years ago, a group of anglers from Canada and the United States hired out Clarence Burton and James McWhirter to hire men and get the Little Cascapedia prepared for their arrival to fish for Atlantic salmon and sea trout. As early as 1878 there was an interest in setting up a salmon fishing club on the Little Cascapedia. However it was not until 1883 that these plans were enacted and the beginnings of three lodges built along the river for the purpose of housing members of a club.

Originally the camps consisted of log walls with canvas tops. By 1890 the club had received complete leasing control of the Little Cascapedia from the Queen’s representatives in Canada and a more permanent construction of the lodges began. The original club became defunct in 1930 and the second club took over. The lease ended in 1945 although there was still a good chunk of water owned by the last club member, Harry F. Maclean. This eventually formed the nucleus of what is now Camp Brûlé. Check out the website for a more detailed history of the lodge and photos.

ide reports of increased runs have been supported by ASF Winter Journal. The Bonaventure river reported around 2600 grilse and salmon, the Grande Cascapedia reported around 1400 grilse and salmon and the Petite Cascapedia was near 600 grilse and salmon. We believe that many of these counts may be low, as so many fish only came in after the counts in September.

On all three rivers, high grilse counts were made, leading to suggestions that the 2003 season could see an increase in number of 2 year MSW (multi-sea wintering) salmon. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.