It was around noon when I leaned over and gently kissed Stac on the head. She slowly opened her eyes, looking dazed and confused.
I couldn’t wait – I immediately told her I had just landed three brook trout: a 17-inch, a 21-inch and a 22.5-inch. She barely seemed to register what I was saying. Vertigo had hit her hard that morning, and she had spent all of day two in bed.
Still, I rambled on about each fish as if she were right there with me. She barely knew where she was, but that didn’t stop me from sharing. And that’s how day two began. (You can read about the first part of this fishing journey here.)
The rest of that day was a blur. Stac stayed in bed fighting off vertigo, but by the end of the day she had turned the corner and would be able to fish the rest of the week.
Dinner that night carried a new energy. By then, everyone in camp had landed trout over three pounds, with several nice pike in the mix.
The highlight came when Heidi and Brandon played it off like they’d been skunked – until Heidi casually mentioned an eight-pound brook trout and Brandon followed with a five.
Day three, Stac was back at it, with Derrick working hard to get her into a nice fish. I gave them the better water while I fished the less desirable spots. Somehow, I still managed to land another 22.5-inch brook trout. Stac, on the other hand, was skunked that day.
At dinner, the excitement picked up again – John, Todd, Rick and Paul had flown out to Burton Pond (which is no pond at all, but a long, sprawling lake). Paul landed a brook trout pushing 10 pounds.
Every evening we’d gather for dinner and share the day’s stories. From the first night, John began offering a prayer before we ate, blessing the food and our time together. It became a tradition for the week.
On day four, Zach, Bryan, Stac and I hiked into Burton Pond. Zach and Bryan were with the head guide, who knew the water well. Our guide admitted he didn’t know it as well, but we didn’t care – we were confident we’d find fish.
And we did. I caught a nice trout at the mouth of a stream, but the real highlight was watching Zach land his biggest brook trout to date – over five pounds, on a dry fly.
Day five was Stac’s turn. I rigged a rod with an indicator and a bead-head Woolly Bugger. Derrick took us to a spot another guide had discovered, but as we crossed the small pond, the motor began acting up. He managed to nurse it along until we got there.
After a while with no luck, we decided to head back to the stream mouth to nymph, but the motor wouldn’t start. Derrick worked on it while I rowed us halfway back – just as the motor sputtered back to life.
I asked Derrick to anchor us mid-current where the flow entered. I handed Stac the rod, and on her second drift the indicator twitched. She set the hook into a big trout that refused to leave the fast water. I asked Derrick to pull anchor, and the boat drifted into slower water.
It worked. He was able to net Stac’s huge brookie – 21 inches long with a 14.5-inch girth. The thickness of those fish is what makes them so impressive, and this was likely her biggest.
For the final day, Stac and I wanted one more shot at Burton Pond. John and Rick were already flying in for their third day there, while we and the guides hiked the short 30-minute trail. Once we arrived, we motored out toward the plane and then headed off to the spot where Zach had hooked his big one earlier.
While watching for risers, Derrick suddenly said he saw one near the boat. I couldn’t see it, but I cast a Hex nymph anyway.
Five feet from the boat, just under the surface, I saw a flash of red and was into a 20-inch brook trout. A little later, as we sat eating lunch, Stac noticed a rise beside the boat. We began spotting giant trout porpoising like dolphins all over the surface. I dropped my sandwich, tied on a Hex spinner, and cast to one. Another 20-inch brookie came to hand – but honestly, I felt a little disappointed, since we were seeing fish in the 10-pound range.
It was Stac’s turn again. She hooked into what looked like the biggest trout of the trip. I even told Derrick it was a giant, but when it came up, we realized it wasn’t a trout at all – it was a 40-inch northern pike. Her biggest ever. Just five casts later, she followed it up with another 21-inch brook trout. What a way to end the week.
Looking back, Igloo Lake Lodge is the kind of place where, even if you’re not an expert fly angler, your odds of catching the fish of a lifetime are pretty good. Small fish are few and far between – the big ones dominate.
If you’d like to hear more of the details, we actually recorded four podcasts from the trip, featuring interviews with everyone who came along – you can even hear a prayer. Check us out on Spotify or Apple under “On the Reel” with Kevin and Stac.
