Day 8 - July 8, 2016

We started our eighth day at The Narrows.  Once again, this place didn't let us down.  I caught my biggest laker of the trip.  This was an ol' fella, weighing in at a little over 8 pounds.  You can see his top jaw is starting to hook and he had a silver color to him.  It almost looked like it was a hybrid of a lake trout and a ouananiche, if that is possible.  More likely it was an old lake trout.

Later on in the morning, we went out on Shaboogamoo Lake in a small boat.  We trolled for two hours and Rich caught this beautiful colored lake trout weighing in at 5.75 pounds.

Day 7 - July 7, 2016

On the seventh day of our trip, we decided to fish from sunrise to sunset.  Our first stop was at the closed bridge on the back side of Wabush Lake.  We arrived at the bridge a little before 6 a.m. and shortly after I caught a lake trout followed by my dad catching a splake.  A splake is a cross between a lake trout and a brook trout.  It was a calm and crisp morning.  There wasn't a ripple on the water and the loons were calling and diving all over the lake.  We saw an osprey fishing as well.  The past couple mornings the temperatures were below 40 degrees F.  A winter hat and long sleeves were a must.  If you're planning a trip like this, pack your bags accordingly and be prepared for any type of weather.

Our next stop was Sandy Point on Wabush Lake.  The previous year we had luck here and caught several lake trout.  This year the water levels in the lakes were higher than normal and we were catching lake trout where we had caught pike in the past.  As previously stated, the pike were not in their normal spots.  We weren't sure if this was because of the higher water levels or not.

After a hearty Newfie breakfast at a local family restaurant, we continued to fish and stopped at Jean Lake again.  This time around, we each caught a sucker.  There was a school of them in the deep pool and they ended up being a bigger challenge to catch than the lake trout we were catching.  

After this, we decided to head north on the Route 500 (the Trans-Labrador Highway) to the Ashuanipi River.  This is a well known river among the locals and there are a lot of fishing camps up and down the river.  We traveled up river but couldn't find a good place to access the river and fish.  We decided to head downstream where we found good access.  This is the one time we wished we had a boat or canoe.

On our way back south, we stopped on this causeway along Shaboogamoo Lake.  We saw schools of brook trout chasing bait fish near the rocks of the causeway.  This is where we decided that on our next trip a shiner trap is a necessity.

We stopped at the closed IOC bridge again and I caught this lake trout near sunset.

Shortly after turning back onto Route 500, we came across another young bull moose feeding.  We ended up watching him for twenty minutes as the sun set.  What a great end to a perfect day.

Day 6 - July 6, 2016

This day, we decided to venture further out of Labrador City.  We took some back roads to the back side of Wabush Lake where it narrows.  There was a closed access bridge that went to the IOC mine that we fished around.  We heard about this spot from some locals who said they were catching big lake trout.  This was another spot where we were always successful in catching fish.  Within the first half hour of arriving at this spot, my father and I caught these two lake trout.

On our way back into Labrador City, we decided to stop at our honey hole (The Narrows).  In no time I reeled in this 5.5 pound lake trout.  These fish put up a heck of a fight.  The water is clear and cold and these fish aren't found too deep and were all able to be caught from the shoreline.

Next we decided to head south out of town to the Walsh River.  The views were spectacular and the water was clear.  We could see a number of different size brook trout and ouananiche (landlocked salmon) following our lures and worms.  Unfortunately we weren't able to entice a bite.  We decided that on our next trap to bring our shiner trap and try our luck with live bait.  There were tons of bait fish in the water.

Day 5 - July 5, 2016

We woke up early and started our day off at The Narrows.  We fished for about an hour and Rich was able to land a nice northern pike.  Surprisingly, the first two fish of the trip were northern pike and these were the last two pike we would catch.

We heard about Jean Lake in Wabush and decided to give it a go.  It was a beautiful area to fish.  On the north side of the lake, there was brook coming into the lake with a deep hole at the mouth.  Rich was able to catch a couple of brook trout.  

On our way back into Labrador City, we decided to stop at The Narrows once again. This spot always produces fish.  In just a short time, Rich caught this nice lake trout.  Up to this point, the only fish that we kept were the brook trout.  Everything else was released alive and well.

