Minipi Guide Ralph Coles

A windy July oftentimes suspended fishing, but the few calm evenings that we managed to squeeze in saw brown drake duns, spinners and casings (exuviae) and a mix bag of other species cover the water. Idiot Point’s famous big-ass caddis fly added to the mix, making this smorgasbord a tempting offer for even our avian friends. Bear Island, Pre-Narrows, and Idiot Point were areas of concentration for both bugs and anglers.

However, a scout’s report confirmed that West Bay, North Point, Lover Boy, and Burnt Lake had a similar mix bag of insect life as well as boils, swirls and porposing brookies, a sure way of getting adrenaline flowing.

Matching the hatch with drake and wulff patterns were the patterns of choice. Landings between 4 to 7 pounds were consistent with last month’s landings with one behemoth weighing in at 8 pounds.

For those familiar with Minipi’s nomenclature, Big Hairy’s bottom foam line contained lots of exuviae with this fishing hole seeming to hold up big fish.

After the brown Drake hatch, fishing and especially the catching was rather slow, “onesies” and “twosies” were very common until the green drakes appeared around Man-a-war, Lilly Pads and Burnt Lake, at which time another feeding frenzy took place for a short time. Up to this point, green drakes are still popping up with Lover Boy producing some caddis flies.

Fly outs to Minipi and Little Minipi have proven successful with the orange bomber being the fly of choice. Euphemistically speaking, larders have been discovered in fishing holes next to the holm located near the honey hole at little Minipi.

While on several trips to Minonipi and especially the caddis beds, which is a nursery for the hatching of caddis flies, one of Labrador’s many mammalian species, the moose can be seen munching on this calcium-rich underwater vegetation (potamogeton) as well.

As of now, much needed rain, especially for navigating the rapids enroute to Minonipi is a definite requirement.

-Ralph