World Record Brook Trout | Nipigon River

[Music] thank you [Music] my passion for brook trout started many years ago the backcountry hikes were invigorating tossing tiny flies into shallow oxygen-filled Rapids in Hope of connecting with a 12-inch gem was an obsession that led me to some breathtaking scenery but this trip for brook trout was going to be different [Music] the mighty nippagon river in northern Ontario is our destination and this river is as massive as it is magical welcome everybody I'm Jeff parks with the new fly Fisher we're up here in Northern Ontario on the Nipigon River and we're searching for world-class trophy brook trout and it's just a perfect brook trout habitat here you got a nice Hydro cushion in front of the island behind us here we're going to be guided by neela Duke from Affinity angling I love brook trout I had an opportunity to come up here this spring and fish coasters on the on the big lake and snapped at the opportunity when the new fly Fisher asked me to come up here and fish the river and we're going to be joined by special guest Joel woltiz from scientific Anglers and this episode starts right now on the new fly Fisher [Music] oh that's a nice sized fish absolutely fantastic good fish [Applause] [Music] the new fly Fisher is brought to you in partnership with destination Ontario [Music] Orvis fly fishing [Music] scientific Anglers [Music] trout Unlimited WeatherTech Canada [Music] the Nipigon River is located about an hour's Drive Northeast of Thunder Bay Ontario from Sault Ste Marie Michigan it is a breathtaking six-hour drive up the coast of Lake Superior this trip is definitely accessible by automobile [Music] [Music] our guide this week is Neil aduke from baffinity angling and fly fishing guides don't come more professional than him do so you can just put whatever you want here we are also accompanied by Joel waldheis marketing manager from scientific Anglers and he is one fishy Guy this is going to be one epic trip since I was 14 15 I've been hearing about Nipigon a big brook trout world record came out of here way back in the day and it's always been something really exciting to think about the history of the coaster brook trout in Lake Superior the history of the river it's just really interesting experience up here we're here on nibigon River and I'm with Neil Leduc from Affinity angling Neil what do we got going on today today we're going to be hitting the middle uh nipigan River for brook trout hopefully going to get some on the drive fly we'll do our best to get them on the top and then probably some streamers and sync tips and we got some calm weather right now but uh supposed to get pretty windy so we'll get at it and do our best all right let's do this thing [Laughter] [Music] I've never had anybody really do this for me this is kind of fun [Music] [Music] with the stunning beauty of the Nipigon River in my sights I began to wonder what this River was like back in 1915 when the world record brook trout was caught and still holds to this day at 14 and a half pounds [Music] [Music] you know in the back of my mind there's a 15 Pounder with our name on it somewhere out there foreign [Music] of these fish too you're you're rarely going to get them to come up twice in the same minute but we'll just give it three or four minutes here and he might Crush one of you again sure yeah he's around Neil is a fan of top water fishing for these brookies but Joe and yours truly blew every chance we had thanks ah fish gun too quick of the draw as they say [Music] we switched over to streamers and that began our day [Music] so we're just set up on a main Lake Reef here there's a lot of deep water surrounding this about four or five foot rock pile on the top here and when the brookies are feeding they're generally right up on the top of these rocks just a nice constant retrieve and usually at five or ten minutes per spot like this if they're there we'll get them if not but just keep moving around you'll notice the current starting to come actually Against the Wind through here too yeah little guy I think [Applause] [Music] well we've had some good chances at them lost four three on drives looks like we've got one smaller one finally we might be able to get to the net here it's actually not too bad all right got him right now we're on the board on the board boys on the board there's about a 18 incher right on nice nicely done nicely done gentlemen [Music] [Music] as per Neil's guidance we kept moving up the river and worked The Rock croppings in search of these spotted Beauties I couldn't tell anything to the hangout near deep edges but they don't necessarily go deep right [Music] it didn't take long and Joe's reel was put to the test [Music] I had a boy nice got it right over here yeah here we just have an eye it could be a good one here too it's kind of a bit of a big boy hang up with a river this size sometimes you feel like you are searching for a needle in a haystack a good guide is worth his weight in gold yeah I think we got a good one there buddy a little smaller just some heavy current foreign [Music] as Joe and I worked the river we began to see and feel how healthy this river is from hard-working volunteers like Randy Beamish this body