Category: Fishing

Fishing French Lake

by Greg • September 12, 2025 • 2 Comments

Wanting to catch a couple of fish for dinner, we went to a rock behind the Teaching Center, that a ranger had recommended. Martha patiently watched and played games on her phone while I fished a variety of lures with the regular spinning rod and the ultralight rod. Nothing. No hits, no runs, no errors.

After lunch we launched the kayak on French Lake. Two guys were loading up for a two-week trip. My plan was to fish around an island in the middle of the lake. I set off with two rods, a tackle box and a box of trout lures. Smallmouth bass, walleye and pike are the three main attractions. I put on a tiny torpedo, my go-to lure in Virginia fro smallmouth.

I saw a couple of rises in the middle of the lake and threw toward them. Fishing from a kayak is a little dicey. Throwing sideways and behind me, I tipped the boat a bit. I hadn’t put a life jacket on. Really, who needs one in the middle of a calm lake? Every other person I have observed was wearing one. Half way to the island, I realized it would be very difficult to catch my gear, flip the kayak back over and get back on board – probably impossible for an old fart like me. I would be more careful.

I had to rest a couple of times before getting to the island that didn’t seem very far away. My first throw got the lure half way to shore. Paddling the kayak and keeping it in position to throw would prove challenging. My second throw was perfect, landing between the rock cliff and a log. Wham! A big strike , but it surprised me and I missed. Now I approached this adventure with more enthusiasm. As I slowly followed the shore, I found I could put in a straightening paddle stroke without putting the rod down. I had six strikes with no catches. It was more like I was making them mad than giving them something to eat. They will do that when they are on the beds, but it is way too late for that.

Martha had asked how I knew it was an island. I thought that a silly question until now. I began to question if it was really a big peninsula. After being totally immersed in fishing, I looked around to get my bearings. Was I going around something or going further away from my put-in? Further ahead I could see power lines that follow the Trans Canada 11 highway. I kept fishing, but with a bit more speed. I was relieved to see the big rock cliff where I had started. One more smash hit with no catch. I don’t know how a fish can do that without getting snagged by two treble hooks. I pinch the barbs down, but that has little effect on catching fish. If a bass jumps out of the water, it can shake loose more easily, but it’s worth it for the show.

I threw at the spot where I got my first strike, but nothing happened. Now I looked up the lake for the beach where I had launched. I couldn’t see it. I searched the shore for topographic features. Suddenly I felt what it would feel like in the wilderness where these paddlers would go. All I could see were forests on both sides, all looking so similar. I searched the left shore slowly. I could see the rock where I fished this morning, and I paddled toward it. I should have trailed a lure behind me, but I was intent on getting into familiar territory.

I cast toward the rock to no avail. Similar results through a grassy cove. Then a good hit near some rocks. I had it on for a second, but then it was gone. I could see a beach ahead. A person was sitting on a big rock ahead of it. There was a beach on the other side of the rock, and the person pointed to it. Ahhh, it was Martha. She was pointing to a big rock with about eight ducks sitting on it. Several were playing in the water. Martha wanted to know what kind they were. I couldn’t tell, and I didn’t want to disturb them. It brought back images of Kelly sitting on a rock in the middle of the Farmington River in Connecticut with three ducks sitting behind him and two swimming below the rock.

Carrying the kayak back up the hill made us appreciate the importance of weight of the boat, especially in this environment where you have to portage. Some of these canoes are so light you can see light through them. One person can carry them over their head. They are also broader, which aids in stability. Martha’s kayak is built for stability, so it is not light.

Lake superior Provincial Park, Motorcycle, Rabbit Blanket Campground, LSPP, Rabbit Blanket Lake

Kayak Rabbit Blanket Lake

by Greg • August 22, 2025 • 0 Comments

August 20, 2025

A couple of campsites up, I talked to a nice gentleman with a cool bike. Some people think I am crazy to camp and travel with an Airstream. Maybe, but it’s a whole different level when one travels on a motorcycle, carrying a tent, sleeping bag, rain gear, food and more. Wearing a Dalhousie University shirt, he said he used to ride dirt bikes, and this bike is in between a dirt bike and a road bike.

