The trip is winding down. Man these adventures go fast. You book them years out and then in a blink of an eye, they’re over. Today was the second to last day here at McKenzie River Lodge here in Labrador. On this day it’s a tradition here to fish a morning session then take the afternoon off. Then at 5:30 fish the upper McKenzie River near the lodge and enjoy dinner on the river.
We fished with a different guide today, Jolan Forest. Jo is a really nice guy and was passionate about dry fly fishing which of course is my soft spot as well. We left the lodge under cool conditions by boat then hiked to the second beat of the Mckenzie River. It was about a 20 minute jaunt after we anchored the boat. We made a few casts with dries at the Mouse Hole where I landed a brute on day two of this trip.
Well, the fish were there. Norm entered first and while standing casting, Joe spotted a big brookie hugging bottom. They couldn’t get the fish to move. Not even on a nymph or a streamer. I was downstream about 30 feet and ran into a stubborn brookie of my own. He rose and rubbed his closed mouth on my Parachute Adams. I changed dries several times but he wouldn’t rise again. I tried a few different streamers then went so far as to try some nymphs – including the old reliable Vladi Worm. Nada.
I wont go on long because plain and simple, our fishing the first couple hours were flat out tough. It wasn’t only the Mouse Pool that held persnickety brookies, but my next pool and Norms next pool also had some tough customers. I at least had action. I stayed in this one pool for about 90 minutes and had a landlocked salmon hammer my Royal Wulff when I was stripping it in for my next cast. The crazy salmon jumped five times before wrapping me around a rock and breaking me off.
At around 11:45 it appeared both Norm and I would be skunked (other than some dinks). I’ve made it all week without a blank and as you would guess, I was more than determined to make something transpire. And it so happens, that in this final pool of the morning I once again had a brookie rise and look at an Ausable Wulff. He wouldn’t eat my dry but I knew he was there so I went to work rapidly changing flies and techniques. I finally nailed this chunky brook trout on a silver Kreelex by nymphing it and then jigging it in the swing.
At noon we started back. Norm remained fishless and I suggested some quick casts at the Mouse Pool again only because we had to pass it anyway. That was a good call. Norm got the big brookie that was hugging bottom on his beloved Stimulator and I jumped and lost another salmon.
Lunch followed then I had an afternoon rest that was phenomenal. I didn’t fall asleep but I laid in my bed for 45 minutes and hardly moved. This week’s fishing is strenuous and a little break felt good. While I could have relaxed much longer, perhaps until going back out again at 5:30, guide Thomas invited me to try for some lake trout on the open lake. I went and had a blast. But my fly failed due to wind and not getting myself deep enough. Thomas landed one on a jig. Stupidly I didn’t get a picture on my phone.
5:30 came fast after the laker session and soon all five of this week’s anglers were on our way down to the upper Mckenzie. We each got one of the four pools and went to work. Norm and I had the lower ones with rapids, the others took the calm waters up top.
Norm and I each covered our pools with a big dry fly hoping for cooperative salmon but there were no contestants. Then we switched to streamers. We ended up landing several decent brookies but nothing huge.
My fishing highlight right before dinner was my daily pike – it seems I finagle one a day even though my brook trout/landlocked rig doesn’t have wire. Right there in the brook trout rapids this beautiful northern managed to lip hook himself. We were both surprised. And not a bad one either. A fish like this says a lot about the strength of 0X Scientific Anglers Fluoro!
Chef Alex waved us for dinner around 8 pm. Everyone was hungry. When I learned it was porkchops off the grill I went into a frenzy. I was the complete opposite of the brook tout we met this morning. I’d have been an easy catch. And even before the chops there were some delicious appetizers. The food all week has been spectacular!
It stays light very late up here in the north of Labrador and we had a little more time for fishing. Its unusual for me, but at this time my Iron Rock Brewing tallboy was tasting mighty fine. The guides here work so hard its unreal so Norm and I both decided to kick back and send Jolan out for us. He thought that was a pretty good idea as well and he managed to catch a nice brookie of his own.
That’s all I got. Tomorrow is our last day and Norm and I will head out one final time with Alex and devote our fishing mostly to landlocked salmon. The plan is to make the long journey back to the lower McKenzie River. Good night!
For more pics from this amazing adventure tune in to my IG – @jeffcurrier65