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GIANT BROOKIES OF THE MINIPI
This is simply the best dry fly fishing for large
brook trout in the world. It's a special
environment which produces hatches that defy the
imagination and is home to a special strain of brook
trout.
Some of you are old enough to remember the old
outdoor adventure TV series, The American Sportsman.
Probably the most famous of their TV shows was the
one in which Lee Wulff flew Curt Gowdy into an
isolated river system in Labrador. They would take
video of Lee and Curt catching these big, beautiful
brookies on dry flys. Several times during the
series, they featured this river system and it's
tremendous brookies. What made this particular
series so fascinating was Curt Gowdy and the entire
show staff were sworn to secrecy and not allowed to
divulge the location of this river. Lee Wulff had
vowed not to let the location be known until the
Canadian government had set up a method of
protecting the uniqueness of these fish and their
habitat. Today, this is one of those special places
that fishes "the way it used to" because of the
protections that have been established and enforced
by Lorraine and Jack Cooper, who operate three
lodges on the system.
This is a destination that my son and I have visited
four times during the last seven years and have our
reservations set to return again in '06. On our
last trip in the month of July trip, we experienced
brown drake hatches daily that were so intense that
they covered the water as far as we could see. It
was an incredible experience! They started around
11:00 each morning and built until peaking about
2:00. One time I attempted to count the number of
drakes sitting on my fly line and got to 27 before
losing track of where I was! There were other
mayfly and caddis hatches also, but on this trip,
the brown drakes totally overwhelmed everything
else.
On our first trip (1997) to this special area, we
were later in the summer and caught a green drake
hatch that was similar in scope, but different in
some ways. However, just like the brown drakes, it
really got the big fish moving. Basically, this is
sight casting to large cruising, sipping fish. A
wonderful experience!!
The catch/release totals of our (two fishermen
fishing together) last four trips may be the best
way to illustrate just how unique this fishery is:
Total pounds (all fish over three pounds are weighed
before release) of fish caught: 687
Number of fish over five pounds released: 71
Number of fish over seven pounds released: 19 with
two topping 8 pounds
The great majority of these fish were taken on dry
flies.
This is a "Jack London type" experience in an area
that is isolated and only fished by the clients of
Cooper's Camps. The primary challenge is getting
space during the "prime hatch season."
TRIP REPORT
Fly Fishing Adventures
888-347-4896
flyfish@napanet.net
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