Here I go again jumping around and skipping blocks of time like a Star Wars movie. There’s so many stories backed up now that I barely know where to begin. But writing “backed up” reminded me of my most recent adventure here. I think I need to supply some better background information. This story truly began back on June 29th. In one of my past posts I mentioned a “new lake and a new adventure” while writing of my experiences on the Rivière De Jardins on Saturday June 28th.On Sunday June 29th I ventured back up into ZEC Restigo to explore a pair of lakes. Lac Charette and Lac Sairs are their names. This story will take some to tell.

On June 29th after traveling the dirt roads of the back bush country for the second time in two days, I arrived at the launch at Lac Charette. There were other vehicles there with empty boat trailers and other random vehicles as well. Something was obviously of interest to people given the number of vehicles.My guess was good fishing. Gracie and I set off across the rather calm lake and did a little fishing on the far shore. I bagged a couple small pike right off the bat. Surprising as it was almost noon and rather hot. Not ideal conditions for catching pike. I noticed that there were two big beaver huts along the shore. One was massive. Beaver were obviously plentiful here. Normal for Quebec it seems.

Our destination was the outlet of Lac Charette. Paddling down it would bring us to our main destination:Lac Sairs. Brennan Lake in English. As Gracie and I entered the outlet of the lake it was obvious that the beaver were busy trying to dam it up. But why? They had the entire deep lake at their disposal. Why a dam? Interesting creatures these beaver! A narrow,open breach allowed us to pass easily over the dam in some fast moving water. Down the windy creek towards Lac Sairs we passed through a couple of other beaver dams. Easy going and not a problem. But the beaver had been interested in taming the creek over the years. Given the amount of water flowing down the creek it was a difficult task for them. Good for us though that they couldn’t block the creek. Crossing beaver dams can be a pain!

We eventually reached Lac Sairs and the size of it was rather intimidating! There were some waves but nothing we couldn’t handle as we set off for an island to the east of us. Lac Sairs was very sandy with several beaches exposed on the wooded shorelines.Snag free fishing with a sandy bottom I surmised. Nice! A boat with a small motor suddenly came out of the creek and passed us with two older fellows in it. We waved at each other.They headed over to a spot, anchored, and began fishing. They obviously knew what they were doing I decided. I made a mental note of their location. Easy, as they were near the mouth of the Kipawa River where it enters the lake. They obviously knew something about the lake.

We found the island , we had first spotted after exiting the creek, unoccupied and explored some of it. Obviously well used as a camp site by lots of people. There were the usual things you find at a well worn site: Nails driven into sap bleeding pine trees. Axe hacked trees and stumps of those that had been felled. A crusty fire ring with burnt beer cans and cigarette butts scattered about. Tent rope tied between trees for clothes lines. There were an assortment of old metal grills hanging from nails on one big pine tree. Yes this site had seen a lot of use! A couple of old plastic buckets sat below a fish cleaning station someone had built. Pretty typical really. It was a beautiful location though! Sandy beaches on both sides with shallow water access for watercraft. I could see why it was so popular. But I knew firewood would be scarce at such a location and made a mental note of it.

Gracie and I hung out on the island for a time before trying our luck fishing near it but we had no luck. We could see a group of campers far down the lake on another sandy point. The lower part of the lake was huge and not very inviting for canoeing. I was a little nervous about the return trip across the big part of the lake in the rising wind and waves so we headed back to the creek inlet and fished there while. The older fellows passed us again and headed back up the creek. I thought it strange that they left so quickly after only fishing for an hour or so. Could they have limited out that quickly? Perhaps. It does happen. They had obviously targeted a certain spot and had never moved off it. Interesting! As for me? All I had caught on Lac Sairs was another small pike.

As Gracie and I paddled back up the creek two more boats passed us. Something was definitely happening on Lac Sairs! People were working fairly hard to get boats towed into Lac Charette to access Lac Sairs. Given the rough roads it must indicate good fishing! The bugs were a little annoying but bearable out in the sun. The bugs didn’t seem to be deterring people from coming here. All this was rather perplexing and I began to think about returning to Lac Sairs. But when and how? I could never pound my boat and trailer over those rough roads for a few walleye! And the canoe was rather small for large Lac Sairs. What to do? I decided to mull over it later once I could better concentrate on the subject in the comfort of the truck on the drive back to Camp Sparrow Song. Home base would provide better access to the internet and maps.

Gracie and I fished more on Lac Charette once we exited the creek. I had a fish on that looked like a walleye but it threw the hooks before I could get it to the canoe. Further up the lake there was some fast moving water below a beaver dam that was entering the lake. The waves were bad out on the lake so we fished below the beaver dam in the rushing water. I caught 5 more small pike and they were pretty scrappy in the fast moving inlet. Fun times! But no walleye were caught that afternoon. I left the lake a little frustrated but happy to have caught and released 7 pike. It would have to do!

