McQ
06-30-2003, 01:19 PM
Fellow WC member PeeKay just returned from a trip to this resort in Quebec - thought I'd share his email with you,
Hi Bill,
Just got back from the Gouin on Saturday & thus just going thru my emails this morning...I will give you a full run-down as you have been very helpful with me & you may encounter others who might ask about Oasis.
Our trip was really great....the fish were plentiful & the scenery was
simply amazing. The weather held up nicely, but with the temps over 30 degrees on the first few days, midday fishing was ruled out in favor of sweaty naps!!!! I obviously knew the body of water was big, but it's not until you get on the water, & you relate the structures to a map, that you realize how limited your options are when you are using camp boats with 15 h.p. with one tank in the boat. Also, none of us were real experienced in dealing with such large waters so we didn't have the confidence to make any long treks. Thus, we never got to the spots you helped me mark on my map, but with the water levels down as they were, I wasn't sure that these structures were still accessible or would hold fish as they might at times with normal water levels. We were told the water levels were still about 12 feet below normal, which limited the access to waters directly to the south & then east of the lodge(Lac Brochu). As it turned out, the best fishing & majority of our time was spent in a channel just out of view of the lodge. The channel probably wasn't even a kilometer wide & no more than 2 or 3 kilometers long and no more than 12 or 13 feet at its deepest point. But at the rate we were pulling in fish from this stretch of water, it was hard to justify taking a chance on a spot that we weren't even sure that we'd find.
Although we never hooked into a wallhanger, 2 - 4 lber's were common & saw others at the fish cleaning station with some real nice fish(several that looked to be anywhere from 5 to 8 lbs.)....since the 3 of us were/are pretty much novice fishermen, I thought the most logical approach was to troll worm harnesses/bouncers to find productive water & if we found them schooled up, we could then jig or possibly use slip sinker rigs. As it turned out, the productive channel we found was basically just a large shallow flat, & many
from the lodge just trolled this channel with either harnesses or
cranks(that could get expensive with #'s of cranks you could lose in shallow log-filled waters). One of the evenings, myself & the other guy in my boat had 3 double headers, which I thought was hilarious because, normally, as soon as a guy has a fish on, the other guy is usually clearing his line from the water & getting the net ready....it was getting to be old hat after awhile...ho-hum, another double header, lol!!!!!
FYI & for others....
I spoke with Bernard Leblanc & he built the main log lodge(hand hewn
logs!!!!) in 1985. They also have an airstrip for wheeled planes. The cabin we stayed in & the rest I saw are all made from logs and are basically equipped & rustic. They have running cold water, stoves, fridges, wood-burning heaters, indoor toilets & access to hot water showers at the main lodge. Main lodge has a full restaurant for American plan visitors, a small tackle/bait store & a central freezer in the fish-cleaning area for your catch. Boats are 14 & 16 ft. fibreglass boats with newish 15 h.p. motors. One minor irritant was that the cabin fridges were electric & with camp power run by generator & turned off about 10:30 nightly, some food tended to spoil quickly due to the hot temps. Another small complaint brought up by some gentlemen from Massachusetts was that they filled their boat's tank on the morning of their last full day & hardly used any gas up,
but did not receive credit for it in their overall bill. Not really a fair policy if you aren't aware of it beforehand & considering camp gas prices are pretty steep(obviously due to the costs of getting it to the island).
Otherwise, I found Bernard & Jacky(wife) to be very nice hosts & would
gladly recommend their lodge/cabins to others.
Again, overall it was a great trip....we had 3 dinners, 1 lunch of walleye in our 5 day trip(a couple of badly hooked pike also that we kept) & each brought home some fish for a few dinners to remind us of our trip thru the year, the rest were gladly thrown back for the next groups....I would think the Gouin would be a phenomenal place to explore with a properly outfitted boat, but that will take much more kissing up to the wife on my part!!!!
Thanks again for your help, and good luck & good fishing on your trips!!
I'm all typed out!!!!
