Neither blackflies nor brook trout

Kevin Callan’s 1997 paddler’s guide to canoeing in Algonquin Park was entitled Brook Trout and Blackflies for a reason. Two years ago, I went with my sons to some streams in the NW corner of Algonquin at the end of May and we got into some decent brook trout, one over 45 cm. So this year I arranged to go with Terry, a very fit 69 y old flyfishing fanatic, thinking that this would give him a taste of the Algonquin interior and of its fabled brook trout fishing. Unfortunately, due to other obligations on both our parts, it was the third week of June before we were able to meet and head into the park, late but I hoped brookies would still be there.

The drive up was smooth, we obtained permits in Kearny and left the Tim River put in point in the early afternoon. The ‘duty moose’ was waiting for us shortly after we passed the park boundary and we made our way swiftly through Tim Lake with the wind at our backs.

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 We made our way through Tim Lake with only a minor detour due to my navigational ineptitude and continued down the Tim River to Rosebary Lake. After a few hours, one portage, several lift-overs and paddling along countless meanders, we were into Rosebarry in good time to set up our first night’s camp.  I learned from Terry that the word meander is derived from the Meander River, which located in present-day Turkey. Even in Classical Greece, the name of the river had become a common noun meaning anything convoluted and winding.

 
Along the way we observed a large snapping turtle, likely excavating her nest on top of a beaver house. We also saw numerous great blue herons and saw what looked like Sandhill Cranes.

   

Next day we were up early, made our last breakfast with fresh eggs and bacon and set out for the NipissingRiver, with over 20 k of canoeing and over 2 k of portaging. The middle portage was even tougher than I remembered and the steep climbs and descents had me puffing. Then too, the water levels in the intermediate LaTour and Loontail creeks were lower than my earlier trip 2 years ago making paddling and pushing through the lower marshy sections more difficult. But there were compensations blue flag iris, moose. Then too, the bugs weren’t too bad, a few mosquitoes and deer flies but almost no blackflies. We made good time reached the Nipissing and by mid-afternoon arrived at our destination, a campsite beside a beautiful pool at the base of the rapids at the first portage below our entry point. It was an afternoon for swimming and relaxing, we didn’t even break out our rods. We were both tired and agreed it had been a good idea to change our itinerary to spend the last night back at Rosebary rather than make it back to the entry point in one day.

The next two days, we canoed and fished up and downstream from our camp. The upper Nipissing is a beautiful river, generally a slow meandering stream with pools interrupted by occasional rapids. In one place, it opened to Grassy Lake. We carefully waited at the occasional moose blockages, and paddled a bit faster under a massive leaning pine. Near camp, there were moose bones, perhaps remnants of an old wolf kill (??) intertwined in the roots of an upturned spruce.

 

 Unfortunately, the big brook trout we were seeking were all in hiding, no 45+ cm fish to be found. I did get about a half dozen small brookies spinning all released, but neither of us got any on the fly. In retrospect we were too late, the trout were all too deep, hiding or were only coming out at night. However, the fallfish were everywhere and there were a few perch and sunfish to be had. I filleted one perch and a fallfish for a snack, both were good although the fallfish fillets were rather bony.

The next morning was overcast and misty with rain threatening; we broke camp and were on the water for the return to Rosebary shortly after 9:00. Maybe it was that we were going upstream or perhaps the water levels in LaTour and Loontail creeks were just that little bit lower, but the entry and exits to the portages seemed harder and muddier than on the way up. A bit after 10:00 the rain started lightly at first, then harder. By the end of the first portage the rain was steady and everything wet. The grey sky foretold a steady all day rain, what the Germans refer to as “landregen.” We slogged on and even encountered a French couple on the portage from LaTour Creek, the first other people we had run into since outing in at the Tim. They had been out 8 days already and Rosebary was just another stop in their travels.  

 

In the middle of the portages to Rosebary, Terry asked if I was up for making out that day and I agreed. We made Rosebary in good time and as we headed up to Tim the rain slowed and then stopped. Once the rain stopped, the moose came out again and we saw another couple going up the Tim , I guess they prefer to stay in the bush during the rain. Then across Tim Lake and up the Tim River where we got a closer view of Sandhill Cranes on the way up to our put-in point . All in all over we traveled for over 10 h covering and more than 30 k of paddling and portage, something we wouldn't have tried a week earlier.

(More than half the pictures in this post were taken by Terry and I am grateful to him for sharing them).