So that’s a detailed description of the Lac Charette to Lac Sairs probe adventure. I later spent a lot of time considering options for a return trip and how would I do it. A small boat would be ideal. Smaller than my 14’ Alumacraft and with a smaller motor. But time passed and I came no closer to solving the logistics of getting any boat into Lac Sairs. But then I got to thinking about canoe camping there as one final adventure before I leaving Quebec in the fall. Remember my post about the failed hike into Turner Falls? The Forgotten Path post. What if? What if I paddled to Lac Sairs and set up camp near the river? Turner Falls is upstream past a lower set of rapids that can be portaged I had read. I could manage that expedition right? And possibly seek out some walleye while I was there. So the plan began before I even returned from taking my boat home recently. I returned to Quebec last Tuesday after one week home. The weather was promising and moose hunting season hadn’t begun yet. There was still time to make a Lac Sairs expedition happen!

Wednesday morning I got packed quickly and got ready for canoe camping on Lac Sairs. I packed plenty of food and warm clothing. I even found room for my portable fish finder! Talk about priorities! I pulled my ZEC permits Wednesday afternoon and off we went up the “819” bound for Lac Charette once more. Traffic was light but I met a log truck with its huge billowing clouds of dust. Wow! I pulled over till it passed. BTW. They have the right of way.

The “819” is very familiar to me now and I cruise it fairly fast. After the turn at kilometer 38 the next 10 kilometers are washboarded bad! The truck jitters all over the place. So I slow way down. The final stretch to the launch is ok but slow going. Haste makes waste the old saying goes. The truck is the only way out so I protect it from damage. Common sense is beneficial in the back bush country.

At the launch I quickly unloaded the canoe, carefully packed it, and parked the truck. Off we went across the very calm lake. We were pretty heavy but very stable. This was going to be easy! But I was wrong about that! As we neared the outlet to the lake where the creek started a pair of otters dove off shore and surfaced nearby watching us. Very cool! Things looked rather tricky at the formerly breached beaver dam that we had floated over in late June. Two large piles of sticks lay on either side of the former breach. People had been pulling out the dam over the summer to get their boats through but the beaver were winning now. This was a bit of a dilemma for Gracie and I with our heavily laden canoe.

I managed to slide the canoe over the dam with a great deal of effort and some tricky balancing. Gracie never budged so I had her 80 plus pounds to lug also. But we made it! I noticed right away the level of the creek. It was super low and much different than it had been in late June. But it was passable at least, lucky for us. That is until we hit the next beaver dam. It was an old one fortunately and mostly flat but I still had to wrestle the canoe across. Quite the workout! Almost more than I could handle alone! Those damn pesky beaver I thought!

We encountered one more old beaver dam in the creek but managed to just scoot over it. Eventually we reached Lac Sairs and were greeted by a very altered shoreline. The water was rather low. The formerly submerged sand bars and beaches had grown to larger proportions. There was the odor of wet vegetation that had been exposed to the air and sunlight. A very different lake now existed. It was obvious that the water was dropping almost daily.But the lake was still massive at any rate.

There were no big waves so we fast tracked directly to the island we had visited in late June. No one was there so we claimed the campsite and got camp set up. Step one was complete! I found a nice flat spot for the tent.There was a picnic table also that hadn’t been there in late June. I had brought a folding chair which I planned to put to good use.

It was time to explore after a quick search for firewood. Firewood was in short supply after months of people camping on the island. Toilet paper clumps weren’t scarce though. They dotted the shoreline and were all through the woods. It was obvious that a big rain storm had recently scoured the island. A grand flushing of sorts that I was thankful had happened.Human waste is disgusting to camp near. Yuck!🤢

I named the island “TP Island” after that. Not to be confused with Teepee. There’s a big difference. I set out cleaning up the campsite by starting a garbage bag. People had disrespected the island I’m sorry to say. I found a bucket with several rotten fish in it with a collection of bones. Pretty gross and I dumped the mess far away from the campsite. Yuck! 🤢

As for firewood? Lucky for me there was old dry driftwood hidden in the brush left by the higher waters of spring. How people had missed it all summer is beyond me but I managed to collect enough of it for the evening fire that I hoped to enjoy. I also found some nice pine resin wood that I cut off an old dry stump. A bonanza on the wood depleted island. I would manage I decided. I also found some hollow birch bark logs that I salvaged for tinder. All was well in the firewood department. But only for one night. Hardwood was difficult to find but I did find some to use for cooking. Provided that I caught a walleye or two!

