First Stop, Coopers’ Minipi Lodges!

I have been to Coopers’ Minipi Lodges a number of times over the years and each trip was memorable in its own way. I have caught some wonderful trout and held in my hand the biggest trout I will ever see and watched it swim away. One trip late in the year I caught some beautiful Char on their spawning run at the brook at the top of Char Cove. Fishing in wonderful places for wonderful fish is not hard to be memorable! I cannot think of a favourite trip or adventure to share, they are all special but I think the first trip to Minipi was like a gateway drug leading to an addiction to big trout on a dry fly’!

I was guiding for pheasants in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, in the late eighties when the client who was to become a friend asked me if I would like to explore Labrador the next summer with him for a company that booked anglers for different destinations. I started packing that night!

Late summer 1990 I was on a plane headed for Labrador, first stop was Coopers Minipi Lodges and the new Lodge built on Big Minipi Lake. We were in a float plane and now off to the camp! The camp was beautiful and very comfortable and we settled in and got ready for a long day.

The next morning after breakfast we loaded up the boat and departed to an unknown to us destination. It was a long trip down this massive lake and the boat had two motors to speed it up and for safety. After an hour or so we arrived at the outlet from Anne Marie and started to fish. We were soon rewarded with some beautiful speckled trout I size of which I had never seen before.

We worked our way up the river stopping to fish at great looking pools and were rewarded for our effort, I don’t believe the pools were named at the time. One pool was named and that was our destination we were to arrive at, a pool called Halfway which was halfway from Anne Marie and Minipi. We had taken a long time to complete the journey to Halfway so we ate a quick lunch and agreed not to fish on our way out. The trail was rough and disappeared at times but we arrived at our boat and started our return to camp.

Dinner was late as the cook had no water so after finding the problem and resolving it we enjoyed dinner and after relaxing in front of the fire we relived the day and got ready for the next leg of our journey the next morning.

The journey continued and we visited other Lodges but our stay at Minipi was the highlight of my part of the journey. That trip up the river was my first taste of Labrador and I have returned to relive that day many times and all have been special and have great memories but that day we caught 11 trout that weighted 66lbs

Almost  three decades later I would wager that that record to me is broken every year by two anglers at Minipi but it isn’t about numbers is it!

 

Big Brook Trout Reign : the season so far

Here are some images given to us by guests at Anne Marie and Minipi Lodge, and enjoy a few snippets from our catch log (keeping in mind we only record catch over three pounds!).

The Grey Wulff is clearly a winner!

The Grey Wulff is clearly a winner!

A spectacular couple of days in early July for these anglers!

A spectacular couple of days in early July for these anglers!

Remembering Dr. Gibson

DR. ROBERT JOHN GIBSON
Any number of you will have crossed paths with Dr. John Gibson over the years during your trips to the Minipi.  John came several times with Dr. Richard Haedrich and worked tirelessly here, and behind the scenes in Newfoundland on all of the fishery research over the years.  Jack and I sat in silence at the news.  It was not unexpected, but yet it was, for I have never met anyone with a more positive, upbeat and enduring attitude than John, always in good humour through all the trials his health put him through in the last John Gibsonfew years.  In some ways you always expected him to beat the odds for, well, a long time.  It didn’t put him down, or count him out, many have given up with much less in their way, but not John. John made his trips here, always cheerful, always grateful for another day and the chance to be “in the field.”  He loved to be in the field, a throw back to the days that defined his character and made him what he was.

Jack and I sat this morning thinking of our dear friend, and remarked at the wealth of knowledge now dormant.  I will always remember a beautiful summer evening with both John and Dick Haedrich on our front step and being totally spellbound with stories of some of the research he had done in his life, indeed, I have not looked at mosquitoes or ravens in the same light since, that happened to be some of the topics that evening. But no matter, they were always fun, so very interesting and always, always, filled with humour and good nature and laughter.

Dr. John, we truly will miss you, and are very grateful for the times we did get to spend with you.