August 6,7,8, 2024
I wanted to fish the Green River with Ron Lowry, but he said it had not been fishing well lately. After some discussion, we agreed to go after the monster Brook trout in Labrador. Actually I don’t care about big ones, but I wanted to catch a lot of them.
Some of the fishing lodges have struggled since Covid. Getting shut down for two seasons made it difficult to get up and running again, and to find staff and guides. Northern Lights Lodge on Shaw Lake and Smallwood Reservoir was highly-rated, so we booked it.
It is quite a trip getting there. Ron was flying from Idaho, and I from Virginia. I landed in Montreal at 2:30 on Wednesday. By the time I walked the long way to customs, got through, picked up my bag and walked all the way to the other end of the airport, I was tired. Ron wouldn’t get in until 11:30, so after checking into the airport hotel, I went back down to find Pal Airlines for Thursday’s flight to Labrador City, but couldn’t find it. We would have to be there at 6:00 for a 7:30 flight we did not want to miss. Finally a nice lady pointed me to the right place.
On Thursday morning, Ron and I checked out of the hotel, walked downstairs to the airport and found Pal Airlines. It was a local, with stops in Quebec and Sept-Isles on the way to Labrador City. Two guys across the isle were also going to the lodge, this being their third year at Northern Lights Lodge.
A nice gentleman named Javier picked us up at the Wabush airport adjacent to Labrador City. He then took us to the grocery store to get any drinks or snacks we wanted, and there was a liquor store next door. Then he took us to the Two Seasons Hotel for the night. After cocktail hour, we went to the hotel restaurant, which is reported to be the best in town. It was surprisingly good, efficient and friendly. We discussed the need for a $600 deposit on the room. Javier had told us this is a big iron ore mining town. Maybe there are some cowboys that come to town and make a mess.
On Friday morning we were to take a float plane to the lodge, but it was delayed due to weather or low ceiling. Finally we got the go-ahead and Javier took us to the dock. A tall young man weighed us and our gear before loading. Javier had bought supplies for the lodge as well.
It was my first time on a float plane, so I was a little nervous, but I also wanted to see the fire damage. Just 10 days ago the whole town of Labrador City, 7,412 people were evacuated due to a big fire approaching the town. There is only one road in Labrador, so they all went east. It was pretty scary. Fortunately, they were able to stop the fire before it got to the town.
We must have gone in the opposite direction because I couldn’t see any burnt areas. Looking at all the thousands of lakes, it is a wonder a fire could spread very far. Flying north and a bit east, we saw infinite numbers of lakes or ponds. Woven in between was rocky land with black fir trees. I was surprised to see a railroad track. The Canadian Shield is a huge area of eastern Canada that was scraped of all but a thin topsoil by glaciers, leaving bedrock, boulders and round rocks polished by water, snow and ice.
I was surprised to hear that Quebec province has more lakes that Labrador, at a half million or so, but it is also a larger province. By any measure, it is a whole lot of water and difficult land to travel. Some lakes had a house or cabin on them, especially close to Labrador City.
After a 50 minute flight, we landed smoothly on Shaw Lake, and our pilot expertly glided next to the dock where four men helped tie the plane. As we got out we were introduced to Yves, Jimmy, Brad and Mike. They told us to go to our cabins and they would unload the plane and bring our things to the cabin.
On the lodge grounds we met Patti, with whom we had exchanged many emails and messages. Just in those blind conversations, one could tell this is a good-hearted person. She showed us to our cabin, which was very nice with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a sitting area with a small table and a serious, iron wood-burning stove that was quite warm. That would be the only time it was used on our trip. The group from the previous week were going out on the plane as soon as our gear was unloaded. I talked with one gentleman from New Brunswick who had been coming every year for 30 years!
Once we got settled, Mike came by to see if we wanted to go fishing for a couple of hours just the get a feel for the water. On the front side of Northern Lights Lodge was Shaw lake, which is full of pike apparently. We went out back to a HUGE body of water, known as Smallwood Reservoir, that covers some 2,500 square miles behind the dam at what used to be Churchill Falls. The rivers leading into the reservoir are the Ashuanipi River and the McKenzie River.
I don’t think we caught anything that afternoon. One major problem was we didn’t have sinking lines, so we were not getting down enough in this big water. Dinner was at 7:00, but we gathered at the lodge to see what the two Johns did. Actually one was Jon, the tall one, and one was John, who was a retired oral surgeon.
“Supper,” as Patti called it was superb, as was every meal at Northern Lights Lodge. Patti and Yves are married, and they do everything, with the help of the two guides.
We collapsed in our beds with the windows open and the ceiling fan on low, and it wasn’t long before I was asleep. I was startled by a couple of sounds in the night, but slept well.