2014 Brook Trout Season

[Guidofisherman]

Winter has set in, the lakes are frozen, snow on the ground and the Brook Trout season is just a pleasant memory. My 2014 season was punctuated with several interesting events so here is the story, a few pics and video trailer.

If you live in Thunder Bay, it is almost obligatory to own a truck. Not that we are all red-necks but most of us hunt or fish the back roads, pull a boat or trailer and therefore need a truck. Every coffee shop, sporting goods store and fishing forum has endless conversation around the best truck for the job promoting brand loyalty, engine size and body style. For the past few years, I have been searching for that “right” truck to pull my boat and trailer in search of the mighty brook trout. Time will tell if I made the right choice, but I went with a new 2014 F150 (FX4). Since I bought it in late September, my fishing season was over so I have to wait till next season to pronounce judgement.

My youngest daughter eloped and was married in Santorini, Greece last summer. Great! No lost fishing weekend. They didn't want a big, traditional wedding like my oldest daughter, but just a small reception at our Trout Lake camp, this August. My newest son-in-law is an avid fisherman and when they announced their plans, I jokingly said, "You can have my daughter, but you can't have my fishing spots”. He just finished building me a Sage 7wt. rod. Good trade I thought!!!

For his 17th birthday, I took my nephew to Lake Nipigon for his first big brookie experience. I thought this was better than buying him a sweater or video game since he loves to fish. Just the two of us for three days enjoying the luxury of my trailer in pristine brook trout country. I knew he was a big eater, so I packed enough food for 3 people expecting my friend to arrive for one of the days. When my buddy cancelled due to flying weather, my nephew devoured two t-bone steaks with all the ‘fixins', then complained he was full. In the morning, his 4 egg omelette filled his appetite which had miraculously returned. As we were going to fish for several hours that morning, I made 3 sandwiches to take in the boat to tide us over till lunch. He ate all three. The good news is that he caught his first brook Nipigon brook trout measuring 23 inches. Not a bad start and “yes”, he out-fished me.

 

If you are into fly fishing on the Nipigon, I would guess that 90% of it is of the streamer variety, as the area has limited opportunity or conditions favourable for traditional dry fly fishing. The trout of the Nipigon are notorious for not being willing to rise to the fly, preferring to dine on larger food items like sculpins and bait fish. That’s how they get so big. Every year I try a bit of surface fishing for them anyway and this year was no exception, with a few hits, but after the usual streamers were not working and other anglers had hit the area hard, I tried a different technique…Nymphing. Certainly not a new technique for steelhead or other trout species, but for those big Nipigon brookies? To my surprise, it worked drawing several fish from the same runs previously hit by streamers. Add one more technique to the arsenal.

 

I’m sure every fly fisherman has seen “A River Runs Through It” and dreamt of being a part of that experience. Now I don’t claim to be Brad Pitt or Tom Skerritt for that matter, but my passion and commitment to make a difference by contributing to brook trout survival for future generations is much like the movie we all enjoyed. This summer I got to be a small part of a new documentary called “Finding Fontinalis”. It all started last winter when I received several emails from a guy wanting to know if I would be interested in being an unpaid advisor to a film, by sharing my experience of the Nipigon and the story of Dr. Cook’s world record catch. I was sceptical at first, thinking it was just another fisherman wanting me to take him to the Nipigon... but it was ‘legit’.
Travis Lowe is the independent film maker, with Patagonia being the main sponsor. He said that "Finding Fontinalis” is a documentary about, “Three seasoned anglers who descend upon Argentina, in search of the next World Record Brook Trout, but what they find becomes the impetus, to create the world’s first National Fly Fishing Park”. The history of the Nipigon and Dr. Cook is only a small part of the back story, but it peaked my interest after viewing some of his other films. (springcreekfilm.com/travis-lowe/) http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fspringcreekfilm.com%2Ftravis-lowe%2F&ei=ybt4VIytDKjHsQTvl4KYBw&usg=AFQjCNEiUz4IhetRl54rSCQGB1_1RGjOAA&sig2=pKNyIVkCxCknPDMy87VQWQ&bvm=bv.80642063,d.cGU

I agreed to take him on the river and do an “on-camera” interview, narrating the story of Dr Cook’s catch. Just a few days before Travis was to arrive, we texted several times to finalize details. Keep in mind, these series of texts all happened within a few minutes, except for the last one.
Alan: “When do you arrive?”
Travis: “Flight arrives at 4 your time. I will get my rental and call you.”
Alan: “I only live a few minutes from the airport. I’ll come meet you.”
Travis: “Where do you want to meet to discuss the shoot?”
Alan: “At my house…we can have supper and talk.”
Travis: “Ok. As far as what to wear for the entire shoot. I need you to be wearing the new Patagonia gear. Do you have any on-camera experience?”
Always looking for a quick witted come-back, and knowing he had a significant commitment and responsibility to maintain the high integrity of his chief sponsor, I fired back,
Alan: “while I don’t have a lot of “on-camera” experience, other than a few pornos, I am accustomed to talking in front of people.”
There was a long pause before his next text as I am sure he was wondering, “Who have I got myself tied up with?” I let him sweat a little then replied,
Alan: “Just joking about the pornos.”