of water had been given a new life in 2005 there was a another push for a an overall regulation change to Encompass the entire nip again system and the North Shore Lake Superior tributaries included and that regulation was a 22 inch rule so for the most part it's a catch and release fishery with that they got a lot of pushback from some stakeholder groups on that that uh releasing brook trout back after they were caught was not a good thing and there was no real science at the time other than some of the Catch and Release data from 97 to 2005 so they expanded it I got involved in 2004 and started tagging fish in the system annual recapture rates are anywhere from 15 to 30 percent they hover right in the 20 percent area it's it's pretty consistent we know it works we know you can catch them you can let them go and catch them again they're healthy in fact in close to 3 000 fish I've seen no damage from handling I've seen the odd tag you know expand the wound where the tag goes in has expanded but nothing detrimental the fish are very um receptive to catch and release and here we are today the population has expanded it's doing extremely well the Lake Superior fish Are Back In traditional tributaries where they weren't seen before people are catching them all over the lake now so they're doing quite well what I like about it is the chance you know I can back my 18-foot boat in an hour and a half drive from my home and realistically can catch an 8 to 10 pound brook trout each season there's very few places in the world you can catch a 25-inch brook trout and the nip again is one of those places so it's a one of a handful in the world [Music] okay we stopped here and I'm actually fishing a foam line it's where they uh it's where the foam seems to uh congregate and it's just a line down the river and when you see that on the rivers that you're fishing make sure you fish those those are the foods that's the food chain uh the buffet table and realistically a lot of the bugs the insects and a lot of the fish are going to be hanging out by this foam line because it's a current that's taking it down it's like an Airstream or uh if you could call it that so that's what the fish are going to be that's where the food is so make sure you uh whenever you're at your River or any of these brook trout Rivers always Target that foam line because that's the uh that's the spot where most of the fish are going to hang out at [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] our truck upriver was indeed a success as Neil moved us expertly through the heaviest flows the locals have seen in years [Music] oh oh [Music] we were fighting some willing fish but getting them to the net was another story wow that that's it it was pretty neat I think as soon as it went into the water that was on yeah yeah oh darn it all well that's the way fishing goes you got one you lose one darn it all let's see if we can find that one again the hookups were fast the flows were heavy and the fish were using the current so this is just about the very top of the upper river here uh below Lake nipigan still it's actually the last Dam that they put in Pine Portage Dam and it's just a perfect brook trout habitat here you got a nice Hydro cushion in front of the island behind us here and it's not a spot you're going to get one every time but it's kind of a a nice spot to feel like you might get a big one and that's kind of what we're going for here cheers all around when Joe landed a second [Music] yeah that was textbook that's a better fish nice fish yeah [Music] yeah I'll just wait till you get them close and then whenever you can get a good head left I'll come in there and just take your time here too it's a really heavy currents good fish and you just gotta enjoy them too because they're pretty nice to fight in here [Applause] [Music] these nippagon brookies are tough as Nails you cannot let your guard down when battling these gems nice nice looks like about uh 21 inch or so fly out barbless [Applause] awesome nicely done buddy beautiful Brookie [Applause] as our day progressed the winds began to pick up and the casting became more difficult [Applause] this time the weatherman was unfortunately bang on clouds were beginning to break but the wind was howling I got you they get me oh yeah sorry okay we're fishing in a really windy day today we've got 40 kilometer winds 25 mile an hour somewhere and around there and it's pretty ugly Cassie as you can see I'm wrapped around here so a couple safety tips is uh one wear a hat because actually that would have been into my head right here two if you can get it into kind of a way of pinching down your barbs you don't have to always pinch down your barbs but as one it's better for the fish two it's better for us when it goes into the side of our head number three sunglasses you only have two eyes and with having only two eyes that that fly right there if I didn't have sunglasses could have gone into one of them and you're you're blind in one eye or whatever so make sure you wear sunglasses make sure you wear a hat and kind of get into a habit of pinching down those barbs [Music] it's so quiet in here [Music] Neil again steered Us in the right direction and we struck gold one more