It has five different modes; tour, urban, gravel, off-road, user-1, user-2. It has cruise control and even CarPlay. He had a bracket for his phone, but there is also a computer screen showing his route. He said bikes like this are developed for a race in Europe. Very cool indeed!

We got the kayak down and I went fishing on Rabbit Blanket Lake for a couple of hours. No luck after trying 5 trout spinning lures and a beetle spin. It is a shallow lake with cool water, but it has a lot of grass in it. In Virginia I consider grass as a sign of too much fertilizer in a stream, but that is not likely here. Martha had bought a rod holder for me, which fit into a slot on either side of the boat. I even tried trolling with the rod in the holder.

I turned it over to Martha, who took it for a spin around the lake, After all this walking, it felt good to do something different, and it is a pretty lake in a province that has 250,000 lakes, accounting for 20% of the world’s fresh water supply!

Campsite marked

Old Woman River, LSPP, Wawa, Ontario

Wawa, Ontario

by Greg • August 20, 2025 • 3 Comments

August 18, 2025, 48 deg. low, 68 high

It was an errands day. We needed propane, groceries, wine, DEF and a sweatshirt for Greg, who foolishly did not bring a long-sleeve fleece. I always carry my phone when walking through a campground. I love to see how setup, especially with tents and tarps.

It is such a beautiful drive to Wawa, we didn’t mind the 30-minute ride. The first stop was propane. Martha went in the office to pay $38 for a 30 gallon tank. A nice man came to meet me and took the tank to an open, rectangular building to fill it. A bunch of heavy-duty tanks lined the walls. The tank they stored the propane in was very big. It looked like a gas pump on the other side of a circle around the storage tank. A man was talking to the driver of semi delivering gas.

The man helping me said the valve needs to be replaced, but he hadn’t read the date before he filled it. No doubt both tanks need that. This is a busy place with all kinds of stuff I couldn’t identify. Wawa, the outpost supplier to a vast region of lakes, rivers and gravel roads. The longest gravel road in Ontario is the NORT or Northern Ontario Resource Trail from Pickle Lake to Windigo Lake. It is 281km long and is maintained year-round! Martha might not want to live here, but Wawa is a vital resource town.

Next to Canadian Tire for DEF, fire starters and a jacket. I could have spent a couple of hours in that store. It has everything! Hunting and fishing gear, lures, waders, DEF, oils, tools, camping stuff, everything! I asked a man where the DEF was and he got off his ladder, led me to it and put it in my cart.

On to the liquor store, the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario). After collecting a few things, including a bottle of Polish beer, we talked to the check-out lady. Somehow we got to fishing. She and her husband just returned from a fly-in fishing trip up north where they caught northern pike, walleye and Lake Trout. I asked if the steelhead were running yet, and she said not yet, but the salmon were gathering outside Old Woman Bay. “What king of salmon?”, I asked. “Chinook, big chinook,” she said spreading her arms to 3’.

Chinook and coho salmon were introduced to the Great Lakes and have done well. They don’t run to the ocean any more, as they are blocked by the narrow, shallow St. Mary’s River. I asked about brook trout, and she said, “Some people catch specs (speckled trout) on the Old Woman.”

With no suitable sweatshirt found, I stopped at Young’s General Store. Martha was getting tired, and we had groceries that needed to be put in the freezer, so I made a quick trip. I found a suitable hooded sweatshirt with WAWA on the front and went up front to pay. With a quick look around, it is one of those old stores where it is fun to look around. Martha had said she need new Minitonka shoes, and they had a whole wall of them.

We grabbed a quick sandwich, cleaned up and hooked up to move to a different site. We will have to move once more before we leave, as this is a busy campground right next to the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s a pull-through right next to the campground road. It is hard to beat our last site where bears and foxes poop.

