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2015 year end review
Posted 19 August 2015, 10:30 pm NDT
The time has come to clue things up on the Eagle River for another season. We are busy with some renovations, clean up, winterizing...the usual end of season 'goings on'. The other thing we do is sit as a team, enjoy a drink or two, and reflect on the season that just flew by. Overall it was a great season.
A Slow Start...
...The start of the fishing action was slow. Our first group had tough fishing as fish were late arriving in rivers all over Labrador and the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. This surprised us, because even though the winter was very harsh, the coastal pack ice did break up and leave the coast pretty much on time. But salmon were late nonetheless. The river was in excellent condition but there were simply very few fish in it for that time of year.
The Big Ones...
...Then they arrived, better late than never! And they arrived in larger than life format. We seen an absolutely great run of large fish, with a solid 10 days or so of 85-90% large fish. There was nearly a week where it was near impossible to hook a grilse. Not a bad complaint. A lot of fun was had, we hooked dozens of fish in the 15-22lb range, several fish caught and released in the 25lb range, and a couple that were pushing 28-30lbs. One guest and guide do have a tail (tale) of having a fish that was definitely over 30lbs to the side of the boat but did not have it close enough and calm enough for a measure. We seen big fish throughout the season right into mid August in the 10-15lb range.
Grilse Runs...
...Oh boy, it was a good run. A great run. Late yes, but the perfect river conditions led to some incredible and long lasting grilse action. It started getting good around the 10th of July, and steadily increased to all out action by the 17th. That lasted strong right up to the 14th of August, and even our last week with a little more mid day heat guests were having multiple hook-ups during their morning and evening sessions.
The River Condition...
...As has been mentioned several times during the year. We have never seen the river in better condition for a whole season. The water temps never exceeded 64-65 F all season, and it rarely got past 60F! It was chilly out there fishing some days, but it paid off in spades with action and a wide variety of pools to choose from. It was a cold damp summer. The river level...perfect throughout. It rose a couple of times to the point where it was just on the limit of great high water fishing, and the two times it started getting on the verge of going too low, cool temps and fresh rain spruced it up again. Even now, the end of the 3rd week of August there are fresh fish coming in, the water is cool at about 61F, and the water level is around 2m, or volume of 200 cubic meters per second. It's a bit of shame to be winterizing the camp this early.
The Numbers...
...We had a total of 2485 fish hooked for the season of which 349 were large salmon. Through the good times, and the few and far between bad times, the average hook rate for the entire season 4.55 fish per angler per day. Naw bad eh b'y?! (for those of you not from Newfoundland and Labrador, that is "Not bad, hey boy?") ;)
Folks, thank you for tuning into the 'Eagle River Report' this year. We have enjoyed keeping you updated, and keeping some of you connected with friends and family at home by posting your stories and pictures. If you want to stay in touch even further, please sign up to our newsletter by following the link on the right hand side of this page - 'Subscribe Now'. It's not your typical newsletter that spams your email account every other day. Just a few times a year we post off season news, specials, and changes in availability or unexpected cancellations. We will be posting our availability for the 2016 season before the end of this month, and we will also be revamping our website to make it more mobile friendly.
From all of us at the lodge, see you next season! - Dwight, Terry, Arch, Janet, Marj, Hedley, Nelson, Beatle, Bob, Ron, and Theodore.
A Slow Start...
...The start of the fishing action was slow. Our first group had tough fishing as fish were late arriving in rivers all over Labrador and the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. This surprised us, because even though the winter was very harsh, the coastal pack ice did break up and leave the coast pretty much on time. But salmon were late nonetheless. The river was in excellent condition but there were simply very few fish in it for that time of year.
The Big Ones...
...Then they arrived, better late than never! And they arrived in larger than life format. We seen an absolutely great run of large fish, with a solid 10 days or so of 85-90% large fish. There was nearly a week where it was near impossible to hook a grilse. Not a bad complaint. A lot of fun was had, we hooked dozens of fish in the 15-22lb range, several fish caught and released in the 25lb range, and a couple that were pushing 28-30lbs. One guest and guide do have a tail (tale) of having a fish that was definitely over 30lbs to the side of the boat but did not have it close enough and calm enough for a measure. We seen big fish throughout the season right into mid August in the 10-15lb range.
Grilse Runs...
...Oh boy, it was a good run. A great run. Late yes, but the perfect river conditions led to some incredible and long lasting grilse action. It started getting good around the 10th of July, and steadily increased to all out action by the 17th. That lasted strong right up to the 14th of August, and even our last week with a little more mid day heat guests were having multiple hook-ups during their morning and evening sessions.
The River Condition...
...As has been mentioned several times during the year. We have never seen the river in better condition for a whole season. The water temps never exceeded 64-65 F all season, and it rarely got past 60F! It was chilly out there fishing some days, but it paid off in spades with action and a wide variety of pools to choose from. It was a cold damp summer. The river level...perfect throughout. It rose a couple of times to the point where it was just on the limit of great high water fishing, and the two times it started getting on the verge of going too low, cool temps and fresh rain spruced it up again. Even now, the end of the 3rd week of August there are fresh fish coming in, the water is cool at about 61F, and the water level is around 2m, or volume of 200 cubic meters per second. It's a bit of shame to be winterizing the camp this early.
The Numbers...
...We had a total of 2485 fish hooked for the season of which 349 were large salmon. Through the good times, and the few and far between bad times, the average hook rate for the entire season 4.55 fish per angler per day. Naw bad eh b'y?! (for those of you not from Newfoundland and Labrador, that is "Not bad, hey boy?") ;)
Folks, thank you for tuning into the 'Eagle River Report' this year. We have enjoyed keeping you updated, and keeping some of you connected with friends and family at home by posting your stories and pictures. If you want to stay in touch even further, please sign up to our newsletter by following the link on the right hand side of this page - 'Subscribe Now'. It's not your typical newsletter that spams your email account every other day. Just a few times a year we post off season news, specials, and changes in availability or unexpected cancellations. We will be posting our availability for the 2016 season before the end of this month, and we will also be revamping our website to make it more mobile friendly.
From all of us at the lodge, see you next season! - Dwight, Terry, Arch, Janet, Marj, Hedley, Nelson, Beatle, Bob, Ron, and Theodore.