Peter
p.s. here is the link to the Oasis website with further info if you want topass on to anyone who might ask.
http://www.fishing-quebec.com/
Hi Bill,
Just got back from the Gouin on Saturday & thus just going thru my emails this morning...I will give you a full run-down as you have been very helpful with me & you may encounter others who might ask about Oasis.
Our trip was really great....the fish were plentiful & the scenery was
simply amazing. The weather held up nicely, but with the temps over 30 degrees on the first few days, midday fishing was ruled out in favor of sweaty naps!!!! I obviously knew the body of water was big, but it's not until you get on the water, & you relate the structures to a map, that you realize how limited your options are when you are using camp boats with 15 h.p. with one tank in the boat. Also, none of us were real experienced in dealing with such large waters so we didn't have the confidence to make any long treks. Thus, we never got to the spots you helped me mark on my map, but with the water levels down as they were, I wasn't sure that these structures were still accessible or would hold fish as they might at times with normal water levels. We were told the water levels were still about 12 feet below normal, which limited the access to waters directly to the south & then east of the lodge(Lac Brochu). As it turned out, the best fishing & majority of our time was spent in a channel just out of view of the lodge. The channel probably wasn't even a kilometer wide & no more than 2 or 3 kilometers long and no more than 12 or 13 feet at its deepest point. But at the rate we were pulling in fish from this stretch of water, it was hard to justify taking a chance on a spot that we weren't even sure that we'd find.
Although we never hooked into a wallhanger, 2 - 4 lber's were common & saw others at the fish cleaning station with some real nice fish(several that looked to be anywhere from 5 to 8 lbs.)....since the 3 of us were/are pretty much novice fishermen, I thought the most logical approach was to troll worm harnesses/bouncers to find productive water & if we found them schooled up, we could then jig or possibly use slip sinker rigs. As it turned out, the productive channel we found was basically just a large shallow flat, & many
from the lodge just trolled this channel with either harnesses or
cranks(that could get expensive with #'s of cranks you could lose in shallow log-filled waters). One of the evenings, myself & the other guy in my boat had 3 double headers, which I thought was hilarious because, normally, as soon as a guy has a fish on, the other guy is usually clearing his line from the water & getting the net ready....it was getting to be old hat after awhile...ho-hum, another double header, lol!!!!!
FYI & for others....
I spoke with Bernard Leblanc & he built the main log lodge(hand hewn
logs!!!!) in 1985. They also have an airstrip for wheeled planes. The cabin we stayed in & the rest I saw are all made from logs and are basically equipped & rustic. They have running cold water, stoves, fridges, wood-burning heaters, indoor toilets & access to hot water showers at the main lodge. Main lodge has a full restaurant for American plan visitors, a small tackle/bait store & a central freezer in the fish-cleaning area for your catch. Boats are 14 & 16 ft. fibreglass boats with newish 15 h.p. motors. One minor irritant was that the cabin fridges were electric & with camp power run by generator & turned off about 10:30 nightly, some food tended to spoil quickly due to the hot temps. Another small complaint brought up by some gentlemen from Massachusetts was that they filled their boat's tank on the morning of their last full day & hardly used any gas up,
but did not receive credit for it in their overall bill. Not really a fair policy if you aren't aware of it beforehand & considering camp gas prices are pretty steep(obviously due to the costs of getting it to the island).
Otherwise, I found Bernard & Jacky(wife) to be very nice hosts & would
gladly recommend their lodge/cabins to others.
Again, overall it was a great trip....we had 3 dinners, 1 lunch of walleye in our 5 day trip(a couple of badly hooked pike also that we kept) & each brought home some fish for a few dinners to remind us of our trip thru the year, the rest were gladly thrown back for the next groups....I would think the Gouin would be a phenomenal place to explore with a properly outfitted boat, but that will take much more kissing up to the wife on my part!!!!
Thanks again for your help, and good luck & good fishing on your trips!!
I'm all typed out!!!!
Peter
p.s. here is the link to the Oasis website with further info if you want topass on to anyone who might ask.
http://www.fishing-quebec.com/