Historical Literature Review of the Nipigon Area

With Emphasis on Fishing from 1654 to 1990

By: R.A.P.
(Nipigon Bay Remedial Action Plan)

 

Background:

The following chronological listing of quotes, facts and citations was taken from the 1991 document. The report identifies changes that have occurred in the area and how they may have impacted the local fisheries. The snippets I have selected reflect the impact, changes and conditions that have affected the Nipigon Brook Trout.

 1654 The fur trade started in the Nipigon area with the arrival of the ‘Coureurs de bois’ (meaning runners of the wood)

 1667 The first priest who visited the north shore of Lake Superior was Father
 Claude Allouez, S.J. During the early summer of 1667 he was at Lake Nipigon where he went to meet the Nipissings, an Algonkian tribe. this first Mass in Northwestern Ontario of May 29, 1667, was very probably said in the near vicinity of Virgin Falls where the Nipigon River begins to flow southwards.

 1683 Explorer, Sieur Du Lhut, borrowing from the Ojibway, calls the lake, ‘Lake Alemipigon’ loosely interpreted as “water you cross to get some where else”.

 1865 “of the rivers, the most famous is the Nipigon, where barrels of trout, averaging 4 pounds have been taken in one day….They were collected in pools and were so numerous as to ruin the sport” Hon. R. B. Roosevelt

 1869 unofficial report of a 19 pound brook trout caught by a member of the early survey parties

 1872 T.L. Morris fished Camp Alexander on the Nipigon River in July where he caught 108 speckled trout in 48 hours. Cost: 50¢/day birch bark canoe rental plus $1.50/per day for each guide with board.

 1883 “with such abundant ever flowing water so stocked with game fish and their prey, there is not the slightest danger that the fishing in this river will be spoiled so long as the bites of mosquitoes, sand flies, and blackflies are painful to men.” “I believe that the trout of the Nipigon would rise freely to a moderate-sized canary bird if it could be properly cast.” H.H. Vail

 1888 “The canoe was lunging and tossing. Joseph[guide] was in a state of great excitement   for fear that I should lose him [the trout] … the strong current was helping the trout … and a canoe load of fishermen was watching me from a little distance If I hadn’t been catching a trout, I should have been dreadfully afraid of the rapids, which were roaring so close that I could just hear a voice above the noise calling … “Hold up your rod, Miss Taylor!” I held it up, though I was sure it would break, and I caught that trout and he was landed with one triumphant swoop of the landing net by Joseph, who threw an exulting look over the other guides”. Elizabeth Taylor

 1888 “it is no longer possible, as it was twenty-five years ago, to take in a day a barrel of trout averaging 4 pounds, nor can the angler now quickly fill his basket within sight of Red Rock landing.” MacDonough

 1888 “unless it is cherished, the glory of the Nepigon (sic) may fade and the story of its marvelous attractions may become a tradition of the past.” MacDonough

 1889 “Fishing for pleasure with fly and hook and line have been the only methods practiced here during the past season…water being low and remarkably clear. Any quantity of fish was in the stream, still complaints were made that the trout would not rise readily to the fly.” Overseer Flanagan

 1891 “one a rather deep and thin fish with very red sides, especially next to the fins, and the other variety much rounder and fatter, not so deep, with a rather light bluish colouration on the sides” Edward R. Hewitt

 1904 “The Nepigon (sic) River is itself one vast spawning bed on all its rapid portions. I passé over half a mile of spawners at the foot of pine Portage where fish fairly covered the stream.” William McKirdy

 1947 “visualize those enormous schools of spawning speckled trout finning their way across the gravel and rock shoals of English Bay (Lake Nipigon). Huge trophy fish numbering in the hundreds, driven by the urge to reproduce. Fish coloured in scarlet reds and fluorescent purples weighing, in many cases, eight pounds or more.” Dan Gapen Sr. (creator of the Muddler Minnow)

Head of Pechaunigum (Rabbit) Rapids, 1911