The Matapédia falls a hundred and twelve kilometres out of its namesake lake in the Notre-Dame Mountains, cutting a north–south divide through the Gaspé highlands before it meets the Restigouche at the Quebec–New Brunswick line. For sixty-five kilometres through the Matapédia Valley it is classic Canadian salmon water — long, deep, slow-moving holding pools strung between sharp rapids, draining a catchment of some 3,900 square kilometres of Appalachian forest. Over a hundred named pools lie across its four sectors, the most storied where the Causapscal tributary enters and gathers running fish. This is a big, clear, cold river that grows large salmon — three to five thousand return each season, and fish over forty pounds are not unknown. The bed is Appalachian cobble and ledge; the famous pools are deep and much of the river is fished from a canoe, with wading on the gravel tails.

Wading: Deep cold pools — much of it canoe water