Kedgwick to Campbellton, and who owns the water
The Restigouche proper begins where the Little Main Restigouche and the Kedgwick meet, about 11 kilometres west of the village of Kedgwick, and runs roughly 200 kilometres to Chaleur Bay at Dalhousie. From the Patapedia confluence down it is the border with Quebec, and the big tributaries come in from both sides: the Kedgwick, Gounamitz, Patapedia and Matapedia from the Quebec highlands, the Upsalquitch from New Brunswick. New Brunswick's Restigouche fishing area covers everything above the J.C. Van Horne Bridge at Campbellton.
The first fact a visitor needs is in the province's own summary: the main stem is primarily private or leased water, and you need the owner's or lessee's permission to fish it. Most of the famous water is held by lodges and clubs. For everyone else, the doors in are the Crown Reserve stretches, the tributaries and the Quebec side, which has its own permits through the Matapedia and Patapedia management corporation in Matapedia.
Crown Reserve days: Grog Island, Kedgwick Forks, Lower Patapedia
New Brunswick rents public salmon water by the day. In the 2026 guide, Daily Crown Reserve salmon stretches cost $46 per angler per day from June 1 to August 31 and $31 from September 1 to 15, and every fish is released, to a maximum of two a day. On the Restigouche itself the stretch is Grog Island, June 1 to September 15, for a party of two, no camp. On the tributaries there are Kedgwick Forks and Lower Kedgwick on the Kedgwick (both with camps; Lower Kedgwick takes six anglers until July 10 and four after), Jardine Brook on the Little Main, Berry Brook on the Upsalquitch, and Lower Patapedia, June 3 to August 31 at $20 a day, sold as two-day licences with fixed start dates and lodging arranged through the Corporation de Gestion des Rivieres Matapedia et Patapedia. Crown Reserve water is fly only, and a regular angling licence does not cover it. Before June 1, the Devil's Half Acre, Three Sisters and Red Bank Crown Reserve stretches can be fished without a Crown Reserve licence.
Seasons and fly-only dates, stretch by stretch
Salmon seasons in 2026 split the main river in two. The boundary waters with Quebec open for spring kelts from April 15 to May 31; the New Brunswick-only water above the Patapedia opens for kelts May 1 to 31; both are open for bright salmon from June 1 to September 30. The Kedgwick, Little Main, Upsalquitch branches, Patapedia and Gounamitz are bright-salmon only, June 1 to September 30, except that the Northwest Upsalquitch above Nine Mile Brook is closed. DFO keeps the Restigouche at two salmon hooked and released a day after the spring fishery, barbless artificial flies only.
Fly-only rules start on different days: the Kedgwick from May 1; the main river from the Kedgwick down to the Patapedia from May 15; from the Patapedia down to the Matapedia CN railway bridge from April 15; from that bridge down to a line between Copeland Brook on the New Brunswick side and Ferguson Creek in Quebec from May 15; the Little Main from May 15; the Patapedia from June 1. For trout, rivers are open May 1 to September 15 with a five-fish limit, and above the Kedgwick and Little Main junction the trout limit drops to zero from September 1.
Guides, and the residents-only Little Main
Non-residents need a licensed New Brunswick guide for sea-run salmon anywhere, and on these waters for any species once the listed date passes: the main Restigouche from the Copeland Brook to Ferguson Creek line up to the Little Main from May 1, and the Kedgwick, Little Main, Upsalquitch branches and Patapedia from May 15. A guide can take one licensed angler in a boat on guide-required water, or three wading. Part of the Little Main, from the Kedgwick junction up to but not including the pool at the mouth of Jardine Brook, is restricted to New Brunswick residents.
Warm summers and the Upsalquitch notices
The Restigouche is one of three New Brunswick rivers with a Warm Water Protocol, which lets DFO shorten angling hours or close water when temperatures pass set thresholds. In 2026 the Upsalquitch system went onto restricted hours during the summer heat and returned to normal hours at 4 p.m. on August 12 under Gulf Variation Order 2026-053. Check the DFO Gulf salmon page before a trip in July or August. The Nova Scotia salmon summary also warns that didymo, the rock-snot alga, has been found on the Matapedia; dry or freeze your waders before moving between rivers.
The Rafting Ground Brook gauge
This station is on the lower main river near the Upsalquitch, so it carries most of the watershed. ECCC's record from 1968 gives monthly means of about 601 cubic metres per second in May, 169 in June, 105 in July, 82 in August, 72 in September and 107 in October. No outfitter publishes a range, so the Ideal Flow of 2,100 to 6,000 cfs (about 60 to 170 cms) spans the June to September means that bracket the bright-salmon season. On September 24, 2026 it read 22.7 cms, about 800 cfs, very low for the date.