At 2:30 Martha suggested we go to Old Woman Bay where she could sit on the beach and read a book while I fish up the river. Always good to get in a couple hours fishing, so I agreed. By the time I put my waders and boots on, sorted out some flies in my vest, put my rod and reel together, it was 3:15. I knew I didn’t have long, so I hurried to the river. It was too shallow for steelhead to run. I remembered from our last trip that they will gather in the bay waiting for the rains to fill the river.

The Old Woman’s face at the end of the mountain

I tried a coachman for two pools and switched to hopper for two pools, then to a nymph for two pools, then back to the coachman. I had gotten two little bumps with the coachman earlier, and there were two beautiful runs around the corner from the bridge. I cast three times into one pool before looking ahead for my next spot when I got a decant strike, but I missed. It was 5:00, and I knew I should get back. The water was cold enough and perfectly clear. It’s a beautiful place to spend a day fishing. If I get the chance, I will bring water, some snacks and a different reel with floating line.

Fishing, Goulais River, Goulais River Provincial Park

The Goulais River

by Greg • August 13, 2025 • 1 Comment

The Trans-Canada Highway (Rt. 17) crosses the Goulais River northwest of Sault Ste. Marie. The river is surrounded by The Goulais River Provincial Park, which has no facilities. Reports are that the river supports a sjstainable Brook Trout population and it is wadable.

First step was to get a non-resident fishing license. Those of you who read the “Fish Across Canada” blog 12 years ago might recall our rants on Canadian Fishing Regulations. You have to be a Canadian lawyer to keep up with them. If you are lucky enough to fish across Canada for four months, you will find that every province is different. Every river is different. Then there are different regulations for sections of the stream.

My online license registration for Ontario asked for the usual information. Then you must buy and carry a hard card, which will be mailed to your home!?*# So I put the hard card in my basket. Next, do you want a Sport Fishing license or a Conservation license; 1-day, 8-days, 1-year. Well, I am here for 7 weeks, so I guess I need the 1-yr license. The sport fishing license allows you to keep more fish, while the conservation license allows you to keep fewer fish. Well, the taste of a wild Brook Trout made me look further.

On the Goulais River, with a Sport license you can keep 6 Brook Trout in a day, but with a Conservation license, you can only keep two, but none over 18 inches. That’s good with me – two for dinner, and I will return the other 18 to the stream. So I paid the $8 hard card fee and a $53 fishing license. The 6 fish/day license was $83. I printed the license on my amazing, little Canon printer that only gets used once a year, and it was purchased for this specific purpose 12 years ago, when we had to have a license in every province and often a special regulations permit. So this little Canon printer is stored in a hot or cold trailer, never being removed, and it printed perfectly.

I invited Martha to join me, sure that we were going to see some beautiful country and catch a bunch of my favorite fish of them all, the mighty Brook Trout, which is also the best tasting fish. As we drove west, I decided I would stop after catching 20 fish, only keeping two.

Four miles from the KOA traffic was stopped on the two-lane Trans-Canada highway. Road Construction. It looked like a section got totally washed out. Imagine the vast expanse of Canadian roads that are subject to snow, snow-plowing, ice and flooding. Lately, add fires to the list. Anyway, here we sat for 15 minutes while the traffic in the other lane passed us. I was reminded of someone telling us there are only two seasons in Canada, winter and road construction.

Finally, we were through and turned on Rt. 552 that follows the river a long way. The road wove through big hills or small mountains. The river was indeed beautiful. I passed up two very pretty access points due to cabins and houses nearby. Too much pressure on the fishery, I quickly surmised. We climbed up a mountain, leaving the river way below us, and the road turned to gravel. Finally it came back down to river level with a pull out and a gorgeous waterfall, or what they call the chutes. Although we didn’t see any, the river is a popular canoeing destination.

We found a place to park and I anxiously geared up. Martha was quick to comment that, “Kelly would be fishing by now!” True, but how would she know that? I mean i had to put waders on, put my rod and reel together, get my fishing vest and see what fly boxes were in there. Ahhh, Royal Coachmen, the perfect fly for Brook Trout. Probably wouldn’t need anything else.

