When I first started guiding at Brule in 1983, there were 3 guides on staff and we fished our private water on the Little Cascapedia. We made the odd excursion to the government sectors of the Little and Grand Cascapedias but stuck mainly to our private water. One boat would leave around 7 AM and fish through the day until around 3 pm. The 2nd boat would leave around 9 am and come down behind the first boat and fish until 5 pm. We fished mainly the upper sector without much concern for the lower end. Understandably I got tired of following behind the other boat and so we started fishing the lower sector and then trucking the boat up to the top sector and fishing down. This system took more time than the original and we began to incorporate a rotation. Eventually, morning and evening runs were instituted along with a meal break at camp between 1 and 4pm, as opposed to the shore lunch through the heat of the day.
Now 27 years later, in response to our ever increasing desire to provide greater opportunities, we have evolved and refined our rotations even more, incorporating a private sector on the Grande Cascapedia and a rover boat on the public sectors of the Grand, Little and Bonaventure rivers. By creating a system of rotations that would attempt to take advantage of which sectors were fishing best and trying to get our sports into those sectors, we have evolved a system that if we were guests at Brule, we would be pleased with the variety and opportunities offered to get into fish. The most important aspect of this system is the flexibility built in to offer our guests, not just a variety of new water, but the ghillies with the expertise on those beats. Secondly, we are still utilizing our private water as the backbone of our sports experience.
In the past, guest rotations were fixed and at any time everyone knew which beat they would be fishing throughout the week of their stay and only extraordinary circumstance would change it. Now, however, in order to take advantage of the multiple opportunities the area offers, we offer a flexibility to our guests that could see their fishing options change with only a minute's notice. Guests receive a loose framework of their week's fishing and I have learned to make sure that all the pros and cons of every option are discussed with the guests. Why? Because often these opportunities are established by the government sector draws (lotto like 48 hour or 72 hour drawings of names) or sudden cancellations on controlled sectors and may offer an opportunity that may arise only every blue moon.
One thing that experience has taught us is that no two seasons are the same. Variables such as fish numbers and size, weather conditions, water levels, temperature and a myriad of others change from year to year to give each season their own fingerprint. Having said that, experience also offers the opportunity to recognize when conditions are similar to past seasons and the options those conditions can offer to best hook a fish.
We recognize that as great as our private water has been to us, representing on avg. 70% of our total catch over
the last 5 years, at times they are not as prolific as some of the public sectors and by getting on some of these sectors we are increasing our catch opportunities Furthermore, variety is the spice of life and this can be especially true in salmon fishing. So the flexibility offers a greater opportunity to fish different water as well. It is entirely possible that one morning we will be fishing the private sector on the Grande Cascapedia and then the upper sectors of the Bonaventure river in the evening.
the last 5 years, at times they are not as prolific as some of the public sectors and by getting on some of these sectors we are increasing our catch opportunities Furthermore, variety is the spice of life and this can be especially true in salmon fishing. So the flexibility offers a greater opportunity to fish different water as well. It is entirely possible that one morning we will be fishing the private sector on the Grande Cascapedia and then the upper sectors of the Bonaventure river in the evening. 
Traditions are very important to us, equally important is to continue to improve on our client commitment without sacrificing our traditions. Rather than standing on our accomplishments, we're committed to evolving into an outfit that marries the best of the old with the best of the new. Based on client feedback and our own intuition, we feel the flexibility that we are building into our schedule represents that idea. We are really looking forward to sharing as great a variety of the water in our area with our guests as possible...as long as and especially if, it increases our opportunity to hook-up some feesh.
