The rain came down hard during the wee hours this morning here in the boonies of Labrador at McKenzie River Lodge. And it didn’t let up for fishing. Norm and I wore our rain jackets to get from our cabin to the kitchen for breakfast and we wadered up in our room. Complete with boots and all before leaving.
Today we fished with guide Thomas Hardy from France. Thomas is a big guy that speaks excellent English and is always smiling. He was really fun and quick to say he was glad for the rain. It’s a drought up here in Labrador and the rivers are lower than normal. The rain is also good for brook trout fishing because it helps bring on the bug hatches.
Norm and I were on the Upper McKenzie River beat today. This was convenient based on today’s weather because its literally close to the lodge. In fact, you can see the lodge from pools one and two and both are packed with huge brook trout. Norm drove the barbless hook of a size 16 Parachute Adams into a riser in Pool One five minutes after we got started.
This brookie was oversized and took Norm out of the pool and down a short rapid. Letting one of these big fish take you through fast water and rocks is not what you want but Norm had no choice. He applied maximum pressure but no doubt his 3X tippet would have broke if he didn’t let the fish run. Luckily his tippet avoided catching any jagged edges and soon he was fighting his trophy fish in the calmer part of where I was fishing in Pool Two.
By now Thomas got a glimpse of Norms brookie. It wasn’t only oversized, it was huge. Thomas yelled, “Monster!” as he reached as far as he could with his big net.
There’s nothing more relieving in fishing than when a giant hits the net. Thomas’s stretch paid off and Norms 3X held on. And in the net was an 8lb brook trout. Thomas said it was one of the largest he’s seen since he started guiding in Labrador a few years ago.
The rain turned to drizzle and it was cold as heck. But none of us noticed. After Norms mammoth fish swam off, I focused on a riser in my pool. I also had a size 16 Parachute Adams and I did one of my down and across presentations towards the rise. The fish ate and I waited for its big mouth to close on the Adams. When the fly disappeared, I lifted and set. Fish on. For me, this was the first of four brookies from 3-6lbs all from Pool Two over the next hour. Incredible!
Late in the morning we hiked downstream to the “Mouse Pool”. Norm was making a leader adjustment so I crept my way up to the edge. There was a faint current seam twisting off a rock and down along gravel and a drop-off. There was no doubt a big brookie lurked. I sent my parachute out and on the first drift I connected and landed a beast of my own.
The rain was back and coming down hard after I released my jumbo brookie. It was so bad that every time you raised your arm to cast the rain would pour in the cuff of your rain jacket and run down to the elbow. With the cold temperature I can assure you it wasn’t enjoyable. Thomas took us to a place under the trees where he brewed some coffee and fed us lunch. No doubt a little nourishment would warm us up.
After the leisurely lunch and multiple strong cups of hot coffee, Norm and I were back on the water. Thomas shook things up by trekking us to some fast tail-outs with hopes of raising a landlocked salmon. Last week they saw a few so he knows these strong fighters are around. In fact, when I was here in 2015 it was exactly the same time and Granny and I landed a few. But despite a couple hours of effort, today the only other hungry fish around other than brook trout were a few lurking pike.
It was a memorable day of fishing. I may be off a brook trout but by the time we headed back for the lodge at 5 pm, Thomas had netted ten awesome size brook trout for us and two pike. And unless you’ve been to Labrador, it’s doubtful that today’s smallest brookie to the net, wasn’t larger than almost all anglers personal best. A fun fact that goes with brook trout fishing in Labrador.
Cold and rain along with hiking and wading over rocks, all while tracking small dry flies in harsh light, takes it out of you. It was a one beer night with a glass of wine at dinner and I was ready for bed. Everyone else was the same. Bed before 9 is a good thing when you have another big fishing day ahead of you on the special waters of Labrador.
For more pics from this amazing adventure tune in to my IG – @jeffcurrier65
Jeff,
That is a good day of fishing – rain or no rain!
Tad
Absolutely stunning!