I took out a chair for Martha to sit on a gravel bar and relax while I showed her how it’s done. Three trailers had what appeared to be a permanent position next to the river. I thought it was a provincial park! There was a fire pit and kids’ toys scattered around. I worked the Coachman with my 5-wt. Orvis rod. It seemed to be one of those rare days I was throwing it well. Of course I was totally unobstructed by trees or bushes as the river was 40 yards across. With no action, I worked my way across the 2-foot deep stream to the other side, working a run on the far side. Martha seemed content reading a book. It is a beautiful stream with an impressive waterfall ahead.

Nothing. I climbed over some huge boulders to the plunging hole beneath the waterfall. For the third time, I changed flies to something that would get down. Nothing. I noticed car tracks on a gravel bar leading to a road encroached by bushes. On the gravel bar, a healthy green plant grew with beautiful blue berries. Using Picture This app, it was identified as sand cherry, mildly toxic to humans.

So this beautiful spot is a popular destination in summer and likely in winter. I thought of 12 people coming for a weekend, catching 6 fish apiece per day! They need a new regulation for this section, and restock it. We got back in the truck and drove down to another pretty access point. I fished several flies, even a dropper nymph, but no luck. The water didn’t feel cold enough for Brook Trout – maybe years ago before all these cabins and trailers and warming temperatures.

It’s a lovely river and no doubt, a good one to float and take a swim in. Maybe another 20 miles up that gravel road we would have done better. Who knows? Back on the Trans-Canada Highway, we waited in line at the construction site – two cycles. Martha could have gotten a bike out of the back and ridden back to camp faster than I got there. Oh well, may as well get used to Canada’s two seasons.

The Chutes, Goulais River

Canada, Fishing, Labrador, Northern Lights Lodge, Northern Lights Lodge, Labrador

Labrador 6

by Greg • August 23, 2024 • 2 Comments

Thursday, August 15, 2024

On the last morning, we needed to pack up and get out of the cabin because all the St. Marie family was coming. There were a couple of messages about the float plane not being able to get out due to low ceiling. Thankfully the flight from Labrador City to Montreal was moved to 6:30. Once packed, I took my last tour of the lodge with interesting things in every corner. I walked down the dirt road to a bay, then walked the other direction to the sawmill. It’s pretty amazing to get all this stuff to this remote location. There is no Lowe’s. Yves had to cut trees before milling them into lumber to build the lodge, cabins, docks, generator house and workshop.

I’m going to miss this!
“The office”
All those dots on the hillside are Caribou
Communication system
Smoldering smoke stove to keep bugs away

The above picture is a story! Yves discovered this WW2 B52 bomber on the bottom of the lake. Divers. Divers attached airbags and floated it to the surface and it was pulled 90 miles, very slowly to town. The U.S. took it, rebuilt it and put it in a museum. Apparently the navigation system failed and they missed landing in Goose Bay.

Expanse of water, lakes, bays, islands and smoke from distant fires.

This has been an expensive trip, but a great one. We didn’t catch a hundred of the great Brook trout, but we caught some beauties, and they are an amazing fish. This vast expanse of water, lakes, islands, trees and bears is a wonder. I was appreciative of our guide, Michelle, who guided us safely every day. I am in awe of Yves and Pattie St. Marie for all they have done to build this place and to keep it going. They are two of the nicest people I have ever met. Their season is only two months long, and most things have to be flown in, or brought on sleds on frozen ice of winter. It was great spending time with Ron. I always learn a lot, and the stories of his many adventures are legend.

I would like to explore more of Labrador. Two months of driving the only road in Labrador would be very cool; then back on a ferry on the St. Lawrence. I’d like to explore Torngat Mountains National Park, and I’d like to catch more Brookies!

Fishing, Labrador, Northern Lights Lodge, Northern Lights Lodge, Labrador

Labrador 5

by Greg • August 20, 2024 • 0 Comments

Wednesday, August 14,2024

Our last day would be our best fishing day. We caught 15 Lake trout and 6 or 7 pike. In the bay where we caught most of the Lakers, a bear cub followed us around the shoreline. We were about to give him a fish when we saw his mother with two other cubs. Michelle said these were likely the ones we had seen a couple of days ago.

