Costumer story - Off to the cottage!

Sylvie Fournier needs no help to set up her fishing lines, change her bait or unhook her catches. She shares her passion for fishing with her partner, another avid fisher. They’ve been heading to Pourvoirie du Lac OscarThis link will open in a new window once a year for the past 30 years. “We feel so at home there. It’s like our own private cottage.”

Sylvie lives in Magog, just minutes from Lac Memphrémagog. “Gone are the days when I fished with just a bamboo rod and a little line,” recalled Sylvie, who learned the basics of light tackle fishing from her father when she was five. “Since then I’ve refined my skills. And now that I’m retired, I can fish for trout, perch and pike every day in summer, ideally on weekday mornings. On weekends, my partner and I leave the lake to others.”

Although the couple often feels like they have their very own lake, making a trip to an outfitter has become a ritual not to be missed.

A complete change of scene

Life can be stressful at times. “Nothing beats an outfitter to enjoy real peace and quiet and recharge our batteries.” Thirty years ago, the couple started going to Pourvoirie du Lac Oscar mainly to fish for walleye. It quickly became their home away from home.

All the outfitter’s cabins are named after birds. “Every summer, I bring my hummingbird feeder. It’s amazing how many come to feed.” The wildlife is as colourful as it is diverse. “There’s lots of moose and deer. We’ve seen bears bathing in the river and a mother partridge spread out her tail—as if to say stop—to help her chicks cross in front of us. We’ve often heard a beaver warn us with a tail slap that we’re too close to its lodge.” This contact with nature is wonderful.

Every August, Sylvie and Donald rent the same cabin facing the Réservoir Blanc. “We have the last site on the river. We can go a whole week without seeing anyone. But if we need anything, we know the Farrars are nearby.”

The Farrar experience

The Farrars have been managing the lodge from one generation to the next since the 1980s. “Now it’s their daughter, Lea, who runs it, and she’s doing a fantastic job.” The Farrars offer a top-notch experience. “They love and respect nature, and that’s why we’re so fond of them. They’ve become our friends.”

A true holiday

For Sylvie, staying at the outfitter is the best way to unwind and get away from the daily grind. “I prep all the meals for the whole week in advance, to be sure of really enjoying my vacation time once we arrive.”

Although morning and evening fishing takes up a large part of the day, Sylvie loves picking blueberries and walking in the forest. “They also offer meditation sessions at the outfitter. We haven’t tried it yet because we figure that spending hours in silence in a boat is a bit like meditating,” joked Sylvie.

Eventually, it’s time to pack up. “Once we’re back home, we put a board on the fridge with the number 50 chalked on it. That’s the number of weeks until we get to go back. We change the number every week until the next trip.”

Counting down to the next visit to paradise—not a bad way to live!

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Written by Diane Laberge