Day 4 - July 4, 2016

After eating a good breakfast and on our way to go fishing, we heard that there was a moose in town.  We stopped by the Ford dealership and sure enough there was a young bull moose getting his early morning feed in.  Moose aren't very plentiful in the western part of Labrador so this was actually a rare treat.

We didn't fish very hard this day and only fished a couple new spots without any luck.  That evening, we took a drive up Smokey Mountain to Geocache along the way and get an awesome view of Labrador City and Wabush.

Day 3 - July 3, 2016

It rained most of the night and we decided to get up early and pack up camp.  We wanted to make sure we were able to get out and back to Route 389 before the rain eroded the road anymore.  We were able to make it back to Route 389 and headed north to Labrador City.  Along the way in Quebec we stopped at a few lakes and ponds to try our luck at fishing.

We stopped at half a dozen places like this to try our luck on the way to Labrador City but only produced a few strikes.  We crossed the border into Labrador at 9:30 a.m. and went to a local convenience store (Chubba's) to buy our Newfounland & Labrador fishing licenses.

After we bought our licenses, we went straight to The Narrows to fish.  On my third cast, I had a huge strike on a five of diamonds spoon.  I had a light action Ugly Stick rod and Orra Abu Garcia reel with 20 pound test braided line.  With my dad's help, we were able to land this beautiful northern pike.  It measured 8.44 pound and 35 inches.

 

Day 2 - Camping in Quebec

On Saturday morning, we up at 6:30 and got ready to head north on Route 389.  We stayed at Hotel le Comte in Baie Comeau and they included breakfast in the rate.  It cost $124 for a double bed room for the night.  After breakfast, we went to Canadian Tire and bought our 3 day Quebec fishing licenses.  This license cost $31.10.  We found out that we could have purchased our licenses the night before and told the clerk that we wanted the license to start the following day.  We also picked up some last minute fishing supplies.

We drove about 5 hours in on the road and came to the access road to the Hart Jaune Dam.  We drove about 10 minutes in on this access road and our plans fell apart.  There was a locked gate across the road, courtesy of Hydro Quebec.  I had scoured the internet about information on the dam and even talked to locals on a fishing forum and no one knew about this gate and there was no information indicating that it was there.  The gate looked fairly new and there was no way to get around it.  

We were pretty bummed about this, but we decided to try and make the best of the situation.  We drove on to Gagnon, an abandoned mining town that has since been dismantled.  All that is left are the curbs and medians down the center of the town.  We decided to take a left hand turn onto a dirt road in Gagnon to see where it took us.  We didn't have any maps and were just guessing that it would eventually lead us to a body of water.  At the beginning of the road there was a sign in French warning of erosion.  The road was in rough shape and almost all of the side roads off of Route 389, it isn't maintained.  There were large rocks all throughout, pot holes, some sections of erosion and washouts, and water flowing across the road in one spot.  We drove about 5 miles in on this road and came to a fork.  We took a left and drove about 5 more miles but weren't sure if the road was going to end up at a body of water or not.  Roads out there can go on and on and not lead to anything.  We turned back to the fork, took the right and drove about 2 miles further.  This led to a lake (Lake Audet we later found out).  There were a few cabins on the lake and at least one family that we saw was camping.  This wasn't ideal, we planned on being alone, not having anyone around, and fishing near a dam.  However, we tried to make the best of it and found an area by the lake that had a beach and a spot to pitch our tent.  We set up our camp, cooked dinner, and did some fishing from the beach.  We had a few bites, but didn't catch anything that night.  It was raining off and on and we eventually called it a night.

The follow screen shots shows our SPOT tracks while we were driving in on this unnamed road.  Pinpoint 2 was the furthest we went after taking the left at the fork.  Looking at the map now, we were actually fairly close to coming to the Manicouagan Reservoir.  This might be worth driving into on another trip.  