It was a weird day. the sun poked through a hole in the clouds, but the hole didn’t move. About 2:00 Michelle told us to put on rain-gear as it was pretty dark in the west. At one point Ron said he smelled smoke. Michelle and I didn’t smell it at first, but later we got a whiff of smoke.

It’s a little sad to think this was our last day and our last wonderful meal by Patti. Like all adventures, it wasn’t how we envisioned it, but in many ways it was so much more than we could have imagined. Mostly it was the kindness and humility of these people. What they have built here is amazing. The vastness of these waters is cool on one hand and frightening on the other. Yves said many have gotten lost on these waters. Without the right equipment, you could be in serious trouble. Even Michelle used a Garmin GPS at times, and he has a satellite phone in his backpack and a lighter on his belt. with the waters being so low, islands of rocks popped up in the middle of the river where they are usually not seen. Hit one of those going full speed and things could go bad in a hurry. I admired Michelle’s vigilance, always paying attention, reading the water and the sky.

Ashuanipi River, Labrador, Bear, Fishing, Labrador, Northern Lights Lodge

Labrador 4

by Greg • August 20, 2024 • 0 Comments

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Every day starts with a great breakfast. Yves and Patti are a delight to be around. By now we had heard bits and pieces of the story about them building this lodge 90 miles from Labrador City. Yves came out in winter, pulling equipment, including a sawmill, and built the lodge in 39 days! He cut the trees, them cut into lumber and built it. Caribou were here in abundance. Huge black bears, like the huge Brook trout, grew here.

“Between the 1950s and the 1990s, the George River herd grew and grew — from about 15,000 animals to more than 800,000. When the ban took effect in 2013, the herd was estimated at 70,000 animals. Population estimates earlier this year put the herd at under 10,000 animals.” (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/herd-inuit-caribou-documentary-1.6549493).

It is especially devastating to the Inuit people whose lives are intertwined with the Caribou. Some disease seems to have devastated the herd. The effect is not unlike the loss of the plains buffalo in the U.S.

As I walked down to the boat, I passed Yves in his workshop/tool house. I commented that I had never seen such an organized workshop. He smiled and said it has been a process. He has been robbed several times. He reinforced the front door with steel, but they hooked the back door to an ATV and pulled it off. They came in masks and cut the security camera wires. They shot the satellite dish, broke into the lodge and took cushions to put the motors on. Out here in the wilds, this is a difficult thing to prevent. They followed the tracks back toward town, but when they got close to the town, tracks were going everywhere, so they lost the trail.

Then there are the bears. This morning I noticed two white things in cellophane next to our front door. I thought they were peppermints. Perhaps someone thought we had bad breath. Then when I went over to the lodge, they were in all the windows. Yves said they were moth balls to keep the bears away. Last week Patti had put an apple pie in the window to cool. A bear came and ate it, then tried to get in the window, so Yves had to shoot it. Now she cooks with the back windows closed, so it gets a bit hot.

If you fish enough, you are going to get tangles!

Due to a fire ban, this was the first day we had a shore lunch. It is in a beautiful spot with great views. Pike, cod, potatoes, toast and onions.

Cuisine, Fishing, Labrador, Northern Lights Lodge, Labrador

Labrador 3

by Greg • August 18, 2024 • 0 Comments

Sunday, Monday, August 11-12, 2024

Monday was a big pike day – 8 pike, 3 Lakers and 1 Brookie. We were a little disappointed with the Brook trout we were not catching, but we would learn there were two issues at hand. One was the lake being down so much. They had an early spring, and it became apparent they were spawning.

We saw a mother bear and three cubs. Michelle, who also guides in Alberta for hunting trips, blew a wounded rabbit call. That mother bear spun around and looked like she was coming for the boat!

Since it was Sunday and Patti is a Newfoundlander, she made a wonderful Turkey dinner with bread pudding.

