The Arctic Expedition.
Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:49 pm
Wouldn't expect anyone to read all of this fishing report. Our arctic trip was probably the best I have ever taken though, and so to do it any kind of justice I needed to make it the best piece I feel I could have written online, maybe anywhere. Enjoy.
For Larry Willett.
Mounted over the cabin's fireplace rested two large brook trout, one of seven and the other eight pounds. John had told me they were caught on the same day many years ago, as he pointed out the window to the lake. They were fascinating to look at, painted in their full spawn colors, probably the best looking fish that swims. To John there was no better catch, and this was the reason he lived to fish each summer from that lake cabin in the Dumoine Hills, where these brilliant fish would readily take the fly.
During one summer visit back to that cabin a third fish appeared above the other two over the fireplace, a giant speckle even more brilliantly red and colorful. I asked John about the weight of the large speck to which he answered eleven pounds, except that it wasn't a speckle at all, but instead an arctic char which one of the cabin members had caught while in northern Quebec.
I could never get that char out of my head. I love the specks but something about the char called out to me. "Arctic char," who knows, maybe it came from the same place within that told me to go north a decade ago. A char much like the rugged wilderness where the concrete ends and the big blue and pure air skies begin. A fish so elite, it chooses to swim only where all others would seek a warm bath before a hypothermic death.
Reading about char over the years, Ungava became the pinnacle for me, and so finally last year I made plans with my wife to visit an outfitter in the Nunavik region. Over the winter I prepared by tying flies and searching out everything online I could find about Ungava's char, I even spoke with a local friend here in Moosonee who had worked for the same camp I contacted. Early April came, and after making a number of unanswered attempts over the winter to touch base with our outfitter (Pyramid Mountain Camps) by phone and email, I was forced to give up on them.
Things worked out perfectly though, for our vacation dates matched an availability to fish with Plummer's Lodge at Great Bear Lake and my loving parents had agreed to watch our girls. A consolation prize Plummer's was not, for if there was ever a destination in my mind which could equal or even surpass my dreamy Ungava expectations, it would be having access through Plummer's to the world record holding char river, the Tree. Immediately we booked, on the condition that I would be requiring some extra time at the Tree for char fishing. They promised to accommodate and I vowed nothing but death would keep me from seeing them in August.
Please follow the link to read on here...
http://bunksoutdoorangle.com/an-arctic-expedition/
Thanks,
Bunk.
For Larry Willett.
Mounted over the cabin's fireplace rested two large brook trout, one of seven and the other eight pounds. John had told me they were caught on the same day many years ago, as he pointed out the window to the lake. They were fascinating to look at, painted in their full spawn colors, probably the best looking fish that swims. To John there was no better catch, and this was the reason he lived to fish each summer from that lake cabin in the Dumoine Hills, where these brilliant fish would readily take the fly.
During one summer visit back to that cabin a third fish appeared above the other two over the fireplace, a giant speckle even more brilliantly red and colorful. I asked John about the weight of the large speck to which he answered eleven pounds, except that it wasn't a speckle at all, but instead an arctic char which one of the cabin members had caught while in northern Quebec.
I could never get that char out of my head. I love the specks but something about the char called out to me. "Arctic char," who knows, maybe it came from the same place within that told me to go north a decade ago. A char much like the rugged wilderness where the concrete ends and the big blue and pure air skies begin. A fish so elite, it chooses to swim only where all others would seek a warm bath before a hypothermic death.
Reading about char over the years, Ungava became the pinnacle for me, and so finally last year I made plans with my wife to visit an outfitter in the Nunavik region. Over the winter I prepared by tying flies and searching out everything online I could find about Ungava's char, I even spoke with a local friend here in Moosonee who had worked for the same camp I contacted. Early April came, and after making a number of unanswered attempts over the winter to touch base with our outfitter (Pyramid Mountain Camps) by phone and email, I was forced to give up on them.
Things worked out perfectly though, for our vacation dates matched an availability to fish with Plummer's Lodge at Great Bear Lake and my loving parents had agreed to watch our girls. A consolation prize Plummer's was not, for if there was ever a destination in my mind which could equal or even surpass my dreamy Ungava expectations, it would be having access through Plummer's to the world record holding char river, the Tree. Immediately we booked, on the condition that I would be requiring some extra time at the Tree for char fishing. They promised to accommodate and I vowed nothing but death would keep me from seeing them in August.
Please follow the link to read on here...
http://bunksoutdoorangle.com/an-arctic-expedition/
Thanks,
Bunk.
