angeles and the fishing is out-of-this world.

Indeed, it is always trophy time at La Réserve Beauchêne with walleye, northern pike, smallmouth bass, speckled trout, lake trout and splake sharing the marquee in the 36 lakes that make up the carefully managed private preserve.

I was at Beauchêne researching some upcoming magazine features on trout fishing.  Putting into practice some of the things I’ve learned from world-renowned fly fisherman, John Horsey, who captained the 2008 Gold Medal winning Team England at the World Fly Fishing Championships in Scotland.

Outdoor Canada Editor, Patrick Walsh and I had the good fortune to meet John earlier in the year when, by pure coincidence and good luck, we were all fishing guests at Wolf Lake Lodge in the Yukon.  As anglers are accustomed to doing, we immediately became the best of friends.

As a matter of fact, John was so helpful and engaging.  He showed Patrick and me several “insider” techniques – like the Czech nymph technique and Loch style fishing with “buzzers” … that helped him and his English team mates win the coveted World Championships.  I’ll be sharing those hitherto secret methods with readers in upcoming editions of Outdoor Canada Magazine.  And just let me say, based on my experience at La Réserve Beauchêne last week, Canadian trout enjoy the presentations every bit as much as their European and British cousins.

Indeed, the proof of the pudding is in the pictures.