I made a late departure from Hayward, WI yesterday afternoon via my 1991 Explorer for Duluth, MN. From there I caught a 4 pm flight for Minneapolis and then an 8 pm flight for Montreal, Quebec. I arrived in Canada at midnight and quietly snuck into an airport hotel around 1 am without waking up my buddy Norm Thomas from Nashville, TN.
I’m on a trip to McKenzie River Lodge in Labrador for big brook trout with Norm. This is the second celebration of me and friends turning 60 this year. Only there’s one catch to this one – Norm turned 60 almost four years ago. We had a party like this scheduled on his 60th only it was to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia but Covid canceled it. We rolled it over to 2022 but Covid canceled us again. We rolled it to 2023 and we all know what happened then. The war started and we’re on terminal hold. It was best I put together another trip before we’re both so far past 60 that it turned into a 70th birthday.
At 5:15 am this morning we got up to catch our next series of flights. I was tired as heck after a mere 4 hours sleep. I was out of it for the first ten minutes wondering where I was to be honest. It was a little bit of a circus but we found the Pal Airlines counter and made our way to their gate. We flew from Montreal on a Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 to Quebec City. Next on to Sept-Iles. Then finally to Wabush-Fermont, Labrador. It was a long journey that put us on the ground finally at noon.
We weren’t done flying at Wabush. McKenzie River Lodge is another 135 miles north from Wabush. This amazing fishery is in a true wilderness location and the only way to get there is by seaplane. Our seaplane pilot met us at the Wabush airport and drove us to a liquor store to stock up on a weeks’ worth. Then we drove to the seaplane yard on the local lake and loaded his Cessna 208B Grand Caravan and off we went.
This is my second time visiting McKenzie. I was here with Granny and my friend the owner, Paul Ostiguy, back in 2015. Plain and simple, it was the best brook trout fishing I’ve seen in my life. Fishing was also excellent for landlocked salmon, pike and even a few lake trout. For Norm, this is his first Labrador trip and the first time we’ve fished together in years and our first time fishing together outside of the US.
I was beyond thrilled when our pontoons touched down on Andre Lake, the lake that Mckenzie River Lodge is on. After touch down we motored to the lodge which is also on the mouth of the McKenzie River where it meets the lake. It was the normal lodge deal where staff was waiting for us. Along with Norm and I are three other anglers I’ve not really met yet. We offloaded the plane and headed into the lodge.
The temperature here in the north is a brisk 48℉ with a solid north wind. The clouds are in and out and we’ve had a few rain squalls. A big change from the hot summer back home. I needed my wool hat and jacket to set up my rods.
I’m really pumped. Especially excited for Norm to experience this incredible fishery. If our week is similar to what I experienced in 2015 Norm and I will be in heaven.
I know I’ll be fishing hard this week so my daily accounts will trickle out as I have time. I’m also not sure if we’ll have good internet once on location. Regardless, I can assure you I’ll be posting the day-by-day accounts as soon as I can.
For more pics from this amazing adventure tune in to my IG – @jeffcurrier65