Labrador is still in drought conditions, and wildfires in Churchill Falls have jumped the river and threaten the town and the 5428 Megawatt Power Plant. So for once, we are hoping the heavens shed some rain on us for more than just the atlantic salmon's sake, and we wish for the safety for those battling the wildfires.

We had guests at the lodge over the weekend, as mentioned in our last report. The 4 of them, rookies, never fly fished before. They fished Saturday evening, Sunday, and...

Hello 'Eagle River Report' readers, and welcome to our 2024 season! We moved into the lodge on June 19th and took it out of winter hibernation. Everything is up and running smoothly on that end of things.

Let's talk about conditions. For fishing right now, the conditions are great. Water level is on the low side, but good. This is still June. June 22nd today and the river is at 2m, or 175m3/s of flow. About 5-7x less than a 'normal' year. The weather has cooled and the forecast is...

Bob G, what can I say. I met Bob at the Minipi Fly Shop nearly 10 years ago. I was browsing the great selection of equipment while overhearing this guy having a chat with the Minipi proprietor. Pratt Falls Lodge was in the market for a new guide, and this fellow sounded like a prime candidate. Well spoken, seemed very knowledgeable, sporting a white beard, but in better shape than my 30 year younger self…by a stretch!

I had to approach and strike up a conversation. Just so happened...

Our last group for the 2023 season finished fishing last night. Fishing has picked up for these guys, and after a very tough season, it was a real treat to see rookies getting a few fish, and some huge smiles and satisfied sports! This week's action has been better than the last 3 weeks, which speaks volumes to what the heat did and the reaction that salmon had to it.

The river conditions were great these past few days. A steady decrease in water helped slow the fish from running straight...

We don't ofter have to report discouraging numbers, but this has been a rough year when it comes to numbers of fish getting hooked, and this past week was no exception.

On the bright side: the river has returned to excellent condition with water 64F and at a great fishing level. On the down side: fish have been scarce. Just a combination of events that seem to have flushed the fish that were coming in, right up the river. We say this because today we heard of great fishing results 16 miles...

After a 5 day break we welcomed back guests on July 26th. They started fishing on the 27th, limited to the morning environmental protocol from 1hr before sunrise to 10am. The morning fishing has been decent. 13 fish hooked this morning by our 10 guests. Temperatures are still too warm for great fishing with the water at 70 F this morning. It has been slowly and steadily cooling off though, and air temps are forecasted to be cool all weekend. Guides remarked that the fish were more lively...

Yes, it is record breaking times here on Eagle. But not in a good way. The group that just left yesterday: Many of them had personal best ever fishing in 2022 here with us. This year I would say is the worst for many of them. This heat wave, and subsequent warm water and DFO morning only fishing has made for some unprecedented and tough times here on the Eagle. So much so that our July 21 group has decided to cancel. There is some hope for the July 26th group as there is some rain in the...

The scorching hot weather continues and it is heat the likes of which we have not seen before. Yes, we get the odd 30c day, but not for days on end. Today was a 'cool' 26c and it felt like a break! The water is way to warm for fishing. We are expecting action by DFO to partially or completely close the river to angling. It is hard to argue when the water has been 24-25c for 4 days straight with no cooling overnight.

The fish are here. We are seeing them in the river and seeing them in...

This has been an unprecedented mid July heat wave the likes of which we have never seen. July 8th was the last day of half decent fishing. Since July 8th, temps with humidex has been over 30C, July 10 & 11 was 36C humidex. Water temps hitting 22-24c mid day. July 12th , a new record was set that we aren't fond of, none of our 12 PFSL guests hooked any fish! July 13th was a little better with one guest managing to hook 5 in slightly cooler conditions than the previous couple of days, but...

Yesterday we said see you later to a fine bunch. They had decent fishing, but honestly not great. It was no problem to hook up with a fish or two every day, but it wasn't the action we are accustomed to. We are hearing much the same all over NL. We have had sculls of fresh fish coming in on the tides. They are fresh from colder water and are active but it seems once they are in the river any amount of time they are getting lazy in the warm water.

Lets touch on that. The water is way to...