Le Pourvoyeur de l'Est Canadien

On the shores of Lac Mer Bleue, at Cayamant in Western Quebec, Eastern Canadian Outfitters (Le Pourvoyeur de l'Est Canadien) runs an exclusive-rights territory where you will regularly find yourself the only boat on the water. The lake measures 5 km by 2 km, is almost 300 feet deep and is full of islands, rock shoals, sandy back bays and submerged weedbeds. Best known for its trophy large and smallmouth bass, it also holds healthy populations of northern pike, walleye, lake trout and whitefish; kids catch fish easily on a worm and bobber, straight off the dock or the shoreline, on lacs Mer Bleue and Lacroix. A fishery management plan now in its sixteenth year governs the harvest: after seven years of stocking and spawning-bed rehabilitation, walleye has just reopened at one fish per stay per person, within a 14 to 21 inch slot. Waterfront lodging ranges from the "Managers Cabin" to the two-bedroom "The Garage" unit (huge deck, sleeps up to 8) and the seasonal "Paradise Point" outpost camp, rented by the month and reached by boat. Every cabin has a full kitchen, electricity and free WiFi. For hunting, the territory offers moose (two exclusive sectors of roughly 15 sq km, at most three groups a year, prepared stands and salt licks, one bull per group, self-guided by the week or fully guided), black bear (guided hunts over baited sites, four hunters per week, bears of 180-200 lb in spring and 250-300 lb in fall), white-tailed deer (four zones of about 1,500 acres, Quality Deer Management, a minimum of three points on one side) and small game over pointing dogs (ruffed grouse, snowshoe hare and woodcock when the migration passes through). A family outfitter run by Rob Argue, a fish and wildlife management technician and the owner since 2010.