The Matapédia River
is a river
on the Gaspé Peninsula
in the province of Quebec
. It runs 65 km from Lake Matapédia
) to the village of Matapédia
where it flows into the Restigouche River
on the interprovincial boundary with New Brunswick
Matapédia Lake becomes Matapédia River at Amqui
(population 6800), where it is a meander
river for a distance of approximately 15 km before widening to an elongated lake 1 km wide, and 7 km long at Lac-au-Saumon
, and then narrowing back to a river below the dam in the village of Causapscal
. A major tributary Causapscal River
joins the Matapedia River below the dam in the village of the same name and the "Junction Pool" located there is a very popular salmon pool among anglers.
A section of Route 132
travels along most of the river in the Matapedia Valley making access relatively easy.
The river's name means "meeting of waters" in Mi'kmaq
, most likely referring to the confluence of it and the larger Restigouche River at its mouth.
The Matapédia is a world renowned Atlantic salmon
fishing river and was once given the title "The Fishing Capital of the World" due to the abundance of large, healthy bright salmon
. Due to water pollution
in the river, disease and overfishing, the salmon population and maximum recorded specimen size have fallen appreciably since the beginning of the middle of the 20th century. The... Read More