Monday, August 12, 2024

So important to start a long day of sitting in a boat fishing with a great breakfast

Ron’t wading boots have cleats in them, so Michelle duct taped them. Worked great

Only caught 3 of these, but these two were beautiful

We only caught 2 Brookies, and 3 pike that day, but coming back to the lodge was always a pleasure. Yves and Patti are incredible people, very nice, humble people! Only two fish were kept the entire trip – the Ouananiche seen here and a pike for a shore lunch on Tuesday. Fabulous dinner of the salmon, cod, macaroni salad, lettuce salad and home fries.

Ashuanipi River, Labrador, Fishing, Labrador, Northern Lakes Lodge

Labrador 2

by Greg • August 18, 2024 • 0 Comments

Friday, Saturday August 9-10, 2024

The coffee pot was full at 5:00 in the morning and kept on until 7:00 when breakfast was served. Friday morning was eggs cooked to order by Yves, bacon or sausage and toast from fresh bread baked by Patti. By 8:00 we were in the boat with Mike, whose real name is Michelle.

Last night we tried to solve our problem of not getting down deep enough. I put on a sinking tippet and pinched on some ball weights. Ron had a better solution with three hanging weights, which may not have been pretty, but they did the trick.

It worked well. He caught two pike, one nice Brookie, one lunker Brookie and one Laker (Lake trout). Even so, we still needed to be able to get down easier, which meant we needed sinking line. Jimmy saved our trip by bring us a half spool of sinking line, which we measured, figured it would be just enough for both of us, cut it in half and added it to our reels.

Pike, or Northern or Northern pike. there are lots of these!

Ron is very good at knots and helped me a lot with solutions that would not come apart at critical times. We were not well-aware of the potential size of some of these fish, so we tied on #1 leaders, but cut off the ends tied on 10 lb. tippets. Even that might be broken by some of these fish, especially the pike with their sharp teeth.

A VERY important floating fly for these waters is the Orange Bomber. We had bought four at Canadian Tire, but they didn’t float. However, Jon had brought us one that was a little beaten up, but far better than ours. We celebrated with a drink before heading over to the lodge for dinner, which was moose stew and cake covered with raspberry and whipped cream for dessert.

I don’t know if that is a raspberry compote, but it is not a sauce. There is a huge raspberry plot in back of the lodge. Like wild blueberries, these wild raspberries are small. Just picking enough for 9 people would be a job.

Saturday

Each day we were a little better prepared. Now we had sinking lines. Bead-headed streamers were working pretty well, but we were still experimenting with dry flies. We also rigged four floating flies with dropper nymphs – Copper Johns and Prince nymphs.

These snowshoe hares are quite tame. Patti feeds them cabbage

Michelle turned northwest this morning for 30 or 40 minutes. I know it looks cold. With all the clothes we had on, I felt lite the Michelin Man. With the boat going full speed, it is pretty chilly. With a shirt, sweater and a rain parka it was fine. Always while the boat is running hard, you must wear a life jacket. Rain pants are essential along with a good hat. We had great weather though. In the middle of the day, we started shedding layers.

What a dork! Have to have surgical glasses to tie flies on.

Michelle turned north up a river. When the lake is up, he could travel a big loop, coming back out to the main river, but the reservoir and river were down about 4 or 5 feet. At Churchill, there is a huge dam that makes electricity for Canada and the U.S. As luck would have it, that affects the fishing, especially the Brook trout. The pike and Lake trout don’t seem to be affected as much.

We worked our way up the river. I lost a couple, one untying my knot at the fly. Another took my fly and took off upriver 100 yards before shaking loose. Then I hooked a big, heavy, fighting fish – a big, beautiful Ouananiche, a land-locked salmon. Ron was coaching me to keep my rod tip up since I had lost a couple by not doing that.

I think we caught one Ounaniche, four pike, one lake trout and one hen Brook trout.

Yves showed us a map of all the water surrounding us.

We saw a few other boats today, but maybe five boats for the whole week!

Can’t remember, but that might have been the night with the world’s best lasagna

Ashuanipi River, Labrador, Fishing, Labrador, Northern Lights Lodge, Uncategorized

Labrador

by Greg • August 17, 2024 • 0 Comments

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.

Ron’s flies. We would use the streamers and Orange Bombers most

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.

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