Category Archives: Guides Report

Minipi Guides Report – July 2014

Posted on by

July month, it seems, was a continuation of June month with bad weather including rain and wind keeping water levels consistently high. A couple of days saw wind speeds of 60km (37 miles) per hour making fishing a real challenge.

A huge brown drake hatch at Big Hairy on July 14 was just that, hairy! making it almost impossible for fishermen to entice trout to artificial patterns because of an abundance of available natural ones. Frustrating experiences like this often meant landings were limited to two or three fish at best. Duncan Lewis, a long-time angler at Minipi confirmed that he’s seen a hatch similar to this one several years ago at Little Minipi.

Green drakes, which for the most part is an evening hatch, popped up at Lover Boy Cove, Lily Pads, Man-a-war and West Bay. Those morsels no doubt brought brookies to the surface! According to Lee Wulff in an article written in 1969, he clearly states that those fish are conditioned to eating mayflies, giving them a football appearance. The landings during this time picked up tremendously.

This hatch acted as a somewhat silver lining as properly presented dries served as a skullduggery in fooling those squaretails to their artificial drakes, stimulators, and Wulff pattern; flies of choice which seemed to work fine for those mayflies.

Fly-outs to Little Minipi and Minipi meant a substantial increase in July landings with the river fishing at little Minipi producing 3-5 pounders with 6-7 pounders a common occurrence. Access to the Penalty Box at Minipi, after a slight drop in water levels, turned out to be a great asset.

Like last year, fishing at Halfway Outlet has been fairly good, but access to the Foam Pool has been hampered by a slow runoff – making for treacherous walking over those rocks.

With August month upon us the brookies coloration is changing to its typical crimson look, suggesting that spawning is not far away. This means only one thing: you should include bombers, muddlers, and mice in your arsenal.

Minipi Guides Report – June 2014

Posted on by

Petches, Loon Pond, and West Bay with a finely presented Wulff pattern saw the most action during the last week of June at Anne Marie, while over at Minipi, the fishing was best at both the First and Second Narrows.

At the onset of the second week, the consistently bad weather patterns coupled with a stationary low created so much rain that elevated water levels could easily be compatible to a Spring run-off. Sandy beaches soon disappeared as did rocks that were used as markers, making it a challenge to  navigate places like the Narrows. As of now, Bathtub Rock was just above the surface by a mere eight inches with Lover Boy Rock totally submerged. This of course was tricky in maneuvering with the new 4-stroke Honda motors as well.

An unusual landing of three char, one of which was a ten pounder landed at Dave’s Point, with the others caught at West Bay and Burnt Lake could probably mean a sign of optimism for this wile fish for the coming summer. In any event, interest has been generated.

Hatches have been off to a slow start, but not affecting the size of fish any. The average weight has been topping the scales at more than six pounds. The upcoming warm weather should encourage bigger hatches and more of them, thus enabling more feeding frenzies. In fact, as we head into this first week of July, we see the first signs of numerous drakes on the water. It should be a good week coming up.

Minipi Guides Report: 2013 vol.3

Posted on by

Minipi Guide Ralph Coles

The Rain Gods answered our prayers (and with a vengeance I might add) because low July water levels have been replaced by excessive amounts for August, so much so that wading is next to impossible – except for river fishing of course. This means that most casting is done from boats, making it more of a challenge for anglers because all big rocks that serve as hideaways for those squaretails are underwater.

Coupled with that, one must remember that the time of year is now approaching for brook trout to begin its reproductive cycle meaning all interest have been more or less suspended from the eating/gorging stage to the romantic stage, and subsequently, a defensive mode. So wonder no more when anxiety gives way to frustration for anglers when in a brook trout’s world they’re telling us to “stick your bombers, muddlers and wooly buggers where the sun don’t shine – we have other things on our minds.”

It should be noted though, a male brook trout and a male char in its spawning regalia with its crimson underbellies is a sight to behold for those of us fortunate enough to experience it. You just don’t know what you’re missing!

Woody’s and Halfway Outlet appear to have been rejuvenated as landings have been up substantially with at least two seven pounders landed in the past week.

The Penalty Box at Minipi and The Honey Hole at Little Minipi have produced some unusually big fish as 5, 6 and 7 pounders are very common replacing the 3 and 4 pounders, which have been the norm for years.

A fly out to Minipi would be incomplete without a trip to the Gorge, from where success is often measured in numbers. This breath-taking sight is one where tons of water pours through the Great Minipi watershed itself enroute to its mother river, the mighty Churchill.