Algonquin Park, ON - Canada

article and pictures by Jules Jelev

Located between the Georgian Bay and Ottawa river Algonquin Park covers 7,600 square kilometers of sheer wilderness. The easiest way to get here from Toronto is by taking HWY-400 North to Barry and HWY-11 to Huntsville. The parks’s interior is only accessible by paddling and hiking.; the proper term for this is "portaging". The thing to keep in mind is that during the hiking part all food, tents and gear including the canoe end up on the angler's shoulders.  The season starts after the ice melts, usually in the first weeks of May and this is when good brook trout fishing can be had.

In 2005, I was introduced to Alginquin by my fishing buddy Peter who has experience with this place dating back to the days he was a teenager. Due to planning difficulties we arrived well past the best fishing time and well into the black fly and mosquito season. Paddling the dark tanned waters of the lakes was an enjoyable exercise save for being completely lost in the matter of an hour. The lake was quite big with many long channels that looked pretty much the same. After doing a thorough exploration, eventually we found our exit and the trail to the next lake. Quite tired and with our blood supplies drained by hundreds of mosquitoes and black flies we arrived at the camp site at dusk.  It was a small one-tent spot in the forest on the high banks of the lake.  Our food was perched on the only improvised shelf spanning two trees and mounted by previous "settlers". By 9PM we both collapsed in our sleeping bags only to get awaken half an hour later by the noise some animal made when knocking our food cans off the shelf. Whether a rakoon or black bear, we never knew.

The very next morning we were on the rocky trail leading to our final destination the brook trout lake. Bugs were worse than the day before, getting under the canoe and biting our entire bodies. Finally we were on the lake paddling towards the far bank, where brookies were supposed to hold. In spite of being a good three weeks late, we managed to get lots of bites. It was Peter who first had a wonderful trophy sized fish on his PM spinner.   Red finned and deep bodied, the brook trout was dazzling, so much so, that I missed it in my attempt to scoop it with the net.  In a second, the hook was into the mesh, and the fish gracefully twisted its body out of it! 

We fished for about 2 hours catching 5 more fish of 14", that although small, were fun to bring to the boat and quite tasty in our frying pan that night.

The scenery and serenity of the place were truly incredible.  If not for the thick clouds of black flies and mosquitoes and our depleted beer supplies we could have stayed there for the rest of the summer.

In the 3 days we spent in the park, we came across 2 black bears, one moose and a few deer.

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