George Theriault flew in northern Canada since the summer of 1934 when he began work as a dock boy at the seaplane base in South Porcupine, Ontario, according to an outline of his career in his awesome book 'Trespassing in God's Country''>
Before establishing his own air service in Chapleau in 1954, Mr. Theriault had served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and after World War II ended in 1945, he established himself as a skillful bush pilot and sportsman. I enjoy returning to "Trespassing in God's Country"perhaps because my father Flying Officer Jim Morris who was killed on active service if the RCAF on July 16, 1943, learned to fly planes from the early bush pilots who landed on the Chapleau waterfront. Had my father returned home, my mother told me he would have been a bush pilot or commercial pilot. Such was not to be but George Theriault has given me a glimpse into their lives.
Thumbing through his book again I came across a chapter entitled 'An Ice Skating Fishing Trip' -- the title intrigued me so I decided to share some of this adventure with you.
In 1950, still in the RCAF he was posted to the base at Goose Bay, Labrador, He met a couple of men who worked at the base but lived in a community named La Vallee Heureuse or Happy Valley in English. These men told him about a river that was full of sea-run speckled trout. "When the river froze , the trout would run up it to spawn in the open rapids." The only way to reach it was to cross the lake then walk.
"Once the river was about three inches thick, the native men attached their tie-on skates, and skated down the the river looking for the migrating trout. The timing was critical because the trout were only visible through the ice when the river had just frozen. Once it snowed, the fish were hidden."
The good ice skaters at the air force base were excited about a skating-fishing party, Mr. Theriault wrote. They arrived at the spot and "hurriedly put on their cold ice skates and began skating on three inches of glossy ice. "As soon as our bodies got into the rhythm of skating we started to thaw out and enjoy the bright sunny day"
They had a hearty meal at the home of the Beauvais family and then off they went to fish each with two short poles about 24 inches long with a line about the same length.
The shadow of a school of trout appeared under the ice
Here is how the fishing worked. As a fish went for their lure they quickly jerked the lure out of the water with a fish on it and they dropped their other line in the water. Amazingly they could pull about 150 trout that came flying out of these holes in just a few minutes.
More amazing!!!!
"Eventually one school of migrating trout would be joined by four or five hundred more trout in another school, and in no time, there were about fifteen hundred trout moving up the river'. They were easy to spot."
Later Mr, Theriault caught a nine and a half pound speckled trout and put it a freezer but forgot to take it with him. "As luck would have it, someone ate it".
'Trespassing in God's Country: Sixty Years of Flying in Northern Canada' is a must read for anyone interested in our north country..
George Theriault died on May 26, 2015 at age 95. I leave you with the final paragraph from his book: "That's the most amazing thing: life just goes on -- with us and without us. None of us are permanent fixtures on this landscape; we are all trespassers in God's country." May he rest in peace.
Thanks to John Theriault, one of Mr. Theriault's sons who provided me with a copy of his father's book. My email is mj.morris@live.ca