I got my fishing poles ready and set up the fish finder. My goal was to reach the lower rapids in the Kipawa River. Not too far a paddle from the campsite I soon learned. At the time I couldn’t hear the rapids because of the direction of the wind. We left the campsite beach much lighter with the gear now on shore and paddled to the entrance of the river. It started out slow moving and was very dark. Only about 12’ deep on average. I passed a dry beaver house sitting up on the bank. They were beginning to work on it for winter and had collected some green brush to start their winter feed pile. But if the water didn’t come back up it was going to be rather tough for them. Did they know something? Was this a normal occurrence or unusual drought situation? Quebec had been getting some rainfall but nothing drastic. The beaver might need to make some housing adjustments if the water stayed low.

There was a huge landslide of trees and logs that had slide into the edge of the river. Continued erosion of the sandy banks it appeared from the high waters of spring no doubt. Ice out must be wild here I mused.

Water certainly is a powerful force and it’s evident in the piles of debris and sunken logs that lay under the surface of the river. I watched for sunken “sleepers” that could potentially tip us over. Always a possibility. Sunken logs can be rather creepy at times I find.

I rounded a weedy curve and thought it looked fishy. I tossed a Mepps Aglia and caught a small pike next to shore. Further up a huge lagoon sat below a tall sand bank. Obviously eroded by years of high water. It was eerily unstable looking almost. No place I wanted to climb around that’s for sure. The whole location was spooky for some reason. I had another small pike poke at my lure near the lagoon next to a heavy weed bed but it lost interest.I ended up just below the rapids but due to the low water they were fairly tame. I fished around in sections of them but only caught one more small pike. There were plentiful snags in the rocks and I soon tired of the location. I made a note of the portage trail below the rapids. Thursday’s planned excursion.I floated down to the curve of the lagoon. It was an impressive 30’ deep in spots. Some fish showed on the sonar near bottom but they didn’t bite. I decided to get back to the big lake and try my luck there. The lagoon made me nervous for some unknown reason. I was happier away from it.

Down where the river enters the lake, I encountered a most unexpected and unusual thing. In line with TP Island a sandbar practically blocks the flow of water! A narrow rift exists that is only about 8” deep and is fast moving. A person could literally walk across the lake here! I named the main section “ The Rift” and quickly realized that good fishing might lay just off a drop off where the big lake widens out more. I tossed a worm covered jig head behind me as the inches deep water changed rapidly to eventually 30’. My line got heavy and tight suddenly. I reeled up and was rewarded with a fighting fish! I soon netted a nicely colored, legal 16” walleye! Dinner was secured! Soon after I had another fish on and it was a fighter! But it was a medium sized pike that I released after a feisty battle. After that the bite died and I fought the wind and small waves in the rift current until I tired of fishing in it. The Rift showed potential and I was glad to have noticed it.

Back at camp I cleaned the walleye and started my fire. Once I had enough coals I lightly battered it and cooked it up. Yummy! Picture perfect as darkness overtook the campsite. Golden, crunchy goodness that only the taste of walleye can deliver. I sat by the fire until I ran out of firewood after feeding Gracie. She enjoyed one small piece of fish that I was too stuffed to eat. One walleye was all we had needed.

And that’s how the day ended. Warm and fed. The tent nearby with my sleeping bag ready to go. No air mattress though. That was hard. Literally. But my sleeping bag is rated for 20 degrees Fahrenheit. I would manage. Loons called and the wind flickered fire danced on the tent wall. My day was complete. I had called home on my satellite phone. All was well! The adventure was well underway and time was passing. But I was still rather irritated at the beaver because of the dams. I felt more connected to the otters I had seen in that moment. Quite a difference for me the lover of all things beaver. But otters? Yes! Fishing and eating fish! Roaming and frolicking a long the lakes and creeks. Carefree and happy not burdened by building dams and industrious tasks. Was I more like the otters in my moment? Yes!

But I still respected the beaver for what they bring to nature. One splashed near the canoe just as I was dozing off. Ok beaver I thought. Now I am irritated again. But it was of little concern. I was the invader of their world actually. What right did I have to be irritated? Perhaps they were irritated at me! 🤣

Sleep came slowly in my new surroundings but not because I am afraid to sleep in the bush. I sleep with two knives and an axe. I’ll come awake ready carve a fillet off anything that invades my personal space. That’s the mindset anyway. I was overexcited I suppose. Over stimulated by the location and the experience. But the calling loons eventually serenaded me off to sleep as they answered each other around the lake. Gracie was lying close by outside the tent. All was well and tomorrow was another day. No rain and no bugs! What more could a camper wish for than this? ✍️