Minipi Camps Web Log

James West Davidson, and John Rugge.  Great Heart: The History of a Labrador Adventure, 1988.

“In July 1903 Leonidas Hubbard, Jr. set out to traverse by canoe and portage one of the last blank spots on the map of North America – 550 miles of the subarctic barrens of Labrador in northern Canada.” Hubbard died. His expedition failed. “…Wallace [Hubbard’s partner] resolved, in 1905, to return to Labrador at the head of his own exploring party to try again.” At the very same time, Mina Hubbard, Hubbard’s widow, to redeem her husband’s honor, had also begun an expedition. And the race was on. This is the story of both the 1903 and 1905 expeditions, the latter being “a race unique in the annals of wilderness exploration.”

Dillon Wallace, The Lure of The Labrador Wild. First Edition, 1905.  1990 paperback Ed.

“It was Dillon …

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This is taken From an article appearing on the Field and Stream website, no date given, titled “Quest for The Mother Lode…the lost world of monster brook trout, “ by T. Edward Nickens.

Clutched between Ungava Bay and the North Atlantic Sea, Labrador offers perhaps the largest chunk of terra incognita remaining in North America: a half million square miles of taiga, spruce and tamarack woods, and soaring stone ridges that taper into iceberg- laden seas, three quarters of the province is entirely roadless.”

“When Lee Wulff [who discovered the Minipi in the 1950s] guided Curt Gowdy into the Minipi River basin to film a segment of The American Sportsman, trout anglers in the lower 48 almost swallowed their teeth at the sight of kype-jawed brookies the size of an overnight bag.”

Labrador is a wilderness “more remote than most of Alaska” where “every …

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This first part of this commentary is taken from of an article written by Al Raychard for a series called Our Man in Canada Archives. It appears in full on flyanglersonline.com.

Little Minipi Lake is “part of a complex system of shallow tea-colored lakes and connecting thoroughfares, riffles and rapids that drain 250 square miles of pristine wilderness 60 miles south of Goose Bay Labrador. … Of a handful of major drainages were giant brook trout are found, the Broadback, the Eastmain and Rupert in Quebec, the Ashuanipi and Eagle in Labrador and God’s in Manitoba among others, the Minipi is unique. While large Brook trout are caught elsewhere, Minipi specimens average… four to 5 pounds…. No place on the planet has produced more record Brook trout.”

“First explored by the late Lee Wulff who pronounced it, ‘the finest book trout fishing in the world,’ “the Minipi …

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Minipi Lake, formed and fed by many springs, brooks, streams and small rivers, is, in geological terms, a “river lake,” which means it has spread out extending its banks across a smooth, sand-bottomed taiga (a sub-arctic forest of firs and spruce). 

It is, therefore, a rather shallow body of water (for the most part no deeper than 12 feet) and wade-able in many places. The river’s current flows east to west for 35 miles from Black Fly on its extreme eastern end to the Outlet and the Gorge, with its rapids and picturesque water falls, on its western end just behind Minipi Lake Lodge.

A map of Minipi created in 2003, shows the relative location of each of the lake’s named points. It comes in handy when you and your guide are planning your day’s trip to the lake’s many hot …

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Labrador lies at the center of the brook trout’s original habitat and Jack Cooper has built three lodges on three lakes – a fourth was added, Little Minipi Lake Lodge, in 2007, and each lies within the Minipi watershed—still absolutely perfect Brook trout habitat. 

Why is this such a perfect breeding ground for Brook trout?

First, it’s filled with their favorite food—mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies—which thrive in the lake’s shallow flats, riffles, narrows and rapids. That’s where the big boys are. All their favorite hangouts are right here on this map.

Second, in natural habitats where a prolific species is not heavily preyed upon, you’ll find mostly mature individuals, and until these big guys weaken or die, smaller ones do not venture into their favorite feeding areas. And if they do, they get eaten.

Third, this water’s cold. Brookies are …

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Commentaries about Labrador’s giant Brook trout have appeared over the years in magazines and books. For example, in McClane’s Standard Fishing Encyclopedia. the author writes about the big brookies of Labrador in the article on Brook trout.

Yet, usually the first question when you mention Labrador, is Where in the world is Labrador?

Mention Labrador without mentioning Canada, and the geographically compromised will say, Oh, down in South America, right?

So here’s a brief answer to this question plus a few words about Labrador itself.

Where in the world is LABRADOR?

A 16th century map shows a land called “Terra del Labrador” with this cryptic note:
This country was discovered by the people of the town of Bristol, and because he who first sighted land was a labourer from the island of the Azores, it was named …

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The other day I was reading the January 2007 issue of Fur-Fish-Game, a venerable old magazine that’s been published since 1925. It calls itself “The Magazine for Practical Outdoorsmen,” but is primarily a trappers’ magazine. In fact it contains a Fur Market Report, which lists the current skin prices (wild minks, for example, fetch $15 to $20). The News & Notes section of this issue contains pictures of a brook trout caught by Tim Matheson in Manitoba’s Barbe Lake. Rob Cann of the provincial Water Stewardship Fisheries Branch says, ”Based on the measurements of the fish and the pictures I’ve seen, I’d estimate Matheson’s trout to be between 15 and 17 pounds.”

Since the all-tackle world record brook trout, caught in July,1916 in the Nipigon River, Ontario, Canada, by W.J. Cook weighed 14 lbs. 8 oz.; Mr. Matheson is holding the new world record. Holding, not keeping. He …

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Ron and I were cruising around the entrance to Shisler’s Cove on Minipi Lake one afternoon when we saw a rise just in front of a pile of rocks near shore. We’d seen a few green drakes on the water and I had tied a big drake on my # 8. So I was set when the fish rose again, this time to the left of his first rise. I laid the fly about four feet in front of him. He took immediately and ran to the left out and away from the boat. Then he changed direction and cut an arc, out about 30 feet now, toward the center of the lake. “Three pounder, I’d say.” Ron agreed. “Maybe more.” Then the fish made a powerful surged and started taking line. Now he was maybe about 75 feet from the boat.

“Damn, he’s fighting hard. What’s wrong …

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