time [Music] yeah there we go nice buddy thank you that's all we used to do yeah they like to take it nice and shallow looks like a nice fish [Music] so I find a lot of people have trouble holding brook trout I recommend just keeping them in the net if you can in the water you know if you really need to get a picture with a lifetime fish you know three four seconds if it doesn't work back in the water some people like to use a tailing glove I tend to just use my bare hands but I'm just going to show you one little tweak you can do with your hands to give yourself a little better grip here naturally you want to grab the fish with the side of your hand and as you pull he slips right out but if you just roll your thumb so that the bridge of your thumb is in the middle of his tail you can get a lot better grip on them if you just see the middle of my thumb is on his tail I can just get a little better grip [Music] and then just a little uh pick up underneath and back just for example all you need is a quick lift quick photo right back in the water thank you foreign [Music] first day we had out here today uh funny you know what I I learned so much today and uh one thing that I learned was that these fish will hit 30 feet of water even though your fly is two feet underneath the surface like they they come up out of nowhere and realistically I didn't I thought we might have had to go you know farther down and so that was really neat that these fish are looking up in fast water and fast deep water and the other thing I learned today was that you know this River like the back of your hand man you're like you're you're uh you're unbelievable with this River so I I can't wait for tomorrow to see uh what tomorrow's going to bring so yeah I appreciate it and the nice thing with the brook trout is a lot of people underestimate how you know I guess the ability to rise so fast the nice thing for me is I've had a really lucky upbringing in Algonquin Park with the cottage there and I got to see brook trout behavior from uh you know about this toll so um had I not seen that at a young age I think I would probably be still trying to go deep and a lot of guys just unfortunately don't ever get to see the real natural reaction of the brook trout and I think if a few people just got to see them in their Prime Behavior you just have a little bit more confidence going after them awesome well I know I have a lot more confidence out there today too so I'm I'm looking forward to more yeah no that was a great day awesome can't wait this is Joe waltice from scientific anchors marketing manager and we just had our first day out on the River fishing today on the Nipigon River what a great day Joe out fished me but we hope we both hooked I don't know quite a few fish I think we've turned almost 20 fish uh 20 fish today yeah it was a great day had some really awesome takes early in the morning on mice flies on the surface and then we switched over to the river fishing sinking lines uh pulling streamers had some really awesome visual takes visual takes throughout the day had some fish go Fairly deep on the swing it was a really cool day learned a lot on the River on the River today with you and uh you and Neil and it was a just fun day getting uh getting some brookies to hand wasn't it though yeah we it was amazing how many fish are in this River so lots of different sizes too which is awesome to see so we got some weather tomorrow uh looks like we're gonna have to wear the rain gear but you know are you prepared for that oh yeah all right let's give it all right went up here in the nipogon region the beaver Motel is perfect for Anglers the location is close to the river or lake it has comfy rooms along with larger Suites to accommodate small groups and this is a great place to unwind after a fun day of fishing foreign [Music] [Music] cozy stay at the beaver Motel ended up a gun [Music] to some howling winds What A Difference A Day Makes the heavy breezes from the day before were supposed to have receded this time the weather Guru had been sleeping on the job however the nice thing about the nipagan river is the diversity of the fish that swim in this River the main channel was too choppy for any chance of a Brookie today Neil decided we should try our luck on some of the terrific northern pike fishing this River has to offer [Music] you can't beat the action that Northerns offer a fly Angler yeah I always like the strip the strip but then the rod tip twitch yeah they really like to eat on the closets here oh he's like I didn't really stick to him well that didn't take long that was about forecast this is a perfect habitat for these Predators with the weed beds for camouflage get that fly moving so it looks alive and watch out [Music] oh my God is it a good one [Music] okay in any kind of fishing if you think you see something following your fly use your instincts and keep the fly in the water as long as possible always assume that the fish has eyes for your fly more times than not your instincts will prevail this northern pike fishing will definitely keep you on your toes and give your arms a heck of a workout just had a big fight come in on the on a weed bed out here fishing some wire leaders probably got a