Day 1 - The Trip Has Begun

Thanks for following us on this adventure!  We left Newport, NH at around 10 a.m. on July 1st.  We made it to Tadoussac, Quebec at around 6:30 p.m.  We were feeling pretty good and weren't tired so we decided to push on.  We had originally thought we were going to rent a tent site at a campground in Tadoussac but decided to drive a little over 2 hours further to Baie-Comeau.  We arrived in Baie-Comeau around 9 p.m.  It was dark out and the forecast called for rain early the next morning.  We decided to rent a hotel room at Hotel Le Comte.  Here's the video from before we left Newport:

Tomorrow morning we'll get our Quebec fishing licenses and head north on Quebec 389 towards the Hart Jaune Dam where we'll fish and camp.  There's no cell service there so I won't be able to post anything from there until Sunday when we arrive in Labrador City.  But in the meantime, you can follow our movements on the SPOT device share page at: 2016 Northern Quebec and Labrador Fishing Trip

Videotaping

My father and I are going to make every attempt to film all parts of our fishing endeavours and the trip and travels in general.  The easiest way to share this upcoming fishing experience is through filming and photographing it.  I really hope that we capture the essence of it for you all and you are able to connect with us and the longing to join us out there is kindled within you.  I just wanted to list a few pieces of equipment that we will be using to capture these moments on film and photographs:

• A Nikon D3100 camera with 18-55 mm and 55-300 mm lenses

• A Sony HDR-CX330 Handycam

• A GoPro Hero 4 Silver camera

• A DBPower HDR dash camera

We hope to catch everything from the ride in the car to Quebec and Labrador, to photos of the fish we catch, the video of us catching those fish on the handheld camera, and the GoPro video for POV shots.

Cooking Gear

My father and I plan on using a couple of tools to cook food while camping.  One of those is the basic Coleman propane stove:

             

This stove has two burners and relies on a single propane canister to supply the fuel to the burners.  The stove also has wind guards on the sides to protect the flame from being blown out.

We will also try using the Bushbox XL stove.  This device simply uses broken up sticks and twigs to contain a fire.  There is a grilling grate that goes on top of the stove and a pot can be places on top of this.  My father and I have already tested both units and they both work great.

We will also be using Stanley products to cook our food in.  These are some of the products we have tested and they work great:

          

Thermacell

My father and I each just got our own Thermacell mosquito repellers.  These units use butane fuel to heat an insect repellent pad that creates a 15 feet x 15 feet area free of mosquitoes and black flies.  This will be very important while we are in northern Quebec and Labrador; the insects are especially thick there.  Here is the link to the website: Thermacell

This will be the first time we have used the Thermacell devices.  Just in case the Quebec and Labrador black flies and mosquitoes are too much for these devices, we will bring traditional bug spray.  Last year we used Repel Sportsman Max, which is 40% deet.  

This seemed to work pretty well, but I found myself applying it more often that I would have liked to.  Also, the chemicals in the spray were pretty harsh and ate through my Mountain Hardware waterproof jacket, which had quite a bit of years and use under its belt, but was still sad to see.  I've since gotten a new rain jacket for the trip: Columbia Rain Jacket.  Rain gear is a completely different topic and I could spend plenty of time of that.  But it's safe to say, it rains quite a bit in Labrador and being prepared for that is important.  I will update you all on how well the new Columbia rain jacket holds up.

Geocaching

While my father and I are in Quebec and Labrador, we plan on doing some Geocaching.  For those of you who haven't heard of Geocaching before, it is basically a worldwide treasure hunt.  Anyone can log onto geocaching.com and create a free account.  From there, you can view caches located nearby and their respective coordinates.  You can plug these coordinates into a GPS unit (like those sold by Garmin and Magellan) and then use the GPS device to get closer and closer to the cache until it is found.  Inside the cache is typically a log book or some sort of paper that a person can write their name on to indicate that they found the cache.  A person can also log online that they found the cache and add photos of them holding the cache.  Geocaches can be tote sized containers to caches the size of a bolt.  Also, finding caches can range from very easy to very difficult.  Geocaching.com lists each cache size and difficulty.  There are also sometimes hints given with these caches to help those looking for them.

My father and I plan on placing a waterproof ammo can along the Hart Jaune River.  

There are actually quite a few Geocaches placed along Quebec Route 389 that leads into Labrador City.  However, there aren't any Geocaches placed as far as 28 kilometers off of the main road (where my father and I will be near the Hart Jaune Dam).  This Geocache will harder for people to find and require more discipline and determination.

I plan on putting waterproof materials inside the container, including a few numbered Rite in the Rain pads, pencils, and a pencil sharpener:

This container needs to stand the test of time and the harsh northern Quebec elements.  Visitors won't be common to this Geocache and its contents need to stand up to being wet and cold.  I will post the coordinates and link to this Geocache on this page once it is placed.  I hope that someday you will be able to find it and enjoy the hunt!  In the meantime, if you create a page please look me up: JPB38