http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/index/ Minipi Web Logs en robin@minipicamps.com Copyright 2008 2008-02-08T15:25:00-05:00 http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/first_entry/ http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/first_entry/#When:18:35:00Z {summary}Welcome to the Minipi Camps Web Log.  This is a major new addition to the Minipi Camps web site requested by many anglers who wished to share their Minipi experiences, stories and photos with others.  We welcome your posts and enthusiastic participation in these Web Logs.  You are helping expand the Minipi family to others who have always dreamed of the magic of Labrador and the thrill of landing an enormous Brookie on a dry fly.  Happy blogging… BL Minipi Lake 2006-12-30T18:35:00-05:00 http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/great_airfares_to_goose_bay/ http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/great_airfares_to_goose_bay/#When:15:25:00Z {summary}We have had a few calls and emails lately concerning the airfares to Goose Bay. In particular the fare for the Halifax to Goose Bay leg. Some travel websites and even the Air Canada website will show fares that can sometimes top $2k from the U.S! There is help though. Canada One Travel in Winnipeg, MB, Canada have great fares to Goose Bay. For Example $601 USD Harrisburg PA return, $692 USD Atlanta GA return, $807 Los Angeles CA return, and $807 from Portland OR return. They also don’t charge the Canadian Goods and Services Tax for US citizens. These guys have the best deal. Hands down. You can check them out on the web at http://www.canada-one.com , or by phone toll-free at (866)401-9900. See you this summer. Robin Cooper Miscellaneous 2008-02-08T15:25:00-05:00 http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/just_published_book_features_chapters_on_minipiand_more/ http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/just_published_book_features_chapters_on_minipiand_more/#When:14:25:00Z {summary} Ed Quigley’s new book In the Company of Rivers: An Angler’s Stories & Recollections has three chapters (out of 25) on the Minipi experience: With Penelope on the Minipi, The Last Place on Earth and Minipi Memories, plus an interesting sidelight on Lee Wulff on the Minipi in the chapter titled Catch & Release.  Click on the following link to Ed’s website:  edquigley.com Click the link to amazon.com on his site to read reviews, and peek inside the book. And, hey, buy a copy—Quigley still has his student loans to pay off. Minipi Lake 2007-07-24T14:25:00-05:00 http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/new_junior_world_record_caught_at_minipi/ http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/new_junior_world_record_caught_at_minipi/#When:23:09:00Z {summary}Just a note to tell everyone that my son Joseph and I have just completed the IGFA application for a new Junior World Record. On 7/9/07 Joseph landed a beatiful 7lb male brook trout at “Ten Pound Cove” on a #10 Grey Wulff. Joe shattered the existing World Record of 6lbs, 8oz.! Special thanks to guide Kelly Groves. As always, many thanks to Jack, Lorraine and Robin Cooper. Parrie Willette Jr. Minipi Lake 2007-07-19T23:09:00-05:00 http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/june_13th_to_20th_update/ http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/june_13th_to_20th_update/#When:17:08:00Z {summary}The first week of the season is now under our belt, and what a crazy week it was. Camp start-up is always hectic and last week’s unseasonablely hot weather coupled with the rash of forest fires threw a wrench into the gears of our logistics machine. As some of you may already know, a forest fire seriously threatened Minonipi Lake Lodge, but I am happy to let you know that all is well, and the fire is now fully extinguished. Then we had nearly a whole week of bright sunshine and scorching temperatures reaching into the high 90’s. This dropped the water on average 9 inches a day and slowed the action. We had 4 anglers at Anne Marie Lake Lodge, and the insects were hatching everywhere, but few brookies were moving until yesterday when Richard Schriber booked a 5 3/4#, a 5 1/2# female, and a 5 1/4# male in Portage Pond. His fishing buddy, Chad Leland caught a 5# male and a 4# female in the Beaver Pond plus a 2 1/2# male in Portage pond. Great work guys! Dr. Marc Lavoie and his beautiful wife Helen are still fishing, so I will include their information in the next week’s blog entry. Mr. Schriber told us that water temperatures in Beaver Pond were reaching 70 degrees Fahrenheit but a recent rain has helped lower the water temp and improved the fishing quite a bit. NEW COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES:  Minipi Lake Lodge will be joining Anne Marie Lake Lodge in the wireless high-speed internet club! Like Anne Marie, Minipi now has a new state-of-the-art dedicated high-speed internet satellite, iMac computer, wireless system, and internet-based phone system. This will give our Minipi guests greater flexibility in staying in touch with their loved ones, checking up on that business deal, or to just plain brag about all the BIG BROOKIES they are catching! Check out Richard and Chad’s brookies in the photo gallery. Robin Cooper Brookies! 