lot of a little bit over a 30 incher [Music] got them right here real visual takes on that that's awesome when a guide could take a miserable windy day and turn it into a Fish Fest you know you've got the right person for the job hats off to you Mr Leduc [Music] the flies that we were using this week was very very simple we didn't use many different ones okay here's uh one of the pike flies we were using and you can see it has lots of it's quite large it's got lots of flash you know we were out there today it was really really windy when we were out there uh chasing these northern pike so we actually went big and we went really really uh flashy because the water was a little bit churned up so some that's going to work here but also you don't have to go so big for these you can use this so you can a little bit smaller a little bit easier to cast um with some you know this was this has always been a very good pattern for the northern pike the red and the black but you can use yellows and greens uh and such but you don't as I said you don't you can see the difference in the size size of these two here that they you don't need to always have something this big if this we needed to get their attention because of that water was so chopped up uh because of the soil wind but those are the flies that we use for the northern pike and you know you can always use a popper when the conditions are right but this is what we use this week this was the number one fly right here and in different with different colors in the middle gold red but what you can see it's a very uh low profile it's not a fat it's not a very fat head on this these are very very uh smaller a little bit thinner and cuts through the water and also we were using this in the film so right at the right of the top of the water so this was just sitting in the top of the water so this low profile really worked well when we were skimming the surface and then speaking of the surface when we were getting into the dries we were using something like a steelhead skater kind of uh what you might even want to call a a gurgler style dry fly and these with these were skating on the surface but we were also popping these and these were really really effective for that morning bite for that morning uh dry fly bite and that's what we were using just these two flies in different couple different colors of the body here and very low profiles so the rods we were using this week I was using a seven weight nine foot rod and an eight weight nine foot Rod I brought two different weights because I really wasn't sure of the of the flow you can probably get away with a seven weight uh a couple seven ways I would bring at least two of them or a seven or an eight weight but I would these are the strengths that you want to bring you don't want to bring a six weight or a five weight this current up here is just way too strong so the reels where we're using this week were mid-arbers you don't need a large Arbor you definitely don't want a small armor but the the midsize just seems to be the perfect size for these fish in the way that they fight so coupled with those reels we were using full sinking lines for the one and we're also using floating lines for the other the sinking lines was for the streamers the floating lines realistically was for the dry fly and some of the streamers that we just wanted to get underneath the film so I would have at least a couple reels with you with two different setups with the sinking line and the floating line for the pike fishing this week we were using nine foot nine weights coupled with that with a large Arbor wheel with a great drag system because these Pike can run and we need to be able to pick this line up very quickly we do we have a floating line on these and we also have a bike tippet attached to that attached to the fly and that's how we were working these Pike this week [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a new day and we were back hunting world-class trophy brook trout the weather was lingering but the day was shaping up quite nicely well Neil we got a different day today it was supposed to be raining and actually it's overcast but not too bad less wind so that's awesome where are we going today and how are we fishing it and what are we doing today we'll be on the upper Upper nipigan River so about as far up the river as you can get it actually leads into the lake so we'll probably fish it all the way up until the current ends and then work our way back the goal is probably dry fly to start another method that we like to use called the grease line a lot of steelheaders in BC basically using this to get aggressive fish to come up and the brook trout are no different so basically just a tapered leader no sink tip at all just inches under the water and will kind of work each spot in layer so generally if you want to start with a dry fly start with the dry if you don't get them we'll use a sink tip and then kind of just work our way up the river about you know maybe 30 different spots that we'll hit some of them are heavy current others are just stripping so just try to find a population and get what we can cool sounds exciting I can't wait should be fun let's get at it [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you there is definitely lots of room for casting on this River it is a fly Fisher's Paradise [Music] an early hookup put us all at ease oh yeah you can see it's quite shallow in here right yeah extreme what we're working with and then I think yeah if you just go right off of this corner [Music] fish hunt [Music] nice give me two seconds [Music] looks like a good one foreign okay we've had quite a few hits on dries miss those and we just put in a nice streamer just in the film and I was just stripping this and actually not even stripping I just threw it in and it was just in for about 10 feet just starting to turn and make the turn for a nice swing on this uh this fish hit that I think it might be a smaller one but it's it's a nice one to start the day haven't seen it yet and it saw the net and it's using the current should be coming into wow there it is back there Neil wow okay boy these it doesn't matter what size these are they uh they pack a good punch I'll see if I can bring them in a little bit closer to here he comes right now buddy what's up nicely done on the board for the day wow that was beautiful you know it's just swinging that fly in the film and it's it's so effective they're looking up these fish are looking up and they're feeding it's uh it's a great way to do it [Music] foreign [Music] is with that fish there is that what we're trying to do is we're trying to slow this fly down because this is really really fast water we don't want to get that fly moving too quickly so we're trying to slow it down so obviously we're mending the main thing to do when when the line goes in first you need to mend that line as soon as it gets in the water because it's easier to mend the belly of the line that's close to the leader there so as soon as it goes in into the water You Mend it up River it's a lot easier that's going to slow the fly down and that worked for us here today [Music] as I threw streamers just underneath the film Joe was working the dry fly application [Music] can it get any better than moving a trophy fish on the surface I don't think so thank you yeah yeah come on I got to eat good steak I must have been amazing shot looks like we hit a fishy day and even though many of our hookups did not make it to the net a day fishing on the Nipigon River with our guide Nila Duke was an incredible experience the season in nip again you can find me here probably early May until about September 15th for sure maybe a little bit later but the Brook Trail closes here on Lake nip again September 15th and Labor Day for the river and Lake Superior so there's a few different Peak windows I would say for the brook trout here if you just want to come and you know stick with your streamers and maybe a sinking tip for just staying a little bit deeper you don't really have to worry about the the trout keying in on the bugs so it's pretty consistent if you want to come early maybe deal with a little colder weather but they're eating smelt for the most part my favorite would probably be mid-july which is a little tougher for some people who haven't done much dry fly fishing but it's nice to kind of show people what brook trout behavior is really about and when the bugs start to hatch at the end of May all through July August here we get a really nice hex hatch probably around Canada Day and then another one usually when the Lakes turn in mid-august so you'll see the hexes start to come as that water flips over cooler and it's just kind of a revolving window of opportunity here [Music] [Applause] this River has countless miles of Shoreline to explore with each cast your fly is passing numerous Ambush and hiding spots for these brook trout foreign [Music] [Music] oh that was another one yep you just keep stripping you may come and get you yeah got him again nice work yeah so he attacked this guy hit this thing first and I could see him still looking at it and I just yeah that was a classic if you don't give up after the hit yeah the brookies love to keep chasing they did just I just slowed it down and made it look a little wounded and it's about the same size as the last one beautiful fish foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the day was heating up and Joe and the brook trout were having a blast I tell you you got the uh You Got The Touch today Joe yeah he was just on that one ZIP bellied out nice subtle take got my nerves out of me stopped setting the hook along with a full-on love and hate relationship I wonder how many times he's seen my fly today oh [Music] I think I should just probably just give up give up for now foreign talk to me about this one what were you doing on this one just swinging deep got a nice man down men down on it beautiful and just got right into that oh that 45 darn it all [Music] he just came in and grabbed it on the grabbed it on the hang on the way back in yeah that was like the third strip you hit it on it's a nice little female I think oh no [Music] that's the third fish I've lost today it lost today it's frustrating sometimes sometimes you just don't get them to the boat we got heavy current here fishing barbless flies and sometimes they just pull out and fish them on the swing frustrating but it's fishing [Music] oh [Music] so we're fishing a streamer and a dry on the boat here right now and Joe can you uh tell us a little bit about these lines that we're uh we're using here sure so so we're trying to mix things up a little bit putting some dry flies streamers through a run here I'm fishing a longer a little bit heavier taper from scientific Anglers called the inadro it's really great for skating it's got a long gradual back taper great for mending Just Fishing one of our sonar triple density lines a full sink line uh he's fishing and I35 so that's an intermediate sink three sink five uh getting right to the middle of the water column presenting nice even and doesn't really have that belly that you'll find within within sink tips it's getting nice gradual straight line connection to the fish so when there's a take on the swing you're able to just have a nice smooth connection and set the hook into it [Music] it's hard to explain the intensity of this current we are fishing in the epic high flows have given the fish a good Advantage but another Beauty to the net for Joe had us charged [Music] yeah right off that shelf that looked like that hit right away as soon as I started the swing I just it was right underneath the back of that cedar tree back there boy that said that I can't I can't imagine what that's like holding in that for a fish holding into that current still fighting he's tiring out here pretty quick oh [Music] what a fish buddy [Music] nice fish wow beautiful yeah right on brother nice one [Music] thank you I abused earlier that there may be a 15 Pounder with our name on it somewhere out in this world-class River so when Joe hooked on to a fish that we couldn't raise that's crazy my senses began to build as we all watch with excitement he's coming right back out too walk the dog right back up here that one looks even bigger [Music] feels like Largemouth that was a hit on that one oh that was no question that I got hit I just popped it when I went slack back there and he came up and just cranked it yeah this one might be pretty big [Music] thank you [Music] well just sitting in heavy current fighting that fish it was dogging down deep got it up to The Boat Boat and just biting it for five plus minutes and it just came unpinned right at the back of the boat prior 26 inch fish one of the largest fish that uh Neil said he's ever seen out here just heart-wrenching but how the day goes sometimes right oh man no I I'm surprised it stayed on so long when he came up to the service yeah I was like oh God and he just started backing backing down wow what an insane day we had today there is so many fish in this water it's unbelievable and especially if you know where to look for them and that's where Neil our guide absolutely shines we got some great hits on some drives we got lots of fish on some streamers and we also had some heartache out there buddy talk to me about those yeah well we started out the day um fish and dries uh skating some skating some deer hair mice some little wakers I had some fantastic takes on them and a little rusty on the take and pulled away pulled away from them a couple times and uh had a couple of really good eats and they came unpinned the side of the boat in the morning later in the day we hooked a few great fish on streamers landed a couple of them and unfortunately we lost one of our biggest fish of the day we we hooked one just enormous fish and an enormous enormous yeah it's uh I'm I'm heartbroke I'm heartbroken about it I'm these guys um they could see it in my face when it when it came on it came unpinned I'm surprised there wasn't any tears on that like that was just an incredible fish probably 26 we won them probably tonight it's going to be 27 inches nipagan River what a place I will be back well what a great week we had here on the nippigan river This truly is a place to find world-class trophy brook trout I'd like to thank Nila Duke from Affinity angling for guiding us into some fantastic fish here on the river I'd also like to congratulate Joel woltiz from scientific Anglers for hooking on to the biggest brook trout you'll probably ever hook onto in his life I'd also like to thank the beaver motel for the comfortable stay here in nipagan if you'd like to learn more about this show and other shows in our series please visit us on the web at www.thenewflyfisher.com until then keep fishing the new fly Fisher is brought to you in partnership with destination Ontario Orvis fly fishing [Applause] scientific Anglers [Music] trout Unlimited WeatherTech Canada [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] all right

Channel: The New Fly Fisher

Views: 50,913

Keywords: nipigon river brook trout, the new fly fisher, how to fly fish for trout, brook trout, labrador brook trout, big brook trout, tom rosenbauer, brook trout fishing, brown trout, fly fishing, fly tying, how to fly fish a river, huge brook trout, orvis, river trout fishing for beginners, small stream trout fishing, trophy brook trout, trout and coffee, trout fishing, trout fishing for beginners, mad river outfitters, jensen fly fishing, nipigon river, world record trout

Id: 3I5v8Z2slHw

Length: 49min 38sec (2978 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 29 2023