As our season comes to an end the river has finally started to fall and water temperatures are still quite cold. A few cold cloudy days and a thunderstorm had us lighting the fireplace and wood stoves to keep the chill out of the air.

This week we welcomed a couple to the Lodge that were in Labrador for the first time. Livia Goodbrand and Corey Clarke. They are here gathering material to write an article for The Atlantic Salmon Journal.

They spent time with Experience Labrador; a...

In spite of the rainfall that has the river swollen to unseasonably high levels, our anglers are enjoying successful fishing.

We have never fished in July with this kind of water. The fact is that the pools have at least 5 feet more water on them. Fish aren't holding in the traditional pools so we have had to adjust our tactics to match the situation.

We are now fishing a little further upriver where we know fish have to pass en-route to the spawning beds.

We are having unbelievable...

The pools had just formed up and we had a few days fishing in the Tub and our anglers were having great success and then Mother Nature decided to bless us with an over abundance of water.

The recorded rainfall was 42.4cm at CFB Goose Bay. The highest recorded rainfall since they began recording it back in 1942. Now our river is back to where we were a month ago with an additional 2m of water everywhere. The forecast is calling for even more rain so it looks like it will be a little tougher...

For the first time in 10 years, we just had an overnight delay for our guests changing over due to weather. Flights are getting moving again this morning and we hope to be welcoming our new guests around noon and bidding farewell to a group that was fantastic to host, and had phenomenal fishing. The river became prime for a couple days and the fish were plenty. This group maxed out on their C&R and had the best fishing we have seen in a few years.

So, lets talk about that weather holding...

Our weather, as always, is constantly changing. We went from highs last week of 33c to an overnight low last night of 14c which required lighting the fireplace and an some wood stoves around camp this morning.

The remnants of last Winters snowfall still in the mountains is keeping water temperatures low. The river level is now at its prime and the whole camp is enjoying excellent fishing.

One of our returning Anglers hooked into a Monster that turned the water in back river white before it...

MERCY!! MERCY from this insane heat wave! We are going through our second day of 33C heat here on the Eagle River. The AC is on bust and mid day fishing is pretty much not happening. Guests and guides have been hitting the water early and taking a break to beat the mid day sun. That seems to work well as some of this group have had great success early morning. The fishing has gotten better and we are seeing some nice maxi grilse in the river now amongst what is still a strong mix of large...

The fishing picked up this week a little more, and the reports now are that fishing south and east of us is very good which forcasts good things to come for anglers on the Eagle. We are still dealing with high water, but it is coming down. Yesterday evening the water was measuring 62.5F and had dropped again to 60.5F over night. Cool water! Great for the fish and practising catch and release. The revival times are very short and the fish are fiesty.

I want to relay a comment made by a...

We had a scorcher here on the Eagle yesterday with the air temperature hitting 30c here at the lodge. One would think that with temps like that we would see the river dropping like tide. Not the case. There is so much snow in the mountains that heat waves are melting it and sustaining the river. It is dropping, but at a snails pace for these temps and this time of year. It is going down 2-3 inches/day. The water temperature also very cool coming in at a brisk 59 F on our boat sonar temp...

With a little rain on the weekend the river stopped falling for about 24 hrs but has begun to drop again. With it so high we are starting to see more and more fish porpoising, but the action is still tough. Guides are still reporting hooking smolts as well. Saturday was our first day seeing the camp get into double digit hookups of nearly all large salmon. Despite the tough conditions, spirits were high, and this mixed group who departed yesterday are all waiting for 2019!

We welcomed a...

The river is continuing to drop a few inches a day but is still a long ways from being at a prime fishing level. Our guests are seeing more fish with each passing day. Guides are reporting some huge fish porpoising and moving on. It is tough fishing, but it hasn't been with out some awesome success stories. Right now, there isn't a large quantity of fish, but the quality is undeniable!

Pictured here is Chris with his mentor, Jeff, and a beauty 103cm fish estimated at 27-28lbs landed at the top of back river. Jeff remarked how proud he was of Chris for handling the biggest salmon of his life like a real pro. Congrats, Chris!

DL