 

I met Travis at the airport with his numerous Pelican cases of high-end video equipment, including a drone. We spent the evening at my house discussing the different scenes he needed to shoot, then set off early the next morning in my boat on the mighty Nipigon. Great weather, high spirits and the river in its full glory. After numerous filming stops throughout the day, Travis wanted some footage of an actual Nipigon Brook Trout. The pressure was on. Fishing the previous day had been good, yet was rainy and not conducive to great photography. My day on the water was sunny and bright blue sky, but as luck would have it, the fish were uncooperative. I flogged my usual spots trying to get a hit, often saying, “there are actually fish here”. To no avail… I struck out and felt rather embarrassed that my reputation as ‘a catcher of big brook trout’ was in jeopardy. In my defence, a brochure printed in 1895, by the Canadian Pacific Railway stated, “…for even Nepigon has its “off days” and occasionally gets the sulks…” I have yet to figure out how or why they ‘turn on’ and ‘turn off’ so readily. Just a side note: the following day, at exactly the same spots I had flogged on the ‘shoot’ day, my first 3 casts landed 2 fish.
Later that afternoon, Travis said the light was right for my interview. We pulled into a back bay and set up on a rock pile of the Nipigon gorge. I was prepared, having memorized several significant quotes of the past and confident in sharing knowledge of that historic day 100 years ago. As I perched on the rocks with the scenic Nipigon behind me, the monstrous camera lens was just inches from my face illuminated by a silver umbrella reflector, I instantly gained a new respect for Brad Pitt’s acting skills. It was intimidating! “Click… camera rolling… action… tell me about the world record catch and make it look natural”, Travis said. I began babbling incoherently, my mind racing, often forgetting the story and needing numerous retakes to shoot a simple task. Any thought of how easy it is to be an actor went completely out the window. 45 minutes later, the interview was over, Travis had his material and I could go back to being just a fisherman with a passion.

 

 

The 12 hour ordeal turned out to be a positive, but humbling experience. The aerial shots of the river by the drone were cool! I look forward to viewing the final product some time next year on the fly fishing film festival circuit and seeing how skillful Travis is at editing my inconsistent interview.

 

 

[mattybculp]

Great post. I enjoyed the read. I cannot wait to make my nipigon Brookie trip happen.

[Musky or Specks]

Great report as always. I very much want to see that documentary.

[Fisherpete]

Awesome report! Brookies are so beautiful. Mind if I ask what software you used to make the framed pictures? They look amazing!

 

Pete

[solopaddler]

Very cool! When I was a kid a story by Ernest Schwiebert about hunting for a new world record brook trout in Argentina touched a nerve with me. Seems it maybe did with these guys as well.

I'm looking into getting a drone myself for aerial shots, would be interested in hearing more about how it worked.

 

Great season btw!

[Ralph Field]

Great report !

[Moosebunk]

Had to find a "backdoor" at work here just to sneak into OFC today. Nice to find this Al. Your photos with their style are always an enjoyable view and the two stories included (filming and nephew) made this report exceptionally unique from others. The third pic is a real gem too.

 

People viewing this take note too... if you haven't ever checked out Al's site highlighting Nipigon Brook Trout you're missing out on some great speck info and history.

 

http://members.shaw.ca/amuir/

 

 

Cool stuff Al. Hope the Ford works out for ya too bud!

[Rod Caster]

Great read. That's quite the on-camera experience and your jitters are understandable...Very cool that you contributed to this documentary I now want to see!

[S.M.05]

Great work on the pics those beautiful Nipigon specs!

Looking forward to seeing the documentary.

 

Bunk is right about checking out Al's site.

[Guidofisherman]

Awesome report! Brookies are so beautiful. Mind if I ask what software you used to make the framed pictures? They look amazing!

 

Pete

Those framed photos were created with "Photoshop Elements". Just a series of steps that the program guides you through. Sort of my signature style as Drew noticed.

 

Had to find a "backdoor" at work here just to sneak into OFC today. Nice to find this Al. Your photos with their style are always an enjoyable view and the two stories included (filming and nephew) made this report exceptionally unique from others. The third pic is a real gem too.

 

People viewing this take note too... if you haven't ever checked out Al's site highlighting Nipigon Brook Trout you're missing out on some great speck info and history.

 

http://members.shaw.ca/amuir/

 

 

Cool stuff Al. Hope the Ford works out for ya too bud!

The third picture was taken the day after I didn't get any fish with Travis. I was still wearing the Patagonia gear from the "shoot" and using the new Fishpond carbon fibre net which is amazingly light. Glad you and the others liked the stories. My nephew must have enjoyed the experience as he now uses several of the photos as his Facepage home page. About "Finding Fontinalis", Travis is going back to film more in Padagona this winter (their summer). He sent me a few clips from his previous trip and they are very well done. I'll try to let you know when it comes out next year, even though the Nipigon is only a very small part of the documentarty. I can now check one more thing off my "bucket list".

 

Very cool! When I was a kid a story by Ernest Schwiebert about hunting for a new world record brook trout in Argentina touched a nerve with me. Seems it maybe did with these guys as well.

I'm looking into getting a drone myself for aerial shots, would be interested in hearing more about how it worked.

 

Great season btw!

The drone set-up was very interesting. The image from the drone camera was displayed on his tablet on the tripod. For one scene, he positioned the drone about 5 feet in front of my boat and about 5 feet above the water, then asked me accelerate upstream while he tracked my movement and elevated to about 400 feet. He then sent it up river, almost out of sight filming the river canyon. When I asked what happens if it flys out of remote control range, he said it has an auto return mode, but was afraid to try it for fear of loosing $2gs.