Fishing Quebec for trophy fish

Living in Montreal on the doorstep of the St Lawrence River, I am fortunate enough to be able to fish for some of the largest fish to be found in the province of Quebec, without having to travel too far. The St Lawrence River and it's tributaries, such as the Richelieu River, are filled with some giant fish, such as big carp and catfish, as well as monster musky and sturgeon. Drive a bit further, and you're into big walleye and monster pike territory. Every once in a while, I'll venture out to different area of the province of Quebec, in search of my next trophy.

Over the past couple couple months or so, the kids and I managed to land some new personal bests, including walleye, pike, and catfish, along with some respectable sized bass to boot. The species came from different management zones set by the Quebec department of wildlife, namely zones 8, 10, and 14. The zones all have varying rules, so always best to check the local laws before heading to a specific zone, rules are available online by clicking: http://www.mddelcc.gouv.qc.ca/faune/reglementation-en/peche/

I started off my week by heading out to a new waterbody in Quebec, in search of some nice carp. Having never been there, I brought along a small variety of bait, including some home made boilies, corn, tiger nuts, etc. As Ari was with me, we were able to use 2 lines, testing different baits at different depths.

The outing was terribly slow, but patience paid off. 3 hours after setting up, I got a nice run on my fishing line baited with a home made hazelnut / cream boilie. I set the hook into a decent fish, managed to turn it within 10 seconds with my Beastmaster rod. Surprisingly, the big carp headed directly at us at full speed, Ari netted it shortly after. Was very happy to see it was a fat mirror carp.

It weight in at 22.5 lbs, shattering my previous record for mirror carp which was 14 lbs. That was it for the day as far as bites on this new waterbody. Though it was very slow by our standards, I was happy to have pulled out a new PB on my first outing there.

The following day, I headed out onto the St Lawrence River, to chase some big muskies with my friend Mike. Mike is the top musky guide around Montreal, and likely the best in the entire province of Quebec. The St Lawrence river in Quebec has one of the healthiest musky populations in North America, and many trophy muskies over 50 inches long.

Mike and I have fished the many Quebec waterbodies for muskies in the past, so I new I was in for a treat. Took a few hours for the muskies to finally turn on, and when they did it was time for some rod bending, drag peeling action.

First musky was a nice 46 inch male, which is just about as big as they get (bigger ones are usually females). Mike had caught, tagged, and released the same fish 4 years before, when it was 6 inches shorter. Just another proof to show that proper handling techniques with catch and release of trophy fish actually works.

Took about 20 minutes, got another musky on the line. This one was a bit smaller, but some very noce markings on it:

Finally ended the outing with another nice musky a bit over 1 hour later. This one was bigger, a lot thicker, and again, very nicely marked, typical of this region of Quebec.

All in all, a great start to my week, hope to possibly be able to squeak out one more outing if I'm really lucky.

Mike and I both offer guided outings, contact either of us by clicking:
http://freshwaterphil.com/fishing-guides.cfm