2007-06-20T17:08:00-05:00 http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/fish_fly_magazine_features_minipi/ http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/fish_fly_magazine_features_minipi/#When:20:57:00Z {summary}The latest issue of Fish & Fly: For The Adventure Angler, Tackle & Travel 2007, Vol. 7 Number 3, has a spectacular photo-feature on Minipi’s big brookies titled, “Here the ‘Little Trout of The Springs’ Grow SUPER SIZE.” This is in its EXOTIC WORLD ADVENTURES series. Run out and buy a copy. (We got ours at Barnes & Noble.) The photos are terrific—there’s one of a Drake sitting on the water. It’s one of the best closeups I’ve seen. Here’s a picture of the cover...and I’ve inset part of one of the pictures from the inside of the magazine and their spectacular picture of the NEW Anne Marie. Minipi Lake 2007-04-26T20:57:00-05:00 http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/a_recipe_for_the_minonipi_wulff/ http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/a_recipe_for_the_minonipi_wulff/#When:19:15:00Z {summary}The Minonipi Wullf is certainly one of the essiental flies for fishing the Minipi watershed. Lee Wulff designed this pattern to mimic both the Green and Brown drakes in one simple pattern. Although not a popular pattern elsewhere in the world, it is a staple in the Labrador anglers’ flybox. In a recent conversation with David Brandt from the Wulff School of Fly Fishing, he gave me the recipe to “cook” up some of your own Minonipi Wulff’s. By the way, Dave knew Lee Wulff and if you look in the Photo Gallery you’ll find a picture of Dave and Lee together. So this is from “the horse’s mouth.” First of all, the original Mustad hook Lee used for all of his Wulff’s has been recently discontinued. The Daiichi 2421, however, is a good substitute. Most of the Wulff’s tied by Dave for my fly shop fall into two sizes, 6s and 8s. Occasionally we see a size 10. The wing is a light-brown-dyed calf-tail. A true Wulff pattern will have an “un-stacked” wing. Remember Lee used to tie his flies in his hands… no vice! The tail is woodchuck. The body is dark olive brown beaver. Finally the hackle is a medium or natural dun. Flies and Fly Tying 2007-04-25T19:15:00-05:00 http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/fishing_for_pike_in_labrador/ http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/fishing_for_pike_in_labrador/#When:15:07:00Z {summary}Dick Recchia from the UltimateFlyFishing.com staff recently wrote a short article about his experiences while fishing for Northern Pike at the Minipi Lodge. They were having a slow day, and decided to “huck” some big bugs for Pike. Check out the full story at the Ultimate Fly Fishing website. http://www.ultimateflyfishing.com/news/dest_pike.html Robin Cooper Minipi Lake 2007-04-09T15:07:00-05:00 http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/big_flies_for_big_brookies/ http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/big_flies_for_big_brookies/#When:16:32:01Z {summary}Check out the article, “Trigger Flies,” by Kelly Galloup in the May 2007 issue of FLY FISHERMAN magazine. While Galloup doesn’t mention big brookies, any of the eight flies he describes would work in Minipi waters. I’d suggest you tie up a few for your next trip to Minipi. And to whet your fly-tying appetite, here are pictures of a few of Galloup’s flies. (The first is the Circus Peanut.) Flies and Fly Tying 2007-03-12T16:32:01-05:00 http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/porkys_pet/ http://www.minipicamps.com/index.php/site/porkys_pet/#When:13:07:00Z {summary}If you’ve visited the Minipi Photo Gallery you’ve seen pictures of big pike. Well here’s the story behind one of them told by a skilled Oklahoma angler named Kevin B. Joyce, who caught his pike while fishing with Minipi Chief Guide Raymond Best. Together they landed that 17 pound, 38 inch pike (check it out at the Photo Gallery, “Big Pike on The Fly"), on a Sage XP 5 wt with a 4 x leader and no steel wire on the tippet.  Here’s Kevin’s story: “It was August 3rd, 2005, a pretty hot day on the lake [Anne Marie] and the brookie fishing was a bit slow. My brother John and I were in the boat with guide Ray Best. We pulled out of “Lover Boy Run” to see if anything was happening near “Lilly Pad.” When we got there, I cast a Porky’s Pet (red/white/black Deer Hair Popper) and was working it back when this huge pike came at it like a crocodile after a duck. And when it hit, it made a few tarpon-like jumps before heading off on the first of several long runs. Now I have fished all over the world, and I have caught pike this big or bigger on flies in other Canadian provinces, but this was my first trip into the backing.  After awhile I got the line back on the reel and finally managed to get her up to the gunwale and lined her head up with the net. Ray reached out with the net and slipped her in head first, jaws wide open. But when Ray raised the net, it was empty. The fish was gone! It’s razor-sharp teeth had sliced right through the webbing and she was off again on another run. My line was feeding out right through that hole the pike made in the net, so Ray had to hold the net up in front of me and move it around to keep the line from fouling as I played the fish.  Finally, after a ten-minute tussle, we got her back to the boat and with some niffty maneuvering with that bottomless net, Ray got the monster over the gunwale and into the boat.  The best thing about this was that my brother happened to be playing with his camcorder at the time and we got the whole struggle on film.  Actually I was surprised at how short the fight really was. I ‘d swear it lasted 30 miniutes but the timer on his camcorder showed a bit less than that. Landing this big fish on my 5 wt. Sage was quite a miracle, especially since I was really fishing for brookies and had no bite guard or wire of any kind on the end of my 4 x leader. But I give a lot of credit to Ray Best, who did an outstanding job chasing her down, maneuvering the boat, and finally getting her into the boat with that bottomless net.  It was quite an experience, one that I will never forget.” Anne Marie Lake 2007-03-07T13:07:00-05:00