Jacob and I had a blast with my dad and 2 good friends on our recent trip for brook trout in Ontario. We spent a week at Kwagama Lake Lodge. It was my and Jacob’s first fly-in adventure and it didn’t disappoint. The weather was probably a bit too nice as sunny, warm days slows the fishing a bit, but we caught fish every day. Jacob improved daily on his fly casting and he ended up catching his first two fish ever with a fly rod! It helped to have veterans of the camp around as presentation sure made a difference. We had the most success with wet flies. Usually you’d have to strip em short and fast right below the surface (using a floating line). Other times, we’d count down a bit more and use a sink tip. We trolled with spinning gear a little bit during mid-day, using crawlers and Hildebrandt spinner rigs.
When the weather got nasty on the fourth day, the fishing really kicked into gear. I caught 11 before breakfast that morning, and several more the rest of the day, including some beautiful males. It really doesn’t get any prettier than a spawning colored male brook trout in Canada!
Now we’re hitting the woods for some deer action soon. Am taking Jacob out locally and I’ll be going to Ohio and Iowa in the coming weeks. Good luck everyone!
Here’s our crew before we flew in!
Here’s a view of Kwagama Lake Lodge from above just before we landed!
Jacob fly-casting before breakfast one morning
one of the beautiful male brookies from Kwagama Lake Lodge.
When he wasn’t fishing, Jacob was catching frogs, crayfish, and salamanders. This is the endangered blue-spotted salamander.
Here’s Jacob with a couple eater brook trout
my buddy Eric with a beautiful male brook trout
Jacob stayed busy catching crayfish too
Jacob and I did some hiking of the mountains surrounding Kwagama Lake. Here’s a great view from above. Kwagama Lake Lodge is on the island in the distance.
After our hike up the mountain, Jacob caught his first fish ever on a fly rod!
Jacob got some fly tying lessons from our good friend, Jim Lund. Jim and my dad taught me to tie flies when I was seven, and now they’re teaching Jacob!
These are native brookies and there’s no minnow population (except baby brook trout) so the flesh is bright pink. Notice the 2 fillets that are more pale orange…they were caught in a nearby lake a couple guys in camp portaged to. That lake has minnows.
This is a stunning male brook trout I landed on our rainy 4th day in the afternoon. We had our best success on wet flies just under the surface.
our cabin we stayed in
this was at a roadside park not too far into Ontario
What an awesome trip, something on my bucket list!