MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Spring 2019

42 ML BLUE SPRING 2019 T ake a backroad drive just about anywhere in Grey and Bruce counties and you’re going to encounter the same environment eventually: idyllic and pristine wilderness with a river slicing through the meat of a thick forest. For years, I figured those waterways were essentially hero rivers—good for a postcard memory, or maybe a social media post, but never a site for world-class fly-fishing. I was wrong. “You can get all wild with that dramatic A River Runs Through It style if you want to,” says Nial Beattie, better known around the water by his alias, Trip Fontain. We’re hanging out mid-morning under the bridge in Clarksburg. It’s early spring, nippy out, and there’s a crew of us trying to learn how to throw a fly into the raging Beaver River. We’re a few hours into an overnighter meant to showcase the aquatic splendor of the Bighead and Beaver Rivers. We’re looking for steelhead and brown trout—a weird concept to me personally. I’m happy with whatever bites. The kicker? None of us have touched a fly rod before. The river is high and running fast. Trip doesn’t always play host to knuckleheads like us. He’s in the business of guiding legions of avid anglers up and down these stretches of backyard watersheds locals often take for granted: the Bighead throughMeaford; the Beaver throughThornbury, Heathcote, and Kimberley; and the Saugeen through Southampton, Paisley, Walkerton, Hanover, and Durham. His company has played host to members of the Hollywood elite, major league athletes, international financial tycoons, and fisherman from the world over: Russia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland—you name it. They all want to fish here. “People from all over the world think of this place the same way we think about New Zealand or Patagonia. Our rivers are world-renowned hot-spots that anglers dream about,” says Trip. “It’s unbelievable the number of people who know about this area internationally, specifically for the species of fish that are condensed in this given location. We take it for granted, we see them as just rivers… But fish are here, and they’re large. And it just keeps getting better.” In recent years, Saugeen Shores has seen a plethora of anglers attempt the fabled Saugeen Grand Slam, amassing catches of four different species in one day: muskie, steelhead, bass, and brown trout. That’s sheer lunacy, testifies Trip, who says the possibility of something like that happening anywhere else in Ontario is epically rare. The assumption is that southern Ontario is the most heavily populated region in Canada, so everything that benefits from an undisturbed environment must be in decline—but it’s not. Fish numbers and size keep shooting up, at least in Trip’s experience as a guide for both Grindstone Outfitters and Calmwaters Guiding. Trip Fontain shows his true talent as a freshwater fish savant. He hooks into a monster female steelhead when I’m parking the car…