Class III Brook Trout at Gods River
Wild boat rides and wilder brookies….
David McKay, a Gods River resident and my guide, kept the outboard throttle cranked wide open. We sped toward a wall of whitewater that stretched from bank to bank, and David had no intention of slowing down. At the last instant, a chute of smooth water appeared. The boat shot through it, straight towards some rocks. David jarred the boat into a sharp left-hander. It was now on a collision course with the riverbank. A sharp right-hander corrected that.
A lazy zigzag brought us near the top of the rapids. (Is a lazy zigzag possible inside a set of monster rapids?) We were now aiming for a large boulder. Ten feet from the boulder, David nudged the boat over to a deep trough, and we slid out of the whitewater.
When I signed up for a trip to God’s River Lodge, I was told the guides were experts at maneuvering boats up and down the river’s many sets of rapids in search of trophy brook trout. I had imagined a slow, deliberate approach – not David’s full throttle attack. Needless to say, the first time we navigated a set of rapids, it was quite alarming. However, I soon got used to the drill, and actually started to enjoy it. Especially when I realized the size of the fish that were waiting.
THE WILD AND FAST GODS RIVER
Gods River Lodge is owned and operated by the Gods River First Nation. It sits in northern Manitoba, where Gods River exits Gods Lake and begins its tumble towards Hudson Bay. The lodging is comfortable, and the food is incredible. Most importantly though, it offers an angler excellent fishing for walleye, pike, lake trout, and brook trout. The first three are primarily targeted in the lake, but the brookies dwell in the river. I was primarily interested in the brookies.
So David and I spent five days on Gods River, exploring all it had to offer in terms of Manitoba Master Angler brook trout – fish with a minimum length of twenty inches. The lodge boats access three sets of major rapids: 6 Mile Rapids, 20 Mile Rapids, and 40 Mile Rapids. Their names refer to how far downstream from the lodge they are. As you might imagine, there are dozens of minor sets as well. The rapids are where the brook trout live.
THE HARD WORK WAS REWARDED
Honestly, it was not a numbers game. In five days on the river, David and I worked hard for seventeen fish. But seven were over the magic 20-inch mark. The remainder usually stretched between 16- and 18-inches. They were all plump and robust. Although my initial intent was to fly fish exclusively, the fish had other ideas…Regardless, fly fishing was how I started each day. It was not a match-the-hatch/avoid-micro-drag scenario. It was combat fly fishing. Anchoring the boat in a nice calm spot below the rapids was a rarity. Wherever we were, David kept the boat running, maneuvering among intense and confusing currents and making sure I was within casting range of productive seams and runs. Since it was June and too early for a good hatch, I was on the bow of the boat with an 8-weight and a heavy sculpin pattern – chucking and ducking and stripping. The moving boat and turbulent water played havoc with my drifts – and my balance. If didn’t fall overboard, I was happy with my cast.
SLUGGING IT OUT WITH THE BROOKIES
Sometimes, David had the boat patrolling the base of the rapids, but more often, we were right in the middle of the whitewater, prospecting bedroom-sized pockets of calm. Another favorite spot was just above a major drop. David would hover the boat a few feet from massive standing waves as I cast. Whether above, below, or in-between, when a fish hit, the rod tip got buried in the water and stayed there. The fights were slug fests.
In between rapids, there were runs that looked like classic trout riffles – enough surface disturbance to hide the fish but nothing too crazy. After bouncing around inside the major rapids, these were always relaxing and often productive. There were also opportunities to get out and wade – always with a life jacket and wading staff. In Gods River, deep water and a powerful current are never far away. Nevertheless, it was exhilarating to be on the same level as those big, northern brookies.
A TOUGH BITE
There were many times when my streamer was relentlessly ignored. Then it was time to take a spin rod off the rack and rig it with a Gulp minnow on a jig. That got to the bottom quickly and tempted finicky brook trout. However, when the trout really got lockjaw, David had me trying a couple surprising approaches. One was running a crankbait behind the boat in the current. With the outboard, the boat would hold steady in the current – perhaps working slowly across or down the river, and the deep diver would work its magic, constantly wiggling in front of the fish. On another day, when it was cold and rainy and miserable, and the fish were hunkered down, a strip of pike belly on a jig head put a good one in the boat.
SPECTACULAR SCENERY!
Although fishing – and boat rides – take center stage, Gods River is memorable for much more. On the trip to 40 Mile Rapids, the scenery changed from a Canadian Shield river, with slabs of granite and forest tight to the bank, to more of a tundra river, with muskeg along the bank and trees in the distance. And then, out of nowhere, solid rock banks closed in and shot up. We were in a narrow gorge for a few hundred yards – something completely unexpected when you are getting close to the Hudson Bay lowlands.
Once, while wading closer to the lodge, I stepped on a large, flat rock that was barely submerged. An eel-like creature, about 8-inches long, shot out from underneath my falling foot. It slithered along the boulder for a few feet and disappeared in deep water. I was shocked. “What the heck was that?” I yelled over to David. “Was that a burbot?”
“Sculpin,” he said. “They get big here. That’s one reason the trout get big.” The four inch sculpin hanging from my fly rod suddenly looked small. If I ever go back to Gods River, I might take some musky patterns. And maybe some Gravol for the boat rides…
OTHER SPECIES ON THE AGENDA
Walleye were a common bonus while fly fishing for brookies in the river. But they were spectacular in Gods Lake, which I spent a couple days on. Slow trolling a floating Rapala over sunken cabbage in a large bay led to one chunky fish after another. All of them were between 20- and 24-inches. There were also lake trout up to about 8-pounds on offer. David put me close to some reefs in 30-feet of water and we jigged for them. However, I was really hoping for a huge pike. Casting streamers and spoon near the islands just outside of major bays produced tons of action, but nothing big. WARNING! Expect to lose a few streamers to pike bite-offs in the river.
GETTING TO GODS RIVER LODGE
Guests take scheduled air service from Winnipeg to the Gods River community air strip. From there, lodge staff drives them the final kilometer or so.