Algonquin Brook Trout On The Fly

I was in my float tube working my way up a classic piece of Algonquin Park shoreline casting my fly rod for brook trout. The shoreline was steep and strewn with boulders and deadfalls with the occasional granite outcropping and towering white pine.  I had already caught a few small trout along the shore when I reached a large white pine that had fallen into the lake.  The dead tree stretched out from the shore and angled into the depths and, with a few of its large branches still intact, it looked like the perfect place for a brook trout to both hide from predators and ambush its prey.

A beadhead Mickey Finn.

I cast my beadhead Mickey Finn streamer alongside that fallen white pine, stripped the fly toward me a couple of times, when an obviously big brook trout smashed my streamer so hard it almost tore the rod from my hand.  I set the hook and, wary of the fish tangling my line or leader around one of the branches of that half sunken tree, put as much pressure on the four pound tippet at the end of my leader as I thought it could bear.

After an exciting fight, I worked the brookie in close to my float tube where I finally got a look at its magnificent eighteen inches. And then I got worried again that I might lose it before I was able to actually land it and take a picture.  Eighteen inch brook trout you don’t get every day.  But the leader and the hook held and a few minutes later I cradled the fish in my hand, breathed a sigh of relief and admired what has to be among the most beautifully coloured fish in existence.

Loading up the water taxi at the Opeongo Lake access point.

A portage marker between Opeongo and Redrock Lakes.

A marker for one of the designated campsites in Algonquin Park.

We were on our annual fly fishing trip in Algonquin Park in early May and had taken the water taxi across Opeongo Lake the day before and then had made our way across the tough portage from Opeongo to Redrock Lake.  We paddled our canoes about half the distance across Redrock and set up the tents at a designated camp site on a rocky and picturesque point.

I love everything about canoeing, fly fishing and camping in Algonquin Park. The scenery is, for me, the essence of Canada and, there are few things more pleasant than sitting around a campfire at the end of a great day of fishing, listening to the wonderful call of a loon, enjoying the warmth and aroma of the fire and sharing tall tales with good friends.

For help in organizing and equipping your own fly fishing canoe trip for Algonquin Park brook trout contact the great people at Algonquin Outfitters (algonquinoutfitters.com). They can help with whatever you need, from simply providing the water taxi across Opeongo Lake, to providing complete guided canoe and fishing trips.