Fly Lines for Minipi

Posted on December 19, 2014 by minipi_editor

Much of the fishing at Minipi calls for using large, bushy dries, bombers, deer hair bugs, and weighted muddler minnows. Wind can also add to your casting problems. I avoid long, delicately or gradually tapered lines. They often have names that belie their design.

Standard weight forwards work fine, but one line I rely on heavily is a bug taper, or bass taper line, usually associated with bass fishing. Such a line has a shorter front taper, with heavier, shorter head. This keeps more weight well forward to help defeat wind and turn over large flies effectively. Check the profile of any line you consider using. This will be shown on the box or instruction sheet, or you can check it out online at the manufacturer’s website.

Another useful line is one with a 5’or 10’ sinking tip. This can be valuable when fish are not interested in surface offerings and you want to get a muddler minnow down in the water column.

For more tips and suggestions on what to put in your tackle box for a trip to Minipi, click here.

Lee Wulff’s Labrador Streamer

Posted on October 31, 2014 by minipi_editor

In 1976 at the ripe old age of 22 I attended a Trout Unlimited banquet in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Lee Wulff was the guest speaker. At that banquet Lee showed a film called “Three Trout to Dream About,” which was filmed in Labrador. After seeing that film, I knew that one day I too would fish Labrador.

In 1982, I started calling and talking to various outfitters in Labrador. After a long conversation with Lorraine Cooper, I decided that Coopers’ was where I would have to go. On that solo flight to Goose Bay, I met on the plane and spent the week fishing with Dave Brandt. Our friendship has continued on ever since and we have fished the waters of Minipi more times that I can remember. Through the years I had the privilege to spend time with Lee and Joan Wulff at various functions. At one of those meetings over 25 years ago Lee tied for me a Labrador Streamer that he had talked about in the film that he showed back in 1976. I am quite sure that this had to have been if not the last, one of the very last of these he had ever tied, because not many people were very familiar with this pattern.

I set a goal on this trip in 2014 to catch a nice Minipi Brookie on this fly. If I did I would retire the fly. If I lost it, it would lay at rest in Labrador on the Minipi River where it should be. I managed to catch an nice fish. Then another one. Then I hung up on a Labrador Love Stone and gave my Labrador Streamer its final resting place as it should be in the bottom of the Minipi River.

Thank you Lee Wulff for discovering this wonderful fishery, and many thanks to Coopers’ Minipi Lodges for helping to preserve this wonderful fishery so that I can continue to come back year after year and enjoy this wonderful place called Labrador. Now at age 60, I look forward to the time I spend on the waters of Minipi. See you in 2016.

Minipi Virgins No More

Posted on October 1, 2014 by minipi_editor

For as long as I can remember my husband Dave has always wanted to go to Minipi. With wide eyes and excitement, he described how he’s always wanted to catch a trophy brook trout! In fact, the brookie was our first trout species we caught on a fly rod!

We were lucky to book the last week of the season this year. It was time for brookie nookie (spawning) so fishing was a bit tougher. Challenge accepted!

With my first cast on Little Minipi, I caught and landed the biggest brookie of my life! I was in awe over all 7 1/2 pounds of its masculine spawning colors! Feelings of excitement, amazement, disbelief and pure exhilaration consumed me! He was a beautiful specimen, I was honored to catch & release him.

The rest of the week was whipped cream with cherries on top (catching even more brookies). You couldn’t slap the big smile off my face! Anne Marie Lodge is beautiful, comfortable and inviting. Even better were all the amazing guides and lodge staff that made our experience memorable. The guides are amazing! They’re all fishing veterans and are full of knowledge and great tips to land that fish! They’re patient, offer guidance when needed, and all have a great sense of humor – I laughed all week!

Well, after a week at Minipi, we caught brookie fever/Minipi mania! We’re already planning our return for dry fly action and are soooo excited to return!

For now, we leave the trout to procreate to keep our fishing dreams alive.

“Minipi: where the brook trout are measured in pounds, not inches”

Here’s a few photos from our trip! Click to view full size.