Catching the Minipi Bug

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Everyone has that special go-to place where they can feel right at home. For a number of people that I have had the privilege to meet, that place is Minipi.

Jack and Lorraine suggested I take a trip to Anne Marie Lodge and experience life at camp. “You can’t write about it unless you know what it’s like.” So off I went.

This trip held a number of firsts for me; first time flying in a float plane (thanks for the smooth ride Chris!) first time trying fly-fishing, and first time feeling completely secure in the wilderness.

Amateur and pro fly-fishers are welcome at Coopers' Minipi Lodges

When I stepped into the boat with Minipi guide Ralph, I didn’t quite know what to expect.  As we putted along across Anne Marie Lake and rounded the bend into the famous fishing spot called “Loverboy” I was told the story of the young love-sick man who had caught many fish after being left to his own devices on the central rock because he complained so much about missing his sweetheart back home. I laughed to myself, but thought, how ‘Labrador’ can you get?

While I grew up using a spinning rod I was determined to learn how to use a dry-fly. If I was going to do this, I was going to do it right. After some fumbling with the hook *cough* ‘fly’ I was shown how to feed the line. Before long I had the line out 30 feet or so and was shown (more than once) how to cast.

All the while Ralph was patient and supportive of my less-than-perfect casting. He fed me information about the different ways to hold my arm, how fast to flick back and how fast to move forward. How to hold the line with my left hand and when to let go. After a while my back cast had a good bend and I was told ‘that’s how it’s done.’

After feeling confident with my cast we decided to take a run to Burnt Lake and then the caddis beds. Ralph knew of a good place for Pike and I just wanted to catch something! It didn’t matter if it was a brookie, but I didn’t catch a thing. Little did I know a few kilometers away 4 of our guests couldn’t get them off the hook fast enough! The orange bomber won again.

I practiced an invisible cast in my room when I got back to the lodge, trying to remember the right way to do it for my next try. As I rested my head on the pillow that night I was happy even though I didn’t catch anything my first day – besides the fishing bug. Tomorrow is a new day. Jack and Lorraine don’t know what they have started…

Minipi – more than just a fishing trip

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It’s easy to forget. You know how it goes, thirty five years in the same business … thousands of brook trout photos, a million sunsets, and busy summers, it’s easy to forget why you do the things you do and what keeps you going. That is, until you stand in that Goose Bay airport and meet folks that have been coming here for just as long as we’ve been running Anne Marie.  They’re delighted to be here, and tell you that they think about Labrador and being here every single day of their lives. It is literally like seeing where we live and what we do through new eyes. And somehow it brings back meaning and purpose.

Minipi is more than a fishing trip to those that come here every year. It’s coming back to see friends and family, it’s the fresh breath of sitting in the canoe listening to the loons.  It’s that great laugh we had at Petche’s that day. And oh yes, that beautiful, beautiful 7 pounder we caught just at dusk on the second evening. It’s the whole package. If you come just for the fishing, you’re missing out on ninety percent of the fun, and that is an absolute truth.

Fun? We have had fun so far this summer. It has been one of the best fishing years in a long time … tons of big hatches, lots of moving, feeding brookies and a lot of happy fishermen. We’re having just the best time at the Little Minipi and Minipi Rivers and catching some great action in the evening at Anne Marie.  Many stories told, and many more in the making.

Easy to forget? We can’t forget. I think Labrador is the tonic that takes so many people through the long, cold winters. We’ll be back next month with a wind up of the fishing this season, and some great pictures of the brookies and char in their fall colours as they get ready to end their 2013 time with us.

Minipi Guides Report: 2013 vol.2

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Minipi Guide Ralph Coles

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