Fly Fishing at Camp Harmony

The journey to Camp Harmony for me is always the longest, but as far as I am concerned it is always worth the time and distance it takes me to make it. My theory on this pretty simple, if it was easy to get to, then it just would not be that much fun.

Basically from my house in Bangkok, Thailand to Camp Harmony in Robersonville, New Brunswick will take me well over 24 hours of travel time. Upon which I will have traveled by 2 taxis, 1 bus, 3 airplanes and one rental car. Afterwhich, we will make it to the camp to fish on the evening shift.   

In 1888, Sage published "The Restigouche and its Salmon Fishing", a fly-fishing classic that further spread the fame of the river system.

Dean Sage, William H. Sage, Col. Oliver H. Payne, William C., Whitnerry and Charles Lawrence, decided to rebuild an improved Camp Harmony in 1895-1896.

Stanford White designed the new Camp as a sprawling log building with a very large octagonal living room-dining room surmounted by a peaked roof. This became the central point from which the two bedroom wings radiated, one overlooking the Restigouche River, the other the Upsalquitch. The whole being surrounded by a comfortable porch affording magnificent views up and down both rivers. All of the golden oak furniture was shipped to Matapedia and hauled up river by scow. Except for the addition of electric light and more comfortable easy chairs and sofas, as well as bathrooms, the Camp remains exactly as it was in 1896 and a concerted effort has been made to keep it so. 

For more information about the camp you can go to: http://www.campharmony.ca

Last Year

The Group:
Last year we went to Camp Harmony from June 26th – July 3rd and this trip included the following participants:
1. Ranny and Shelby Wyckoff
2. The Beck’s
3. Loise Chapin
4. Chuck and JoAnne
5. Roy IV
6. Roy III and Nancy Chapin

In the past most the time we tend to go early to mid June as you tend to get larger Salmon with fewer grilse, which means less action but bigger fish. Last year for me was good, although I did not land any Salmon until my last day and on the last pool (Camp) upon which I was able to land 2 nice size Salmon back to back. One was 21” and the other 23” both beautiful fish and each put up a great fight. Both were release back without any problems or issues.

The weather last year a mix of nice sunny day and a few with rain and temperature was pretty moderate throughout the week. However, you never know what you will get and it can go from hot to freezing in less then a day.     

The Food:
The culinary experience at Camp Harmony is one not to be missed. It very home-style but extremely good, everything is made from scratch and home cook in the huge kitchen in the back of the lodge. At Camp Harmony you will have nice breakfast in morning, then a big lunch in the afternoon and finally a light dinner which is served later in the evening.

The Fishing:
Camp Harmony is located on 7 miles of private water which owned and operated by the camp. There are two main fishing sessions in morning from 9 – 1 and the evening from 6 – 8pm and you fish one pool per session, of which there are about 8 pools available. The fishing can be tough but extremely satisfying when you land a nice a size salmon. All fly fishing is from standing in a canoe and fishing the pool in a methodical manner. This is an experiance truley not to be missed.

If you would like to learn more about Salmon click here.

Sat 07/22/06 - The Trip Begins

Well I took off late last night from Bangkok, Thailand and i must have been lucky evening as i got up graded from ecomony to bussiness class - wow talk about a good time for a upgrade you can't get any better then that wih a +17 hour direct flight. 

The flight was good as i slept most of the way and arrived at 7.30 am into JFK upon which i had to take the shuttle to La Gaurida Airport to catch the delta shuttle to Boston. Unforntunatley i didn't know that the delta shuttle is located in a different part of the airport upon which i had to take another shuttle to. However the good news was that i made it in time to make the 9.30 to Boston as i was orginally booked on 11.30 so I was able to get into Boston and hour earlier.

Tonight i will be staying at the Hyatt Harborside hotel which is not a bad hotel eventhough it has recieved only a 3 1/2 star rating on Yahoo Travel. they actually changed my room as the internet was not working correctly and gave me a harbor view room in the process.